zompist bboard

So I'm curious as to the future of languages around the world and how they will change and evolve. And that was the inspiration for my conlang Acadian, which is a projection of my level New England dialect one thousand years into the future. So what I would like to see is what you think will happen to your dialect over the same time period. How similar or different will it be to its parent language?

Non English dialects are of course welcome as well.

So here's what I did with Acadian to bring it to the 31st century:

Sound changes:
NORTHERN CITIES SHIFT:
/i/ as in FLEECE, BEAN → /i/
/ɪ/ as in KIT, BIT, BID, PIN → /ɛ/
/ɪ/ as in BATTED (i.e. unstressed) → /ɜ/
/ɛ/ as in DRESS, BET, BED, but not PEN → /ɜ/
/ɛ/ as in PEN → /ɐ/
/a/ as in TRAP, BAT, BAD, AUNT but not ANT → /a/
/a/ as in ANT → /ɛə/
/ə/ as in BANANA → /ɐ/
/ʌ/ as in STRUT, BUT, BUD, but not PUN → /ɐ/
/ʌ/ as in PUN → /ɔ/
/ɝ/ as in NURSE → /ɜ/
/ɑ/ as in PALM, BOT, BOD, BOUGHT, BAWD → /ɑ/
/ɔ/ as in PAWN → /ɑ/
/ɔ/ as in CLOTH but not PAWN → /ɔ/
/ʊ/ as in FOOT, GOOD, WOMAN → /ʉ/
/u/ as in GOOSE, BOOT, BOOED, but not NOON → /u/
/u/ as in NOON → /ʉ/
/aɪ/ as in BIDE, PINE but not BITE → /aɪ/
/aɪ/ as in BITE → /ʌɪ/
/ɔɪ/ as in CHOICE, COIN → /ɔɪ/
/eɪ/ as in FACE, BANE → /eɪ/
/oʊ/ as in GOAT, BONE → /oʊ/
/aʊ/ as in BOUGHED, BOUND but not BOUT → /aʊ/
/aʊ/ as in BOUT → /ɛʉ/
EARLY CONSONANT CHANGES:
* rhotic resurrection
* "g dropping" in -ing forms
* /t/, /d/ flapping (still count as distinct for voicing effects)
* /tr/ → /tʃr/, /dr/ → /dʒr/
* /tʃ/ → /ʃ/, /dʒ/ → /ʒ/ (including /ʃr/, /ʒr/)
* initial prothetic /ɛ/ before /s/ plus oral stop
(/ɛst/ etc. but /sl/, /sn/, /sw/)
* allophonic palatalisation of /k/, /g/ near "narrow" vowel
(that is, /i/, /e/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/)
* /θ/, /ð/ → /s/, /z/
* /t/ → [ʔ] allophonically where in coda with no other obstruent(?)
* likewise /p/, /k/ → [ˀp], [ˀk]
* /b/, /d/, /g/ alone in coda allophonically implosive
(or maybe it's "where in coda with no other obstruent" again?
NEWFIE MERGER:
/ir/ as in FEAR, /er/ as in FAIR both → /eir/
MEDIUM CONSONANT CHANGES:
* coda-simplification:
/t/ dropped after any consonant (e.g. /mɛlt/ → /mɜl/)
obstruents dropped before /s/ (e.g. /mɪks/ → /mɛs/)
* /ʃ/, /ʒ/ allophonically velar unless near "narrow" vowel
DIPHTHONG BREAKING:
(inserted here halfway through the consonant changes because it's what
produces the phonemic split of "broad" and "narrow" stops)
/ɛə/ as in ANT → /ɛ ɐ/
/aɪ/ as in BIDE, PINE but not BITE → /ɑ ɐ/
/ʌɪ/ as in BITE → /ɜ ɐ/
/ɔɪ/ as in CHOICE, COIN → /ɑ ɐ/
/eɪ/ as in FACE, BANE, FEAR → /i ɐ/
/oʊ/ as in GOAT, BONE → /u ɐ/
/aʊ/ as in BOUGHED, BOUND but not BOUT → /a ɐ/
/ɛʉ/ as in BOUT → /ɛ ɐ/
MEDIUM CONSONANT CHANGES, CONTINUED:
* phonemic split of palatalised plosives to /t︠ʃ︡/, /d︠ʒ︡/
(never glottalised/implosive)
* flapped /t/, /d/ merge with /r/ = [ɾ]
* /t/=[ʔ] dropped
* glottalised /p/, /k/ both → /ʔ/
* /h/ dropped
LATE VOWEL CHANGES:
/ʉ/ as in FOOT, GOOD, WOMAN → /y/
/ju/ merges with the above → /y/
/ɜ/ as in DRESS, BET, BED, NURSE, BITE → /ɐ/
"full" nasalisation: e.g. /ɛn/ → /ɛ̃/
LATE CONSONANT CHANGES:
* implosives → /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ (non-nasalising)
* isochrony shift to syllable-timed
* /w/ → /v/
* coda /l/ → /w/ (and unstressed /ɐl/ → /u/)
* /u/→/w/, /i/→/j/ where after empty onset and before vowel
* stress shift towards initial stress
* /sl/, /ʃr/, /fj/ → /ɬ/, /r̥/, /ç/ in onset (not e.g. in "Africa")

