Techomonic
CBBic is the provisional designation of a collaborative project on the Conlanger Bulletin Board aimed at the construction of a fictional branch of the Indo-European language family. The chief contributors are Üdj, WeepingElf (Jörg Rhiemeier) and Salmoneus.
Setting
The languages are meant to descend from the language of a group of people who were "dropped off" along the way by the people who trekked eastward along the Eurasian steppe to become the ancestors of the speakers of Tocharian. The languages will be written in conscripts derived from the Kharoshthi script.
Proto-CBBic phonology
Consonants
In the IPA:
| Labial | Dental | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aspirated stops | *pʰ | *tʰ | *cʰ | *kʰ | |
| Neutral stops | *p | *t | *c | *k | |
| Voiced stops | *b | *d | *ɟ | *ɡ | |
| Sibilants | *s | *ʂ | *ɕ | ||
| Nasals | *m | *n | *ɲ | *ŋ | |
| Liquids | *l | *r | |||
| Semivowels | *w | *j |
In an IAST-derived notation, which may be easier for most people to type:
| Labial | Dental | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aspirated stops | *ph | *th | *ch | *kh | |
| Neutral stops | *p | *t | *c | *k | |
| Voiced stops | *b | *d | *j | *g | |
| Sibilants | *s | *ṣ | *ś | ||
| Nasals | *m | *n | *ñ | *ṅ | |
| Liquids | *l | *r | |||
| Semivowels | *w | *y |
Vowels
| Front unround |
Front round |
Back unround |
Back round | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | *i | *y (ü) | *ɨ (î) | *u |
| Mid | *e | *ø (ö) | *ə (ê) | *o |
| Open | *æ (ä) | *a |
All vowels can be short or long. Long vowels are doubled.
Sound changes
(incomplete draft) (Note: for these changes, I've used the IPA instead of the IAST-derived notation.)
- h₂w > h₃
- ej, eje, ow, owo > i, e:, u, o:
- ew, ewe, oy, oyo > u, o:, i, e:
- Laryngeals "as usual", but with triple reflex as in Greek:
- *h₁e > *e, *h₂e > *a, *h₃e > *o
- *eh₁ > *e:, *eh₂ > *a:, *eh₃ > *o:
- Syllabic and initial before a consonant: *h₁ > *e, *h₂ > *a, *h₃ > *o
- *Hi > *i, *Ho > *o, *Hu > *u (*H = any laryngeal)
- *iH > *i:, *oH > *o:, *uH > *u: (*H = any laryngeal)
- *R̥H > *Ra: (*R = resonant)
- Syllabic resonants develop *ə as prop vowel before the resonant
- Clusters of stop + nasal, stop + stop, nasal + stop, or nasal + nasal develop *ə as prop vowel between the two segments
- Labiovelars lose labialization, with rounding of following vowel, e.g. *kʷe > *kø
- *w causes rounding of a following vowel, but is not lost, e.g. *we > *wø, *twe > *twø
- Palatovelar stops become palatals, e.g. *ǵ > *ɟ
- *s > *ʂ after *r, *u, or dorsal consonants
- *s > *ɕ after *i
- *e lowered to *æ when unstressed except before an *i in the following syllable or when after palatals (incl. the approximant *j)
- Dental stops become velars before *w, e.g. *dw > *ɡw; also, *sw > *ʂw
- Dentals become palatals before *j, e.g. *tj > *c; also, *sj > *ɕ (Note: the *j is deleted.)
- Voiceless and voiced-aspirated stops merge as aspirated stops in stressed syllables and as unaspirated in unstressed syllables or after sibilants, e.g. *tána > *tʰana, *bʰaná > *pana, *skána > *skana.
- Grassmann's Law: aspirated stops lose aspiration before another aspirated stop later in the word
- Front vowels are centralized before velars, *r and *ʂ, e.g. *ek > *ək
- Final cɕ, kʂ > ɕ, ʂ
- w is lost after a consonant
Proto-CBBic morphology
(not determined yet)
Proto-CBBic lexicon
(I've only had time to do a few; I'm running through a Swadesh list.)
- *asor adj. ─ woman (< PIE *h₁esor)
- *anêêr adj. ─ man (< PIE *h₂nḗr)
- *cêmoo adj. ─ human (< PIE *ǵʰmṓ)
- *dêlaakhos adj. ─ long (< PIE *dl̥h₁gʰós)
- *mi adj. ─ small (< PIE *mey)
- *mejas adj. ─ big (< PIE *méǵh₂s)
- *monoko adj. ─ many (< PIE *monogʰo)
- *mrêkuṣ adj. ─ short (< PIE *mréǵʰus)
- *phoo adj. ─ few (< PIE *peh₂w)
- *stälos adj. ─ wide (< PIE *stelh₃ós)
- *thêguṣ adj. ─ thick (< PIE *tégus)
Proto-CBBic numerals
- *inos num. ─ one (< PIE *óynos)
- *gos num. ─ two (< PIE *dwó) *Acquired a final -s via analogy.
- *threes num. ─ three (< PIE *tréyes)
- *khores num. ─ four (< PIE *kʷetwóres) *The first syllable was deleted.
- *phêṅkös num. ─ five (< PIE *pénkʷe) *Acquired a final -s via analogy.
- *wöśêm num. ─ six (< PIE *weḱs) *Acquired a final -m via analogy.
- *septêm num. ─ seven (< PIE *séptm̥)
- *octu num. ─ eight (< PIE *h₃eḱtou) *Acquired a final -m via analogy.
- *num num. ─ nine (< PIE *néun) *Final -n became -m via analogy.
- *decêm num. ─ ten (< PIE *deḱm̥)
