Template:R3 pages

Liquid consonants

Rhodrese has five distinct liquid phonemes, developed out of Latin single and double double liquids and some combinations of liquid and consonant. The spelling of these phonemes is consistent:

• /ɾ/ is written r.
• /l/ is written l.
• /ʎ/ is written gl (and /gl/ is written ghl).
• /ʁ/ is written rr except after a consonant or at the beginning of a word, where it is written r.
• [ɹ] is an allophone of /ɾ/ which occurs before a consonant and before a pause. However some speakers have [ʁ] or [χ] which are allophones of /ʁ/ in this position, so in fact the distinction between /ɾ/ and /ʁ/ is neutralized there.
• /ɽˡ/ is written ll. The distinction between between /ɽˡ/ and /l/ is only maintained between vowels. [ɽˡ] occurs instead of [l] word-initially if the preceding word ends in a vowel and word finally if the next word begins in a vowel. In modern Rhodrese this is shown in spelling only with the masculine singular definite article before a word beginning in a vowel (and in the contractions della, alla, delli, alli etc.).

The following table Illustrates the origins of these sounds in Vulgar Latin.

Position Latin	#__	V__V	__C	__’C	__#	__’#
r	ʁ	ɾ	ɹ	ɹ	ɹ	ɹ
d	d	ɾ		ɹ	Ø/t	ɹ
rr	—	ʁ	—	ɹ	ɹ	ɹ
dr, d’r	dʁ	ʁ	—	—	ɹ	ɹ
tr, t’r	tʁ	ʁ	—	—	ɹ	ɹ
n’r	ʁ	ʁ	—	—	ɹ	ɹ
l	l/ɽˡ	l/w	w	w	w	w
ll, l’n	l/ɽˡ	ɽˡ	—	l/w	l	l
t’l, d’l	l/ɽˡ	ɽˡ	—	—	l	l
lj, llj, gl, g’l	ʎ	ʎ	—	w	ʎ	ʎ
kl, k’l	kl	ʎ	—	w	ʎ	ʎ

Examples

Vulgar Latin	Rhodrese
illo pede	el pier /pjɛɾ/ pl. li pir
illo patre	el piar (Old Rh. pearr) pl. li pier!
laudare	lauriar /ləwɾˈjaɾ/
rotundu	rodon /ʁʊˈdɔn/, f. rodonde /ʁʊˈdɔndɪ/ or /ʁʊˈdɔnɪ/, pl. reden.
petra	pierre /ˈpjɛʁɪ/
quadraginta	quarrante
senior	ser 'Mr.' ( and analogicalsir 'Messrs.') cf. segnaur 'lord' < seniorem.
ponere habet	porrat /pʊˈʁat/ 's/}he will put'
illu bellu	el bel
illa stella	l'estelle
illo malo	el mao
illa mala	la male
illo stab'lu	ell estabo
illi oc'li	igl egl (sg. ell egl)
illo filio	el fegl pl. li figl 'son, children' (Old Rh. el figl, li figl)
illo filiolu	el figláo pl. li figléo 'brat'
illa fil[j]ina	la figline pl. li figlí 'daughter'

Notes

^  To the extent that d / __C existed in Latin it was assimilated to the following consonant. The main exception was dj which in Old Rhodrese became either /dz/ z or /dʒ/ j, g.

^  Since the plurals of petra and pede became homophones in Rhodrese the former is strictly an uncountable mass noun. To denote 'piece(s) of stone' pierghe pl. pirg < petrica, or if the stone(s) be larger el pierráu < petrone are used. Many of the sensu stricto Rhodrese dialects, like several Italian dialects, have forms like el pried, li prid as if from preta, pretae but these are strictly banned from the written language. The personal name Petrus is now used only in the semi-learned form Piedre or in the originally Provençal form Pair, but the adjective pierraus (O.Rh. perrous) and the surnames Pirrí and Pierrot are still current. Pier is used as an ethnic slur for a Frenchman (cf. French Pierre /pjɛʁ/ < Petrus)

^  egl /ɛʎ/, the plural of ogl /ɔʎ/ should not be confused with eghle /ˈɛglɪ/ the plural of aghle /ˈaglɪ/ < aquila.

^  The pejorization in the meaning of figláo filiolus was no doubt due to confusion with a supposed or real **figláu < filione.

^  la figline, li figlí is an example of how the ending -ina became productively added to nouns and nominalized adjectives denoting female living beings after the plurals of paired masculine/feminine designations had become identical. This happened also with names: the lady Claudine and her maid Clauzine (< -ina added to the male name Clauz < Claudius are a staple pair of the traditional Borgonzay comedy. Sometimes the endings -áu -one or -air -ariu were added to the masculine designation instead of or in addition to adding -ina to the feminine designation. This was however a rule only with trees and their fruits as perair 'pear-tree' and paire 'pear'.

Pages about Lucal languages

<DPL> category=Lucus </DPL>