Techomonic
CBBic is the provisional designation of a collaborative project on the Conlanger Bulletin Board aimed at the construction of a fictional branch of the Indo-European language family. The chief contributors are Üdj, WeepingElf (Jörg Rhiemeier) and Salmoneus.
Setting
The languages are meant to descend from the language of a group of people who were "dropped off" along the way by the people who trekked eastward along the Eurasian steppe to become the ancestors of the speakers of Tocharian. The languages will be written in conscripts derived from the Kharoshthi script.
Proto-CBBic phonology
Consonants
In the IPA:
| Labial | Dental | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aspirated stops | *pʰ | *tʰ | *cʰ | *kʰ | |
| Neutral stops | *p | *t | *c | *k | |
| Voiced stops | *b | *d | *ɟ | *ɡ | |
| Sibilants | *s | *ʂ | *ɕ | ||
| Nasals | *m | *n | *ɲ | *ŋ | |
| Liquids | *l | *r | |||
| Semivowels | *w | *j |
In an IAST-derived notation, which may be easier for most people to type:
| Labial | Dental | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aspirated stops | *ph | *th | *ch | *kh | |
| Neutral stops | *p | *t | *c | *k | |
| Voiced stops | *b | *d | *j | *g | |
| Sibilants | *s | *ṣ | *ś | ||
| Nasals | *m | *n | *ñ | *ṅ | |
| Liquids | *l | *r | |||
| Semivowels | *w | *y |
Vowels
| Front unround |
Front round |
Back unround |
Back round | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | *i | *ü (y) | *ï (ɨ) | *u |
| Mid | *e | *ö (ø) | *ë (ə) | *o |
| Open | *ä (æ~ɛ) | *a |
All vowels can be short or long. Long vowels are marked with acute (e.g. *é), or those with umlaut dots with double acute (e.g., *ő).
Sound changes
(incomplete draft) (Note: for these changes, I've used the IPA instead of the IAST-derived notation.)
- h₂w > h₃
- ej, eje > e:
- Laryngeals "as usual", but with triple reflex as in Greek:
- *h₁e > *e, *h₂e > *a, *h₃e > *o
- *eh₁ > *e:, *eh₂ > *a:, *eh₃ > *o:
- Syllabic and initial before a consonant: *h₁ > *e, *h₂ > *a, *h₃ > *o
- *Hi > *i, *Ho > *o, *Hu > *u (*H = any laryngeal)
- *iH > *i:, *oH > *o:, *uH > *u: (*H = any laryngeal)
- *R̥H > *Ra: (*R = resonant)
- Syllabic resonants develop *ə as prop vowel before the resonant
- Labiovelars lose labialization, with rounding of following vowel, e.g. *kʷe > *kø
- *w causes rounding of a following vowel, but is not lost, e.g. *we > *wø, *twe > *twø
- Palatovelar stops become palatals, e.g. *ǵ > *ɟ
- *s > *ʂ after *r, *u, or dorsal consonants
- *s > *ɕ after *i
- *e lowered to *æ except before an *i in the following syllable or when after palatals (incl. the approximant *j)
- Dental stops become velars before *w, e.g. *dw > *ɡw; also, *sw > *ʂw
- Dentals become palatals before *j, e.g. *tj > *c; also, *sj > *ɕ (Note: the *j is deleted.)
- Voiceless and voiced-aspirated stops merge as aspirated stops in stressed syllables and as unaspirated in unstressed syllables, e.g. *tána > *tʰána, *bʰaná > *paná
- Grassmann's Law: aspirated stops lose aspiration before another aspirated stop later in the word
- Front vowels are centralized before velars, *r and *ʂ, e.g. *ek > *ək
- w is lost after a consonant
Proto-CBBic morphology
(not determined yet)
Proto-CBBic lexicon
(I've only had time to do a few; I'm running through a Swadesh list.)
- *monoko adj. ─ many (< PIE *monogʰo)
- *phó adj. ─ few (< PIE *peh₂w)
- *oynos num. ─ one (< PIE *óynos)
- *kho num. ─ two (< PIE *dwó)
- *thra̋s num. ─ three (< PIE *tréyes)
- *kokhoräs num. ─ four (< PIE *kʷetwóres) *The first vowel is /o/ because it's backed before the dorsal /kʰ/.
- *phaṅkö num. ─ five (< PIE *pénkʷe)
- *dëlákhos adj. ─ long (< PIE *dl̥h₁gʰós)
- *stälos adj. ─ wide (< PIE *stelh₃ós)
- *thäkuṣ adj. ─ thick (< PIE *tégus)
- *ma̋ adj. ─ small (< PIE *mey)
- *mecas adj. ─ big (< PIE *méǵh₂s)
