User:Soap/PC

The PC languages were spoken by the aboriginals of the northeast of Rilola, and possibly also the northwest. They had been diverging for about 15000 years by the time of contact with Play speakers, but it is likely that one group overtook the rest at some point, perhaps multiple times, rather than having them diverge from each other for all 15000 years.

This may replace Haswaraba, despite the fact that cultures are in different places. See Outer Poswob languages for details, though I may have lost all records of the sound changes. It is possible that they are [1], and if so the phonology I was using for the parent language is very different from what it is now (it even had /f/).

The name PC describes its shifting the labiovelars to bilabials and the palatals to postalveolars, leaving just a single velar series. Note however that SE Laban, the branch that leads to MRCA, also does this, and may even do it before PC does.

PC languages are also spoken on Fox Island, with two possible areas of non-PC: one in the interior ("the center of the island"), and one at the southern tip. These remnant areas might be Zenith or a group all its own, or one each.

Source phonology

See Primordial scratchpad.

Bilabials:      ph  p   b   m   
Linguolabials:  þh  þ   ð
Alveolars:      th  t   d   n   l   r   s
Postalveolars:      č       ň       ř   š
Palatals:       ćh  ć       ń   y
Velars:         kh  k   ġ   ŋ  (Ø)      x
Labiovelars:    kʷh kʷ  ġʷ  ŋʷ (w)      xʷ
Glottals:                           h

The aspirated stops were derived partly from earlier clusters of voiceless stop + fricative, and it is possible that this change actually took place post-Primordial and thus needs to be added below. Even if so, it is likely the aspirates existed in the beginning too, even if rarer.

The /č/ may actually be /tš/. The phonology was earlier written up with a gap there.

The vowels were probably at least /a i u ə/ with two or more tones.

There were no long vowels; if MRCA needs them (as it seems to), these can be explained by a lost coda. Although it is possible that the long vowels will still be needed and that lack of long vowels can only be achieved if analyzing /u:/ as /ɨw/ and the like.

The scarcity of postalveolars is probably due to a shift like /s/ > /h/ followed by /č š/ > /s/, though this is not on the sound change list as of 11:33, 7 January 2025 (PST) and the existing sound change list implies /s/ will only be in a few environments.

NOTE: It appears that there must have been some second set of vowels, carrying a quality lost in MRCA, that led to a vowel split in this branch. This means that it does not actually drop down to just two vowels plus Vʷ. Tone cannot serve this purpose, but it is possible that the distinction shifted to tone in MRCA. This is what the original n/ŋ distinction was meant to do, so perhaps there merely needs to be another coda that serves as the "velar" counterpart for Ø coda (open syllables). It is most likely that the coda symbolized X below is rarer than /ŋ/, meaning that those vowels will be more often nasal than not. It can even be that there is no X, and that the vowels exist only as nasals, in which case they would most likely become oral vowels quickly.

Primordial to Cave of the Swimmers

Stage I

1. The postalveolars š č shifted to h, including the shifts of clusters like pš kš. There should be no /tš/.
2. The clusters ts ks shifted to ss. And ps kʷs shifted to ssʷ (a labialized geminate). These both became single in word-initial position.
3. Low-tone sequences in iŋ un uŋ shifted to ṅ ŋ̇ ṁ ṁʷ in the coda.
4. Low-tone im um also became ṁ ṁʷ in the coda.
5. Remaining in iŋ un uŋ became ʸĩ ʸə̃ ĩ ũ in the coda. NOTE: It may be that all nasal vowels are long. Then im um likewise became ʸə̃ ũ. The /im/ shift might be wrong. (remember that there was earlier an /ɯ/ in this list)
6. Then i iX shifted to ʸi ʸə. Here, X is an unknown coda that might remain as vowel length in the open-syllable case.
7. This new palatalization was lost after all labials and labiovelars.
8. The sequence aX shifted to ā in the coda. The sequences an aŋ merged to ã in the coda.
9. The sequences u uX became i ⁽ʷ⁾u, except that a true /u/ remained after the labiovelars and perhaps also the bilabials.
10. Coda əm ən əŋ shifted to ə̃ ə̃ ĩ.
11. Coda əX became i: or perhaps (nonlabialized) u.
12. Onset clusters like ps (if there still were any) reduced to voiceless aspirates.
13. All geminate stops became single. All word-final stops were deleted. (This does not imply that geminates always corresponded to X.)
14. The postalveolars ň ř shifted to n r, even before /i/, meaning that these vowels were depalatalized.
15. The palatals ć ń shifted to š ň unconditionally.
16. The linguolabials þ ð shifted to p b.
17. The glottal fricative h shifted to f before a back vowel, and disappeared to Ø otherwise. NOTE: this language cannot go without /h/, so something may have been missed (such as /x/ > /h/).
18. The labialized consonant xʷ shifted to f.

