Minor Lenian languages
North Dreamlandic languages
These are ordered roughly east-to-west.
Cappini languages
Proto-Cappini was identical with Baywatch, but was grouped with the others for political reasons.
CONSONANTS:
Bilabials: p m b Alveolars: t n s l r
And the vowels were /a e i o u/ in both short and long forms. The geminates /pp ss tt/ occurred, and there were sound gaps of */te so bo lo ro/, except in a few rare words where contraction of long vowels before geminates had created new short vowels there.
Cappini to Wineapple
This was the language spoken in Olansele.
- The alveolars t n shifted to k ŋ before any of /o u/.
Cappini to Poise
This was the language spoken in Poise.
- The alveolars t n shifted to k ŋ before any of /o u/.
- This shift was added in the assumption that the language would be taking in many loans from Oyster languages, but if this is not the case, this shift does not create any new phonemes and can be ignored.
- Any singleton s disappeared to Ø.
- The geminates pp ss tt kk shifted to p s t k.
Other languages
The states of Ládara, Etatăni, Halaspa, Pumpkin, and Pointer did not have their own languages.
East Dreamlandic languages
These are the languages of Sepesi on the south coast of Dreamland. The speakers here are in intimate contact with those of Baeba Swamp and parts of Kuhilani.
It may possible to simply group these languages with South Dreamlandic.
This branch might keep or even elaborate on the classifier prefix system, but probably still does not reach the levels of the Andanese or Subumpamese inventories.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1495) to Suds (~3550)
Alternate names: Blush, Trap
- Labialization was defeated, leaving no effects on the vowels.
- The sequence ya shifted to ye.
- The sequence mp shifted to mm.
- Any singleton p shifted to Ø. (This includes /pu pi/ > /w y/.) Any preceding vowels became long. (But note that īy ūw were equivalent to ī ū.)
- The geminates pp čč kk shifted to p č k.
- Note that this language often had /pp čč kk/ as a reflex of primordial /g/ where the other languages had had /Ø/; that is, the two branches generalized the grammatical alternation of /g~Ø/ in different ways.
- Before a vowel, the sequences ki ti pi hi fi merged as s. Then tu shifted to su. (This also implies /č/ > /š/ > /s/, as in Sessi.)
- Any remaining ki ti pi merged as the consonant geminator ʔ, which shifted to /Ø/ in absolute final position; any remaining hi fi lengthened the preceding vowel (ː) and then disappeared to Ø.
- Long vowels before a geminate consonant became short.
- The sequences ll rr shifted to l r.
- The sequences mi ni ŋi li ri shifted to n n n i i. Sequences like /miwa/ > /nwa/ came to be spelled /nua/, etc. This shift did not affect the long ī, which was equivalent to /iy/.
- A yer-like process must appear here to prevent the syllables from bunching up on each other. Since ī was rarely word-final, it is likely that word final -i will survive here and that therefore /mimi/ > /mmi/, etc. Word-initial geminates had already existed in the parent language.
- NOTE ON POLITICS: It is possible that the Baywatch annexation of Blush territory takes place around this time, and the language splits into two forks, one of which has Baywatch influence and the other remaining independent. Alternatively, both sides remain united and both sides absorb Baywatch influence.
Note that Baywatch suffered a surprising defeat after their conquest of the Blush territory. At first, the Baywatchers had rescued the Blushers from their own embarrassing defeat against the peninsular aboriginals, but once the Baywatchers had solidified their control, Baeba Swamp's aboriginals (not the Crystals) invaded the new state and killed many Baywatch soldiers but only a few Blushers. Though Baeba Swamp won this war, and could theoretically have annexed all of the new Blusher-Baywatch state, it is possible that they allowed their victims to retain independence, as despite winning the war, the aboriginals had also lost many soldiers and to leave the army in a foreign land would further weaken them at home.
Any remnant dialect would have the following sound changes:
- The sequences lu ru shifted to u.
- The sequences nfa nfu nha nhu changed to mpa mpu na nu. If /ffu/ exists, it might have been [pfu] and then changed here to /pu/.
