Tropical Rim

This is a sprachbund comparable to the Lenian languages. It occupies the tropical rainforests of southwestern Rilola, and certain islands which intercept the islands of Lenia. Thus, if Lenia is "Polynesian ", TR may be Melanesian.

TR excludes the aboriginal Star languages and those of the Baeban macrofamily. In fact, TR is cladistically nested within the Lenian languages, even though the cultures were never united.This is because both are sprachbunds uniting people who are related but yet not each other's closest relatives.

Tapilula (0) to Star Empire Amade (1900)

1. Accented schwas surrendered their accent to the following vowel (not the same as a stress shift, because the tone also changes).
2. The "labial" vowel ə disappeared, syllabified nearby consonants or turned to i if the nearby consonants were not possible to become syllabic. Note that it never occurred after labialized consonants. Sequences such as /pəh/ collapsed to form aspirated consonants, though these behaved as clusters.
3. Tautosyllabic vowel sequences òi ài èi converged to ē. This did not affect syllable-straddling words like /tùya/. Likewise, èu àu òu in the same environment converged to ō.
4. Duplicate vowel sequences àa èe ìi òo ùu shifted to long vowels ā ē ī ō ū. But the same sequences with the opposite tone pattern did not shift.
5. The sequences ṁg ṅg ŋ̇g shifted to ṁb ṅd ŋ̇ġ.
6. The velar fricatives g gʷ shifted to Ø w.
7. The labial stops p b merged as b.
8. In a closed syllable, the stops b t d shifted to w Ø Ø and lengthened the preceding vowel. New ēw āw ōw merged as ō, while new īw ūw merged as ū.
9. The sequences bh dh shifted to p t.
10. The labialized consonants tʷ dʷ nʷ shifted to kʷ v m. Then d shifted to s, which had a voiced allophone of /z/.
11. The labial fricative f shifted to h.
12. The velar ejective ḳ shifted to g.
13. Before a hiatus, the short vowels u i shifted to ʷ y, creating a new set of labialized consonants. However, the palatalized consonants were not distinct from their components.
14. The labiovelars kʷ hʷ shifted to p f. Any /gʷ/ would have been absorbed as /w/.
15. The sequences tʲ nʲ sʲ lʲ shifted to č ň š y. Then kʲ ŋʲ hʲ also shifted to č ň š. Palatalized labials depalatalized.

Thus the consonant inventory was

Bilabials:        p   m   f   b   w
Alveolars:        t   n   s       l
Palataloids:      č   ň   š       y
Velars:           k   ŋ   h   g  (Ø)

And the vowels were /a e i o u ā ē ī ō ū/.

Later branches

1. western dialects go entirely voiceless.
2. no q or k_>
3. f>h, iff h>x.
4. ll nn kk ff>individual new consonants.
5. eastern dialects e o>ya u; some other dialects e o>i wa.
6. probably always the same vowel system in all languages at each time.... goes to 4 vowels first, then changes in harmony later.

NOTE: some of these vowel changes MUST precede the shifts that remove the labialized consonants, and this may mean that the labialized consonants survive at 1900 AD.

Childhood writeups can be copied over by assuming ɔ=wa, æ=ya,etc . Note that there were never any diphthongs. Also it might be better to use au/ai instead of wa/ya.

Tapilula to Old Atla (~1400)

1. Accented schwas surrendered their accent to the following vowel (not the same as a stress shift, because the tone also changes).
2. The "labial" vowel ə disappeared, syllabified nearby consonants or turned to i if the nearby consonants were not possible to become syllabic. Note that it never occurred after labialized consonants. Sequences such as /pəh/ collapsed to form aspirated consonants, though these behaved as clusters.
3. Tautosyllabic vowel sequences òi ài èi converged to ē. This did not affect syllable-straddling words like /tùya/. Likewise, èu àu òu in the same environment converged to ō.
4. Duplicate vowel sequences àa èe ìi òo ùu shifted to long vowels ā ē ī ō ū. But the same sequences with the opposite tone pattern did not shift.
5. The sequences ṁg ṅg ŋ̇g shifted to ṁb ṅd ŋ̇ġ.
6. After a high tone, the labial fricative f shifted to p .
7. The labialized nasals tʷ dʷ nʷ shifted to kʷ gʷ m.
8. Before /u/, the labial fricative f shifted to hʷ .
9. Remaining f shifted to h .

