Old Mkroh

[Travis B.]

Old Mkroh is a language I've started working on that is descended from Proto-Tshyak, but which has radically changed its syntax and morphology from a SVO, head-initial, serial verb-heavy language with minimal nominal morphology to an SOV, mostly head-final, case-heavy language (while still retaining serial verbs).

Aside from word order and syntax, its largest innovation is its cases which, aside from its ergative and absolutive cases, are derived from serial verbs that became reduced and attached to their objects as clitics (cases attach to NPs rather than to nouns). Also, while Proto-Tshyak only marks animate nouns for number, it has innovated marking inanimate nouns for number as well, combining this with an animacy distinction for dual and plural nouns in all cases (Proto-Tshyak only distinguished animacy in ergative case). It largely preserves Proto-Tshyak verbal morphology, aside from innovating number marking on verbs for the animate argument that is highest in the person hierarchy (derived from Proto-Tshyak number marking for SAPs).

Anyways, I should post something else about it, so you do not have to go to the link above, so here is the phonology:

Consonants

Nasals: /m mʲ n nʷ nʲ ɲ ŋ ŋʷ/ m my n ny nw ŋy ŋ ŋw
Voiced stops: /b bʲ d dʷ dʲ ɟ g gʷ/ b by d dw dy gy g gw
Unaspirated voiceless stops: /p pʲ t tʷ tʲ c k kʷ ʔ ʔʷ ʔʲ/ p py t tw ty ky k kw ʔ ʔw ʔy
Aspirated voiceless stops: /pʰ pʲʰ tʰ tʷʰ tʲʰ cʰ kʰ kʷʰ/ ph pyh th twh tyh kyh kh kwh
Voiced affricates: /dz dzʷ dzʲ dʑ dʑʷ/ dz dzw dzy dź dźw
Unaspirated voiceless africates: /ts tsʷ tsʲ tɕ tɕʷ/ ts tsw tsy tś tśw
Aspirated voiceless affricates: /tsʰ tsʷʰ tsʲʰ tɕʰ tɕʷʰ/ tsh tswh tsyh tśh tśwh
Fricatives: /ʍ s sʷ sʲ ɕ ɕʷ ɬ ɬʷ ç h/ hw s sw sy ś św hl hlw hy h
Voiceless liquids: /ɻ̥ ɻ̥ʷ/ hr hrw
Voiced liquids: /ɻ ɻʷ l lʷ/ r rw l lw
Semivowels: /w j/ w y

Vowels

Monophthongs

Close: /i u/ i u
Mid: /e/ [ə] /o/ e o
Open: /a/ a

Diphthongs

Rising: /iə uə/ ie uo

Tones

High: í é á ó ú íe úo
Mid-rising: ǐ ě ǎ ǒ ǔ ǐe ŭo
Mid: i e a o u ie uo
Low: ì è à ò ù ìe ùo

Syllable Structure and Phonotactics

C({ɻ l w j})V({p t k m n ŋ ɻ l w j})

Initial syllables may be preceded by prefixes of /ʔ ɻ l/ followed by [ə] except for syllables starting in approximants. /w j/ can only follow /ʔ/. /ɻ l/ can only follow nasals, plosives, and sibilant fricatives, and /l/ cannot follow coronal plosives. Nominal suffixes tend to be open syllables even when historically derived from closed syllables. Non-initial syllables also tend to be unaspirated.

[Nortaneous]

/w j/ can only follow /ʔ/.

Why are these clusters not /ʔʷ/ and /ʔʲ/?

[Chengjiang]

Can liquids follow a palatalized consonant? If so, is the liquid allophonically palatalized?

[Travis B.]

Can liquids follow a palatalized consonant? If so, is the liquid allophonically palatalized?

Liquids can only follow non-palatalized, non-labialized consonants. They derive from historically labialized liquids, which were labialized instead of the consonant before it, and which later were delabialized, while non-labialized liquids after consonants in onsets shifted to j, which then became palatalization of the preceding consonants.

[Travis B.]

Here are three examples:

Byè

all

kyá

food

-ʔyá

-DEF

la-

RES.PFV-

mà

eat.PFV

-śe

-DIR

-ʔǎk.

-2

You ate all the food.

Swuoy

king

-á

-DEF

-li

-ERG.ANIM

tsǐey

sea

-á

-DEF

yuo

-ABL

na

REL

yo

3.SG

tsǐey

sea

-á

-DEF

-lè

-LAT

na

REL

srò

land

-ra

-DEF

dźěk

rule.IPFV

-húo.

-REP

The king ruled the land from the sea to the sea.

Rkyǎn

language

-grò

-Mkroh

-ʔyá

-DEF

-hwǒ

-ADE

byè

all

khów

day

-tsú

-INE

kwhò

speak.IPFV

-śe

-DIR

-ʔǎk.

-2

You talk about Mkroh all day long.

Phrúoŋyá

grass.DEF

-hwǎ

-ALL

mǐy

urinate.IPFV

tyhǎk!

stop.PFV

Stop pissing on the grass!

Tsǎkyá

Tshyak.DEF

yo

3.SG

rǐkyá

place.DEF

-tsú

-INE

na

REL

grò

Mkroh

-ʔyá

-DEF

-mǐ

-INST

kwhò

speak.IPFV

-śe

-DIR

-ʔám.

-1

I speak Mkroh instead of Tshyak.

[Travis B.]

/w j/ can only follow /ʔ/.

Why are these clusters not /ʔʷ/ and /ʔʲ/?

Because in clusters of /ʔ/ and a following sonorant, I treat the /ʔ/ more as a preinitial and the sonorant as an initial rather than /ʔ/ as the initial and the sonorant as the medial. Or in other words, /ʔ/ does not palatalize or labialize, and sonorants after them are preserved.

[Travis B.]

For the record, in Proto-Tshyak there were a rounded series and an unrounded series of back vowels; rounded back vowels and /w/ labialized non-labial, non-palatal, non-/ʔ/ consonants before them, and in turn unrounded back vowels rounded and /w/ was lost except after /ʔ/. Afterwards /j/ was lost after consonants except after /h/, where it had already merged with it as [ç], and /ʔ/. Subsequently, non-labialized /ɻ l/ > [j j] > palatalization and then /ɻʷ lʷ/ > [ɻ l]. Note that this did not all happen at once, which is reflected by coverbs that turned into case endings causing palatalization from initial /j/ even after /j/ after C had been originally lost in roots themselves.

[Travis B.]

I change my mind; I will have glides after /ʔ/ behave like glides after any initial.