Subumpamese languages

The Subumpamese languages are the languages spoken in the eleven states of Subumpam. They split off from the parent language, called Tapilula, around 600 AD and continued to be spoken until the defeat of Subumpam in the Vegetable War of 2668 AD.

Early history

Update notes

NOTE, THIS WILL BE REWORKED HEAVILY SOON, TO THE POINT OF STARTEING FROM SCREATCH. MOST NOTES ARE ON PAPER ONLY NOW.

Proto-Subumpamese will be a "Raspberry Wine" type of language, with heavy reliance on coarticulated consonants, both labial and palatal. It will split early on into five branches: Kava, Vuʒi, West, Central, and East. These five will be mutually intelligible for the most part, and most sound changes will be shared among the different groups.

Fortition

If Proto-Sub loses tones, it could fortify fricatives after high tones as happened in many other languages (though mostly at a later date). Also, syllabic nasals probably all fortify to /un/ ... that is, a three-way merger of ṁ ṅ ŋ̇ as /un/. This works because unlike Tapilula, syllable-final /n/ occurs commonly with other vowels. the actual shift would probably be ṅ > ən > un.

Early changes common to all Subumpamese languages

Proto-Subumpamese split off from the Gold branch of the Tapilula family around the year 600 AD. At this time, the only other Gold speakers were those living in Paba; those who settled Nama spoke different languages. Proto-Subumpamese had already gone through most of the vowel changes that characterized the Gold language of the year 1900. Note that the vowel changes above are responsible for the growth of closed syllables, and that proto-Subumpamese therefore has closed syllables wherever Gold also has them.

However, in Subumpamese the vowel qualities [e] and [o] (on all tones) did not merge to [a] as they did in Gold. There are a few other conditional differences between the two branches of the family, but these are dependent on consonants and occur only on the Subumpamese side. THere may also be /oè/ > /wè/ > /ʷè/, etc.

Subumpamese branched off from Gold before the deletion of all word-initial vowels, and therefore there are some words that were one syllable longer in proto-Subumpamese than in Gold. This also means that proto-Subumpamese retained the Tapilula noun classifier system, which in the Gold branch was wrecked by the deletion of initial vowels.

The only consonant change that occurred between Tapilula and proto-Subumpamese was the palatalization of /k/ (not /ḳ/) before /i/. All of the other changes that define the two branches occurred after the split.

Sound changes due to contact with vowels & other stuff

1. First stage of vowel shifts is on paper only and mostly resembles Gold except for the lack of loss of /e o/. Subumpamese contracted its vowel inventory to just /a i u ə/, as in Gold, but did so in very different ways. Whereas Gold did an unconditional shift of [a e o] > [a] regardless of tone, length, stress, or environment, in Subumpamese the vowels first left effects on surrounding consonants and then coalesced according to conditional rules. Broadly, there was a pullchain of [o > ə > u] and [e > i]. However the first shift — [ə] > [u] — was conditional.
2. All [u] stained consonants it touched by making them labialized. This happened before even the original vowel shift, so that e.g. /ū/ does not labialize a following consonant since it comes from various squences such as /ùa ùe ùə/ but never */ùu/. The gap of */ūʷ/ was repaired when /ə̄/ later became /ū/.
3. Likewise, all [i] infected consonants with palatalization. Furthermore, all [e] caused velar cosnoants to become postpalatal ( or "prevelar"), a change unique to this one series. (c.f. Japanese; velars move more than others since they are the same PoA as vowels already).
4. Syllable-final /h/ > /x/, forking off a new phoneme. However, both /h/ and /x/ were affected in identical ways by the vowel stains.
5. NOTE ON POLITICS: AT THIS POINT, THE SUBUMPAMESE COMMON STOCK SPLITS INTO FIVE: KAVA, VUDŽI, WEST, CENTRAL, AND EAST. THE REST OF THE CHANGES ON THIS LIST ARE FOR KAVA ONLY.
6. three-way merger of ṁ ṅ ŋ̇ as /un/.
7. ḳ > q.
8. kq qk > qq.
9. xhʷ > xʷ.
10. ə > u.
11. 'e o > i ə. (thus phonemicizing palatalized consonants) This produces the exact same four-vowel system found in Gold: /a i u ə/.
12. [i] > [ə] if touching a Q in eihte direction.

