Classical Chinese'

Sample vocabulary

• arawagiʃʃinat
• kogeeronoʃkioowon
• elewargaranaanawe
• paaokokokʃorda
• nonigirguriʃkaoo
• ʃeleleeronaneerenek
• kaginniroʃoweaalaka
• tenekwaruguʃaadun
• peʃeʃaanerogoronowee

Phonological analysis

• Vowels [i e eː a aː o oː u]
• Word-initial consonants: [p t k ʃ n]
• Word-medial consonants: [k d ɡ ʃ n r l w]
• Word-final consonants: [t n k]

Clusters seem to include [ʃʃ ʃk kʃ kw rɡ nn].

The distinction between [l] and [r] seems very minor, with [l] mostly occurring between front vowels. Likewise the distinction between [k] and [ɡ] applies mostly intervocally.

We might be able to analyze medial [k ɡ] as /kk k/. Similarly, tho there's no medial [t], medial [d] might be /t/. I now see my original idea to have [r] as the medial allophone of /t/ seems unlikely: if [rɡ] is to be /tk/, medial voicing/lenition needs to apply thru two stops, but [ʃk kʃ] demonstrate it not applying thru a stop and a fricativ? OTOH not even single medial [ʃ] is voiced, so /ʃ/ is clearly more resilient to voicing (perhaps its distinguishing feature is not continuancy, but stridency). There is also the option of an underlying /r/ fortified to [t] adjacent to a word boundary.

These models differ in a few testable respects: an underlying /t/ or /d/ would lead to clusters [ʃt tʃ], while an underlying /r/ would lead to [ʃr rʃ].

The labial situation seems more straightforward: the two possibilities initially suggesting itself are [w] = /u/ and [w] = /p/, but since there is no overlap between these two scenarios, we can simply go with a single labial phoneme [p w u] = /P/ as long as no roots beginning with [pu-] turn up.

The cryptolect

A highly unusual feature appearing in Classical Chinese is the creation of ritual jargon based on repeating religious chants with distinct phonetical variations.

• [n] is split to /n ɲ ŋ ɴ/
• [l] is split to /l ɬ ʎ ʎ̝̊ ʟ ʟ̝̊/
• [r] is split to /r ʀ ɹ j ʁ/
• [ʃ] is split to /s z ʃ ʒ ç ʝ/ (certain scolars construct a fourth, retroflex series)
• [k] is split to /k kʰ kʼ q qʰ qʼ/
• [t] is split to /t tʰ tʼ c cʰ cʼ/
• [p] is split to /p pʰ pʼ/
• [ɡ] is split to /ɡ ɡʱ ɠ ɢ ɢʱ ʛ/
• [d] is split to /d dʱ ɗ ɟ ɟʱ ʄ/
• [w] is split to /b bʱ ɓ β w/
• [u] is split to /u ɯ/
• [i] is split to /i y/
• [o] is split to /o ɔ/
• [oː] is split to /oː ɔː ou ɔu/
• [e] is split to /e ɛ/
• [eː] is split to /eː ɛː ei ɛi/
• [a](ː) is split to /ɑ æ ɐ/(ː)

This highly artificial language - grammatically and phonologically entirely distinct from its "carrier" - does produce a number of, mildly put, unusual modern daughterlangs.

The initial phonetic developments are loss of difthong openness and high vowel roundness distinctions;, follo'd by raising of the difthongs to high long monoftongs. Glottalization separates as a prosodic feature medially and is lost initially. Phe palatals decay to postalveolars, and the velar lateral fricativ becomes /χ/. Proto-Insane thus comes to contain:

pʰ	tʰ	ʧʰ	kʰ	qʰ
p	t	ʧ	k	q	ʔ
bʱ	dʱ	ʤʱ	ɡʱ	ɢʱ
b	d	ʤ	ɡ	ɢ
	n	nʲ	ŋ	ɴ
	l	lʲ	ʟ
	ɬ	ɬʲ
	s	ʃ		χ
β	z	ʒ		ʁ
w	ɹ	j
	r			ʀ