Tarise

For the Sak language, see here. For the Tarise with Teeth, see here.

Tarise was a language spoken in Taryte between 1085 AD and 1900 AD, whereupon it began to divide into many dialects. Some dialects had begun splitting off even earlier than this, but were considered the same language until 1900 for political reasons. The rise of the Star Empire led to the recognition of the dialects as independent languages.

Proto-Tarise divided into five languages spoken along the tropical coast where the rainfall was greatest. Here, people lived closely packed together and had a tense relationship with the Empire of ^{???Para-Atlam} to the west and a somewhat more peaceful relationship with Wax to the east.

Further inland, there were also five languages, but these had spread from just one of the coastal languages, and therefore they were much more similar to each other than were the five coastal languages.

In later times, Taryte invaded the Thunder Empire and began settling the cold plateau to their north. They defeated the Thunderers quickly, and spread their language to the two new provinces they built on the plateau. These were also derived from the same branch that had spawned the inland languages, but due to geographic separation, it soon went its own way and divided into two more languages, thus bringing the total number of languages spoken in Tarise to 12 by the time of the consolidation of the Empire of Halasala.

Phonology

The phonology of Tarise is fairly conservative, resembling that of the Gold language from which it originated. However, it went through vastly more sound changes than the Khulls branch, so although the superficial appearance is similar, lexical identities are few and the deep structure has been heavily reordered. Being west of Khulls, Tarise shares none of the common traits of the languages spoken to the north and east of Khulls, but shares some traits with Khulls itself.

NOTE: This will need to be reworked to start with a six-vowel inventory instead of four. It may share some changes with Gold due to geographical proximity.

The consonant inventory was:

                       BASIC                             LABIALIZED  
Bilabials:             p   b   m   f   v                     mʷ      w   
Alveolars:             t   d   n       l             tʷ  dʷ  nʷ           
Postalveolars:         č   ǯ           y                       
Velars:                k       ŋ   h   g   ḳ                 ŋʷ  hʷ  gʷ
 

Unlike Fojy, the tone of one syllable was not predictable from the syllable before it: two low tones could occur in a row, and there were more than two tones. Thus, in the sound change list below, descriptions like "after a high tone" are defined narrowly, rather than, for example, also applying before a low tone.

Pre-Tarise (1085) to Proto-Tarise (1900)

Note that the inherited fricatives /h hʷ/ are velars, as in Khulls, and 're spelled with x.

1. The voiced fricatives g gʷ shifted to Ø w. However, the fricative allophones remained, and therefore came to also replace original Ø~ʕ. For example, syllable final -u merged with original gʷ, and obtained the velar frication as an allophone after a stressed vowel.
2. The stops p t b d shifted to h s g z unconditionally, with palatalization and labialization both preserved. Preexisting č ǯ merged with the palatalized coronals. xʲ , hʲ, and sʲ were still distinct.
3. All unstressed syllables became CV only, with no tones.
4. The sequence ʷə shifted to ʷu.
5. The vowels ə i shifted to i yi unconditionally.
6. The long falling tone vowels ā ī ū became high tone à ì ù unconditionally. They did not acquire glottalization.

Note that labialization is preserved. The consonant inventory at this time was:

Labials:                   m  w              
Alveolars:           s  z  n  l
Palatals:                     y      
Velars:        k  ḳ  x     ŋ (Ø)     
Postvelars:          h  g       

But consonantal allophony was very powerful, even alternating between stop and fricative realizations of /s z/.

Thus there were only two proper stops in the language: /k ḳ/. The fricatives /s z/ preserved allophones [t d] when before [a] and not after a closed syllable, but there is still no [ti] or [tu] in any environment. Likewise, the velars /k ḳ x/ were allophonically uvular before [a], palatal before [i], and true velar before [u]. However, this uvular opposition was not significant because in most cases the contreasast wias wth kʷ not k.

The inherited /ki/ gap is filled by the shift of /kə/ > /ki/; primordial /ki/ by this time had shifted to /sʲi/.

There were three vowels: /a i u/, on two tones. A vowel could be followed by /i/ or /u/, even if another consonant was in the coda.

The verb markers for past tense were ki/xi/hyi/syi for 1,2,♀️,♂️. Those are for weak verbs. Passives are xi xi myi xyi zyi, where the fifth is epicene...that is, epicene was only distinct for passive verbs and in some daughters may replace the masculine. a variant masc replces both /yi/ withj /i/.