- The sequences fa fu shifted to ha hu.
- The sequences kī tī pī merged as si. Then mī nī ŋī merged as ni. Bare ī shifted to i.
- The sequences ui ūi merged as i.
- This means old kui, pui, kūi, etc all become consonant + /i/.
- The sequences ūa ūu became ua uu . This also caused /uwa/ > /ua/.
- Note that nearly all /ū/ had been before another vowel even in proto-Dreamlandic.
- The sequences yi wu shifted to i u. (The surface realization of the two merged, and either can be thought of as the basic form.)
At this point the alphabet consisted of a very small number of glyphs:
a i u wa pa (pi) pu ma (mi) mu ta na ni nu ne sa si su se la ra ya ye ka (ki) ku ŋa (ŋi) ŋu ha hi hu
However, unlike neighboring languages, syllables could end in /n t/, which assimilated Palli-style to a following consonant. Note that this is due to phonetic analysis, and there was never a stage in which clusters like /tk/ appeared at the surface. Thus, this cannot be used to trigger a sound change such as /tk/ > /t/ that would fill in the syllabary.
Common vowel nuclei were /a i u ā ai au āi āu ua uu ia ii iu/. There were also /e ei eu/, but these could only appear after /n s y/ and never in bare form. Also, there was no */ea/.
The sequences /ia ua/ can be considered equivalent to the bare syllables /ya wa/ because /ya wa/ never occurred after consonants.
/mm/ is common but there may not be an /nn/.
The alveolars /t l r/ only occurred before /a/, but this /a/ could precede /i/ or /u/, and also could be long, so a five-way contrast of /a ai au āi āu/ was maintained.
Possible sound changes if this branch survive include vowel shifts to fill in the near-gaps of /pi ki/ and /t s l r/ before other vowels. possibly /ai au āi āu i u/ > /i u e o Ø Ø/ at least conditionally. Or the high vowels might be retained.
Alternatively, there could be shifts like /tapu taku/ > /tō/ > /to/. But note that this is asymmetric ... there is no crop of /pi ki/ that could provide new /e/'s.
Syllable rows like /na ni nu ne/ could be reanalyzed as /na nʲi ni nʲa/.
Distribution
This was the language of the Soap party, also known as Suds. They were pacifists who lost a war against the Crystals and therefore their language became a substratum of the Crystal language. The Crystals opposed slavery, and therefore the Suds were allowed to move out, but many stayed and resigned themselves to living as an underclass in Baeba Swamp. This was because, as pacifists, they opposed both sides of the war that had cost them their homeland, and thus considered themselves equally at home among their enemies as among their former allies (who did not waste men trying to protect them).
Because the language lost most /p/ early on and also lost some /m/, it does not have the same character as the northern languages, DPR and Baywatch. But the restricted distribution of the coronals /t l r/ made the language stand out from all of its neighbors even so, and when the Crystals took control of the Soapies' homeland, the Soap language rapidly evolved a more phonologically stable inventory.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1495) to Sesesi (~2700)
The end date might be earlier, because this originally contained additional sound changes under influence from Baeba Swamp.
- Labialization was defeated, leaving no effects on the vowels.
- The sequence ya shifted to ye.
- Before a vowel, the voiceless sequences pu p pi shifted to w Ø y. (This includes mp > mm > m). Any preceding vowels became long. (But note that īy ūw were equivalent to ī ū.)
- The geminates pp čč kk shifted to p č k.
- The sequences hi fi ti tu shifted to si si si su. Then all č became š.
- Any remaining t shifted to r.
- The fricatives f š shifted to h s.
- Before a vowel, the sequences pi mi ni li ri (including from earlier /mbi/) shifted to s n n l r .
- added /ni/ because there was no /ñ/ in the target phonology.
- The prenasalized sequences nr ns ŋk shifted to n s k. Adds vowel length?
- The sequences aw ew iw uw shifted to ō ō ū ū. Thus a new vowel, /ō/, was created; however there was no short counterpart. This shift also included tautosyllabic /au/, /eu/, etc.
