Hipatal

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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.

There are no sprachbunds; each language grows and develops independently.

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 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
  1. 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/.
  2. The voiceless aspirated velar stop k shifted to h unconditionally. Ejectives and labialized forms were unaffected by this change.
  3. The labialized consonants lʷ gʷ shifted to w .
  4. The labialized alveolars tʷ nʷ ndʷ shifted to kʷ mʷ mmʷ.
  5. Schwa disappeared between a nasal and a following stop or fricative; if there was a fricative, it became a stop.
  6. Initial schwas disappeared.
  7. The ejective stops ḳ ḳʷ shifted to k kʷ.
  8. Any remaining schwa ə shifted to i.
  9. The rounded vowel o shifted to a unconditionally. /u/ became unrounded, but there was no change in spelling.
  10. The mid vowel e shifted to ə unconditionally.
  11. The prenasalized voiced stops mbʷ mb nd ŋġ ŋġʷ shifted to the double nasals mmʷ mm nn ŋŋ ŋŋʷ.
  12. The voiced velar sounds ŋ g disappeared to Ø Ø. This did not affect the geminate /ŋŋ/.
  13. The labialized approximant bʷ shifted to w .
  14. Double nasals were reduced to singles.

Thus the consonant inventory of HP-1 was 

Rounded bilabials:     pʷ  mʷ  w    
Spread bilabials:      p   m   b       
Alveolars:             t   n   l    
Palatals:                      y 
Velars:                k   ŋ  (Ø)  h
Labiovelars:           kʷ

The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with the labialized stops /pʷ kʷ/ appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/. The voiceless fricative /h/, the only fricative in the language, was highly variable in pronunciation, often being labialized or palatalized or both.

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    
Palatals:                      y 
Velars:                k   ŋ  (Ø)  h
Labiovelars:           kʷ

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    
Palatals:                      y 
Velars:                k   ŋ  (Ø)  h
Labiovelars:           kʷ

The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with labialized consonants appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/.

  1. The alveolars t n l shifted to f m w.
  2. The velars k ŋ h shifted to č ň s.
  3. 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    
Palatals:                      y 
Velars:                k   ŋ  (Ø)  h
Labiovelars:           kʷ

The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with labialized consonants appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/.

  1. The velars k ŋ h shifted to č ň š unconditionally.
  2. Labialization was lost.
  3. The sequences àa àə ə̀a shifted to ā. Then ăa ăə ə̆a shifted to â, and ə̀ə ə̆ə shifted to ə̄ ə̂.
  4. The postalveolar fricative š shifted to s.
  5. The sequences ìa ìə ùa ùə (where the first vowel has a high tone) shifted to èa ìe òa ùo.
  6. The vowel sequences ìi ùu became ī ū.
  7. The vowel sequences ĭə ŭə (equivalent to /iə̀ uə̀/) shifted to yè wò.
  8. Before a vowel, remaining i u shifted to y w.
  9. The vowel sequences ài ăi àu ău shifted to ē ê ō ô.
  10. The vowel sequences ə̀i ə̆i ə̀u ə̆u shifted to ī î ū û.
  11. The sequences ky ŋy ty ny sy ly shifted to č ň č ň š y.
  12. The sequences tw nw sw lw shifted to p m f w. All other consonants preceding /w/ shifted to labials.
  13. Remaining post-consonantal /w/ and /y/ were deleted.
  14. 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.
  15. All sounds preceding a /w/ again became labials.
  16. 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.

Thus the consonant inventory was 

Bilabials:          p  m  b  f  w
Alveolars:          t  n     s  l
Palataloids:        č  ň     š  y
Velars:             k

And there were six vowels, on two tones, and could be short or long.

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    
Palatals:                      y 
Velars:                k   ŋ  (Ø)  h
Labiovelars:           kʷ

The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with labialized consonants appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/.

  1. Before a vowel, i shifted to y.
  2. Labialized consonants defeated any following /y/.
  3. The velar sequences ky ŋy hy shifted to č ň š. The alveolar sequences ty ny ly also shifted to č ň ł.
  4. Labialization was lost.
  5. The postalveolar fricative š shifted to s.
  6. 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   y   
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    
Palatals:                      y 
Velars:                k   ŋ  (Ø)  h
Labiovelars:           kʷ

The vowel inventory was /a i u ə/, with labialized consonants appearing before all four vowels. There were syllabic nasals /ṁ ṅ ŋ̇/.

