User:Melroch/Rhodrese

This as yet unnamed Romlang initially has the developments you would expect from a Western Romance language. However at a later time there is vowel mutation by a high or low vowel (a < ă/ā, i < ī, u < ū), with final vowels later being lost, or in the case of -a being reduced to -e [ə]. Somewhat unexpectedly plurals of the first declension show forms as if the a-mutated vowels of the singular had later undergone i-mutation. This most certainly is due to analogy with the second and third declension rather than to a preserved [ai̥] ending — or did an ending pronounced [æ] cause such a 'double' mutation?

Vowels

Stressed vowels

Latin	VL	W. Rmc.	No mut.	a-mut.	i-mut	a/i-mut.	u-mut.
ī	ị	ĭ	i	e	n/a	e	ui > eu {IPA|/y/}}
		ī		ei > ai		ei > ai
ĭ, ē, oe	ẹ	ẹ̆	e	n/a	i	n/a	oe /ø/ > e
		ẹ̄	ei > ai
ĕ, ae	ę	ę̆	e				oe > e
		ę̄	ie				ue /yø/ > /ye/
ă, ā	a	ă	a		ae /æ/ > e[6]		o
		ā	ea > ia		ie	e	oa > ua[7]
ŏ	ǫ	ǫ̆	o		oe > e		n/a
		ǭ	uo		ue	oe > e
ŭ, ō	ọ	ọ̆	o		oe > e
		ọ̄	ou > au		eu[5]	ue
ū	ụ	ŭ	u	o	ui > eu	oe > e
		ū		ou > au	eu	ei > ai

Notes

1. ^  Vowel length in Western Romance

   After the Classical Latin vowel length distinction was lost in favor of a distinction of vowel quality there developed a new length distinction in parts of the Vulgar Latin area. In some parts, notably Iberia, all stressed vowels were lengthened, while in most parts, including Italy and Gaul, it was stressed vowels in open syllables that were lengthened; Rhodrese belongs to this latter group. The difference is best seen in the diphthongization of ę and ǫ (from Latin ĕ and ŏ: in Castilian tęrra, pęde became tierra and pié because the first e was stressed in both words, but in Italian they became terra and piede because the stressed syllable was closed in tęrra but open in . In Rhodrese these words become terre and pié (plurals tir and pí).

2. ^  A-mutation

   A-mutation lowered the high vowels i‍̣ and ụ to ẹ and ọ. A-mutation was prior to the secondary diphthongization of ẹ̄ to ei and ọ̄ to ou, so the a-mutated ī‍̣ and ụ̄ diphthongize along with primary ẹ̄ and ọ̄.

   Although a-mutation was certainly later than the diphthongization of ę̄ to ie and ǭ to uo the high first elements of these diphthongs are not subject to a-mutation, whether because of the intervening mid vowel element, or because the diphthongs had already became [jɛ] and [wɔ].

3. ^  A/i-mutation
4. ^  U-mutation
5. ^vowels-ui-eu  The vowels ui and eu
6. ^  The vowels oe and ae
7. ^  Breaking of Western Romance *a
8. ^  I-mutation of ea > ia
9. ^  The diphthong ou < Western Romance ō‍̣ and Latin au

Consonants

Consonant correspondences

VL	Initial	Geminate	Final		Intervocalic
			Primary	Secondary	Pretonic	Posttonic
p	p		n/a	p	b
t	t		t	t	d
ć [c]	c [ts]	x [tʃ] > tx^	n/a	z > ç [ts]	z [dz]
c	c, ch [k]		Ø	c	g, gh [g]
b	b		n/a	f	v
d	d		Ø		d	Ø
ǵ [ɟ]'	g [dʒ]		n/a	i, y [j]i, y	g(i) [dʒ] (> [ʒ]?	i, y
j	i > j [dʒ]	n/a
g	g, gh g		Ø	g		Ø
pj	(pj pi)		n/a	uj, bi >be
tj	c(i) [ts]	c(i)		z > ç	c(i)
kj		x
bj	(bj bi)			uj, vi >ve
dj	z [dz]			z > ç [ts]'	g(i) (> j)
gj	g(i)			x > tx
m	m		Ø		m
n	n		Ø		n
mb	n/a		n/a	m	mb
nd				n	nd
ng				ng [ŋ]	ng [ŋg]
mj	gn(i) [ɲ]			(i)gn [ɲ]	gn(i)
nj, gn, cĭn > ć’n
lj, gl, gĭl, gĕl, dĭl, dĕl	gl(i) [ʎ]	*ggl > gl, ghl(i)		(i)gl [ʎ], gl(i)
cĭl, cĕl, cĭl, cĕl		*ccĺ > cl, chl(i)
cŭl, cŏl, căl > c’l	cl, chl(i) [kl]			gu > go	gl, ghl(i), (i)ghl
tŭl, tŏl, tăl > t’l
gŭl, gŏl, găl > g’l	gl, ghl(i) [gl]	*ggl > gl, ghl(i)		l		l
dŭl, dŏl, dăl > d’l
s	s [s]	ss [s]	Ø	s	s [z]
sj	sc(i) [ʃ]		n/a	-is, -sz > sç (all [ʃ])	si [ʒ] (> j ?)
sc´, scj	sc(i)	n/a
ct	n/a			x > tx
gĭd					g(i) > j
cĭt, cĕt
tĭc, tĕc
pt		t		t
pĭt, bĭt, vĭt		ut		ut	ud
pĭd, bĭd, vĭd		uj		uj	ud	uj