• Proto-Subumpamese evolves several unusual consonants. First off, the primordial /f/ changes to /ṗ/, a voiceless labiodental stop. (Note that the symbol ṗ usually indicates a completely different sound; this use is specific to Subumpamese.) This spelling is because the more common sound [fʷ] is spelled as f.

• Then it evolves a post-palatal stop and fricative, and also a postvelar (but not uvular) stop. Thus it could be said that there are three "k" sounds: front, middle, and back. However, all Subumpamese daughter languages shift the consonant inventory strongly towards the front, resulting in a family of languages that sound somewhat like watered-down Pabappa.

• All of this happened while there sitll was not an /s/ in the language, which was one of the triggers for the very strong frontward shift. At one point, early proto-Subumapmese had a voiceless fricative inventory consisting of /fʷ ś s̀ x h/ but no [s], even allophonically. All five of these had originated simpyl as allophones of [h]. There was also a corresponding voiced series.

Proto-Subumpamese can be stated to have been spoken around 1700 AD, not 1200 AD as its short sound c hange list might imply.

Therefore the consonant phonology of proto-Kava (~1700 AD?) was:

Bilabials:              p  b  m  
Rounded bilabials:      pʷ bʷ mʷ fʷ w
Labiodentals:           ṗ
Alveolars:              t  d  n  l 
Rounded alveolars:      tʷ dʷ nʷ lʷ
Palatalized alveolars:  č  ǯ  ň  ł
Palatals:               ć     ń  ś  ź  y
Prevelars:              c̀     ŋ̀  s̀  z̀
Velars:                 k     ŋ  x  g
Labialized velars:      kʷ    ŋʷ 
Postvelars:             q        h
Labialized postvelars:  qʷ
  

Note: /ň/ = /ñ/; the latter's used because the former isnt on all keyboards.

There still was not an [s], even as an allophone.

Changes common to Western, Central, and eastern Subumpamese languages

After the loss of Vuʒi, the remaining Subumpamese peoples continued to speak a single common language. The ejective series was preserved, and is here considered to be postvelar because it does not obey the sound changes that involve velars. /l/ is preserved in this stage; it disappeared only in the PES branch which was influenced by Pabappa.

1. three-way merger of ṁ ṅ ŋ̇ as /un/.
2. ḳ > q.
3. kq qk > qq.
4. xhʷ > xʷ.
5. [i] > [ə] if touching a Q in eihte direction. Unlike Kava, the six-vowel setup is still preserved at this stage.
6. the Palatalized alveolar consonants č ǯ ň ł are forced forward to plain alveolars c ʒ n l when NOT before an [i] of any tone or lenth.
7. The labialized coronals tʷ dʷ nʷ became the velars kʷ kʷ ŋʷ.
8. Syllable-final ś ź s̀ z̀ changed to j (spelled /i/), or lengthened the preceding vowel.
9. All sibiliants change to frics except after a high tone. c ʒ č ǯ ć > s z š ž ś. Whether they change after a nasal or not is a matter of analysis; [ns] = [nc] fapp.
10. Next, the voiced stop d changed to /r/, except after a nasal, a high tones, or word-initially.
11. Labialization bleeds throughj clusters. e.g. tʷm > tʷmʷ.
12. Then, voiceless stops and fricatives became voiced after a low tone or a long falling vowel. Thus word-final /z/ was created, since the previous long tones like īs had become ĭs and now ĭz.
13. Labialized consos in syllable final posiosion become bilabials. Thus pʷ bʷ mʷ fʷ w > p b m f w; kʷ ŋʷ > p m. These were not rounded.
14. Palatalized consos in syllable final posiosion become mostly coronoals. Thus č ǯ ň ł > c ʒ N l; ć ń ś ź y > c N s z y; c̀ ŋ̀ s̀ z̀ > t N s z. But NOTE that 1) the N assimilates to all fdollowing consos. 2) most of this /s/ is still actually [h] and thus the shift occurs only in transparent compounds.
15. Palatalization also blleds though. This is sort of a compensatory shift to make up for the last one. since /ś/ is really [h], it metathesizes and therefore it is the other consonant that gets palatalized.

