Fojy
- Fojy * is an empire straddling the boundary of the tropics and subtropics, and consists of 7 states.
language
This is the source of the substratum of Dreamlandic, and of languages that were spoken as far north as 46N in territory that changed hands several times, ending up split between the Ghosts and Moonshine.
The early stop system was /p t k q pʷ tʷ kʷ qʷ/. However, the q's were never actually uvualar ... they varied depending on the vowel, unlike all other conosonants. They have variable reflexes, even within the same language, depending on whether they were analogized with one of the traditional stops or not. The Dreamlandic branch might shift all to /p pʷ/.
Most sound changes are on paper. Others are:
- Before a high tone, the fricatives g h gʷ hʷ were lenited to Ø Ø w w. Before a low tone, these fricatives merged to q q qʷ qʷ. This /q/ was not a proper phoneme, but rather was determined by the surrounding vowels, and therefore could take on different values in different forms of the same word.
- Before a low tone, the lateral approximant l shifted to r. This did not affect the dental form (if there was one).
- Before a high tone, the voiceless stops pʷ p ṭ t tʷ k became the fricatives fʷ f þ s hʷ h.
- Voiceless prenasalized sequences were reanalyzed as nasal + fricative. Voiced prenasalized sequences were reanalyzed as nasal + stop. Thus they were no longer phonemic. Nevertheless, they continued to occur in the syllable onset rather than splitting between the onset and the preceding coda.
- The emphatic stops pʕʷ pʕ ṭʕ ḳ shifted to kpʷ kp kṭ kk "when the environment would support it".
- The voiceless alveolar stop t affricated to c before the high vowels [i ə u].
- Before the vowels a i (and probably /e/), the consonants p m f t n s all became palatalized to pʲ mʲ fʲ č ň š. The velars /k ŋ h/ became palatalized, but the spelling was retained. Likewise, palatalization of /l/ was not marked in spelling.
- The rounded alveolars tʷ nʷ became kʷ ŋʷ.
- even though they had /q/ "on their side"? Possibly shift all nine, and let the daughter languages merge them in various ways.
- The high central vowel ə shifted to i.
- Note that this shift opens up a three-way contrast of /t/~/č/~/k/ before [i], and the following shift adds [ə] and [a]. However, there was only a two-way contrast before [u]. This may be seen as related to the labialized phoneme /kʷ/ and might even trigger the loss of /u/ in some daughters.
- The mid vowels e o shifted to ə a. This did not affect, and was not affected by, whether the previous consonant was labialized or not; the respective allophones shifted in tandem.
- Tones were eliminated.
- Syllabic consonants were resolved as sequences of /i/ + consonant, and assimilated to the place of articulation of a following consonant.
Thus the vowel inventory at this time was /a i u ə/, and the consonants were:
CONSONANTS VOWELS
Rounded bilabials: pʷ mʷ fʷ w a i u ə Plain bilabials: p m f (Ø) a i u Spread bilabials: pʲ mʲ fʲ y a i ə Dentals: ṭ ṇ ṣ ḷ a i u ə Alveolars: t n s l r a i u (/ta ci cu/) Postalveolars: č ň š *l *r a i ə (/ča či čə/) (Palatals: ć ń ś ) a i ə Velars: k ŋ h a i u Labiovelars: kʷ ŋʷ hʷ a i u ə
Thus the full set of four vowels was contrastive only after rounded consonants and dentals. However, /l/ and /r/ break this rule.
Dreamlandic languages
These start breaking off at some point around 1900 AD, although perhaps earlier since Fojy was isolated from the other areas at the time. Range of habitation is ~27N all the way up to 46N in what soon becomes Moonshine territory.
Note that there is still the c problem.
East Dreamlandic
- The velar sounds č ć k š ś h all merged together as š. Meanwhile ň ń ŋ merged as ň. The labialized sounds /kʷ ŋʷ hʷ/ remained as such, but since there were no longer any contrasting plain velars, their spelling was changed to use the letters for the labialized alveolars. Thus, phonemically, kʷ ŋʷ hʷ became tʷ nʷ sʷ.
- The palatalized labial stop pʲ became fʲ.
- The dentals ṭ ṇ ṣ ḷ became the labials ḟ m ḟ v.
- Palatalization of labials was lost: the labials mʲ fʲ shifted to the simple labials m f.
- The labialized fricative sʷ shifted to fʷ unconditionally.
- The bilabial fricative f became ḟ, and both came to be spelled as a simple /f/.
At this point the consonant inventory was:
Rounded labials: pʷ mʷ fʷ w Spread labials: p m f v (Ø) Alveolars: t n s l r Postalveolars: ň š y Labiovelars: tʷ nʷ
And the vowel inventory was still /a i u ə/. However, phonemic palatalization had been eliminated and labialization was beginning to degrade to form sequences of consonant + /w/. For example, the /t/ sound had an allophone of [k] before the vowel /u/, and [kʷ] when labialized. Thus the same process occurred before /u/ and /ʷ/, unlike in the parent language where consonantal coarticulations did not generally pattern after vowels.
