Playwatch

Playwatch is the theoretical ancestor of a cluster of Dreamlandic languages that may stay in contact with Moonshine.

Baywatch (3370 AD) to Playwatch (4138 AD)

This is the language spoken in the eastern corner of Dreamland, traditionally vulnerable to invasion. The Dolphin Riders invaded and conquered it in 4108, but their reign was short-lived, as the Players invaded in 4138 and subdued the entire native population. The Players also lasted only 40 years, so the native language persisted as they were conquered by the Matrix, who survived for about 30 years.

1. The long vowels ē ī ō ū (but not /ā/) shortened to e i o u.

   This was originally below.

2. Before a vowel, the sequences om um shifted to ōm ūm.
3. The alveolar nasal n shifted to m unconditionally.
4. The alveolar flap r shifted to l in word-initial position, and disappeared to Ø elsewhere.
5. The sequences ma me mi mo mu shifted to nasal vowels ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ before a singleton consonant UNCONDITIONALLY!!!!!!!!!!.
6. Prenasalized consonants bled into the preceding vowel and then denasalized.
7. The sequences uoa uoe uoi uoo uou shifted to uwa uwe uwi uō ūō.
8. The sequences ii uu shifted to ī ū. This included shifts from triplets like /auu/, etc.

   The Baywatchers who invaded and conquered the Thunder Empire spoke this stage of the language.

9. After any vowel, the sequences oa oe oi (independent of nasalization) shifted to wa we wi. Nasalized w shifted to w̃.
10. After a vowel, the sequences ua ue ui uo (independent of nasalization) shifted to wa we wi wo.
11. All consonants became labialized before any /u/.
12. Before a nasal vowel, the labial approximant w shifted to w̃.
13. Geminates became simple.

    NOTE, this shift is only here because it appears in the dictionary; i never wrote it down.

The consonant inventory at this time could be analyzed as

Bilabials:    p   b       w   w̃
Alveolars:    t       s   l

All syllables were CV. Thus a syllable chart can be created:

  a   e   i   o   u   ã   ẽ   ĩ   õ   ũ
 pa  pe  pi  po  pu  pã  pẽ  pĩ  põ  pũ
 ba  be  bi  bo  bu  bã  bẽ  bĩ  bõ  bũ
 wa  we  wi  wo      
 w̃a  w̃e  w̃i  w̃o      w̃ã  w̃ẽ  w̃ĩ  w̃õ 
 ta  te  ti  to  tu  tã  tẽ  tĩ  tõ  tũ
 sa  se  si  so  su  sã  sẽ  sĩ  sõ  sũ
 la  le  li  lo  lu  lã  lẽ  lĩ  lõ  lũ

Longs are analyzed as sequences here and thus not shown. Longs can either be aa or aã~ãã; there is no *ãa.

The Baywatchers who invaded and conquered the Thunder Empire in 3844 were overthrown and enslaved in 3884. They retained their language even while enslaved, as their slavery lasted only seventy years. Their language then rejoined the main branch of Playwatch. Thus, there is very little evidence that the split ever existed.

Daughter languages of Playwatch include Mysticeti and probably others spoken by very small populations. Shifts include ĩ ũ > e o, ẽ ã õ > a, and w~ y~ > m n. Note, though, the languages that merge the nasal vowels retain the original allophones of preceding consonants. Thus, for example, tõ becomes ka, not *ta. Thus, the distinction between /t/ and /k/ becomes phonemic. /l/ might have been [n] before a nasal vowel even in Playwatch, and this could phonemicize too, but /y~/ also shifts to /n/.

Another possibility is that before vowel nasalization disappears, it first spreads out to the entire word, or to at least everything between the original nasal vowel and the stressed syllable. This assumes that Playwatch still has stress at all.

There are other languages descended from proto-Baywatch; these are spoken in areas outside Dreamland, and may not survive beyond 4138, since the Players used this territory to invade Dreamland, and their language became the common language when further invasions pushed the Players into the same position as their earlier victims.

Playwatch to Mysticeti (~5100 AD)

1. The sequences eu oi shifted to iu ui.
2. The vowel sequences ai ei merged as ē. Then au ou merged as ō.
3. The sequence tui shifted to pi .
4. The nasalized approximant w̃ shifted to m.
5. The the coronal stop t came to be spelled k before any of /a o u/. (This was a long-standing allophonic variation.)
6. The nasal vowels ĩ ũ ẽ õ shifted to e o a a.

   This may need to be more finely detailed. For example, /ũ/ might shift to /ʷo/ at least conditionally.