Thus the consonant inventory was

Bilabials:       p   b   m       w
Alveolars:       t   d   n       l
Palatals:                        y
Velars:          k       ŋ   g  (Ø)  h   ḳ
Labiovelars:     kʷ          gʷ  _   hʷ

Old Atla (1900) to Purple (2800)

1. The labiovelars kʷ hʷ gʷ shifted to p f v unconditionally.

Old Atla (1900) to Red Tide (2800)

1. The velars k ḳ ŋ h g shifted to t t n s z before an /i/ on any tone.
2. In final position, the velars k ḳ h shifted to t t s.
3. The labiovelars kʷ hʷ gʷ shifted to k h g unconditionally.

Old Atla (1900) to Clementine (2800)

1. The voiceless ejective velar stop ḳ shifted to the voiced velar stop ġ before any vowel.

Pre-Tarise (1085) to Proto-Tarise (1900)

The phonology of Tarise is fairly conservative, resembling that of the Gold language from which it originated. However, it went through vastly more sound changes than the Khulls branch, so although the superficial appearance is similar, lexical identities are few and the deep structure has been heavily reordered. Being west of Khulls, Tarise shares none of the common traits of the languages spoken to the north and east of Khulls, but shares some traits with Khulls itself.

NOTE: This will need to be reworked to start with a six-vowel inventory instead of four. It may share some changes with Gold due to geographical proximity.

The consonant inventory was:

                       BASIC                             LABIALIZED  
Bilabials:             p   b   m   f   v                     mʷ      w   
Alveolars:             t   d   n       l             tʷ  dʷ  nʷ           
Postalveolars:         č   ǯ           y                       
Velars:                k       ŋ   h   g   ḳ                 ŋʷ  hʷ  gʷ
 

Unlike Fojy, the tone of one syllable was not predictable from the syllable before it: two low tones could occur in a row, and there were more than two tones. Thus, in the sound change list below, descriptions like "after a high tone" are defined narrowly, rather than, for example, also applying before a low tone.

Note that the inherited fricatives /h hʷ/ are velars, as in Khulls, and 're spelled with x.

1. The voiced fricatives g gʷ shifted to Ø w. However, the fricative allophones remained, and therefore came to also replace original Ø~ʕ. For example, syllable final -u merged with original gʷ, and obtained the velar frication as an allophone after a stressed vowel.
2. The stops p t b d shifted to h s g z unconditionally, with palatalization and labialization both preserved. Preexisting č ǯ merged with the palatalized coronals. xʲ , hʲ, and sʲ were still distinct.
3. All unstressed syllables became CV only, with no tones.
4. The sequence ʷə shifted to ʷu.
5. The vowels ə i shifted to i yi unconditionally.
6. The long falling tone vowels ā ī ū became high tone à ì ù unconditionally. They did not acquire glottalization.

Note that labialization is preserved. The consonant inventory at this time was:

Labials:                   m  w              
Alveolars:           s  z  n  l
Palatals:                     y      
Velars:        k  ḳ  x     ŋ (Ø)     
Postvelars:          h  g       

But consonantal allophony was very powerful, even alternating between stop and fricative realizations of /s z/.

SEE Tarise for remainder of sound changes.

Thus there were only two proper stops in the language: /k ḳ/. The fricatives /s z/ preserved allophones [t d] when before [a] and not after a closed syllable, but there is still no [ti] or [tu] in any environment. Likewise, the velars /k ḳ x/ were allophonically uvular before [a], palatal before [i], and true velar before [u]. However, this uvular opposition was not significant because in most cases the contreasast wias wth kʷ not k.

The inherited /ki/ gap is filled by the shift of /kə/ > /ki/; primordial /ki/ by this time had shifted to /sʲi/.

There were three vowels: /a i u/, on two tones. A vowel could be followed by /i/ or /u/, even if another consonant was in the coda.

The verb markers for past tense were ki/xi/hyi/syi for 1,2,♀️,♂️. Those are for weak verbs. Passives are xi xi myi xyi zyi, where the fifth is epicene...that is, epicene was only distinct for passive verbs and in some daughters may replace the masculine. a variant masc replces both /yi/ withj /i/.

              PAST TENSE
              ACTIVE       PASSIVE
1st person     -ki         (-xi)
2nd person     -xi         (-xi)
Feminine  ♀️    -hyi         -myi
Masculine ♂️    -si~-syi     -xyi
Epicene   ♁                 -zyi

languages of Gekira

At 15°N, 27°E and spreading north and northeast, Lenian settlers built a city named Pēles. At this time, the area from Tarise eastward through AlphaLeap still spoke a single language, and so the Pēles language can be classified as either a dialect of Gold or a dialect of Tarise. Their nation came to be called Geḳìra.

Gekira was bounded on the north by AlphaLeap (specifically, Wax), and on the south and west by Taryte.

