Modern Arithide: Difference between revisions

From FrathWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Line 161: Line 161:
|-
|-
|}
|}
{{footnote|1}} Diphthongal sequences of ''[ti], [tj] + vowel'' gave rise to the new phoneme /ʧ/, which received its own letter in the Renaissance period; similarly, from ''[si], [sj] + vowel'' developed /ʃ/, which also gained its own letter at the same time. The new letters are used to indicate the /ʧ/ and /ʃ/ sounds where not historically derived, such as in loanwords; or where the conditioning vowel has been lost, especially at the ends of words. Additionally, [ʃ] deriving from a word- or syllable-finally devoiced /ʒ/ is written with <sh> instead of <gi>.
{{footnote|1}} Diphthongal sequences of ''[ti], [tj] + vowel'' gave rise to the new phoneme /ʧ/, which received its own letter in the [[Renaissance (Ilethes)|Renaissance]] period; similarly, from ''[si], [sj] + vowel'' developed /ʃ/, which also gained its own letter at the same time. The new letters are used to indicate the /ʧ/ and /ʃ/ sounds where not historically derived, such as in loanwords; or where the conditioning vowel has been lost, especially at the ends of words. Additionally, [ʃ] deriving from a word- or syllable-finally devoiced /ʒ/ is written with <sh> instead of <gi>.


{{footnote|2}} The sound /ʤ/ only occurs in syllable-initial position due to historical reasons: it arose from the diphthongal sequence ''[di], [dj] + vowel''. When <di> occurs without a subsequent vowel the value of the digraph is the consonant+vowel combination [di].
{{footnote|2}} The sound /ʤ/ only occurs in syllable-initial position due to historical reasons: it arose from the diphthongal sequence ''[di], [dj] + vowel''. When <di> occurs without a subsequent vowel the value of the digraph is the consonant+vowel combination [di].


{{footnote|3}} The post-vocalic [g]-lenition that began in the Renaissance with [g] > [ɣ] proceeded further in the modern era to give [j] after [a], [e], [i] (as well as modifying the vowel qualities) and [w] after [o]. Etymological orthographic rules dictate the preservation of <g> in such cases.
{{footnote|3}} The post-vocalic [g]-lenition that began in the [[Renaissance (Ilethes)|Renaissance]] with [g] > [ɣ] proceeded further in the modern era to give [j] after [a], [e], [i] (as well as modifying the vowel qualities) and [w] after [o]. Etymological orthographic rules dictate the preservation of <g> in such cases.


{{footnote|4}} From the [gn] and [ng] sequences developed the /ŋ/ phoneme, in the former case by nasalising the [g], and in the latter by velarising the [n] and losing the [g]. Whereas historical [ng] has since received its own letter and is written with it unless the [g] was preserved by a succeeding vowel (in which case the orthographical sequence <ng> is retained), historical [gn] has been preserved in spelling due to the strong retentiveness of the latter [n] element, even where the sequence has coalesced to a simple [ŋ].
{{footnote|4}} From the [gn] and [ng] sequences developed the /ŋ/ phoneme, in the former case by nasalising the [g], and in the latter by velarising the [n] and losing the [g]. Whereas historical [ng] has since received its own letter and is written with it unless the [g] was preserved by a succeeding vowel (in which case the orthographical sequence <ng> is retained), historical [gn] has been preserved in spelling due to the strong retentiveness of the latter [n] element, even where the sequence has coalesced to a simple [ŋ].
Line 171: Line 171:
{{footnote|5}} In combination with preceding vowels, [r] has been lost, instead giving rise to a host of (mostly) rounded long vowels; the new sounds have retained the traditional orthography using <r>. Analogically, a similar scenario has occurred with [l], albeit without loss of the [l] sound, resulting merely in altered vowel qualities.  
{{footnote|5}} In combination with preceding vowels, [r] has been lost, instead giving rise to a host of (mostly) rounded long vowels; the new sounds have retained the traditional orthography using <r>. Analogically, a similar scenario has occurred with [l], albeit without loss of the [l] sound, resulting merely in altered vowel qualities.  


{{footnote|6}} The devocalisation of pre-vocalic [i] to [j] and [u] to [w] that occurred during the Mediaeval period necessitated two new letters due to syllabification ambiguity and stress shifts.
{{footnote|6}} The devocalisation of pre-vocalic [i] to [j] and [u] to [w] that occurred during the [[Mediaeval Age (Ilethes)|mediaeval period]] necessitated two new letters due to syllabification ambiguity and stress shifts.