    śm śn śŋ > (i)mps (i)nc (i)ńć. źm źn źŋ > MAYBE (i)mbz (i)nʒ (i)ńź (there is still no [ġ]).

    Word-initially, ń > z. Possibly also mʲ > (i)z if it existed.

16. s̀m s̀n s̀ŋ > (ə)mp (ə)nt (ə)ŋk. c̀m c̀n c̀ŋ > (ə)mp (ə)nt (ə)ŋc̀.
17. All true palatal frics&stops are fronted. Thus ć ń ś ź > č ň š ž.
18. All "postpalatal"/"prevelar" fric$stops are ar fronted. Ths c̀ ŋ̀ s̀ z̀ > ć ń ś ź.

At this point the consonant inventory was

Bilabials:              p  b  m  
Rounded bilabials:      pʷ bʷ mʷ fʷ w
Labiodentals:           ṗ
Alveolars:              t  d  n  s  z  l  c  ʒ
Rounded alveolars:      tʷ dʷ nʷ lʷ
Palatalized alveolars:  č  ǯ  ň  š  ž  ł  
Palatals:               ć     ń  ś  ź  y
Velars:                 k     ŋ  x  g
Labialized velars:      kʷ    ŋʷ 
Postvelars:             q        h
Labialized postvelars:  qʷ

All labialized consonants could be considered to be clusters of consonant + /w/ now, however, unlike earlier. This is because they could no longer occur in syllable finally position except before another labialiezd consonant. By contrast, the palatalized consonants now only existed for PoA's in which the primary PoA was contiguous with the palate; that is, they were all descriptible as some sort of "prepalatal" or "postpalatal" etc.

/ǯ/ and /ł/ might be resticted tyo only occurring before [i].

Phonology of Common Subumpamese

The phonology of the three major proto-languages was little changed from that of proto-Subumpamese.

CONSONANTS:

Bilabials:              p  b  m  
Rounded bilabials:      pʷ bʷ mʷ fʷ w
Labiodentals:           ṗ
Alveolars:              t  d  n  s  z  l  c  ʒ
Rounded alveolars:      tʷ dʷ nʷ lʷ
Palatalized alveolars:  č  ǯ  ň  š  ž  ł  
Palatals:               ć     ń  ś  ź  y
Velars:                 k     ŋ  x  g
Labialized velars:      kʷ    ŋʷ 
Postvelars:             q        h
Labialized postvelars:  qʷ

VOWELS:

a i u ə e o
à ì ù ə̀ è ò
ā ī ū ə̄ ē ō

Later developments

Proto-Kava (1700 AD?) to Kava

The consonant phonology of proto-Kava (~1700 AD?) was:

Bilabials:              p  b  m  
Rounded bilabials:      pʷ bʷ mʷ f  w
Labiodentals:           ṗ
Alveolars:              t  d  n  l 
Rounded alveolars:      tʷ dʷ nʷ lʷ
Palatalized alveolars:  č  ǯ  ň  ł
Palatals:               ć     ń  ś  ź  y
Prevelars:              c̀     ŋ̀  s̀  z̀
Velars:                 k     ŋ  x  g
Labialized velars:      kʷ    ŋʷ 
Postvelars:             q        h
Labialized postvelars:  qʷ

Syllable-final consonants were

q qʷ 
k kʷ c̀ ć 
n nʷ ň 
l lʷ ł
x fʷ s̀ ś 
g    z̀ ź

Although these groups were highly restricted in distribution.

The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, but unlike Gold, the schwa was a full vowel and could be long.