              PAST TENSE
              ACTIVE       PASSIVE
1st person     -ki         (-xi)
2nd person     -xi         (-xi)
Feminine  ♀️    -hyi         -myi
Masculine ♂️    -si~-syi     -xyi
Epicene   ♁                 -zyi

Tropical Rim daughter languages

Syllabic consonants are preserved. In some daughters, disyllabic consonant sequences such as /-isi-/ contract into single syllabic consonants, while unstressed monosyllables like /si/ become simple, nonsyllabic consonants. The vowels also had widely spaced allophones, largely due to a contrast between /i/ and /yi/ and between /u/ and /wu/.

Some of these languages might actually have begun splitting apart prior to 1900 AD.

Proto-Tarise (1900) to Tropical Rim I

This is the westernmost language, and has the warmest and wettest climate as well as the smallest habitat.

The consonant inventory at this time was:

Labials:                   m  w              
Alveolars:           s  z  n  l
Palatals:                     y      
Velars:        k  ḳ  x     ŋ (Ø)     
Postvelars:          h  g       

And the vowels were

Short vowels:          a  e  i  o  u  
Long vowels:          aa ee ii oo uu 
Falling diphthongs:      ae ei ao ou
                                  iu

NOTE: There will probably need to be more vowel changes here.

Tones were still preserved.

1. The sequences se ze sa za so zo shifted to te re ta ra to ro when not after a closed syllable.
2. The vowel sequences e ee ae ei shifted to ya yaa ai yai.
3. The velars k ḳ shifted to q q̇ before any /a o/.
4. The falling diphthong iu shifted to ū.
5. All g shifted to ʕ. Then ʕʷ (phonetically /ʕu/) shifted to w.
6. The vowel sequences o oo ao ou shifted to u uu au uu. Note the asymmetry with the previous shift evolving /e/.
7. The sequences ky ḳy shifted to ć unconditionally. Then ty ry became č ž.
8. The sequences xy hy merged as ś unconditionally. Then sy zy became š ž.
9. The voiced alveolar stop d shifted to r unconditionally.
10. After any palatal or postalveolar consonant, the labial glide w disappeared to Ø.
11. The vowel sequences ai au shifted to ē ō.

Therefore the consonant inventory was

Labials:                       m   w       mʷ
Alveolars:     t       s   z   n   l   r   nʷ
Postalveolars: č       š   ž           
Palatals:      ć       ś           y
Velars:        k   ḳ   x       ŋ           ŋʷ  kʷ  ḳʷ  xʷ
Uvulars:       q   q̇   h   ʕ                   qʷ  q̇ʷ  hʷ

The vowel inventory was

Short vowels:          a     i     u  
Long vowels:           ā  ē  ī  ō  ū 

All diphthongs had been eliminated by previous shifts.

Proto-Tarise to Tropical Rim II

Probably spoken in the extreme southwest, but not influenced by Kxesh.

The consonant inventory at this time was:

Labials:                   m  w              
Alveolars:           s  z  n  l
Palatals:                     y      
Velars:        k  ḳ  x     ŋ (Ø)     
Postvelars:          h  g       

1. The sequences se ze sa za so zo shifted to te re ta ra to ro when not after a closed syllable.
2. The sequence iu shifted to ū. This did not include /ju/ inherited from earlier /igu/.
3. The velars k ḳ shifted to q q̇ before any /a o/.
4. The vowel e in any context shifted to ya. The /y/ was not present if the preceding consonant was /w/ or a labialized consonant.
5. The vowel o in any context shifted to a true schwa ə.
6. The sequences xy hy sy merged as š. Then ky ḳy ty merged as č.
7. The sequences ry gy ŋy ly shifted to ž ž ň ł.
8. The labial approximant w disappeared after consonants; intervocalically, it was shifted to g.

Thus the consonant inventory had become:

Labials:                      m              
Alveolars:     t     s  z  n  l  r
Palatals:      č     š  ž  ň  ł  y      
Velars:        k  ḳ  x     ŋ      
Postvelars:    q  q̇  h  g

And the vowel inventory was /a i u ə/.

Proto-Tarise (~1900) to Tropical Rim III

There might be some deletions of fricatives at some point here, besides the /g/, because if not the fricatives will be the dominant consonant type.