Alua, moa niań eć Máucuań Wacánar, eań zá jam a-naspicar niarev av Aćiarień. Jam tvani-śeś jiarz waun, eań zá o-lev eń Bosteń.
[ˈɐ.lu.ˌɐ, ˈmɑ.ɐ ˈni.ɐ̃ etʃ ˈmau.ku.ˌɐ̃ ˈwɐ.ka.ˌnɐɾ, ˈɛ.ɐ̃ za jɐm ɐ-ˈnɐs.pi.ˌkɐɾ ˈni.ɐ.ˌɾɛv ɐv ˈɐ.tʃi.ˌɐ.ɾi.ˌɛ̃. jɐm ˈtvɐ.ni-ˌʃɛʃ ˈji.ɐɾz waun, ˈɛ.ɐ̃ za ɑ-lɛv ɛ̃ ˈbɑs.tɛ̃.]
Hello, my name be 3S PRS Malcolm O'Connor, and CONJ be 1S PRS speaker INDF native of Acadian. Be 1S PRS twenty-six years old, and CONJ live 1S PRS in Boston.

Tudu bieńs úmeń źiar bars libiar eań itvu eń degneri eań drvoz. Źiar ǵev veś loźeć eań cáńśeńs eań zá źiamas-bijav tu iśazar eń a-naspere av hratiarnitia.
[ˈtu.du ˈbi.ɛ̃s ˈy.mɛ̃ ˈʒi.ɐɾ bɐɾs ˈli.bi.ˌɐɾ ˈɛ.ɐ̃ ˈiʔ.vu ˈɛ̃ ˈdɛŋ.nɛ.ˌɾi ˈɛ.ɐ̃ dɾvɑz. ˈʒi.ɐɾ dʒɛv vɛʃ ˈlɑ.ʒɛtʃ ˈɛ.ɐ̃ ˈkã.ʃɛ̃s ˈɛ.ɐ̃ za ˈʒi.ɐ.ˌmɐs-ˈbi.jɐv tu ˈi.xɐ.ˌzɐɾ ɛ̃ ɐ-ˈnɐs.pɛ.ˌɾɛ ɐv ˈr̥ɐ.ti.ˌɐɾ.ni.ˌti.ɐ.]
All beings human give-birth 3P PASS free and equal in dignity and human rights. Give 3P PASS with logic and conscience and CONJ behave 3P JUSS to each other in spirit INDF of fraternity.

Can you tell some more at how you arrived at those changes? And what about the morphosyntax? These changes typically go hand in hand with phonological changes.


JAL

Well the earliest changes were taken from changes already affecting the dialect (such as the NCVS and the Canadian Shift). Later changes (such as the Newfoundland Merger and vowel breaking) are currently affecting nearby dialects of English, and spread to Acadian by mid-millennium. The last few changes were the most arbitrary in the fact that I chose sound changes that occurred in nearby languages (such as French, Canadian Gaelic, and Portuguese) to make it sound like it's been influenced by those languages as well. I also imported some loanwords, especially from those languages as they blended together.

As for grammatical syntax, the sound changes collapsed certain current grammatical structures (like the words no and not, as well as the past tense system), causing new grammatical forms to have to be cobbled together and imported. Some of the others changed of their own accord either to match the new grammatical forms (such as the emphatic mood and the new tense/mood system) or under influence from neighbouring languages (such as modifying adjectives following their nouns). At this point, the core of the language is still Anglic and Germanic, while grammatically it's starting to resemble a Romance language (with agglutinative verb forms thrown in for good measure).

What is "rhotic resurrection?"

Basically people in and around Boston stopped dropping/r/ from syllable codas as the dialects of New England blended together.

Does that happen? Can dialects just stop dropping a coda after it's been dropped?

Yes, since it's happening right now in the New England region.

Of course, this can only happen if there's a neighbouring dialect that has retained the coda, or if there's still a trace of the coda (either in speech, like French liaison and non-rhotic English linking r, or in writing, like Dutch final -n before schwa).


JAL

Which is the case in New England since the neighbouring dialects are all rhotic.

I can imagine Seattle's dialect getting more sibilant and creaky over time as they tire of the "neutral accent" claims.

jal wrote:Of course, this can only happen if there's a neighbouring dialect that has retained the coda, or if there's still a trace of the coda (either in speech, like French liaison and non-rhotic English linking r, or in writing, like Dutch final -n before schwa).


JAL

Not necessarily a 'neighbouring' dialect - thanks to TV and the internet, geographical closeness is no longer necessary for language feature transfer (if it ever was).

Bristel wrote:I can imagine Seattle's dialect getting more sibilant and creaky over time as they tire of the "neutral accent" claims.

Hey, write some stuff up about it!

Salmoneus wrote:Not necessarily a 'neighbouring' dialect - thanks to TV and the internet, geographical closeness is no longer necessary for language feature transfer (if it ever was).

Yeah, you're right, indirect contact may help as well, though I imagine language change to go faster if there's interaction than if it's one way.