    The details of this shift may change. At least one of /kʷ ġʷ ŋʷ/ may also shift to a pure labial, depending on shifts above. If /pu bu mu/ are all retained as distinct from /pi bi mi/, as seems likely, there is no need for the labiovelars to fill a gap.

19. Any remaining ʷu was delabialized to u at least phonemically. It is possible that the labiovelars continued to occur before /a ə i/, in which case this shift is meaningless.

Stage II

1. The sequence -uf- collapsed to ʷh.
2. Low-tone, non-nasal ʸi i u shifted to ʸ Ø ʷ, except that /ʸi/ may have remained in initial position. The nasals may have been slightly lower in the mouth and hence slightly more resistant to dropping; if not, the nasality itself may have given the syllable extra weight.

   An argument for /ʸi/ also disappearing is that /ʷi/ typically behaves like IPA [y], with no audible glide, so therefore /ʸi/ may also have no audible glide. However, retaining /ʸi/ would mean that three vowels could begin a word, rather than just two, and this may be a good thing later on.

3. Any new sequences of voiced stops plus /h/ (e.g. bh) became voiceless aspirates (like ph).
4. In word-final position, voiced stops like b d ġ and aspirates like ph th kh both shifted to plain voiceless stops like p t k.
5. All low-tone vowels were denasalized.
6. Stop-nasal combinations like bm pm became geminate voiced stops like bb.
7. Remaining voiced stops like b d ġ shifted to fricatives like v ð g, except in clusters (see below).
8. It is most likely that the voiced geminates such as bb simplified to single stops like b around this time. (The shift could have even been done in one step.)
9. Before a labial or labiovelar coda, the vowels a i u ə shifted to o u u o. It may be in fact that /i/ shifted to /ʷi/; that is, that the labialization crossed to the preceding syllable by way of IPA [y].
10. Velars became palatal before /i/.
11. Labialization was deleted in initial position (and most likely everywhere else).
12. Tones were eliminated.

OLDER INFO

This may be revived for s different branch.

Swimmer Stage II

1. The sequences ku bu mu fu (when on a low tone) shifted to k b m f. If another consonant followed, they assimilated in place to that consonant, with f becoming aspiration. They may have nonetheless retained a labial element.
2. It is most likely that at least some coda b becomes p immediately, meaning that /p/ and /k/ can contrast there.
3. The sequences ći ǵi ńi śi shifted to ć ǵ ń ś. It is likely that these too assimilated in POA but may have retained some palatal element.
4. The sequence ři shifted to r. It did not retain any palatal element.
5. The velar fricative x shifted to h.
6. The consonants ǵ ǯ shifted to ž.
7. The consonants ś ć č (where they remained) all merged into š, but a phonemic geminate form resembling [č:] may have persisted, and the fricative [š:] would need a different analysis.
8. The palatal nasal ń shifted to ň.
9. All geminate stops became voiceless. (this may even shift if the original is /pm/). The geminate /ǯ/ also existed from combinations like -giň-.
10. Then, ž shifted to z. (It is possible that /ð/ is really /z/, in which case this shift would not happen.)
11. Word-initial geminates simplified to singles. Many of these were labialized or palatalized, and probably none were plain.

It is possible that the plain voiced stops had become fricatives by this point and that clusters like /bb bm/ became the new voiced stops. However the lists currently do not show this option.

At this point the allowable codas were

p  b  m  f
   r  n     z
      ň  š  
      ŋ

But it is possible some shifts were missed above. For example, losing /ŋ/ would free mid vowels from needing a coda.

Consonant inventory (Swimmer II)

The full consonant inventory, assuming the voiced fricatives survived, and voiceless fricatives developed from /ʰ/ with these, would be

Labials:        pʰ  p   b   m   f           v
Alveolars:      tʰ  t   d   n   s   l   r   z
Postalveolars:          ǯ   ň   š           ž 
Palatals:           ć:         (ś:) y
Dorsals:        kʰ  k   ġ   ŋ   h           g

Voiceless geminates existed, but there were few if any voiceless aspirated geminates.

Swimmer Stage III

OPTION 1:

Since geminates were marked even between vowels, these now also simplified, leaving labialized and palatalized consonants in their wake. This implies the loss of codas generally, and that syllables will be front-loaded ("twa").

OPTION 2:

Geminates and other clusters can be kept, making the syllable CVC, but the three-way contrast between pal/plain/lab must reduce to two since otherwise there will be no plain geminates. This implies that syllables will be of the "tau" type.

These are not two languages, but two options for the same language. It is possible nonetheless that they will branch at near this point and end up taking these two paths but not at this precise point.