Soon, a dark-skinned tribe calling themselves the Bait (Tagàpa) settled in Geḳìra and introduced their language, a dialect of Amade. They directed foreign policy and told the Lenians to become hostile to their neighbors in Taryte. The Baits avoided a formal alliance with AlphaLeap, however, as in its short history AlphaLeap had already become known for a chaotic foreign policy and military betrayal of its own citizens. Since AlphaLeap's military refused to protect its own citizens, the Baits figured they would also refuse to protect the citizens of their allies.

NOTE, IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE THAT PĒLES WAS PART OF WAX, AND THAT THE BAITS INVADED WAX.

bait language

The consonant inventory was:

Rounded bilabials:                     hʷ  w
Spread bilabials:      p       m   b   f  (Ø)
Alveolars:             t       n   d       l
Rounded alveolars:     tʷ      nʷ  dʷ         
Velars:                k   ḳ   ŋ   ġ   h   g

1. Accented schwas surrendered their accent to the following vowel (not the same as a stress shift, because the tone also changes).
2. The "labial" vowel ə disappeared, syllabified nearby consonants or turned to i if the nearby consonants were not possible to become syllabic. Note that it never occurred after labialized consonants. Sequences such as /pəh/ collapsed to form aspirated consonants, though these behaved as clusters.
3. Tautosyllabic vowel sequences òi ài èi converged to ē. This did not affect syllable-straddling words like /tùya/. Likewise, èu àu òu in the same environment converged to ō.
4. Duplicate vowel sequences àa èe ìi òo ùu shifted to long vowels ā ē ī ō ū. But the same sequences with the opposite tone pattern did not shift.
5. The sequences ṁg ṅg ŋ̇g shifted to ṁb ṅd ŋ̇ġ.

1085 to Pēles

It is possible that the Pelesians maintained friendly contact with one of the dark-skinned tribes and thus spoke the same language as of 2175 ad. However , it is not clear if these neighbors were monolingual themselves .... Wax had acted alone when it seceded in 1905, and may not have truly spoken Gold. Tarise spoke a single language in 1905, but this may have been due to subsequent assimilation.

Initial phoneme inventory:

                       PLAIN                         LABIALIZED
Bilabials:             p   b   m   f   v                     mʷ      w  
Alveolars:             t   d   n       l             tʷ  dʷ  nʷ            
Postalveolars:         č   ǯ           y                       
Velars:                k       ŋ   h   g   ḳ                 ŋʷ  hʷ  gʷ

Note that the inherited /h/ sound was a true /h/ in the onset, but variable in the coda.

The vowel inventory was

Short vowels:          a  e  i  o  u  ə
Long vowels:          aa ee  ī oo  ū 
Falling diphthongs:      ae ei ao ou
                            əi    əu

Long vowels could be followed by /g/ (from k/k'/h/g), /n/, or /l/. They could also be followed by some clusters.

THE ABOVE ASSUMES THIS LANGUAGE IS THE ONLY ONE THAT DIDNT ANALOGIZE THESE.

1. All consonants occurring after the vowel /u/ (any length, any tone) became labialized.
2. All consonants occurring after the vowel /i/ **EXCEPT in the sequence /əi/** became palatalized.
3. The high vowels i ī ə u ū shifted to yi yī i i ī.
4. When an /a/ was in an adjacent syllable, the sequences e ē ei o ō ou shifted to ya yā yai a ā au.
5. The sequences eḳ oḳ (on any tone) shifted to aḳ.
6. The sequences e ē ei əi shifted to yi yī yi ī.
7. The sequences o ō ou əu shifted to u ū u ī.
8. The sequences aa ae ao merged as ā.
9. The labial fricative f shifted to h.
10. Any consonant that was both labialized and palatalized became labialized alone.
11. The labialized consonants kʷ ḳʷ čʷ tʷ pʷ merged as p. Then, mʷ nʷ ŋʷ shifted to m. The voiced labialized stops dʷ bʷ merged as b. Lastly, xʷ gʷ shifted to f w.
12. The sequences kʲ ḳʲ ŋʲ xʲ gʲ shifted to č č n s y.
13. The clusters kp kb km kf shifted to pp pp pm p. Then kt kd kn ks shifted to tt tt tn ss. Then kč became čč. (/kŋ/ remained, and kh, kg, kk, etc had been eliminated in the proto-language although those shifts are not listed.)
14. The voiced alveolar stop d shifted to r.
15. possibly i,u>e,ə in closed slabs (see here.)

There is still lw,g,ł,etc

Many word roots begin with labials because of classifier prefixes ending with /u/. The situation is similar to Subumpamese and Bābākiam.

Geography and climate

All TR zones are either tropical rainforests or deserts on the border zones of other TR cultures. The northern limit was 31N, but this was reached very late and was not the occupying army's base of power. Other Tropical Rim cultures stayed south of 18N.