View source for Proto-West Altaic'

==[[Proto-Altaic']] to Erly Proto-West Altaic'==
*/s ʂ/ → [ts tʂ] and /ɽ/ → [ɖ] when initial or prenasalized
*Lenition of dorsal stops to fricativs in vicinity of other stops
*Retroflexes (but not the palato-alveolar sibilant allophones) acquire velarization
*/w/ is also possibly alreddy [βˠ] by this stage (areal influence? CF [[Proto-Betamax]])
*/N/ drops before affricates and [ɖ], phonemicizing 'em
*Lengthening of stress'd nonclose vowels; /a/ attracts stress from a close vowel
*Reduction of /ɛ ɔ a/ to [ə] when unstress'd (also aj aw → əj əw)

==Erly to mid PWA'==
Till ca. -3ka.

Middle PWA' had two main dialects: [[Northern Altaic'|Northern]], spoken in the vicinity of the Aral Sea; and Southern, spoken as a continuum across a wide area south of this, with the most important subdialects being West proper just south of the Caspian Sea, and [[Proto-Sadabax]], spoken around where Samarkand exists in reality.
*/ɪ ʊ/ → /e o/, phonemicizing length
*Fronting /u/ → /ʉ/
*Before uvulars, /ei ai/ smooth to /eː ɛː/
*General difthong raising
**/ə əi əu/ → /ʌ ɪi ʊu/
**/ai au ou/ → /əi ou əu/.
**(There may be some confusion between *əi, *ai and *əu, *ou however, will hafta wait for stress details)
*/x xʷ Nx Nxʷ χ χʷ Nχ Nχʷ/ → /h f ŋh mh ħ fˤ ŋħ mħ/
*Retroflex stops (but generally not affricates) → velars before front vowels, emphatics elsewhere; [ɽˠ] → /ɡ/ consistently

From here on, dialect divisions appear:

*POA chain shift involving labials. The results differ a bit by the dialect - West proper develops an emphasis contrast, while North shifts this further to a palatalization / velarization contrast (in some cases with a third dimension too). This all may have been brought about from contact with the [[Transcaspian']] family.
** /kʷ qʷ/ → /p pˤ/ (South), /pˠ kʴ/ (North)
** /p f fˤ/ → /t̻ s̻ s̻ˤ/ (South), /pʲ fʲ fˠ/ (North)
** Note that this dedorsalization is later than the one affecting spirants, since their reflexes behave here as labials!
*Approximant drift
**/l/ → /n̻/
**/j/ → /ɟ/ → /dʲ/ (North), → /d̻/ (South)
**/w/ → /βˠ/ → /bˠ/ (North), → /bˤ/ (South)
*/q/ → /kˤ/ [qˤ] (South), /kʴ/ (North)
*/s̻/ → /sʲ/ (North and Sadabax)
** --hang on, where does North get this /s̻/? Is there a split development of *f or *h?
*/ts/ → /s̻/ (only in West)
*/ɪi ʊu/ → /i u/ (remember, these are unstress'd only)
*/i e ə/ → /ʉ/ [ɵ] /ɔ/ when before /u/ etc. (in North, only the last of these seems to occur)
*Unrounding /ʉ/ → /ɨ/
*/aː/ → /oa/ → /ua/, leaving the dialects without an open vowel at all and prompting different repair strategies:
**In West proper, /o ɔː/ → /a(ː)/, triggering a chain shift: /oː/ → /ɔː/, /ou/ → /oː/
**In North, /ɨ/ → /a/
*More difthong raising:
**/ei/ → /iː/ (general)
**/ou/ → /uː/ (North and Sadabax; West cf. prev.)
**/əi əu/ → /ɨi ɨu/ (South), furthermore /ɨi/ → /ɨː/ (West only)
**/əi əu/ → /iː uː/ (North, but without palatalization/velarization)
* Southern /kˤ/ → West /ʔ/
** in Sadabax, all non-emphatic stops lenited (may be late): /p b t̻ d̻ t ts k g/ → /f v θ ð ɾ s x ɣ/, /pˤ bˤ tˤ dˤ kˤ/ → /p b t d k/

==Mid to late PWA'==
ca. -1.5ka
*/t tʂ s n/ → /ṯ ṯ s̱ ṉ/ (with the [ʧ] allophone also generalized to both stops)
*Voicing processes (or maybe later? NB /h ħ/ will not voice)
*Introduce /ɬ̻ ɬˤ/, whence /l̻ ɫ/ (cf. [[East Persian']]!)
*/θˤ/ → /ħ/, /ɫ/
*Velar rounding before /ua/, which itself returns to /aː/ (& elsewhere?)
**also hʷ → xʷ
* Short vowels lengthen before _CLASS (short sonorants?); also /i/ → /iə/
**[ɵ] returns to /e/; however [ɵː] breiks → [eɔ]
* Insertion of shwa before _CLASS (pharyngeals?), with length and /ee ɛɛ/, /oo ɔɔ/ contrasts neutralized
**/iə ɨə uə/ remain difthongs; the last of these attracts remaining /ua/ 
*[ə] renormalizes to [ɔ] outside of difthongs
**[eɔ aɔ] → [ɛː ɔː]
*Pharyngeal harmony (spills over into vowels too)
**Emphasis spreds thru a word unless blocked by a velar obstruent or nasal.
**The laminal/apical distinction in coronals is neutralized when emphatic.

{|
|-
| rowspan="2" colspan="2"|
! colspan="2"| Labial
! rowspan="2"| Lamino-<br/>dental
! colspan="2"| Apico-<br/>postalveolar
! colspan="2"| Velar
! colspan="2"| Laryngeal
|-
!<small>Plain</small>
!<small>Emphatic</small>
!<small>Plain</small>
!<small>Emphatic</small>
!<small>Plain</small>
!<small>Labial</small>
!<small>Plain</small>
!<small>Emphatic</small>
|- align="center"
! align="left" rowspan="2"| Stops
! align="left"| <small>Voiceless</small>
| p
| pˤ
| t̻
| ṯ
| ṯˤ
| k
| kʷ
| (ʔ ~ ∅)
|
|- align="center"
! align="left"| <small>Voiced</small>
| b
| bˤ
| d̻
| ḏ
| ḏˤ
| ɡ
| ɡʷ
|- align="center"
! align="left" rowspan="2"| Fricatives
! align="left"| <small>Voiceless</small>
|
|
| s̻
| s̱
| ʂˣ
|
| xʷ
| h
| ħ
|- align="center"
! align="left"| (<small>Voiced</small>
|
|
| z̻
| ẕ
| ʐˠ
|
| (ɣʷ))
|- align="center"
! align="left" colspan="2"| Nasals
| m
| mˤ
| n̻
| ṉ
| ṉˤ
| ŋ
|- align="center"
! align="left" colspan="2"| Laterals
| ||
| l̻
| (ḻ)
| ɫ
|- align="center"
! align="left" colspan="2"| Semivowels
| || || ||
| ɻˠ
| align="left" | j
| w
|}

(Depending on the font, the laminality signs (subsc. square) may look like dentality sings (subsc. bridge), but since they're dental anyway, that's no problem.)

[[Category:Earth']]