Andanic languages

The Andanic languages are those descended from Old Andanese. Most are very conservative; however, the Andanese language for which the family is named is not particularly conservative at all, and its speakers numerically outweighed those of all of the other languages combined.

Tapilula (0) to Old Andanese (1900)

The Andanese/Gold dialect of Tapilula had the consonants

Rounded bilabials:                     hʷ  w
Spread bilabials:      p       m   b   f  (Ø)
Alveolars:             t       n   d       l
Rounded alveolars:     tʷ      nʷ  dʷ         
Velars:                k   ḳ   ŋ   ġ   h   g

1. The accent pattern involved in certain infixes with accented schwa switched to favor the following vowel. e.g. ăpo "field", apə̀ho "field (possessive) became /ăpo apəhò/.
2. The "labial" vowel ə disappeared, syllabified nearby consonants or turned to i if the nearby consonants were not possible to become syllabic. Note that it never occurred after labialized consonants. Sequences such as /pəh/ collapsed to form aspirated consonants, though these behaved as clusters.
3. The velar nasal ŋ changed to n in all positions.
4. The stops p b t became w w k (the /t/ shift was allophonically [th > tx > kx > kh]) except when occurring:

   After an accented or high-tone vowel (but not before);

   In a consonant cluster of any kind; or

   In a monosyllabic word.

5. tʷ dʷ nʷ > kʷ ġʷ ŋʷ.
6. The labialized sounds kʷ ġʷ hʷ f w changed to k ġ h h g when they preceded a vowel followed by a labial consonant (including /w/).
7. ŋʷ> ŋ.
8. Tautosyllabic vowel sequences òi ài èi converged to ē. This did not affect syllable-straddling words like /tùya/. Likewise, èu àu òu in the same environment converged to ō.
9. Duplicate vowel sequences àa èe ìi òo ùu shifted to long vowels ā ē ī ō ū. But the same sequences with the opposite tone pattern did not shift.

   NOTE ON POLITICS: Olati breaks away here.

10. The glottalized stop k̩ changed to a uvular q in all positions.
11. The voiced stops b d ġ ġʷ became voiceless p t k kʷ, but /p t/ remained voiced allophonically between vowels. Note that aspiration was still contrastive, though sequences like /ph < pəh/ behaved as clusters rather than single consonants, reflecting their origin.
12. Chronically unstressed syllables all became short and low tone. This even extended to shifts like ou > o that had been missed by previous shifts.
13. aw,ew>ow in classifiers
14. Tones were eliminated in closed syllables, but length was preserved.

By this time the Old Andanese language had the consonants

Bilabials:         p   m   w
Alveolars:         t   n   l
Velars:            k   ŋ   g   h
Labiovelars:       kʷ          hʷ
Uvulars:           q
Rounded uvulars:   qʷ

and the vowels /a e i o u/. There were two tones, and a superficial long tone patterned after that of the Gold language to write the common sequence of a high tone followed by a low tone of the same vowel. However, this was much less common than in Gold. The rounded uvular /qʷ/ was rare and could be analyzed as a sequence of /q/ + /w/, unlike the much more common /kʷ/.

The labial glide /w/ is often spelled /gʷ/, but there is no phonemic contrast.

Allophony and sandhi

Old Andanese /p/ and /t/ are pronounced as voiced stops [b d] between vowels. Since the language is highly CV, this means that [b d] are actually more common in speech than [p t]. Note that the parent language, Tapilula, had had a distinction between voiced and voiceless stops. In early Old Andanese, the voiced stops became voiceless, and then later on they came to be voiced allophonically in intervocalic position. Thus, for the primordial voiced stops, they first became voiceless, and then changed back again, rather than remaining voiced all along.

Daughter languages

Old Andanese had a few daughter languages that survived, mostly spoken in Nama. Those that survived the longest tended to be found in the most isolated areas, but note that due to Nama's unusual geography, some of the most isolated areas were right along the coast.

There are four subfamilies of Andanic languages:

• North Andanic languages, as exemplified by Galai. They are spoken in the mountains north of Subumpam. They tend to have a guttural sound, have few fricative consonants, and be nearly or entirely CV. All three of these traits were traits of Old Andanese as well, and also of the Tapilula language it arose from, which means that the North Andanic languages are the most conservative branch, at least superficially. (Note: Lyugi might be an outlier in this group.)

• South Andanic languages, as exemplified by Olati. These languages tend to be "soft" in sound but otherwise very conservative.

• West Andanic languages, spoken west of Nèye (no state name given on map).

• Core Andanic, for the dialect spoken in Paba. Paba's Andanese had a single dialect because Paba was a single nation, primarily flatland, and its people had greater mobility than those living in Subumpam or Nama.

Proto-Olati (1300) to Olati (2672)

The Olati languages are known both as South Andanic and West Subumpamese. They are Andanic by genetics, but primarily Subumpamese (and partly Naman) by culture.

