East-C Altaic'
Yet another phonology excercize. This one originated from the observation that labialized velars are common; labial-velars and labialized uvulars are restricted to certain areas, but still common within them. These areas (chiefly: west Africa on one hand, Ethiopia and northwest America on the other) however do not overlap [1], and thus labial-uvular consonants do not exist in any natlang. Clearly this a basically random gap that needs to be filled! The overall sound here seems so far quite unique to me, which is good.
This will probably eventually be forked to a separate daughterlang page.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Postalveolar | Velar | Labial-velar | Uvular | Labial-uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless stops (P) | p | t | c /ʧ/ | k | kp | q | qp | ||
| Voiced stops (B) | b | d | dr /ɖ/ | j /ʤ/ | g | gb | xb /ɢb/ | ||
| Nasals (N) | m | n | nr /ɳ/ | ŋ (ng) | gm /ŋm/ | xm /ɴm/ | |||
| Fricativs (F) | v /β/ | s | sr /ʂ/ | sy /ʃ/ | x /ʁ/ | h | |||
| Approximants (A) | l | ll /ɭ/ | y /j/ | w |
- /β/ is written <b> after /t/ and in some words intervocally.
- /ʂ ʃ/ are written <s> in coda position.
- /ɭ/ is written <l> before another retroflex.
Long vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Hi | í /iː/ | ú /uː/ |
| Mid | ie /iɛ̯/ | ua /uɔ̯/ |
| Lo | é /aɪ̯/ | á /ɑː/ |
Short vowels
Hi i, u /ɪ ~ ʊ/; lo e, a /ɛ ~ ʌ/.
There's a front-back harmony in effect which prohibits short back vowels occuring after front vowels, and vice versa. Factor in that the first vowel of a word is always long, and hey presto, we have only two short arkivowels.
A final lo short vowel is reduced to shwa or elided wholesale before a word beginning with a sonorant.
Stress
Final if it's a long vowel, on the penult if that has a long vowel but the final doesn't, initial otherwise. In the first 2 cases, there's secondary initial stress.
Phonotax
CV{t, c, S, m, n, ŋ, L}
dr nr ll xm do not occur word-initially. b does not occur intervocally.
Occuring clusters:
- tP tŋ tb (=/tβ/) ty tw
- ck cy cw
- SP Sv SS Sw
- This arkiphoneme is /ʂ/ before another /ʂ/, /ʃ/ before /ʃ ʧ/, as well as word-finally or before a non-coronal after a front vowel; and /s/ elsewhere.
- mp
- n + coronal other than /ɖ ɳ ɭ l/; ny nw
- ŋP ŋB ŋŋ ŋF ŋl ŋy ŋw
- except ŋb ŋɖ ŋʤ
- ŋq ŋqp ŋx ŋxb have [ɴ]
- lP lB lF ly lw
- ldr lsr are /ɭɖ ɭʂ/)
A final t or c is elided before a word beginning with a voiced stop.
Sound changes from Proto-East Altaic'
(partial list)
- Vowel shift:
- e → əɪ → aɪ
- æ → ɛ → iɛ
- ʊ → ɔ → uɔ
- stage 2 conditional - block'd in closed syllables (prenasals notwithstanding)
- syncope
- ɪ ɜ → ɪ~ʊ, ɛ~ʌ as decribed
- ʈ → ɽ
- Prenasalization drops before stops, creating a voiced stop series
- also mβ → mw → ŋw intervocally
- remaining preconsonantal non-postvocalic nasals vocalize
- Labialized velars & uvulars become labial-velars & -uvulars
- ɢ → ʁ; b → β intervocally
- cluster cleanup:
- elimination of 1st member
- t d → ∅ / _ɽ
- regressiv gemination
- m n → l / _l
- S → N / _N
- t → m / _m
- P → S / _S
- tb → tβ
- labiodorsalization w/ regressiv voicing
- kb km → gb ŋm
- qb qm → ɢb ɴm
- gp gm → kp ŋm
- etc.
- sj → ʃ
- elimination of 1st member
- ɽ → ɭ in coda position, → ɖ intervocally, → ∅ elsewhere
- ll → ɭ
- ʂ, ʃ → j intervocally in front-harmonic context, later generalized in certain suffixes to back-harmonic context too
Test words
| orthography | pronunciation | late PEA'? |
|---|---|---|
| diesetbeyi | /ˈdiɛ̯sɛtβɛjɪ/ | *dēsa-t-baṣ-ī |
| srúxmu | /ˈʂuːɴmʊ/ | *ṣū-q-mi |
| syétbenná | /ˌʃaɪ̯tβɛnˈnɑː/ | *šay-t-baṣ-nā |
| nguajasqí | /ˌŋuɔʤʌsˈqiː/ | *ŋ°ōnja-səq-ī |
| déxessikpi | /ˌdaɪ̯ʁɛsːɪkpɪ/ | *ndayŋxa-səq-sik°i |