Random notes

Intervocalic b > v; g' > j i; p, t, k', k > b, d, g', g but tj, kj > voiceless ts, gj > [dʒ] gi. Unpalatalized original g tends to disappear.

Initial k', kj, tj > ts c(i); initial g', gj > [dʒ] (g)i.

dj in all positions > [dz] z.

ct > [tʃ], while actual x = ks > s or undergoes metathesis to sk, which may be palatalized to [ʃ] 'sc(i) along with original sc.

Voiced stops and affricates ending up final after the loss of final vowels become devoiced, spelled p, t, z [ts] (later ç), (i)x [tʃ], c.

Final [ʃ] is spelled V(i)ss/Vis, later sç, with occasionally sz/sx in early texts.

Word initial ie, ue, uo are spelled hie, hue, huo, since the normal medieval pronunciation of initial prevocalic i, u was j, v.

The vowels [æ] ae and [ø] oe were found in the earliest texts, but later merged with e, while ui' [y] and eu [øy] merged as /y/ spelled eu! The spelling ue remained, but probably shifted from [yø] to [ø].

A k, g, sk before a front vowel that arose through mutation wasn't palatalized. They are spelled ch, gh, sch.

^  Due to the sc/x merger it is likely that x was primarily a spelling for /ʃ/ all along, while /tʃ/ was normally spelled tx, or in early texts alternating with cx. It is however likely that Classicism created a vougue for using x for /ks/ — and against the 'barbaric' cs (or rather, at the time, cſ) — in learnëd words, this making sc^i,e /sç the normal spelling for /tʃ/ in all cases — even though sçt for /ʃt/ < scĭt/xĭt will look a tad bizarre! It is also likely that the 16^th

grammarians disagreed on these points.  I can envisage this 'pattern':

Rhodrese sibilant spellings

	Medieval	Pirrí	Grieur	Modern
/dz/ > /z/	z, dz	z	z	z
/ts/ > /s/	ci,e , cea,o,u /cia,o,u , tz, cz, zz	ci,e , tz, (cia,o,u )	ci,e , ç	ci,e , ç
/ʃ/	sci,e , scea,o,u /scia,o,u , x, sz, sx, ss, iss, xx	sci,e , x || sci,e , sç, (ixt /ʃt/)	sci,e , sç
/tʃ/	tx, cx, cci,e , ccea,o,u /ccia,o,u , cc	tx	tx	tx
/dʒ/	gi,e , iV , gea,o,u /gia,o,u , gg	gi,e , gia,o,u , gg	gi,e , iV	gi,e , j
/j/	i, y	i	y	y
/ks/	cſ, cx	cſ	x	x

Pirrí and Grieur may be expected to disagree along their usual pattern, with Pirrí being a rationalist and populist and Grieur a classicist/Latinist.

In Medieval spelling prevocalic and final i was ambiguous between /dʒ/ and /j/. Pirrí's solution was to never use plain i for /dʒ/, while Grieur's was to use i only for /dʒ/ and always y for /j/. Modern spelling is fool-proof in never using i in these positions (except the recognized diphthongs and triphthongs ie, ia, ieu, iau), but j/g^i,e for /dʒ/ and y for /j/.

^  Medieval scribes tried to insert hs to diambiguate, but that could get very messy.