Mutant Spanish (Efañó)
Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2014 12:35 am
So, I've been playing around with this idea for the last year or so, but because I hate typing things in prose (I do enough of that for school), I've delayed showing this on the zeeb. I also apologize for being laconic below: I'm really not great at generating prose.
Basically, this is a daughterlang of a generic Latin American Spanish dialect. The main change is the loss of coda consonants, which however leave traces on following words belonging to the same stress group. The result is somewhat like Celtic initial consonant mutation: for example, the initial /p/ in the noun /pero/ mutates into [f] or depending on the article in front of it (/pero/ -> [pero], but /el pero/ -> [e bero], /un pero/ -> , /los peros/ -> [lo fero]). Of course, this occurs as a diachronic change word-internally (e.g., /comp4a4/ -> /ko"b4a/, /obispo/ -> /owifo/), but because there are no alternations, this is less interesting. The main synchronic effects of this change are initial mutations of nouns after articles, prepositions, and prenominal adjectives, initial mutations of verbs after preclitics, and allomorphs of these particles (especially articles and verbal clitics) when preceded by another particle. Due to stress or unpredictability (either one could work), there is no mutation between two content words (e.g., verbs and arguments, nouns and postnominal adjectives). I haven't yet completely decided on the specific dialect I'm deriving Mutant Spanish [Efa"JO] from, except that it has seseo, and probably should have coda /s/ -> [h], since that is a requisite step in the mutation process.
The following chart shows the possible mutations. The left column contains possible onset elements, the top row contains possible coda elements, and the boxes show the resulting mutation when the coda precedes the onset within the same stress group. Remember that the coda element never surfaces, and is only "visible" in the mutation of the following onset.
These are the segments contain in each element group:
The following examples show how this works synchronically to create mutations in nouns. The left column gives the prenominal particle that triggers the mutation, while the top row gives examples of noun and verb roots that can get mutated.
Some general patterns can be observed. First, all plural forms have the identical H-mutation: {uno,lo,la} [fero,-a]/[fake4o,-a]/[seJo4-e,a]. Second, the mutation provides the only distinction between feminine singulars and plurals: {una,la} [pera]/[wake4a]/[zeJo4a] vs. {una,la} [fera]/[fake4a]/[seJo4a].
The following chart shows what each mutation is derived from:
I'm debating how opaque the orthography should be, e.g., should /uN, loH pero/ -> [u bero, lo fero] be spelled <u mpero, lo phero> or <u bero, lo fero>? The former is more Celtified, and thus cooler-looking, but the latter has the nice effect of making it look super confusing (e.g., <b> conflates /{N,L,R}p, {#,L,R}b, Nf/, instead of expressing them as <np>, <b>, <nf>, etc.). Until I decide, I'll just using boring/ugly X-SAMPA...
I've played around with word derivation, verbs, etc., but as I said above, I have a hard time transferring all this from my head to your screens. In the meantime, general comments/questions, help with the orthography, or specific information from those more knowledgeable about Spanish dialectology or Celtic mutations are welcome.
Basically, this is a daughterlang of a generic Latin American Spanish dialect. The main change is the loss of coda consonants, which however leave traces on following words belonging to the same stress group. The result is somewhat like Celtic initial consonant mutation: for example, the initial /p/ in the noun /pero/ mutates into [f] or depending on the article in front of it (/pero/ -> [pero], but /el pero/ -> [e bero], /un pero/ -> , /los peros/ -> [lo fero]). Of course, this occurs as a diachronic change word-internally (e.g., /comp4a4/ -> /ko"b4a/, /obispo/ -> /owifo/), but because there are no alternations, this is less interesting. The main synchronic effects of this change are initial mutations of nouns after articles, prepositions, and prenominal adjectives, initial mutations of verbs after preclitics, and allomorphs of these particles (especially articles and verbal clitics) when preceded by another particle. Due to stress or unpredictability (either one could work), there is no mutation between two content words (e.g., verbs and arguments, nouns and postnominal adjectives). I haven't yet completely decided on the specific dialect I'm deriving Mutant Spanish [Efa"JO] from, except that it has seseo, and probably should have coda /s/ -> [h], since that is a requisite step in the mutation process.