- The sequences ay ey iy uy shifted to ē ē ī ī.
- The double vowel sequence aa shifted to ā.
- Long vowels followed by another vowel became short. Thus the new sequences like /ōa/ became /oa/, and the reflexes of earlier /ipia/ merged with /ipa/, and so on.
Thus the alphabet consisted of 39 syllables:
a i u wa wu pa pi pu ma mi mu na ni nu ne sa si su se la li lu le ra ri ru re ya yi ye ka ki ku ŋa ŋi ŋu ha hi hu
The short vowels were /a e i u/ and the long vowels were /ā ē ī ō ū/.
This branch divides less rapidly than the others. There will be /s h/ > /0/, and may be /uk ku/ > /up pu/ and /ik ki/ > /it ti/ (through k > ć > ṭ), but only if these consonants can be separated from this context by later vowel shifts.
Sesesi to Valley of the Minds
This language is spoken in the northern part of Dreamland, by people who made it to the north before the speakers of North Dreamlandic did. It may have survived in a valley with one major city. Also, these sound changes might apply to other languages of the family as well, since VoM did not break off from near the root.
- When not before a vowel, the sequences se ne le re shifted to the consonants s n l r. Thus closed syllables were created.
- The long vowels ē ō decomposed to ay aw.
South Dreamlandic languages
These are ordered east-to-west.
These lists assume that all three languages are from the same branch of the family as Dolphin Rider (DPR), rather than being related to Wildfire, PDP, or independent. However, the DPR river is not intimately connected to this territory.
Senampattore language
Pupa language
Upper Lohi language
If Lohi was initially settled by tribes closely related to DPR, then this is the language of all of Lohi. If not, then DPR takes over later on, and this language needs to be replaced by DPR proper, as it is unlikely to survive on its own since the uplands of Lohi were the source of the DPR river.
- The mid vowel e, which occurred almost entirely after palatalized consonants, shifted to a. Thus, the vowel inventory was reduced to /a i u/, with frequent sequences of /ya wa yi wu/ but no others.
- The true palatals ć ń ś shifted to č ň š .
- NOTE ON POLITICS: The main DPR list begins here.
- The labiovelars kʷ ŋʷ hʷ shifted to pʷ mʷ fʷ unconditionally.
- The sequences ya wa shifted to ye o.
- In a closed syllable, the vowels i u lowered to e o. Long vowels did not shift.
- The sequence āi shifted to ē.
- Between vowels, the sequence ta shifted to ra.
- The prenasals mp nt nč ŋk shifted to voiced stops b r r g.
- The voiceless coronals t č š shifted to s . Meanwhile ň shifted to n.
- The palatalized labials pʲ mʲ fʲ bʲ became f m f b. Thus palatalization was defeated.
- It appears that lʲ rʲ also shifted to l r.
- The sequences hi hu shifted to si fu. Then ŋi shifted to ni.
- NOTE ON POLITICS: DPR breaks away at this point.
Minor North Dreamlandic languages
These languages started with a syllable inventory of
a i u ya wa yi wu pa pi pu pya pwa pyi pwu ma mi mu mya mwa myi mwu ta (ci cu) tya tyi na ni nu nya nyi sa si su sya syi la li lu lya lyi ra ri ru rya ryi ka ki ku kwa kwu ŋa ŋi ŋu ŋwa ŋwu ha hi hu hwa hwu fa fi fu mpa mpi mpu mpya mpwa mpyi mpwu nta (nsi nsu nsya nsyi) nka nki nku nkwa nkwu ppa ppi ppu ppya ppwa ppyi ppwu kka kki kku kkya kkwa kkyi kkwu
Proto-Dreamlandic (1495) to Papasa-Tina
- Alternate names: Tasasina, Moon Tulips.
This language remains with three vowels longer than the others. This is located immediately north of the Dolphin Rider birthplace and therefore may be intimately associated with the Dolphin Rider language, Neamaki.
- The sequences kwa kwu ŋwa ŋwu shifted to pwa pwu mwa mwu.
- All long vowels became short.
- The sequences nsi nsya nsyi shifted to nyi nya nyi.
