Hipatal
Hipatal is the name of the ocean covering the majority of the planet Teppala, and containing few islands. Those islands that do exist are volcanic, and have a range of diverse populations. Most inhabitants are descendants of the Mumba people who migrated eastward from Laba to Fojy, a journey of more than 10000 miles, and settled various tropical islands along the way.
Most settlements are in the tropics; there is no significant monsoon, so rainfall is concentrated along the Equator, and even at 10°N and °S the weather is dry for most of the year and forest growth is impossible.
Languages
The Proto-Hipatal language is nearly identical with Tapilula and can be considered a dialect of Tapilula. Its original consonant inventory was
Rounded bilabials: pʷ bʷ mʷ mbʷ mpʷ w Spread bilabials: p b m mb mp (Ø) Alveolars: t n nd l Rounded alveolars: tʷ nʷ ndʷ Velars: k ḳ ŋ ŋġ h g
Here, the consonants /b bʷ/ correspond to standard Tapilula pharngralized voiceless stops, and /mp mpʷ/ correspond to standard /mf mfʷ/. The prenasalized stops can be eliminated from the phonology if they are considered as clusters; however, the analysis would need to be different for different stops.
The vowel inventory was /a e i o u ə/. The schwa vowel here is a high vowel, not a true schwa. Only four of the vowels can follow a labialized consonant: /ʷe ʷi ʷo ʷu/, with /ʷo ʷu/ being most common.
Proto-Hipatal (0) to HP-1 (2600 AD)
This language is spoken in tropical rainforests of a chain of larger islands. It is one of the few groups to contain people who live more than a mile away from the seashore.
- The high central vowel ə shifted to match the next vowel in the word. This also included the labialization of the initial consonant; thus, for example, /təpʷu/ > /tʷupʷu/.
- The voiceless aspirated velar stop k shifted to h unconditionally. Ejectives and labialized forms were unaffected by this change.
- The labialized consonants lʷ gʷ shifted to w .
- The labialized alveolars tʷ nʷ ndʷ shifted to kʷ ŋʷ ŋġʷ.
- Schwa disappeared between a nasal and a following stop or fricative; if there was a fricative, it became a stop.
- Initial schwas disappeared.
- The ejective stops ḳ ḳʷ shifted to k kʷ.
- Any remaining schwa ə shifted to i.
- The rounded vowel o shifted to a unconditionally. /u/ became unrounded, but there was no change in spelling.
- The mid vowel e shifted to ə unconditionally.
- The prenasalized voiced stops mbʷ mb nd ŋġ ŋġʷ shifted to the double nasals mmʷ mm nn ŋŋ ŋŋʷ.
- The voiced velar fricative g disappeared to Ø.
- The voiced stop bʷ merged into w; plain /b/ became an approximant, but there was no change in spelling.
Thus the consonant inventory of HP-1 was
Rounded bilabials: pʷ mʷ w Spread bilabials: p m b Alveolars: t n l Velars: k ŋ (Ø) h Labiovelars: kʷ ŋʷ
The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with labialized consonants appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/. Any of the consonants in the first two columns can be prenasalized, and these clusters can appear word-initially. There are no other clusters. The voiceless fricative /h/, the only fricative in the language, was highly variable in pronunciation, often being labialized or palatalized or both. There was also a palatal approximant [j], but this was simply an allophone of /i/.
HP-1 (2600 AD) to Pamā
This branch shifts all of its labialized consonants to pure labials, and then grows new labialized consonants from sequences like /awa/ and /ua/.
The original consonant inventory was
Rounded bilabials: pʷ mʷ w Spread bilabials: p m b Alveolars: t n l Velars: k ŋ (Ø) h Labiovelars: kʷ ŋʷ
The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with labialized consonants appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/.
HP-1 (2600 AD) to Nannapànnu
This branch shifts all consonants forward in the mouth.
The original consonant inventory was
Rounded bilabials: pʷ mʷ w Spread bilabials: p m b Alveolars: t n l Velars: k ŋ (Ø) h Labiovelars: kʷ ŋʷ
The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with labialized consonants appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/.
- The alveolars t n l shifted to f m w.
- The velars k ŋ h shifted to č ň s.
- Labialization was lost.