The consonant inventory at this time was:

Labials:                   m  w              
Alveolars:           s  z  n  l
Palatals:                     y      
Velars:        k  ḳ  x     ŋ (Ø)     
Postvelars:          h  g       

1. In bisyllabic roots, if the vowel in the second syllable was /i/, then u in the first syllable changed to uj.
2. The sequence ai shifted to ei.
3. The vowel a came to be spelled o.

   This is actually a projection of a change from far in the future for the sake of ease of writing.

4. In closed syllables (including the high tone, which had developed final /ʔ/ by areal influence), the vowels o i u shifted to 'a e ə (IPA /æ ɪ ʊ/).

   NOTE THAT THIS ae VOWEL DOES NOT BECOME /e/, EXCEPT IN DIPHTHONGS.

5. Tones were eliminated.
6. The voiced velar fricative g disappeared after a vowel, changing it into a long vowel.
7. All stressed vowels became high-tone; thus tones were eliminated. The tones left no effects on surrounding consonants, and the allophonic affricates that appeared for some fricatives did not survive.
8. Consonant clusters and final consonants were simplified and made the preceding vowel into a lax vowel.
9. Double consonants and affricates simplified to singles and also laxed the preceding vowel.
10. All unstressed short vowels were reduced to the set /ă ĭ u ə̈/ . If they had been lax, they also laxed the preceding vowel.

Tropical Rim III (3900) to Castle Tarise (7950)

1. After a vowel, sĭ tĭ kĭ ḳĭ changed to š č č č .
2. Unaccented long vowels and diphthongs were reduced to the monophthongs o i u .
3. All long vowels became short; however, diphthongs such as /ai/ remained.
4. All final vowels in bisyllabic roots were deleted. If the vowel deleted was /ĭ/, the vowels in the first syllable changed from o a e ə̈ to ei ei i ĭ.^{what is ĭ? ə̈?}

   NOTE ON POLITICS: This is about 4800 AD *if* the parent language was 3900 AD.

5. In compound words and certain inflected forms, the second vowel in the word was deleted if the resulting consonant cluster was acceptable ("the Debra shift"). If the second vowel occurred between two labial consonants, the first labial consonant was deleted.

   This assumes the speakers had invaded Poswob territory. If not, the language simply stops at around 4800 AD.

6. In clusters, and in word-final position, the labiodental fricatives f v became p b.
7. Before front vowels (including ʉ?), the velar stops k ġ were fronted to the postalveolar affricates č ǯ, which were considered single phonemes rather than clusters.
8. The labiodental fricatives f v became the bilabial stops p b in all positions.
9. Voiced stops became prenasalized after a tense vowel; lax vowels before voiced stops became allophonically tense but did not gain prenasalization.
10. Unstressed ʉ became a true schwa. The script was now written with the old /ʉ/ series as the inherent vowel (previously it was schwa).
11. Sequences of /a/ + vowel came to be velarized; if the consonant was velar, it became labiovelar.

Proto-Tarise (~1900) to Qaš (3700)

This language ends up with a phonology similar to Khulls but very different phonotactics. Khulls speakers consider it to sound harsh.

Cladistically, this is simply one of the Tropical Rim languages. However, it is listed here separately because its sound change list is far longer than the others and because it spawned daughter languages of its own.

The consonant inventory at this time was:

Labials:                   m  w              
Alveolars:           s  z  n  l
Palatals:                     y      
Velars:        k  ḳ  x     ŋ (Ø)     
Postvelars:          h  g       

Qaš has a very long list of sound changes, but most of them are conditional, and up to three conditions can be present. Thus the total rate of change is similar to that of Khulls.