- The sequences si sya syi shifted to si sa si.
- Then, the sequences ha hi hu hwa hwu became a yi bu bwa bwu.
- The sequences lya rya merged as ya. Then lyi ryi merged as yi.
- The sequences nya nyi (including from earlier /nsya nsyi/) shifted to na ni.
- The sequences fa fi fu became ba bi bu.
- Remaining h disappeared to Ø.
- The sequences pw bw mw shifted to plain labials p b m.
- All remaining s shifted to h.
- The sequences pya pyi mya myi shifted to ta ti na ni.
- There may also need to be a shift of /bya byi/ to /ra ri/. (NOTE: ADDED AFTER A LONG BREAK)
- The sequences tya tyi kkya kkyi shifted to sa si ssa ssi.
- The sequences ci cu became si su.
- Remaining ns shifted to nz.
The syllable inventory at this point consisted of 61 glyphs:
a i u wa wi wu pa pi pu ba bi bu ma mi mu ta ti sa si su na ni nu la li lu ra ri ru ya yi yu ka ki ku ŋa ŋi ŋu ha hi hu mpa mpi mpu nta nti nza nzu nka nki nku ppa ppi ppu tta tti ssa ssi kka kki kku
The sequence /nzu/ was rare. There was also a rare syllable-final /n/. The consonant inventory can be analyzed as /p b m t s n l r k ŋ h/.
The sequences /ia ua/ had emerged from earlier /iha uha/, but there was no new bare /i/ or bare /u/.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1900) to Tata-A
Makes long vowels from heavy syllables.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1900) to Tata-D
Treats geminates as single consonants.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1495) to Tata-B
This may be spoken in Tata, but is too early to have been a Matrix language.
- The alveolar affricate č shifted to š.
- The labials pʲ mʲ fʲ f became h m h h.
- The labiovelars kʷ ŋʷ shifted to k ŋ.
Western languages
The western branch broke off around 1300 AD, and then lost contact with the others. There could be as many as five languages by 3370 AD, but the growth of the other branches would have prevented these daughter languages from splitting into further branches.
Changes unique to Western Fojy
- The voiceless non-sibilant fricatives f fʲ h hʷ shifted to Ø Ø Ø w.
- The palatalized labials pʲ mʲ shifted to p m.
- The bare vowel u shifted to ʉ. Then wa shifted to wo. Neither of these shifts were phonemic.
The language at this stage had exactly 100 syllables, if the clusters pp kk mp nt nk are counted as single onsets. This makes WF one of two related languages to evolve a 100-character syllabary early in their history, the other being the very early stages of the Gold language.
However, the 100 syllable analysis ignores the rare independent final nasal /n/. There were many vowel sequences, such as /ie/, as well as inherited long vowels which were now written as doubles.
The syllabary consisted of signs for
a i ʉ ya wo yi wu ye pa pi pʉ __ pwo __ pwu pe ma mi mʉ mwo mwu me ta (ci cʉ) tya tyi tye na ni nʉ nya nyi nye sa si sʉ sya syi sye la li lʉ lya lyi lye ra ri rʉ rya ryi rye ka ki kʉ kya kwo kyi kwu kye ŋa ŋi ŋʉ ŋya ŋwo ŋyi ŋwu ŋye ppa ppi ppʉ ppwo ppwu ppe kka kki kkʉ kkya kkwo kkyi kkwu kkye mpa mpi mpʉ mpwo mpwu mpe nta (nci ncʉ) ntya ntyi ntye ŋka ŋki ŋkʉ ŋkya ŋkwo ŋkyi ŋkwu ŋkye
In the year 3958, one of the languages of Western Fojy (here "WF", or Wildfire) took over all of Dreamland, only to be swept out by the Dolphin Rider language in 4108.
Proto-Western (1300) to Shining Wave (~3300)
Since Lohi was clearly a naval power, it is more likely than not that its official language evolved near the coast, not in the DPR-adjacent uplands. However, just as DPR settled the south-facing coasts of their own territory, so too could they have settled Lohi.
