Macro-Pabap languages

The Macro-Pabap languages are regional languages descended from Gold but further apart from Pabappa and Poswa than those two are to each other. They could be considered a stem group of Pabappa.

Gold (1900) to Proto-Highland Poswob (2668)

1. At the end of a syllable, the pharyngeal fricative ʕ disappeared and changed the previous vowel to a high tone. It also voiced the following consonant.
2. Syllable-final k ḳ ŋ changed to kʷ ḳʷ ŋʷ. A few compound words in which the second element began with a vowel or a suppressed consonant split into doublets depending on whether the free (labiovelar) or bound (plain velar) version of the morpheme was generalized in the compound.
3. In initial position, the labialized coronals tʷ dʷ nʷ shifted to t d n. Elsewhere, they decoupled to the sequences tu du nu.
4. The bilabial approximant w changed to v (in internal reconstructions, also spelled "β") before a vowel.
5. Then l lʷ both became w (not */v/) in all positions although it retained a rhotic allophone.

Proto-Highland Poswob to Wimpus

See Paba#Pabaps_move_to_Nama. Wimpus is the first state on the north slope that came to adopt an MP language; the states on the south slope and along the continental divide may or may not have retained their earlier languages.

Proto-Gold to Yeisu Kasu

Note that the sound changes listed here might be incorrect, as they are not linked to the template at Babakiam/Sound changes.

1. At the end of a syllable, the pharyngeal fricative ʕ disappeared and changed the previous vowel to a high tone. It also voiced the following consonant.
2. Syllable-final k ḳ ŋ changed to kʷ ḳʷ ŋʷ. A few compound words in which the second element began with a vowel or a suppressed consonant split into doublets depending on whether the free (labiovelar) or bound (plain velar) version of the morpheme was generalized in the compound.
3. In initial position, the labialized coronals tʷ dʷ nʷ shifted to t d n. Elsewhere, they decoupled to the sequences tu du nu.
4. The bilabial approximant w changed to v (in internal reconstructions, also spelled "β") before a vowel.
5. Then l lʷ both became w (not */v/) in all positions although it retained a rhotic allophone.

   NOTE ON POLITICS: Proto-Highland Poswa breaks off here.

6. The labiovelar consonants kʷ ḳʷ hʷ gʷ became p ṗ f v unconditionally.
7. Sequences of two vowels in which the first vowel was i or u became rising diphthongs. Then all clusters of a consonant followed by a semivowel came to be pronounced as coarticulated single consonants. Thus pua became pʷa, pia became pʲa, and so on. ñ was assimilated as nʲ.
8. Stressed syllabic nasals were opened to sequences containing a schwa.
9. The voiced fricative g assimilated to a neighboring glide /j/ or /w/, thus creating sequences of /jj/ and /ww/. The shift thus was gj jg gw wg > jj jj ww ww. This includes g after /ī/ and /ū/.
10. The cluster dh shifted to ð.
11. The voiced fricatives ð z g became silent between vowels and occasionally in initial position (due to compounding).

Yeisu Kasu (3100) to Mevumep (4100)

Spoken in Mevumep.

*FIND UPDATED VERSION OF THIS*!!!

Thus the language now had the consonants

Bilabials:      p   ṗ   b   m   f   β   w
Alveolars:      t       d   n   s   z
Palataloids:    č       ǯ           ž   y
Velars:         k   ḳ   ġ   ŋ   h   g
Pharyngeals:                    ħ   ʕ

Voiced stops had an odd distribution, occuring almost entirely in word-initial position. Word-internally, the contrast was not between voiced and voiceless stops but between single and double voiceless ones. These two contrasts were not related to each other, but loans from Babakiam into CV languages often treated the single voiceless stops as voiced stops in intervocalic position.

There may have also been a marginal /š/ and /x/.

1. Inherited schwa comes to be spelled ə. (A spelling change to distinguish it from IPA /e/).
2. The inherited voiced spread bilabial fricative β shifted to v.
3. The voiceless ejective stops ṗ ḳ became plain voiced stops b ġ between vowels or after a nasal. The voiced velar stop /ġ/ was not contrastive with the voiced velar fricative /g/, however, because they occurred in complementary environments. Therefore, in some word roots, they merged.
4. Vowel sequences collapse: ài àu became ē ō, and əi əu become ī ū. Likewise, ăi ău became ĕ ŏ; there was no fourth set because all diphthongs containing schwa had been moved to the low tone during the changes of the parent language. The sequences ăa əa shift to ă.

   This relies on the idea that a short rising tone is likely to become low, and a short falling tone is likely to become high.

5. Further collapse: àə ìə ùə əə shifted to ā ī ū ə̄. (Nasal?)
6. The voiceless fricatives f þ s h ħ became v d z g Ø between vowels. This also removes ʕ.
7. The clusters sf ss sh became the single consonants f s h. (Note the lack of */sþ/ and */sħ/ inherited from the parent language.)
8. The voiced fricative g became v adjacent to a labial vowel in either direction.
9. The voiced fricatives d z g became ž adjacent to a palatal vowel in either direction.
10. The voiced stops d ġ became the approximants r g unconditionally (not just intervocalically).
11. The voiceless stops p t č k became the voiced stops b d ǯ ġ intervocalically. This shift was ignored in compounds because the only compounds in which it could occur were those which also had a grammatical alternant form with a doubled stop, which did not undergo the shift.
12. The voiceless ejective stop ṗ became p before another stop.
13. The clusters pp pt ps pk changed to p t c k unconditionally. These could not occur after a breve tone.
14. The voiced velar fricative g disappeared between vowels.
15. The clusters mb nd ŋġ became mm nn ŋŋ.
16. The voiced velar stops ǯ ġ became ž g unconditionally. /d/ was also a fricative in some environments, but this was not a phonemic contrast.
17. The clusters mp nt nč ŋk became mb nd nǯ ŋg.
18. The voiceless fricative s disappeared before any stop or nasal.