Mimalebra
It is not clear if Dreamland has a single language or many, and, if many, whether they are aboriginal languages or divisions of the language of the political champion class. The language spoken on the coast is the "Womb" language/, but this was only the capital for a short period of time when they lost a war. Not to be confused with the Matrix language, which is "womblike" (metroid) in a different way.
Rounded labials: pʷ mʷ fʷ w Spread labials: p m f v (Ø) Alveolars: t n s l r Postalveolars: ň š y Labiovelars: tʷ nʷ
- The palatals ň š became n s.
- Prenasalized stops become voiced stops: mpʷ mp nt ntʷ shift to bʷ b d dʷ.
" P M S L K R T N" language
- The fricatives f v changed to š ž before /i/.
Matrix language
This is the language used by the Matrix political party, both when they were dominant and when they were defeated. Thus, the Matrixes did not use the language of the Raspara party from which they had split.
- The fricatives f v changed to h Ø unconditionally. /fʷ/ became /hʷ/.
- The schwa vowel ə became e. Bordering a /u/, it had an allophone close to [o].
- The sequences ʷe ʷi changed to ʷo i. That is, labialization was removed before /i/.
- This is in keeping with the idea that IPA /y/ never appears as a full phoneme, and it would need to if it were not preemptively removed here.
- The labiovelars tʷ nʷ shifted to k ŋ.
- The sequence ua became ʷa. (Note that this was the only /u/+vowel sequence remaining).
- The consonants tʷ nʷ sʷ lʷ rʷ ňʷ šʷ became pʷ mʷ hʷ w w mʷ hʷ. Note that /t n/ no longer had velar allophones.
- The prenasalized voiceless stops mpʷ mp nt ŋk became the voiced stops bʷ b d ġ.
- The sequences ae aa ea merged as ā.
- The sequences ie ue ei eu became ī ū ē ō.
Thus the final consonant inventory was
Rounded labials: pʷ bʷ mʷ hʷ w Spread labials: p b m Alveolars: t d n s l r Postalveolars: ň š y Dorsals: k ġ ŋ h (Ø)
And the vowels were now /a e i o u ā ē ī ō ū/.
North Dreamlandic
These languages were spoken in colder climates, rubbing up against Thunder and Moonshine settlements. The speakers were generally of blonde hair and blue eyes, perhaps even more so than the stereotypically blonde Thunderers.
Initial phoneme inventory:
Rounded bilabials: pʷ mʷ fʷ w a i u ə Plain bilabials: p m f (Ø) a i u Spread bilabials: pʲ mʲ fʲ y a i ə Dentals: ṭ ṇ ṣ ḷ a i u ə Alveolars: t n s l r a i u (/ta ci cu/) Postalveolars: č ň š *l *r a i ə (/ča či čə/) (Palatals: ć ń ś ) a i ə Velars: k ŋ h a i u Labiovelars: kʷ ŋʷ hʷ a i u ə
Central Fojyan languages
This branch might be a single language. If /kp/ exists, it survives the voicing change.
- The voiceless bilabials pʷ p pʲ became the voiced bilabials bʷ b bʲ.
- The labiovelars kʷ ŋʷ hʷ shifted to pʷ mʷ fʷ.
- Labialization was defeated, leaving no effects on the vowels.
- The velar fricative h strengthened to x.
- The bilabial fricatives f fʲ shifted to h ś.
- The palatalized labials bʲ mʲ shifted to y ń.
- The dental fricative ṣ shifted to f.
- The affricates c č ć shifted to s š ś.
- The dentals ṭ ṇ ḷ shifted to t n l.
- The true palatals ś ń merged into š ň .
- Prenasalized stops and fricatives were both changed into plain voiced stops.
Thus the consonant inventory was
Labials p b m f w Alveolars t d n s l r Palataloids ň š y Velars k ġ ŋ x Postvelars h (Ø)
There should be some vowel changes here, but note the lack of a new null consonant.
Western Fojy
- the rounded vowel /u/ > schwa, except to /i/ after 4way.
- p ṭ ṣ > b d d
- bj mj fj> b m f
- premasals boo
- h>0
history
Aboriginal population density very low despite climate, hence Mumba settlers quickly become majority and are themselves seen as aboriginals by 1900 ad. They identify as Labans.
Set up "the Peace Zone", a supranational government of nations that would refuse to partake in war. However, unlike Paba and Moonshine, they maintained a strong military for defense.
tribes
Mumba are blonde people like those of Paba & Lenia. Sometimes they have considered themselves Lenians, other times aboriginals. The same racial divide was present in Laba.
climate
21st parallel to 31st parallel. Climate subtropical, not truly tropical, but winters are stable (no cold spells) ,so vegetation is primarily tropical.[1]
notes
- ↑ is drier than Baeba.