====Vowels====
====Vowels====

Revision as of 19:12, 3 March 2007


Arithide (Arithīde)
Pronounced: 'ærɪθi:d (arɯ'θi:de)
Timeline and Universe: Ilethes
Species: Human
  Areth
Spoken: Arithia; major auxiliary language in the West
Total speakers: (tba)
Writing system: Lazeic alphabet
Genealogy: Arophanic
  Arithidic
    North Arithidic
      Arithide
Typology
Morphological type: Inflecting
Morphosyntactic alignment: Accusative
Basic word order: SOV
Credits
Creator: Eugene Oh
Created: late 2005

Modern Arithide is the standard and official tongue of Arithia, and the modern descendant of Classical Arithide through Koine Arithide. It is spoken natively by the Areth, although significant numbers of people speak it as a second or third language across Arophania and Marcasia, thanks to historical reasons.

See also Arithide language for more information
on the language's history and a diachronic analysis.

Phonological system

The phonology of Modern Arithide is notable for its large numbers of both consonants and vowels, although its phonemic repertoire is smaller due to the high degree of allophony.

Consonants

The table below represents the sounds present in the standard Modern Arithide, secondarily distinguishing between the 22 phonemic consonants, which are in black, and the 9 non-phonemic (purely allophonic) consonants, which are greyed out. Notable is the distinction between the aspirated and unaspirated voiceless plosives (i.e. pʰ, tʰ, kʰ vs. p, t, k); although not phonemically distinguished, the former set appears before front vowels, and the latter before others.

Consonants
Bilabial Labiod. Dental Alveolar Post-alv. Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m ɱ n ɲ ŋ
Plosive p b t d k g
pʰ tʰ kʰ
Fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ɣ χ ʁ h
Affricate dz
Approximants w j
Trill r
Lateral Approximant l

Regressive assimilation of frication and phonation

Vowels

Whereas Modern Arithide has 11 vowel letters, the short a e i o u y and the long ā ē ī ō ū, the true number of its phonemic vowels is twenty, plus 4 vowels occurring only in unstressed position, and 12 diphthongs.

Short Vowels
Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
High i y ʉ ɯ u
Near-high ɪ ʏ ʊ
High-mid e o
Mid ə
Low-mid ɛ œ ɔ
Near-low
Low a
Long Vowels
Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
High i: y: ʉ: u:
Near-high ɪ: ʏ: ʊ:
High-mid e: o:
Mid
Low-mid ɛ: œ: ɔ:
Near-low
Low a:
Diphthongs
Palatal terminus Palatal onset Labial terminus Labial onset
ai, aj ja au wa
ei, ej je, jɛ eu we
ɔi jo, jɔ ou, ow, əʉ
ju, jʉ

Vowel gradation and reductionism

Phonotactics

Orthography

Lazeic Alphabet

New letters

Romanisation

The official, and most ubiquitous, romanisation of Arithide is based strictly on the rule of a 1:1 correspondence in orthography between the Roman and Lazeic alphabets, such that any transcript is fully reversible; besides ignoring sound-changes that have occurred since the Renaissance, this also leads occasionally to pronunciations strange to the Earthling ear. Alternative romanisations are mainly phonetically-based, and involve less mind-work in pronunciation.

Consonants

Letter Sound Letter Sound Letter Sound
p [p~pʰ]     f [f]    
b [b]     v [v, f]     m [m, ɱ]
t [t~tʰ]     th [θ]    
d [d, ð]     dh [ð, θ]     n [n, ŋ]
    s [s]    
    z [z, dz]    
ti, ch1 [ʧ]     sj, sh1 [ʃ]    
di2 [ʤ]     gi1 [ʒ]    
k [k~kʰ]     h [h]    
g3 [g, j, w]         gn, ng4 [ŋ]
        r5 [r, ʁ, s, :]
        l5 [l]
        j6 [j]
        w6 [w]

1 

Diphthongal sequences of [ti], [tj] + vowel gave rise to the new phoneme /ʧ/, which received its own letter in the Renaissance period; similarly, from [si], [sj] + vowel developed /ʃ/, which also gained its own letter at the same time. The new letters are used to indicate the /ʧ/ and /ʃ/ sounds where not historically derived, such as in loanwords; or where the conditioning vowel has been lost, especially at the ends of words. Additionally, [ʃ] deriving from a word- or syllable-finally devoiced /ʒ/ is written with <sh> instead of <gi>.