HP-1 (2600 AD) to Lākaha (4400 AD)
The original consonant inventory was
Rounded bilabials: pʷ mʷ w Spread bilabials: p m b Alveolars: t n l Velars: k ŋ (Ø) h Labiovelars: kʷ ŋʷ
The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with labialized consonants appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/.
- The velars k ŋ h shifted to č ň š unconditionally.
- Labialization was lost.
- The sequences àa àə ə̀a shifted to ā. Then ăa ăə ə̆a shifted to â, and ə̀ə ə̆ə shifted to ə̄ ə̂.
- The postalveolar fricative š shifted to s.
- The sequences ìa ìə ùa ùə (where the first vowel has a high tone) shifted to èa ìe òa ùo.
- The vowel sequences ìi ùu became ī ū.
- The vowel sequences ĭə ŭə (equivalent to /iə̀ uə̀/) shifted to yè wò.
- Before a vowel, remaining i u shifted to y w.
- The vowel sequences ài ăi àu ău shifted to ē ê ō ô.
- The vowel sequences ə̀i ə̆i ə̀u ə̆u shifted to ī î ū û.
- The sequences ky ŋy ty ny sy ly shifted to č ň č ň š y.
- The sequences tw nw sw lw shifted to p m f w. All other consonants preceding /w/ shifted to labials.
- Remaining post-consonantal /w/ and /y/ were deleted.
- The sequences èa ìe òa ùo shifted to ya ye wa wo. (Tone may have been influenced by surrounding syllables.) Meanwhile ùi ìu shifted to wi yu.
- All sounds preceding a /w/ again became labials.
- All post-consonantal /w/ and /y/ were deleted.
The circumflex is an ad-hoc symbol for a long low tone. However, it may make sense to retain the circumflex vowels as sequences, as there are other sequences that would arise at morpheme boundaries.
HP-1 (2600 AD) to Hahakànna
The original consonant inventory was
Rounded bilabials: pʷ mʷ w Spread bilabials: p m b Alveolars: t n l Velars: k ŋ (Ø) h Labiovelars: kʷ ŋʷ
The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with labialized consonants appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/.
- Before a vowel, i shifted to y.
- Labialized consonants defeated any following /y/.
- The velar sequences ky ŋy hy shifted to č ň š. The alveolar sequences ty ny ly also shifted to č ň ł.
- Labialization was lost.
- The postalveolar fricative š shifted to s.
- The sequences py my by shifted to č ň y.
Thus the consonant inventory was
Labials: p m b w Alveolars: t n l s Palataloids: č ň ł Velars: k ŋ h
HP-1 (2600 AD) to Tākapi
The original consonant inventory was
Rounded bilabials: pʷ mʷ w Spread bilabials: p m b Alveolars: t n l Velars: k ŋ (Ø) h Labiovelars: kʷ ŋʷ
The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with labialized consonants appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/.
- Single nasals metathesized across a vowel to form clusters with the next consonant. These all became homorganic; here, a /w/ behaved as a labiovelar, thus the resulting cluster was /ŋw/.
- The clusters ŋw ŋh nl shifted to ŋʷ h l. /mb/ remained.
- Double nasals shifted to singles.
- The syllabic nasals ṁ ṅ ŋ̇ shifted to um un uŋ unconditionally.
- The sequences aa aə əa , on all tones, merged as ā. əə shifted to ə̄.
- Any h bordering an /i/ in either direction shifted to s.
- The sequences ii uu shifted to ī ū if the first tone was high; otherwise they shifted to yi ʷu.
- Any low-tone i before a vowel became a palatal approximant y.
- The sequences ty ky ny ŋy sy ly shifted to č č ň ň š ł. (/hy/ > /sy/ earlier.)
- Labial and labialized consonants swallowed a following y.
- The approximant lʷ shifted to w. The alveolars tʷ sʷ nʷ changed in a split shift to kʷ hʷ mʷ.
Thus the consonant inventory was
Rounded bilabials: pʷ mʷ bʷ w Spread bilabials: p m b (Ø) Alveolars: t n l s Palatals: č ň ł y š Velars: k ŋ (Ø) h Labiovelars: kʷ ŋʷ hʷ
The four-vowel inventory remained, but there were many more long vowels and vowel sequences than there had been before. The falling diphthongs were /ai au əi əu/.