The following chart shows the possible mutations. The left column contains possible onset elements, the top row contains possible coda elements, and the boxes show the resulting mutation when the coda precedes the onset within the same stress group. Remember that the coda element never surfaces, and is only "visible" in the mutation of the following onset.
These are the segments contain in each element group:
Code: Select all
# /#,D,p,k/ (i.e., preceded by a consonant not /s,m,n,l,r/ or by a stress group boundary)
H /s/
N /m,n/
L /l/
R /r/
V /V/ (i.e., preceded by a vowel)
# H N L R V
p p f b b b p
t t T d d d t
k k x g g g k
b b f m b b w
d d T n l 4 0
g g x N g g 0
tS tS S dZ dZ dZ tS
f f f b v v v
s s s dz z z z
h h h k T S 0
m m p m m m m
n n t n n n n
J J tS J J J J
r r S dr l r r
l l T d l r l
j j S J j j j
w w f m w w w
V C s n l 4 V
Code: Select all
Particle /pero,-a/ /bake4o,-a/ /todo,a/ /do"to,-4a/ /gato,-a/ /se"Jo,-4a/
/un/ 'INDF.MSC.SG' u bero u make4o u dodo u no"to u Nato u dze"Jo
/el/ 'DEF.MSC.SG' e bero e bake4o e dodo e lo"to e gato e ze"Jo
/una/ 'INDF.FEM.SG' una pera una wake4a una toda una oto-4a una ata una zeJo-4a
/la/ 'DEF.FEM.SG' la pera la wake4a la toda la oto-4a la ata la zeJo-4a
/unos/ 'INDF.MSC.PL' uno fero uno fake4o uno Todo uno Toto-4e uno xato uno seJo-4e
/los/ 'DEF.MSC.PL' lo fero lo fake4o lo Todo lo Toto-4e lo xato lo seJo-4e
/unas/ 'INDF.FEM.PL' una fera una fake4a una Toda una Toto-4a una xata una seJo-4a
/las/ 'DEF.FEM.PL' la fera la fake4a la Toda la Toto-4a la xata la seJo-4a
The following chart shows what each mutation is derived from:
Code: Select all
p {#,V}p, Hm
b {N,L,R}p, {#,L,R}b, Nf
t {#,V}t, Hn
d {N,L,R}t, #d, N{l,r}
k {#,V}k, Nh
g {N,L,R}k, {#,L,R}g
dz Ns
tS {#,V}tS, HJ
dZ {N,L,R}tS
f H{p,b,w}, {#,H}f
T H{t,d,l}, Lh
s {#,H}s, HV
S H{tS,r,j}, Rh
x H{k,g}
h {#,H}h
v {L,R,V}f
z {L,R,V}s
m N{b,w}, {#,N,L,R,V}m
n N{d,V}, {#,N,L,R,V}n
J N{j}, {#,N,L,R,V}J
N Ng
l L{d,r,V}, {#,L,V}l
4 R{d,V}
r Rl, {#,R,V}r
j {#,L,R,V}j
w Vb, {#,L,R,V}w
0 V{d,g,h}
I've played around with word derivation, verbs, etc., but as I said above, I have a hard time transferring all this from my head to your screens. In the meantime, general comments/questions, help with the orthography, or specific information from those more knowledgeable about Spanish dialectology or Celtic mutations are welcome.
It should be [w], and <Huenésia>. I'm torn over whether to write this as <hub>, similar to <mb> and <vf>, with the changed value before the underlying value. Same thing with the elided /d g/ after a vowel-final proclitic; how should I write this, other than just dropping the <d g>?