2 

The sound /ʤ/ only occurs in syllable-initial position due to historical reasons: it arose from the diphthongal sequence [di], [dj] + vowel. When <di> occurs without a subsequent vowel the value of the digraph is the consonant+vowel combination [di].

3 

The post-vocalic [g]-lenition that began in the Renaissance with [g] > [ɣ] proceeded further in the modern era to give [j] after [a], [e], [i] (as well as modifying the vowel qualities) and [w] after [o]. Etymological orthographic rules dictate the preservation of <g> in such cases.

4 

From the [gn] and [ng] sequences developed the /ŋ/ phoneme, in the former case by nasalising the [g], and in the latter by velarising the [n] and losing the [g]. Whereas historical [ng] has since received its own letter and is written with it unless the [g] was preserved by a succeeding vowel (in which case the orthographical sequence <ng> is retained), historical [gn] has been preserved in spelling due to the strong retentiveness of the latter [n] element, even where the sequence has coalesced to a simple [ŋ].

5 

In combination with preceding vowels, [r] has been lost, instead giving rise to a host of (mostly) rounded long vowels; the new sounds have retained the traditional orthography using <r>. Analogically, a similar scenario has occurred with [l], albeit without loss of the [l] sound, resulting merely in altered vowel qualities.

6 

The devocalisation of pre-vocalic [i] to [j] and [u] to [w] that occurred during the mediaeval period necessitated two new letters due to syllabification ambiguity and stress shifts.

Vowels

Monographs represent monophthongs; each letter may be read in up to four different ways depending on its surrounding letters and its level of stress. In the table below, the variants are listed in order of occurrence, then precedence. The last value of each always represents the unstressed realisation of the vowel concerned.

Letter Sound Letter Sound
a [a, ɔ, ə]     ā [a:, a]
e [e, ɛ, ə]     ē [e:~jɛ, e]
i [i, ɪ, ɯ]     ī [i:, ɪ]
o [o, ɔ, œ, ə]     ō [o:, œ:, o]
u [u, ʉ, ɯ]     ū [y:, ʏ]
y [y, ʏ]1

1 

Prevocalically, <y> has devocalised to [j] uniformly. This proceeded through an intermediate stage where it was pronounced [ɥ]. Postvocalically, it coalesced with its precedent to diphthongise, for which see the following table

Digraphs generally indicate diphthongs. Across the board, however, spelling fossilisation has occurred, leading to irregular sound-letter correspondences even in the native script, such as <oi>:[ei]. [ja] <ja> is the only sound not to have changed at all; besides it, regularly pronounced digraphs, i.e. <eu>, <jo>, <ju>, <ua>, <we> and non-post-consonantal <je> are the result of recent spelling reforms, as is the fact that w-headed digraphs occur only at the beginnings of words, while the post-consonantal allographic equivalent is u-headed.

Letter Sound Letter Sound Letter Sound Letter Sound Letter Sound Letter Sound
ae [ai]     ea2 [a:]     ja [ja]     5     ua, wa [wa]     ay [au]
ai [e:]     ei [i:]     je [je, e:]4     oe [oi]     ue, we [we]     ey [ei]
1     3     jo [jo]     oi [ei]     6     oy [ou, əʉ]
au [o:]     eu [eu~jo]     ju [ju]     ou [u:]     uo, wo [o:]     7

1 

<ao> came to be uniformly spelt with the homophonic <ay> [au] by the early Modern period

2 

In certain proper names, e.g. of cities, the original diphthong was split into two syllables to preserve the distinct [ea] ending

3 

[eo] <eo>merged with [jo] and hence <jo>

4 

In combination with [s], the result is [ʃe:], an amalgam of the s-palatalisation and the siphthong simplification

5 

Where <ua> occurs, it is the result of a spelling reform that replaced all <oa> [ua] with

6 

[ui] <ui> became [y] and never again arose subsequently

7 

[uy] <uy> merged with [y:] <ū>

Grammar

Morphology, morphosyntax and word order

Nouns and pronouns

Declensions

Verbs

Aspect, mood and tense

Causativity and transitivity

Adjectives and adverbs

See also

Dialects of Arithide


This article is a stub. If you can contribute to its content, feel free to do so.
Retrieved from "http://www.frathwiki.com/index.php?title=Modern_Arithide&oldid=19797"