JAL

jal wrote:

Salmoneus wrote:Not necessarily a 'neighbouring' dialect - thanks to TV and the internet, geographical closeness is no longer necessary for language feature transfer (if it ever was).

Yeah, you're right, indirect contact may help as well, though I imagine language change to go faster if there's interaction than if it's one way.


JAL

I don't know about that - the pressure to adopt a prestigious language can be very great. Look at all the places where people are adopting English, at least as a second language, and borrowing loads of English loanwords, without any substantial interaction with native English speakers!
Closer to home, young working-class urban men in the UK are adopting / have adopted features of working-class urban male Londoners, with the spread being socioeconomic rather than geographical.

I expect mine to get a few features here and there from Mexican Spanish.

OK. As Welsh revives, English in Wales will pick up more words from it and finally the two languages will merge*, with a Welsh syntax (BE - SUBJ - VERBNOUN) but a lot of English vocabulary. The aspirate mutation will vanish, but the soft and nasal mutations will still be going strong. A reverse soft mutation will develop. Over the border, English will have absorbed a lot of vocabulary from Mandarin, Spanish and Xhosa. Three top-down spelling reforms will have been attempted, all will fail miserably.

*2 to 300 years after Independence.

Mornche Geddick wrote:OK. As Welsh revives, English in Wales will pick up more words from it and finally the two languages will merge*, with a Welsh syntax (BE - SUBJ - VERBNOUN) but a lot of English vocabulary. The aspirate mutation will vanish, but the soft and nasal mutations will still be going strong. A reverse soft mutation will develop. Over the border, English will have absorbed a lot of vocabulary from Mandarin, Spanish and Xhosa. Three top-down spelling reforms will have been attempted, all will fail miserably.

*2 to 300 years after Independence.

preach

Huh? You don't think my post was serious?

Owing to our well-known love-hate relationship with the French, both languages will end up exchanging 90% of the lexicon.The two resulting languages will be even less mutually intelligible than they started.

Corporate-speak will be recognised as an entirely new language. In 20 years time, max, it will have almost nothing in common with the parent. It will be taught in schools and forgotten by most adults.

Politician-speak will die out when somebody develops an algorithm to mute out cliche phrases. However there will be a lapse of time between the widespread adoption of the app, and the political class actually realising nobody's listening to them any more.

Mornche Geddick wrote:the political class actually realising nobody's listening to them any more.

Like that'll ever happen.

Some politicians like Ed Miliband, will realise what is happening and panic. But the ones low on the Dunning-Kruger scale, like Cameron, Osbourne, IDS and the Blairites, will probably never know.

Some will be able to get around it, because they actually have a personality. One unfortunate side effect may be Nigel Farage becoming PM.

Prime Minister Broken Speak-And-Spell That Repeats The Words "Damp Rag" Nonstop, imo

I've played with something like this in the past... lemme see...

(Northern) California English

Phase I: Ongoing vowel shifts (note that this assumes some features will propagate beyond the regions where they are currently prevalent)

/u/ > /iʊ̯/
/oʊ̯/ > /ɛʊ̯/
/ɑ/ > /ɔ/
/æ/ > /iə̯/ /_N
/æ/ > /ɑ/
/ɛ/ > /ɪ/ /_N
/ɛ/ > /æ/
/ʌ/ > /ɛ/
/ʊ/ > /ʌ/
/ɪ/ > /i/ /_ŋ
/ɪ/ > /ɛ/

Phae II: Speculative vowel shifts

/iʊ̯/ >/y/
/ɛʊ̯/ > /œ/
/ɔ/ > /o/
/ʌ/ > /ɔ/
/o/ > /u/
/aʊ̯/ > /o/
/aɪ/, /eɪ/ > /e/
/ɔɪ/ > /œ/

Phase III: Some more out-there shifts

-Coda voiced stops delete following a homorganic nasal
-Word final ts > s
-Post-tonic reduced vowels elide
-Stressed vowels lengthen before coda voiced stops and in open syllables
-Voiced stops devoice; plain stops are voiced between vowels (the language now has aspirated and voiced stops, which contrast only initially and in stressed syllable onsets)


I might add more, but here's an example for now:

Dude, those back vowel shifts are, like, hella crazy

[duːd | ðoʊz bæk vaʊl ʃɪfts ɑɹ | laɪk | hɛlə kʰɹeɪzi] > [tyːt | ðœz pɑk vol ʃɛfs ɑ˞ː | lek | hæl kʰɹezi]

(Estuary English, SE England) I reckon l-vocalisatn will go permanent and the vowels will all go haywire (I'm on tablet, so can't write a list righ now. Full , fool and fall may merge (they sort of have already).

Intrusive-r will become proper, soaring and sawing will be both percieved as rhotic or... the whole linking-r thing will disappear. Or it might be a chance for a phonemic distinction to rise between r with labial approximant and r without, though I don't see this as very likely without isolating the accent.

American influence will be felt more. I know some words I pronounce follow GA rather than RP. Part of this may be an increase of t-tapping.
Glottal stops will make a more permanent appearance, but may even be contrasted with t-flapping.

Just a few ideas... to start with.