East-A Altaic': Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:29, 16 March 2008

A more conservativ subfamily of East Altaic', spoken in NW Himalayas.

Some sound changes from Proto-East Altaic':

ʈ → q
ɪ ʊ → ə → ʌ
ɜ → ∅ (generally)
æ → e, je, ɑ varyingly
i u → e o / _q(ʷ)
loss of labialized uvulars (merging into labiovelars or plain uvulars)
prenasalization drops
ɢ → ʁ → ∅, h
β → v
labialized velars → labial-velars
stop lenition k q → x χ, similar to West
- these generally then collapse to a single phoneme /x/ with a possible allophone [χ] before back vowels; the front allophone may shift → h
- in a few branches also p → f
- labiovelars unaffected
- this change seems to be younger than the Western one by a minimum of 1.5 ka, possibly as much as 3 ka - a slo diffusion thru pre-Altaic' languages of south-central Asia (of especially Klusterax, but possibly also Persian' and extinct families) is possible, but another choice would be "rub-off" from the alternation's systematic employment in acrolectal Old Sadabax.
fricativ voicing intervocally
ʂ ʐ → x r

A typical phoneme system is (phonemes only occuring in few languages in parentheses):

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 *ɢ → ʁ → ∅<!--with vowel changes...-->, h
 *β → v
-<!--stop lenition a la West, generalized to /p/ in some cases-->
 *labialized velars → labial-velars
+*stop lenition k q → x χ, similar to West
+**these generally then collapse to a single phoneme /x/ with a possible allophone [χ] before back vowels; the front allophone may shift → h
+**in a few branches also p → f
+**labiovelars unaffected
+**this change seems to be younger than the Western one by a minimum of 1.5 ka, possibly as much as 3 ka - a slo diffusion thru pre-Altaic' languages of south-central Asia (of especially [[Klusterax]], but possibly also [[Persian']] and extinct families) is possible, but another choice would be "rub-off" from the alternation's systematic employment in acrolectal [[Old Sadabax]].
 *fricativ voicing intervocally
 *ʂ ʐ → x r