Gala language
Galà
Sometimes spelled G̣alà, as this language developed a true voiced stop /ġ/ alongside the fricative /g/ it inherited from Old Andanese. 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.
- Because the language is vowel-strong, it may do /ti/ > /si/ (likely t > č > š > s). Possibly also /ki/ > /si/, and then /kʷi/ > /ki/.
- /q/ > /0/ may be ignored in monosyllabic words, or perhaps in initial position generally, in favor of shifting to /k/. This would prevent words consisting of just single vowels from arising. If so, this /q/ > /k/ must be made later than the /k/ > /s/ shift. /qʰ/ (arguably better analyzed as a cluster /qh/) could also misbehave and thus survive as /k/.
- The genitive infix in Tapilula was -ə̀h-, which changed very early on to -əh`- (that is, an infix of /əh/ plus a shift of the tone onto the following syllable). Then the schwa disappeared, creating aspirated consonants. Except for a few words where there had been voiced stops, this changed nothing whatsoever.
- Options are:
- 1) irregular retention of the schwa in this morpheme as /i/, then a change to palatalization. This contradicts mainline Andanese, however, which would not split off for another 1500 years.
- 2) Generalization of the infix to a suffix after some "misbehaving" words, probably those ending in /q/ + vowel, make it appear like a suffix.
- 3) Generalization of aspiration, perhaps with a Khulls-like shift of /mʰ/ > /mp/ so that the words will not collide with their own genitives. This still contradicts mainline Andanese, but only at a later stage.
- 4) Do nothing, since the tone shift alone should be sufficient to mark the genitive, even in monosyllabic roots, so long as monosyllabic roots are assumed to have been bisyllables that previously ended in a schwa or in /qi/.
- Note that Andanese did in fact retain sequences like [mha]~[mʰa] until quite late, even though they were spelled as /maha/ etc and thus did not appear to have once contained a schwa. Thus, Galà could do /mh/ > /mp/ while mainline Andanese did /mVh/=[mh] > /m/. Since the stops /p/ and /t/ were allophonically voiced between vowels, the resulting /bh dh/ would change back into /p t/ and thus become phonemic. Thus the only "problem" sounds whose mutated form merges with the plain form are /h/, /k/, and possibly /q/. /g/ probably mutates to /h/ instead of to /k/, or perhaps to a new phoneme /x/.
- Also, the syllable /qi/ might delete its /i/ early on, leading to a setup similar to that of Japanese, where geminate conosnants appear in place of the earlier /qi/. Possibly /qu/ also. Note, however, that this would not likely happen if there was not also a nasal coda other than that left by the remnants of the very rare syllabic consonants.
- Initial /d/ is rare, coming only from the sequence /ġi/ plus a vowel. There are probably no phonemic palatals in the language; if there are, they are like Japanese in that they cannot occur before /i/.
- /g/ merges with /ġ/, with the stop pronunciation winning out eventually. The dot above the /ġ/ is to keep it distinct when Galai words are loaned into other languages that still have a contrast.
- /hj/ probably to /s/ (not given as such in the wordlist below).
vowel ashifts
like japanese, the vowel setup was once /a e i o u ja jo ju/ but with no */je ji/ since they were automatically palaltalizat.ed. like jp (and Khulls), [je] > [e] later on, leacing a gap.
- PROBABLE FINAL PHONOLOGY
/p b m/
/t d n s l/
/k ŋ h g/
/a e i o u/
/ă à ā á/
/j/ and /w/ could be considered phonemes as well, despite being written as vowels, since they cannot carry tones.
A rare /r/ may come from the sequence /lj/.
Table of cognates
The table below makes some assumptions, such as unconditional /k/ > /t/ in Olati.
Note that many roots are preserved only as parts of words rather than independent words, since this language family made abundant use of classifier prefixes to pad problematic words that collided with other words. This means that the homophones, especially those found in Late Andanese, did not cause problems in comprehension. For example, the word for "dolphin" appears to be a compound of sa "love" and gu "breast", but the two smaller words are used with classifiers only. Other words are attested but not often used: for example, the common word for torch in Late Andanese is not hunupu but the related ihunu.
Furthermore in these languages, especially Classical (and Late) Andanese, there are no differences between the sound changes that take place word-internally and those take affect independent words.
Also, semantic shifts are not given here.
This also assumes Galà ēa > yā, but īa > ya. As in Japanese, the shfit fails if the second element is /e/ or /i/.
| Old Andanese | meaning | Galà | Proto-Olati | Lyugi | Late Andanese |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| kakŏbe | tree | kakŏbe | tatŏbe | kakē | kakupi |
| lonŏṁ[1] | orange | lonŏn | lorō (?) | lunu | |
| gimòga | whip | gimòga | yimā | imua | |
| gegŭbo [2] | semen | gegŭbo | yúbo | gigū | yupu |
| hʷekăl | seaweed | hekā | fetā (?) | hukā | |
| hʷèyunge | claw | hyūnge | fūne (?) | sugi | |
| kŏgu | tree bark | kŏgu | |||
| agʷùdu | countryside, plain field | agùdu | avùdu | alutu | |
| galàqi | Galàqi (placename) | galà | yalàki | alai | |
| hʷèyabe | the Sĕyepa religion | hyābe | fābe | hiapi (sapi?) | |
| pudigʷèyo | diaper | pudigyō | pudivō | putiliu | |
| lìya | beaver | lyă (?) | lyā (?) | lia | |
| nàgo nòma | honeybee | nagonòma | rōroma (?) | naguma | |
| hìqi | key | hì | sìki | hii | |
| heyăbo | lap (body part); pubis | hyābo | sábo | sapu | |
| lòqa | mouth | lòka | lua | ||
| làda | girl, woman; child | làda | làda | làra | lata |
| qĕi | wheel | kē | kē | i | |
| qèga | sawgrass | kèga | kā | ya | |
| hʷàhʷa | hair of the head | hàha | fàfa | haha | |
| gʷū | milk | gū | vū | lu | |
| qʷū | urine; pee | kū | pū | pu | |
| ukòna | wine | ukòna | utòra | ukuna | |
| hʷŭba | Fuba (a placename and tribal name)[3] | hŭba | fŭba | hupa | |
| pè | a type of tall grass; cognate to gʷăga | pè | pè | pi | |
| pĕ | hip; side face | pĕ | pi | ||
| hʷŭm | breast; nipple | hun | fū(?) | gu | |
| hĭbo | cranberry | hĭbo | sĭbo | hipu | |
| gìbi[4] | water | ipi | |||
| hʷugʷàyi | menstrual pad | hugē | fuvī | hulai | |
| kùqi | bird's beak | kùi | tùki | kui | |
| hṅda | snow | hĭnda | gina(?) | ||
| qŏqu | rain | kō(?) | kŏku | wu | |
| qùne | slicing knife | kùne | kùre | uni | |
| gʷàda nŏda | Heaven; spiritual paradise | gadanŏda | vadarŏda | latanuta | |
| hʷonùbu | torch | honùbu | forùbu | hunupu | |
| kulagʷī | step; stair | kulagī | tulavī | kulali | |
| ăpmi | woman; female | àmi | ami | ||
| hʷèdu | duck (bird) | hèdu | fèdu | hitu | |
| hʷeyahʷŭm[5] | dolphin | hyāhun(?) | fāfū (?) | sagu | |
| ùqi | eye | ù | ùki | wi | |
| hʷō | fire | hō | fō | hu | |
| hʷiă | love | hyă | fyá | sa | |
| nŭbu | fruit that grows on trees | nŭbu | rŭbu | nupu |