1. The postalveolar affricates č ǯ became c ʒ unconditionally.
2. The palatals ć ń ś ź became č ň š ž except in syllable-final position.
3. The voiceless uvular stop q changed to k when syllable-final.
4. The happy couple c̀ ć got married and changed their name to ć. Thus the four-way contrast of ć/c̀/k/q in syllable-final position had now been resolved as ć/ć/k/k.
5. Syllable-final stops s̀ ś locked arms and kissed their way across the syllable boundary to become aspiration sanitizers, losing their palatalificitosity as they did so. Any voiced consonant they stepped on turned voiceless, which if nasal meant a resurgence of sounds like /,mp/.
6. The alveolar lateral lʷ changed to w unconditionally.
7. Syllable-final ć switchivizes itself to become the same PoA as a following consonant, except that it hugged a velar or postvelar stop and brought them up to its level. (Possibly also to /t/ in standalone position.)
8. Labialization hydrosporoplasmolysticalifactionalistificaticized across a syllabe broundary, spooting out a new series of bilabializated consos, namely all of them: čʷ ǯʷ ňʷ łʷ ćʷ ńʷ śʷ źʷ c̀ʷ ŋ̀ʷ s̀ʷ z̀ʷ xʷ gʷ hʷ. OBVIOUSLY though, things like łʷ didnt really exist.
9. Syllable-final fricatives z̀ ź painfully stung the next consonant, spreading a toxic venom as they tunneled all the way through, but not turning it into a voiced consonant.
10. Any stop/aff after a stop turned into a fricative. That is, after /k kʷ ć/, the stops p b t d č ǯ ć k q became ṗ v s z š ž ś x h.
11. The affricates c ʒ changed to s z when not after a high tone.
12. Voiced stops became voiceless when occurring before a high tone.
13. The postalveolar consonants č ǯ ň š ž ł became c ʒ n s z l unconditionally. (They actually remained before /i/, but this is now allophonic and can be ignored.)
14. The labialized velar nasal ŋʷ changed to w before /i/.
15. Labialization disappeared before /i/. (This probably kills the allophony above.)
16. All remaining labialized consonants became rounded bilabials.
17. Sporadically, the initial consonants of nouns changed to rounded bilabials due to analogy with their plural forms, which began with the prefix /u-/ which in the past had caused labialization. That is, for example, an alternation of t-/up- would change to an alternation of p-/up-.
18. The true palatals ć ń ś ź became č ň š ž unconditionally.
19. Labialization was removed.

The consonant inventory at this time was

Labials:                p  b  m  f  v  w
Alveolars:              t  d  n  s  z  l  c  ʒ  
Palatalized alveolars:  č  ǯ  ň  š  ž          
Palatals:               ć     ń  ś  ź  y
Velars:                 k     ŋ  x  g
Postvelars:             q        h

Syllable-final consonants were

k ć 
n nʷ ň 
l lʷ ł
x fʷ s̀ ś 
g    z̀ ź

The voiced labial fricative /v/ comes from /gʷ/. The prevelars above are given here as palatals for simplicity, but there was no explicit shift of them.

Separation of proto-Vuʒi

After these first few changes, the Vuʒi language split off from the rest. This language marked the westernmost limit of the Zenith people during the entire period of Subumpam's existence. At the time of the split, Vuʒi did not have an /s/.

Interaction with other languages

Note that the maturation dates of all nine languages are set at 1900AD, which is contemporary with the split between Pabappa and Khulls. Thus, at this time, there were ten languages in the Gold Empire: the nine Subumpamese languages, which were spoken in Subumpam, and the monolithic Khulls/Pabappa dialect complex, which covered the entire remainder of the empire.

Proto-Eastern-Subumpamese also bordered the Andanic nation of Galà, leading to vocabulary exchange between PES and Old Andanese around 1900 AD, and between Puripup and Galà later on. Even though Subumpamese is more closely related to Pabappa than to any Andanic languages, the grammar of most Subumpamese languages is much more similar to the Andanic languages than to Pabappa, easing the exchange of vocabulary.

At least one Subumpamese language also survives to develop into Meromo.