Though DPR conquest of Lohi is absolutely certain, it is possible that there were two stages of population movement .... early on, DPR absorbed the preexisting Lohi settlements, likely with little violence; and much later on, participated in a war against Lohi in which Lohi attempted to invade Nama, even knowing that they were nearly certain to lose their own home territory.
- The voiceless non-sibilant fricatives f fʲ h hʷ shifted to Ø Ø Ø w.
- The palatalized labials pʲ mʲ shifted to p m.
- The bare vowel u shifted to ʉ. Then wa shifted to wɜ. Neither of these shifts were phonemic.
- It is likely that /wā/ remained as /wā/.
- Before any of /a ə u/, the sequences ky ŋy ly shifted to ṭ ṇ ḷ. (That is, every vowel but /i/.)
- This might create what is seen as geminate /tt/.
- The prenasals mp nt ŋk (including coarticulated forms) shifted to mb nd ŋġ.
- When padded in both directions by at least two voiced sounds, the singleton voiceless stop p shifted to b. This probably also covers situations like /mupa/ > /muba/.
- When padded in both directions by at least two voiced sounds, the singleton voiceless stop k shifted to ġ.
- Note that these shifts occurred separately and may have had slightly different conditions.
- When padded in both directions by at least two voiced sounds, the singleton voiceless stops t ṭ shifted to d ḍ. (Unless /ṭ/ is behaving as /tt/.)
- Prenasals in absolute word-initial position wore down to plain voiced stops.
- All geminate stops (but not nasals) became singletons.
- NOTE ON POLITICS: It is possible that the family splits here. See history for early sound charts that could be useful for deriving the other branches.
- The dentals ṇ ḍ ḷ shifted to m b b when not facing another labial. (True labials, not labiovelars.)
- The sequences kw ŋw ġw shifted to pw mw bw.
- The sequences kyi ŋyi ġyi shifted to tyi nyi dyi, too.
- Before any "hard" consonant, the syllables pʉ bʉ mʉ shifted to t t n, which assimilated to the following consonant.
- The sequences yɜ wɜ shifted to yu wu.
- The rounded bilabials pw mw bw shifted to p m b.
- This may also entail /ʉi/ shifting to /ī/ or to /i/.
- Then, any remaining ɜ shifted to a.
- The sequences ly ry shifted to y.
- Any remaining instances of the dentals ṭ ṇ ḍ ḷ shifted to the plain versions t n d l. However, this shift also removed the /c z/ allophones of /t d/, so it could well be that both series moved.
Thus the language at this stage had a consonant inventory of
Bilabials: p m b Alveolars: t n d l r s Postalveolars: č n̆ ǯ š Palatals: y Velars: k ŋ ġ
And the three vowels /a i u/, with no remaining syllable gaps. Syllables could end in a vowel, /n/, or /t/, and this included syllables with long vowels.
It is possible that /ṭa/ > /fa/, so long as a source of /fu/ can also be found, and these could both shift to /h/ while /š/ splits into /h/ and /s/.
Proto-Western (~1350) to Mačawa (~3958)
a ʸa i yi ʉ wu yɜ wɜ pwa pi pʉ pwu pɜ pwɜ mwa mi mʉ mwu mɜ mwɜ bwa bi bʉ bwu bɜ bwɜ ṭa ṭɜ ṇa ṇɜ ḍa ḍɜ ḷwa ḷwɜ ta ča cwi či cʉ čɜ na n̆a nwi n̆i nʉ n̆ɜ da ǯa zwi ǯi zʉ ǯɜ sa ša swi ši sʉ šɜ la lwi lyi lʉ ra řa rwi ři rʉ řɜ kwa kwi ći kʉ kwu kwɜ ŋwa ŋwi ńi ŋʉ ŋwu ŋwɜ ġwa ġwi ǵi ġʉ ġwu ġwɜ
- The voiceless non-sibilant fricatives f fʲ h hʷ shifted to Ø Ø Ø w.
- The palatalized labials pʲ mʲ shifted to p m.
- The bare vowel u shifted to ʉ. Then wa shifted to wɜ. Neither of these shifts were phonemic.