1. The labialized consonants kʷ ḳʷ ġʷ hʷ w shifted to p p b f v unconditionally.
2. The aspirate clusters bh dh shift to p t.
3. The velars k g ġ ŋ h shifted to č y ň š unconditionally.
4. The sequences py by shift to t d before a vowel.
5. The uvular stop ḳ became k.
6. Remaining aspirated clusters deaspirate.
7. Before a vowel, the sequences ay ey oy shift to ē. iy uy shift to ī.

Thus the consonant inventory was

Labials:     p   b   m   f   v       
Alveolars:   t   d   n   s       l
Palataloids: č   ǯ   ň   š       y
Velars:      k

And the vowel inventory was /a e i o u/, on two tones, and a long series.

Old Andanese (1900) to Galà (3750 AD)

The Old Andanese language had the consonants

Bilabials:         p   m   w   f
Alveolars:         t   n   l
Velars:            k   ŋ   g   h
Labiovelars:       kʷ          
Uvulars:           q
Rounded uvulars:   qʷ

and the vowels /a e i o u/ on two tones.

1. The uvular stops q qʷ shifted to k kʷ in word-initial position. Most root-initial /q/ also shifted, because most roots could appear without classifiers at least in certain contexts. But roots that were fully bound retained initial /q/.
2. The sequence qi disappeared to q before a consonant or at the end of a word. The sequences qig qih simply shifted to qi.
3. The voiceless stops p t shifted to b d in word-medial position. Root-initial examples followed the inverse of the pattern of the /q/>/k/ shift.
4. The clusters qp qm qt qn qk qŋ qkʷ shifted to geminates pp mm tt nn kk ŋŋ kkʷ. Any cluster *ending* in /q/ shifted it to /k/.
5. All remaining q shifted to Ø and caused the preceding vowel to become high-toned.
6. The clusters mh nh ŋh (common in genitives) shifted to mp nt ŋk. Then bh dh shifted to p t.
7. Remaining aspirate clusters deaspirated.
8. The mid vowels e o were raised to i u when adjacent to a vowel in either direction.
9. Before a vowel, the sequences ti hi ki all shifted to s. Likewise in the same environment gi li shifted to d y. pi shifted to t. Any other palatalized consonants then depalatalized.
10. The labialized consonants kʷ w f shifted to k g h. (/f/ is a variant spelling of /hʷ/.)
11. The clusters ng ŋg shifted to ŋ. Thus, the gap of */ŋa/ was filled, although it remained rare.
12. After a high tone, the voiceless fricative h shifted to q.
13. The vowel sequences ăa ĕe ĭi ŏo ŭu shifted to á é í ó ú/ Note that, unlike most languages of the area, sequences such as /àa/ (from /aqa/ ) did not contract to simple long vowels.

Thus the final consonant inventory was

Bilabials:         p   b   m   w    
Alveolars:         t   d   n   l   s
Palatals:                      y
Velars:            k       ŋ   g   h
Uvulars:           q

Litila

See Litila.

Similar to Galà, but develops the labiovelars into coronals, making it appear to have Gold language traits. /kʷ hʷ gʷ/ > /t s z/.

Udami

Spoken to the west of Galà.

• Tones preserved.

• /hʷ gʷ/ > /f w/, but other labials drop.

• /q/ > /k/ unconditionally.

• /b d/ > /p t/ (that is, allophonic voicing was reverted). Thus this language doesnt "suffer" from the lack of /t/ found in neighboring languages.

• /g/ (still a fricative) > /x/, thus removing the last voiced/voiceless pair from the language.

• Possibly a Palli-like "staircase shift" to get phonemic /s/. But how? Palli's was /fa fi fu sa si su ša ši šu ha hi hu/ > /fa fi fu sa si su sa si fu fa si fu/. This shift could have been affected by front vowels on *both* sides of the consonant. For sure, /h/ is the "weakest" consonant, probably shifting away completely by changing to /s/, /x/, or /f/, depending on the surrounding consonants. Even with all of this, /s/ will still be rare unless /k/ is somehow pulled into the shift.

• Possibly /f w/ > /h 0/ later on. Under some circumstances, maybe also /p m/ > /h 0/, but the /m/ nasalizes vowels and thus causes a final -n.

Lyugi

A language that changed more than the others. Spoken in the mountains of Repilia. Possibly a "Tarise" language.

• High vowels were deleted in unstressed syllables in some environments, creating consonant clusters. They were never deleted after labialized consonants, however, or when long (though all long vowels were stressed anyway). There are now palatalized and labialized versions of consonants, and these can occur before other consonants, but the plain (/a/) consonants do so only very rarely. (e.g. /top/ "blood" was native.)

• The labialization is deleted in most such clusters, while the palatalization moves towards /s/-like sounds and then is also deleted. However, before a vowel, labialization survives and then changes to a true /w/. Also, /q/ resisted palatalization.

