Subumpamese languages

The Subumpamese languages are the languages spoken in the eleven states of Subumpam. They split off from the parent language, called Tapilula, around 600 AD and continued to be spoken until the defeat of Subumpam in the Vegetable War of 2668 AD.

Early history

Initial phonology

Proto-Subumpamese split off from the Gold branch of the Tapilula family around the year 600 AD. At this time, the only other Gold speakers were those living in Paba; those who settled Nama spoke different languages. Proto-Subumpamese had already gone through all of the vowel changes that characterized the Gold language of the year 1900. Therefore, the vowel inventories of Gold and proto-Subumpamese are identical and in nearly all words they will agree with each other, despite the 1300-year gap between their maturation dates.

However, proto-Subumpamese branched off from Gold before the deletion of all word-initial vowels, and therefore there are some words that were one syllable longer in proto-Subumpamese than in Gold. This also means that proto-Subumpamese retained the Tapilula noun classifier system, which in the Gold branch was wrecked by the deletion of initial vowels. Subumpamese also lacks the labialized consonants that were created by this shift, although it preserves the unusual labialized alveolars that came down from Tapilula.

Note that the vowel changes above are responsible for the growth of closed syllables, and that proto-Subumpamese therefore has closed syllables wherever Gold also has them.

The only consonant changes that occurred between Tapilula and proto-Subumpamese are the palatalization of /k/ (not /ḳ/) before /i/, and the shift of /f/ (not /hʷ/) to /þ/ (often spelled ṣ). All of the other changes that came to characterize the Gold language occurred after the split.

Therefore the consonant phonology of proto-Subumpamese was:

/p b m þ t d n l tʷ dʷ nʷ č j k ḳ ŋ h g hʷ gʷ/

Of note is that /gʷ/ was very frequently pronounced [w] but patterned as if it were a labiovelar. The only ejective in the language is ḳ.

Early divisions

All Subumpamese languages shared the change of short /i/ > /yi/ unconditionally, thus palatalizing all consonants before every short /i/. This sound change was independent of tone. All Subumpamese languages can also be said to share the unconditional sound change of /ḳ/ > /q/, but in many cases, the pronunciation varied allophonically and it merely followed the same patterns of development. This sound change created clusters of /kq/ and /qk/, which both changed to /qq/ in all languages.

Vuʒi

After these first few changes, the Vuʒi language split off from the rest. This language marked the westernmost limit of the Zenith people during the entire period of Subumpam's existence. At the time of the split, Vuʒi did not have an /s/.

Changes related to palatalization and labialization

After the loss of Vuʒi, the remaining Subumpamese peoples continued to speak a single common language. The next sound change was the fronting of all velar consonants before the sound /y/ (including /yi). Note that this did not occur before long /ī/ because the long /ī/ had never triggered palatalization in the first place. Coronals were not affected by this change.

Next, all long /ū/ changed to /wū/, thus labializing any consonants that occurred before it.

Then, the four diphthongs /ai au əi əu/ changed unconditionally to /ē ō ī ū/.

The next change shifted the labial sounds /hʷ gʷ/ to /f v/ unconditionally. Thus, at this point, around 1100 AD, Subumpamese did not have a /w/ despite having labialized consonants. This soon changed because the lateral approximant /l/ came to be pronounced /w/ in all positions. (NOTE: This was probably timed to line up with Pabappa, but now it cannot.)

Then, all long vowels in closed syllables became short and low-toned.

East-West split

At this point the Subumpamese people began to work more closely together and form multinational alliances instead of each nation considering itself independent. However, each nation tended to pair with nations to its north or south, and take less influence from nations to their east or west. This was due to the river systems in Subumpam, which flowed down from a mountain range in the far north of Subumpam. Thus the next division within the Subumpamese language family was a three-way split between Western, Central, and Eastern Subumpam. The Eastern branch split off from the other two slightly earlier than the other two split from each other, but for simplicity the split can be analyzed as simultaneous.

In Western Subumpamese territory, there came to be four languages, one for each of the four states at the western end of the Subumpamese Union. These were Mania, Yuez, Yuenan, and a second language that was spoken in Vuʒi.

In Central Subumpamese, there was only a single language. This was spoken in the capital territory of Subumpam, whose name is Bipabum. It was the most politically powerful of all of the Subumpamese languages and was the language often called simply "Subumpamese" by diplomats traveling overseas.

In Eastern Subumpamese, there were four languages, again one for each nation. These were Nī, Vuʒinī, Puripup, and Pipaippis. These languages were strongly influenced by Pabappa. Note that the Subumpamese states of Punsam and Pombi did not have their own languages because they were originally part of Paba and their peoples' native language was Pabappa.

NOTE, Classical Core Subumpamese appears to be called "Proto-European" on gold6.html and its maturation date is given as 3200 AD. Since this was for a form of the language that was originally intended to be a daughter of Gold rather than a sister of it, the proper maturation date will be moved back to 1900 AD. All of the sound changes given on gold6.html will be carried over from Proto-European to Classical Core Subumpamese with absolutely no changes, since the vowel system of Gold and proto-Subumpamese are already identical, and all of the consonant changes were of a type that can be applied equally well to both languages. Also, since this sound change list is for Classical Core Subumpamese and there will be many other Subumpamese languages, all of the others will branch off at various points.

Proto-Eastern Subumpamese develops phonemic aspiration, and in many ways resembles Pabappa, as it was spoken near Pabappa.

Phonology

Overall the language is "soft" and not intimidating, like its neighbor Kava, and to a lesser extent also like Pabappa and Poswa. It shifted all of its labialized consonants to pure labials, e.g. /kʷ/ > /p/, and then shifted its plain velars to palatals and sometimes on to coronals. Thus there are few dorsal consonants remaining in the language. However, the voiceless ejective /ḳ/ was immune to the second of these changes, and thus survived as a plain velar in the classical form of the language.

It is also unusual in that for most of its history, it had an /r/ but no /l/ sound, the opposite pattern to most og the languages around it. However, Babakiam had neither of these sounds (the 'r' in Poswa and Pabappa is a uvular approximant.)

Vowels

/a e i o u ā ē ī ō ū/ Tones have been eliminated, but the ā tone survives as vowel length. Macrons are also used to tell diphthongs like ūi (/uj/) from simple sequences like ui (/ui/, often [wi]).

NOTE RECAST THIS AS SPLITTING OFF C 1200 AD OR EARLIER. USE EXACTLY THE SAME SOUND CHANGES.

Consonants

/p b m f v w/ for labials; /t d n s z r c ʒ/ for dentals/alveolars; /č ǯ š ž j/ for postalveolars/palatals; and /k ŋ/ for the velars. The vowel /i/, be it short or long, palatalizes any alveolars before it, and therefore the palatal series can be considered to instead be /cj ʒj sj zj j/, reducing the number of consonants by four. Voiced stops and fricatives are fairly rare. In syllable-final position, the allowable sounds are /m n ŋ/, /t d n s z c ʒ/, and /k/. No vowels were deleted, so any final consonant in Subumpamese was a final consonant in Gold as well.