  1. 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/.
  2. The clusters ŋw ŋh nl shifted to ŋʷ h l. /mb/ remained.
  3. Double nasals shifted to singles.
  4. The syllabic nasals ṁ ṅ ŋ̇ shifted to um un uŋ unconditionally.
  5. The sequences aa aə əa , on all tones, merged as ā. əə shifted to ə̄.
  6. Any h bordering an /i/ in either direction shifted to s.
  7. The sequences ii uu shifted to ī ū if the first tone was high; otherwise they shifted to yi ʷu.
  8. Any low-tone i before a vowel became a palatal approximant y.
  9. The sequences ty ky ny ŋy sy ly shifted to č č ň ň š ł. (/hy/ > /sy/ earlier.)
  10. Labial and labialized consonants swallowed a following y.
  11. 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/. These could be analyzed as /ē ō e o/, giving the language a six-vowel inventory with no (falling) diphthongs and a two-way length contrast on all six vowels, but the orthography nevertheless used four vowels.

Proto-Hipatal (0) to HP-2 (???)

This branch of the family is confined to smaller islands where the sea can be heard from any point on the island. The initial phonology was slightly different from that of Tapilula, generated by the following sound shifts:

  1. Before a low tone, the fricatives h g were fortified to kʷ ḳʷ. Before a high tone, they disappeared. Thus the language became entirely free of fricatives.
  2. Before a low tone, the lateral approximant l shifted to r.

At this stage the consonant inventory was 

Rounded bilabials:     pʷ      mʷ  w     
Spread bilabials:      p       m   b       
Alveolars:             t       n   l   r
Rounded alveolars:     tʷ      nʷ       
Velars:                k   ḳ   ŋ  (Ø)        
Labiovelars:           kʷ  ḳʷ

There were six vowels, /a e i o u ə/, of which the last was a high vowel, not a true schwa. There were two tones. After a low tone, the stops were sometimes pronounced as fricatives in quick speech, but there was no phonemic contrast. The prenasalized stops /mbʷ mb nd ndʷ ŋġ mpʷ mp/ all occurred in root-initial position, but no classifiers began with a prenasalized stop, so very few words with initial prenasals were used. These are considered allophones of a homorganic nasal followed by a stop; however, they are of mixed origins.

The sequences /ʷe ʷi ʷo ʷu/ occurred, with the latter two being the most common. /kʷe kʷi/ were far more common than /nʷe nʷi/, etc, because of their origins.

There may still have been a rare /bʷ/.[1]

If the labialized consonants are treated as clusters, the phonology reduces to 

Bilabials:             p       m   w   b       
Alveolars:             t       n   l   r
Velars:                k   ḳ   ŋ
  1. The consonants t n l r k ḳ ŋ become palatalized to č ň y y č č ň before any /e/ or /i/.
  2. Labialization was eliminated.

Syllabary

The language was written in a 14x15 syllabary in which tone was considered a property of the vowel. There were 154 syllables. 

   LOW                          HIGH 
     a    e    i    o    u    ə    á    é    í    ó    ú    ə́               
    pa   pe   pi   po   pu   pə   pá   pé   pí   pó   pú   pə́        pṅ   pŋ̇
    ba   be   bi   bo   bu   bə   bá   bé   bí   bó   bú   bə́      
    ma   me   mi   mo   mu   mə   má   mé   mí   mó   mú   mə́    ṁ   mṅ   mŋ̇
                   wo   wu                       wó   wú
    ta   te   ti   to   tu   tə   tá   té   tí   tó   tú   tə́   tṁ        tŋ̇
    na   ne   ni   no   nu   nə   ná   né   ní   nó   nú   nə́         ṅ   nŋ̇
    ra             ro   ru   rə   lá   lé   lí   ló   lú   lə́   lṁ   lṅ   lŋ̇      
         če   či                       čé   čí             
         ňe   ňi                       ňé   ňí  
    ya   ye   yi   yo   yu   yə   yá   yé   yí   yó   yú   yə́
    ka   ke   ki   ko   ku   kə   ká             kó   kú   kə́   kṁ   kṅ   kŋ̇
    ḳa   ḳe   ḳi   ḳo   ḳu   ḳə   ḳá             ḳó   ḳú   ḳə́
    ŋa             ŋo   ŋu   ŋə   ŋá   ŋé   ŋí   ŋó   ŋú   ŋə́   ŋṁ   ŋṅ    ŋ̇


The sequences /ke ki ḳe ḳi/ only occur on a low tone; they may be in complementary distribution with the null-onset /e i/, but as there are two sets opposed to one, they cannot be eliminated from the syllabary.

Note that this language was spoken only a few hundred years after the breakup of Tapilula and Hipatal.

Notes

  1. ↑ see history
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