Proto-Hercynian
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Proto-Hercynian is the (intrafictionally) reconstructed common ancestor of the Hercynian languages, which form a branch of the Hesperic language family, a family of diachronic lostlangs designed by Jörg Rhiemeier.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless stops | *p | *t | *k | |||
| Voiced stops | *b | *d | *g | |||
| Voiceless fricatives | *ph | *th | *s | *kh | *h | |
| Voiced fricatives | *bh | *dh | *z | *gh | ||
| Nasals | *m | *n | *ng | |||
| Liquids | *l *r | |||||
| Semivowels | *w | *j |
Vowels
| Front | Non-front | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unround | Round | Unround | Round | |
| Close | *i | *y | *u | |
| Mid | *e | *o | ||
| Open | *a | |||
All vowels can be long (written with a circumflex, e.g. â).
Sound changes from Proto-Hesperic
This section gives an overview of the sound changes that occured on the way from Proto-Hesperic to Proto-Hercynian.
Common West Hesperic developments
- Accent retraction to first syllable
- x > 3
- Drummond's Law
- Senantho's Law
- Alfermann's Law
- x > h
Continental West Hesperic developments
- m > n /_#
- ng > n /_#
- Laryngeal loss
- V3 > V:
- 3 > 0 /otherwise
- Monophthongizations
- ai, ia > é
- au, ua > ó
- iu > ú
- ui > í
- VV > V: /if both of same quality
- Pre-sonorant vowel lowering
- * i > e, u > o before nasals and liquids (affects both long and short vowels)
- Vowel lengthenings and shortenings
- Long vowels are shorted in closed syllables
- Short vowels are lengthened in stressed open syllables
Begemann's Law
- Aspirated stops become voiceless fricatives except in clusters. In clusters, they merge with the neutral stops.
- Voiced stops become voiced fricatives except in clusters. In clusters, they remain voiced stops.
- Neutral stops remain unchanged in all positions.
Development of velarized liquids
- ĺ > lg
- ŕ > rg
Origin of *z
- s > z /R_V (R = n, l, r)
- tj, kj > s
- dj, gj > z
Absorption of postconsonantal semivowels
This change affects short and long vowels accordingly. The vowel length is not changed.
- wa > o /C_
- we > ø /C_
- wi > y /C_
- ja > e /C_
- jo > ø /C_
- ju > y /C_