- It is likely that /wā/ remained as /wā/.
- Before any of /a ə u/, the sequences ky ŋy ly shifted to ṭ ṇ ḷ. (That is, every vowel but /i/.)
- This might create what is seen as geminate /tt/.
- The prenasals mp nt ŋk (including coarticulated forms) shifted to mb nd ŋġ.
- When padded in both directions by at least two voiced sounds, the singleton voiceless stop p shifted to b. This probably also covers situations like /mupa/ > /muba/.
- When padded in both directions by at least two voiced sounds, the singleton voiceless stop k shifted to ġ.
- Note that these shifts occurred separately and may have had slightly different conditions.
- When padded in both directions by at least two voiced sounds, the singleton voiceless stops t ṭ shifted to d ḍ. (Unless /ṭ/ is behaving as /tt/.)
- Prenasals in absolute word-initial position wore down to plain voiced stops.
- All geminate stops (but not nasals) became singletons.
- Unadorned a i > wa wi except in hiatus.
- kw ŋw ġw ḷw > pw mw bw w.
- pʉ mʉ bʉ (before a consonant) > t n t if possible to link with Lohi.
- cwi nwi zwi swi lwi rwi > ti mi di ti wi wi.
- possibly ta na da sa la ra > pa ma ba sa wa wa.
- cʉ zʉ sʉ > tu du su.
- ṭ ṇ ḍ > t n d.
- ly ř š > l r s.
a i ʉ ɜ
pa pi pʉ pɜ
ma mi mʉ mɜ
ba bi bʉ bɜ
wa wi wu wɜ
pwu pwɜ
mwu mwɜ
bwu bwɜ
ta ti tu tɜ
na nu nɜ
da di du dɜ
sa si sʉ sɜ
li lʉ
ra ri rʉ rɜ
ča či čɜ
n̆a n̆i n̆ɜ
ǯa ǯi ǯɜ
ći
ńi
ǵi
(kʉ)
(ŋʉ)
(ġʉ)
The dorsal sequences kʉ ŋʉ ġʉ are then lost, but turn the following consonant (at least certain ones) into a dorsal, thus restoring a competent dorsal series to the language. Something similar may happen with ći ńi ǵi; thus, it is unlikely for them to simply move forward and become postalveolars.
It is possible that ʉi ui > wi, eliminating the need for distinctive labialization.
Proto-Western Fojy (1900) to Wildfire I (3958)
This language loses its /ʉ/, creating an unbalanced setup where most of the consonants cannot occur before a back vowel.
- The weak vowel ʉ disappeared to Ø, creating closed syllables.
- Triple consonant sequences became double.
Culture
Note that the Western settlers had the most primitive lifestyle, as there were no animals to hunt, and the natural environment was dominated by beaches. They wore no clothes. They typically did not build houses either, as rain was uncommon and the natural topography near the shore provided places to shelter from the rains that did occur. Thus they lived the same lifestyle as the aboriginals that they had previously conquered.
Because they needed no clothes or shelter, and seafood was abundant, the Western Dreamers had more free time than any other colonists. Nevertheless, there was no unified state, and the life of a criminal was as easy as that of a law-abiding citizen, so the Western Dreamers always underperformed the younger nations to their east both economically and militarily.
The aboriginal population was small and easily conquered, as they had been unprepared for war. Afterwards, the Dreamers also became unprepared for war, as their only reliable weapons were made for spearing fish instead of people. Before long, the western tribes became known for their military ineptitude, but were unaware of this, as they had no warlike cultures around them to compare themselves to, and were untempting targets for invasion. Several times throughout history, the Westerners launched wars against distant enemies, expecting to win, only to find that their enemies were much stronger and could easily fend off their invaders without suffering any significant casualties.
Still, the Westerners eventually unified into the Wildfire party, and were able to win wars so long as the stronger Dreamer tribes were on their side. But they did not return the favor and were eventually reduced to military irrelevance. In the end, their languages may have been replaced by the Rain languages of Hipatal, unless Lohi etc is from this branch.