Stage III Option Ia

This assumes the mid vowel was /ə/.

1. Nasal+stop clusters become prenasals.
2. Any m+C cluster labialized the following consonant; any ń+C cluster palatalized the following consonant.
3. Any p b before a consonant labialized that consonant and then disappeared. There may not have been any /b/ in this position.
4. Additionally, p b m shifted to pw bw mw, though they likely shifted back under some conditions.
5. Any š z before a consonant palatalized that consonant and then disappeared. (This is a different pattern than the other branch.) This also canceled any labialization.
6. Any remaining non-nasal codas disappeared, lengthening the vowel if possible.
7. All nasal codas shifted to n.
8. The sequences wə wi shifted to o u.
9. The schwa vowel ə shifted to e. This creates /pe be me/ only when they had been palatalized.

Stage III Option Ib

Another way to do this is to retain the glides, and have an inventory like /yi i wu/ on the top row. This might eventually create a four-vowel system, as in Ogili, where two gaps in a five-vowel system closed up to make four full vowels.

This assumes the mid vowel was /ə/.

1. Nasal+stop clusters become prenasals.
2. Any m+C cluster labialized the following consonant; any ń+C cluster palatalized the following consonant.
3. Any p b before a consonant labialized that consonant and then disappeared. There may not have been any /b/ in this position. In this option, the plain labials did not become rounded.
4. Any š z before a consonant palatalized that consonant and then disappeared. (This is a different pattern than the other branch.) This also canceled any labialization.
5. The sequences wə wi shifted to wo wu. If this language follows the pattern of Ogili, this will later shift to /u wu/.
6. Word-final nasals and all other codas were deleted. Prenasals were retained.

The vowel system at this time was /ya a wa/ + /yə ə/ + /yi i/ + /wo wu/, the last of which might shift to /u wu/. It is however unlikely that this would shift further to /yu u/ as this would mean that /yu/ would be about as common as plain /u/, whereas for the front vowels the palatal forms would be much less common. It is possible that inherited /ň š/ would survive labialization.

Stage III Option II

This list assumes the mid vowel was /ə/.

1. Any ə i before a labial coda shifted to o u. This excludes the aspiration that came from earlier /f/.
2. Any z in the coda or adjacent to a voiceless consonant shifted to s. In fact, it probably all shifted either to s or to something else such as assimilation.
3. Any š in the coda shifted to s. THERE IS A CHANCE THIS COULD SURVIVE, but consider first whether it will affect preceding vowels or not. For example, it could actually labialize instead of palatalize.
4. Any ň in the coda shifted to n, if it was not already homorganic. This helps the mid vowel phonemicize.
5. The codas p b shifted to ʔ :, meaning a high tone and a long vowel. In Lava Bed languages, these are usually both considered tones. It is possible that the word-internal clusters continued to be written as such.
6. Any remaining coda f shifted to :ʔ, which is a long high tone, or a rising tone. But remember that most of this shifted to aspiration very early, and that this may have only existed in word-final position.
7. All other codas probably became toneless. (But remember that Leaper distinguished a reduced tone set on closed syllables.)
8. The schwa vowel moved to e.

The allowable codas were now /m n ŋ s r/.

The consonant inventory was

Labials:        pʰ  p   b   m
Alveolars:      tʰ  t   d   n   s   l   r    
Palataloids:                ň   š  (y) 
Dorsals:        kʰ  k   ġ   ŋ   h 

And the five vowels were /a e i o u/, but there were still major gaps for certain combinations of CV and VT (tone).

It is possible that the aspirates will shift to fricatives, while /h/ disappears, and then the new /x/ shifts to /h/.

Grammar

A closed class of adjectives for humans existed, where the stem of the adjective was surrounded by a circumfix marking gender and age.

THe gender prefixes t- l- probably trace all the way back to Primordial, since they are needed for this system, and it is unlikely that they had had a vowel padding. This means that vowel-initial adjectives existed in this closed class.

There may be a plural suffix -u.

For pronouns, see User:Soap/scratchpad#Gluons. There may have been a regular pronominal accusative suffix -l (despite it looking like a prefix) which passed into MRCA, and may or may not have been the sole marker in Primordial. Common nouns used -i by the time of MRCA but this may have been much more complicated and unpredictable in Prim.

The 1st and 2nd person identity/possessor suffixes are -m -t, but they may not have been suffixes originally. The corresponding agent prefixes appear to have been n- G-, where G is any consonant that can turn into MRCA /g~Ø/ and might most likely have been originally /h/.

Note that it's not clear the proto-language allowed final /-m -t/, so these might have been CV suffixes even if at a still earlier stage they really were /m t/.