Garonnian/Phonology

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Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal /m/ /n/ /ɲ/ /ŋ/
Plosive /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /ɡ/
Affricate /ts/ /dz/ /tʃ/ /dʒ/
Fricative /f/ /v/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /h/
Trill /r/
Approximants /l/ /ʎ/

Unlike many Gallo-Romance languages (French technically lacked this), Garonnian lacks final obstruent devoicing. Unusually among Romance languages, Garonnian exhibits initial consonant mutations and contain somewhat unusual phoneme /ŋ/ which can occur in any positions.

Orthography

Spelling Pronunciation value
Major Examples Minor Examples
b /b/ bull
c Before a, o, u /k/ cur
Before e, i /tʃ/ ciul

Vowels

Front Central Back
Short Long Short Long Short Long
Close /i/ /iː/ /u/ /uː/
Mid /ɛ/ /ɛː/ /ɔ/ /ɔː/
Open /a/ /aː/

In unstressed positions, only the vowels /a, i, u/ are allowed. Vowel length are phonemicized as a result of losses of certain consonants (these are, */β, ð, ɣ/), but also as a result of simplification of certain vowel hiatuses (teir */ti.ˈir//ˈtiːr/ "to hold", aad /ˈaːd/ "(s)he had").

Consonant structure

The maximal consonant structure in Garonnian is C¹C²S¹VS²C¹C².

Stress

Like French, Garonnian words are always stressed in the last syllable. However, words containing vowel hiatuses are stressed in the second-to-last (penultimate) syllable (bua /ˈbu.a/ "good (fem. sg.)"). As previously I, Willett said, only /a, i, u/ are allowed in unstressed syllables.

Phonological changes

Vulgar Latin to Proto-Gallo-Sicilian

  • Deletion of vowels in contact with the liquids (/l/ or /r/): speculum/isˈpɛkʲu//isˈpjɔdʒu/pesçog​̧ /pisˈtʃɔdʒ/ "mirror"
  • Palatalization of /l/ following a consonant to /j/ (note cluster /kl//kʲ/tʃ//dʒ/, an unusual development in standards of Romance languages, e.g. Latin oculus → Garonnian ueg​̧ "eye").
  • Palatalization of /k(ɛ,i,j)/, /ɡ(ɛ,i,j)/ to /tʃ/ and /j/, respectively. The following original /j/ sounds (resulted from /e(ː)/ and /i(ː)/ preceding vowels) are deleted.
    • Notice also additional palatalizations that only occur before /j/: /lʲ//ʎ/, /nʲ//ɲ/, /sʲ//ʃ/, and /tʲ//ts/. Others were still denoted by plain palatalization: /mʲ/, /pʲ/, and /rʲ/. Note that original /bʲ/ in early Proto-Gallo-Sicilian times transformed into /j/: habeōai "I have".
  • Vowel shifts: ten vowels in Classical Latin are reduced to only five vowels in Proto-Gallo-Sicilian:
Classical Latin a e i o u
Proto-Gallo-Sicilian a ɛ i ɔ u
  • Chain shift involving lenitions occured when the Proto-Gallo-Sicilians migrate to Padania, occuring intervocalically, word-finally, or before liquids (/l/ or /r/):