Gala language

Galà is a branch of Old Andanese. Sometimes spelled Gala or Galai (exonyms). Galai is very conservative. /q/ > /ʔ/ > /0/ unconditionally; labialization was mostly dropped; intervocalic voicing became phonemic (because the consonants were restored to voiceless if stressed); the voiced fricatives /g gʷ/ hardened in initial position into stops.

Old Andanese (1900) to Galà (3750 AD)

The Old Andanese language had the consonants

Bilabials:         p   m   w   f
Alveolars:         t   n   l
Velars:            k   ŋ   g   h
Labiovelars:       kʷ          
Uvulars:           q
Rounded uvulars:   qʷ

and the vowels /a e i o u/ on two tones.

1. The uvular stops q qʷ shifted to k kʷ in word-initial position. Most root-initial /q/ also shifted, because most roots could appear without classifiers at least in certain contexts. But roots that were fully bound retained initial /q/.
2. The sequence qi disappeared to q before a consonant or at the end of a word. The sequences qig qih simply shifted to qi.
3. The voiceless stops p t shifted to b d in word-medial position. Root-initial examples followed the inverse of the pattern of the /q/>/k/ shift.
4. The clusters qp qm qt qn qk qŋ qkʷ shifted to geminates pp mm tt nn kk ŋŋ kkʷ. Any cluster *ending* in /q/ shifted it to /k/.
5. All remaining q shifted to Ø and caused the preceding vowel to become high-toned.
6. The clusters mh nh ŋh (common in genitives) shifted to mp nt ŋk. Then bh dh shifted to p t.
7. Remaining aspirate clusters deaspirated.
8. Before a vowel, the sequences ti hi ki all shifted to s. Likewise in the same environment gi li shifted to d y. Any other palatalized consonants then depalatalized.
9. The labialized consonants kʷ w f shifted to k g h. (/f/ is a variant spelling of /hʷ/.)
10. The clusters ng ŋg shifted to ŋ. Thus, the gap of */ŋa/ was filled, although it remained rare.
11. After a high tone, the voiceless fricative h shifted to q.
12. The vowel sequences ăa ĕe ĭi ŏo ŭu shifted to á é í ó ú/ Note that, unlike most languages of the area, sequences such as /àa/ (from /aqa/ ) did not contract to simple long vowels.

Thus the final consonant inventory was

Bilabials:         p   b   m   w    
Alveolars:         t   d   n   l   s
Palatals:                      y
Velars:            k       ŋ   g   h
Uvulars:           q

Climate and geography

Galà is located on the continental divide, within the highest terrain of the Hykwus Mountains, with even the lowest valleys having an elevation above 4000 feet. It shares this natural environment with the Pabap state of Blip to its east and the independent nation of Wimpus to its north.

Terrain and environment

Gala is spoken in upland Nama, for which the lingua franca is Khulls, and freely loans words from Khulls.

The nation of Galà is in a very interesting location. To its east lies the Pabap state of Blip and the historically aboriginal nation of Ihhai; to its north lies a diasporic historically Andanese nation named Wimpus (later settled by Pabaps); to the southwest lies the notoriously violent nation of Litila; and to the south are the Subumpamese states of Puripup and Punsam.

Despite being surrounded on all sides by nations with violent histories, Galà itself was not affected by most of these wars because of its highland location and terrain even more mountainous than those of its neighbors.

Climate

THe wind in Galà blows mostly from the south. Despite the high elevation, the climate is broadly similar to sea-level sites located a few hundred miles to the north, both in temperature and in precipitation. However, valleys can get very cold in winter, with temperatures below —30°F having been recorded in many towns, and it is in valleys where the greatest human population concentration is found. On the other hand, wind is generally calm during extremely cold winter nights, so even here the coldest weather is found in the mountains.

Relations with neighboring nations

Galà bordered Litila. The Galà word for crab was hekăba, and they referred to the crabs of Litila with this name.

Galà-Paba relations

The Pabap conquest of the state of Blip occurred during Paba's Thousand Year Peace, and thus was not conquered by force. They may have instead signed a tripartite alliance with Galà and the Repilian aboriginals in which Blip was opened to Pabap settlement as it was in a strategic military position but offered a poor natural environment for human habitation. In other words, Blip was open to anyone party to the treaty who wanted it, and as Pabaps moved in, aboriginals moved out, likely in both directions (into Paba proper and also into their still-free arctic homeland).

This also assumes Galà ēa > yā, but īa > ya. As in Japanese, the shfit fails if the second element is /e/ or /i/.

Grammar

Nouns

The classifier system is expanded slightly by splitting of classifiers, primarily before vowel-stems, and by reanalysis of previously existing bare stems as classifier+stem compounds, producing new prefixes such as ko- "young boy".