• Word-final consonants in unstressed syllables are dleeted. (These words had two unstressed syllables in a row.)

• Word-final consonants in stressed syllables are often deleted, changing the tone and length of the vowel.

• Other clusters are generally resolved either by creating geminates, wholly new consonants, or making the preceding vowel long.

• Perhaps /e o/ > /i u/ in environments where the previous /i u/ had disappeared. (c.f. some dialects of Greek) And perhaps in fact it is unconditional, such that unstressed syllables can only have /a i u/. Again this would not affect long vowels because they are always stressed.

• /ʷa ʷe ʷi ʷo ʷu/ > /o o u u u/ (?) Some of these might be long vowels.

• /e o/ > /ə/. Thus, this is now a four-vowel language.

• /k/ > /c/, perhaps going further to /č/, /š/, or even /s/, when before /i/.

• /q/ > /k/ unconditionally. (Thus, it does not delete itself.)

• Intervocalically, /g/ > /0/ and /b/ > /w/. (/d/ > /r/, but this is considered just an allophone.) This may have been influenced by Khulls' shift.

• The resulting vowel sequences change to single (usually long) vowels. The changes are again similar to those of Khulls, but definitely unrelated, as Khulls had done its shift more than a thousand years beforehand. Note that /o/ now only occurs where there was once a /b/, and /e/ only occurs where there was once a /g/. Possibly /ja/ > /e/, but /ai/ > /ē/ (also as in Khulls).

• There should be more sound changes pushing towards /s/. All of the palatals, for example, up above could be simply merged together as /s/. (Escept nasals.)

PROBABLE FINAL PHONOLOGY

/p m/ <--- Note the lack of /b/ (because it was always intervocalic(?)) and of /w/ (considered just an allophone of /u/).

/t n s l r/ <--- Likewise /d~r/ is considered one phoneme. /s/ arises from multiple paths.

/c/ <-- Possibly just merges to /s/.

/k g ŋ h/ <--- Note that /g/ survived in initial position, and did not merge to any other sound.

/a e i o u ə/ <-- tentative. Schwa might merge to /o/ as in Japanese, to /u/ as in Khulls, or to /a/ as in Moonshine.

NOTE, also, that /p/ and /t/ will both be very rare phonemes in this language, and that might be a problem.

Core Andanic

Old Andanese (1900) to Late Andanese (4178)

Note that all of the tone changes below are entirely rirrelevant, because Late Andanese ends up losing its tones, and so does Babakiam, which was the only language that took any significant number of loans from Late Andanese.

1. Labialized stops pʷ tʷ kʷ all changed to p.
2. Like-vowel sequences pulled up again, so e.g. /tuhu/ > /tu/, but /tohu/ remains and later becomes /tuhu/.
3. hi ki ti > s before a vowel
.
4. The labial fricative f changed to h in all positions.
5. All remaining occurrences of the labial approximant w shifted to l.
6. The uvular stop q changed to the glottal stop ʔ unconditionally.
7. The mid vowels e o changed to i u in all positions.
8. Nasalized vowels changed fricatives on either side of them into nasals.
9. Nasalized vowels changed stops after them (but not before) into nasals. Thus tãpa "vineyard" > tama.
10. Nasalization disappeared everywhere.
11. Tones were eliminated except in syllables with no consonants.
12. Tones were eliminated. Andanese now had only 9 consonants, 3 vowels, and no tones, and was entirely CV, thus making it the most phonologically simple language in the world.

West Andanic languages

note, this may be incorrect, these are3 just "left over" languiages. however, west would be a good place to put them since they cannot be in the mtns.

Yoy language

The Yoy language was spoken in the Thunder Empire from 3844 AD to 3884 AD, during (and only during) the time when the THunder Empire was governbed by Dreamland. Yoy was confused with Dreamlandic, and the two languages had a similar sound, but they are not closely related. Rather, the anti-Thunder policies of the Dreamers allowed minority languages such as Yoy to flourish. After the overthrow of the Dreamer government, Yoy went back into suppression; however, the people who spoke Yoy were generally anti-Dreamer by this point as they had been no better treated by the Dreamers than were the majority Thunderers.

Characteristics

• Deletion of /b d g/ after a stressed vowel; before this, /ab/ > /o/. This meant that the only stops that occurred between vowels were /t k q/.
• Probably, the loss of voicing contrasts in stops altogether, since there would be relatively few minimal pairs by this point (only /t/ vs /d/ after unstressed vowels). Possibly remaining /d/ > /r/ before this happens.
• The growth of falling diphthongs resulting from the deletion of these consonants, without the monophthongization that characterized most languages of this area. THe name Yoy would have quicvkly become *Yē in most of the neighboring langs, even those not closely related.

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	orange	lonŏn	lorō (?)		lunu
gimòga	whip	gimòga	yimā		imua
gegŭbo	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)	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	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	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