Descendants such as Shining Wave typically had more ambitious lifestyles, though they were in other ways intermediate between the laid-back Westerners and the militaristic Baywatchers.
Dreamers in the Tropical Rim
Some Dreamers settled in the Tropical Rim, and perhaps even in Kxesh, and set up trading colonies. It is not clear whether they maintained their own languages or became nonlinguistic (using only the languages of their trading partners on both sides of the sea).
Kxesh would have easily beaten the Dreamers in a war, but Kxesh had lost some wars against the aboriginals of their area. The traders thus could have either settled in Kxesh as a weak underclass, or migrated to an aboriginal language territory (as the Pejos later did), working out a treaty allowing the traders to build a colony for their use only in exchange for a tribute paid to the aboriginals.
In any case, no independent Dreamer nation survived in the Tropical Rim, and the area was later colonized by the Pejo tribes such as Crab and Pabahais. These tribes were dark-skinned and had previously fought wars against the Dreamers, but later signed a peace treaty dividing settlement rights on the mainland according to latitude. Both these tribes and the Dreamers performed poorly in battle, and were weaker man-for-man than the aboriginals they conquered, but won settlement rights with a mixture of diplomacy, sea power, and trade.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1320) to Candles and Soap
CONSONANTS VOWELS
Rounded bilabials: pʷ mʷ w a u Plain bilabials: p m f (Ø) a i u Spread bilabials: pʲ mʲ fʲ y a i 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 u
Note that the rare sequences /ću ćću/ are simply merged with /će ćće/. The vowel system is not as rich as it looks in the eight-column table up above, because many sequences are rare, and in particular, many consonants are rarely followed by a pure /a/.
- The sequence wu came to be spelled as wɨ.
- The vowels e ʉ merged as ɜ. Thus the vowel system became vertical: /a ɜ ɨ/, but the surface pronunciations of each vowel were strongly conditioned by the preceding consonant and, occasionally, by a following glide (still considered a separate syllable in the script).
- The sequences ha hɨ hɜ hya hyɨ hyɜ shifted to a ɨ ɜ ya yɨ yɜ .
- The sequences sa sɨ sɜ sya syɨ syɜ shifted to da dɨ dɜ ža žɨ žɜ .
- Then lya lyɨ lyɜ rya ryɨ ryɜ shifted to ya yɨ yɜ řa řɨ řɜ.
- The nasal sequences nya nyɨ nyɜ ŋya ŋyɨ ŋyɜ shifted to ya yɨ yɜ ya yɨ yɜ.
- The sequences fa fɨ fɜ fya fyɨ fyɜ shifted to ba bɨ bɜ bya byɨ byɜ . Then fwa fwɨ became wa wɨ.
- The sequences cɨ cɜ tya tyɨ tyɜ shifted to sɨ sɜ sa sɨ sɜ. Then kya kyɨ kyɜ became ta tɨ tɜ.
- The sequences pwa kwa mwa ŋwa shifted to pa pa ma ma. Then pwɨ kwɨ mwɨ ŋwɨ in turn shifted to pɨ pɨ mɨ mɨ.
At this point, the consonant inventory consisted of
Bilabials: p m b w Spread labials: pʲ mʲ bʲ Alveolars: t n d l r s Palataloids: ž y ř Velars: k ŋ
and the vowels /a ɨ ɜ/.
Breakaway languages
Somewhere in the tropics (possibly, but not likely, the Tropical Rim) lived tribes who had rebelled against not just the Dreamers but Laba as a whole, and "had mostly failed". They survived but were locked out of sea trade and likely unable to function as independent nations without risking invasion. However these groups may have spoken Hipatal languages.
Non-Dreamlandic languages
With regard to languages, Lenian is almost a synonym for Dreamlandic, since the other Lenian tribes mostly fit into various sprachbunds, and these may need a new name.
Para-Birch languages
Bilabials: p m f w Alveolars: t n s l Postalveolars: š y Velars: k ŋ h g
There were four vowels, and the diphthongs /ai əi au əu/. The tone system was à/ă/ā and the schwa only occurred on the low tone.