1. In unstressed syllables, the vowels i u merged to the schwa vowel ə, which was spelled as /i/. Thus, the vocoids of unstressed syllables had a six-way contrast between /a ya wa ə yə wə/. However, this schwa vowel soon became silent (Ø) in many positions. There were no unstressed long vowels.
2. The labialized nasals mw nw ŋw all merged to m. The palatalized nasals mʲ nʲ ŋʲ shifted to ň.
3. The sequences sy zy ky ḳy shifted to š ž č č .
4. The sequences xy xw shifted to hy hw.
5. Before the vowel [a], the velars k kw ḳ ḳw x became uvulars q qw q̇ q̇w ħ. In the same environment, s z (but not the labialized forms) shifted to t d. Thus, in stressed syllables, /t d/ and the uvulars occurred only before [a], while plain /s z/ and the velars occurred only before [i u].
6. The unstressed schwa vowel disappeared when adjacent to a stressed syllable. The fricatives h g (but not /x/) disappeared when they came to occur after a stop or another fricative. Thus sequences like /ta ka/ were restored.
7. The voiced fricative z shifted to r before a vowel.
8. The sequences sw zw lost their labialization and thus became s z.
9. In word-initial position before a nasal, the consonants ŋ l s z g disappeared while the dorsal fricatives h x changed position. xl hl shifted to lx lh.
10. In pretonic position before a stop, the fricatives x h made that stop voiceless and aspirated, and then disappeared.
11. The clusters km ḳm qm q̇m became labialized to kʷm ḳʷm qʷm q̇ʷm.
12. An h bordering any tautosyllabic stop or fricative in either direction made that other consonant voiceless, and then disappeared.
13. In pretonic position, the nasal clusters mn mŋ nm nŋ ŋň shifted to n m m ń ń. Note the asymmetry of the last two clusters.
14. In pretonic position before a nasal, the palataloids š ž y hy all merged as ň.
15. Nasals occurring in pretonic position before any /ň/ disappeared.
16. The consonant clusters rg rz rl rň shifted to z dz zl dň.
17. In pretonic secondary position after a nasal or /l/, the voiceless sounds s q k x shifted to h. In the same environment, the consonants z ḳ q̇ became silent.
18. The voiced velar fricative g disappeared to Ø when occurring in a cluster of any kind. Labialized forms left their coarticulation and then disappeared.
19. In pretonic position before any /t d s z/, The dorsals x k ḳ kʷ ḳʷ shifted to k; in the same position, the dorsals q q̇ qʷ q̇ʷ shifted to q.
20. Any nonlabialized dorsal stop before /ň/ shifted to č.
21. The cluster žz shifted to ž. Any other cluster of a palataloid fricative followed by a sibilant shifted to š.
22. Palatalized stops followed by primordial sibilants shifted to kš.
23. In pretonic secondary position after a dorsal stop, the coronals t d s z shifted to s. Thus the original sample of 36 different consonant clusters was reduced to a contrast between /ks/ and /qs/. (This does not interfere with the shift above that produced /kš/ because that sibilant was shifted out of the reach of this shift.)
24. The nasals m n ň ŋ disappeared in word-initial position after an /ň/, /č/, or any dorsal stop.
25. The nasals m n ŋ disappeared in word-initial position after the coronals /t d r/.
26. In a syllable onset, the ejective stops ḳ q̇ became aspirated to k q when following any /t d r s z h x k q hʷ kʷ qʷ/. They also became aspirated when preceding any /k q x/.
27. In pretonic position, the clusters ld lt shifted to dl tl.
28. In pretonic secondary position after any palatalized sound, the voiceless dorsals x k ḳ q q̇ shifted to č and deleted the preceding consonant.
29. Velars preceding uvulars became uvular. Uvulars preceding velar stops (but not fricatives) became velar.
30. In pretonic secondary position after any /t d r s z/, the voiceless dorsals k ḳ x shifted to ć .
31. All consonants disappeared before a pretonic /ć/. (There may have been clusters involving /č/ that did not delete.)
32. The true palatals ć ń shifted to č ň before the front vowel /i/, and to k ŋ otherwise.
33. The nasals m n ň ŋ became the voiced stops b d ǯ ġ in pretonic position before the coronals /t d l/.
34. In pretonic secondary position, the voiced stop d was deleted to Ø when occurring after another voiced stop.
35. A voiced stop or fricative bordering an /s/ in either direction became voiceless.
36. All non-dorsals were delabialized. Thus the labialized coronals tʷ dʷ shifted to plain t d and labialization disappeared on all bilabials and palatals.
37. The pretonic clusters tň dň ňt ňd shifted to č ǯ č ǯ. td dt shifted to t.
38. The pretonic coronals d r shifted to t before any /s/. tz shifted to ts.
39. The pretonic coronals d t r s z disappeared before any /d t q/. (But note that /sd/ and other mismatched pairs did not occur.)
40. The lateral l disappeared after /ǯ/ or any labialized consonant.
41. All tautosyllabic geminates were simplified to singletons.

The consonant inventory at this time was:

Labials:       p  b           m (Ø)    w           
Alveolars:     t  d     s  z  n  l  r
Palataloids:   č  ǯ     š  ž  ň  ł  y                   
Velars:        k     ḳ  x  g  ŋ        kʷ ḳʷ            
Postvelars:    q     q̇  h              qʷ q̇ʷ