Classical Chinese'

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Revision as of 00:44, 23 September 2008 by Tropylium (talk | contribs) (→‎The cryptolect: 4k)
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Sample vocabulary

  • arawagiʃʃinat
  • kogeeronoʃkioowon
  • elewargaranaanawe
  • paaokokokʃorda
  • nonigirguriʃkaoo
  • ʃeleleeronaneerenek
  • kaginniroʃoweaalaka
  • tenekwaruguʃaadun
  • peʃeʃaanerogoronowee

Phonological analysis

  • Vowels [i e eː a aː o oː u]
  • Word-initial consonants: [p t k ʃ n]
  • Word-medial consonants: [k d ɡ ʃ n r l w]
  • Word-final consonants: [t n k]

Clusters seem to include [ʃʃ ʃk kʃ kw rɡ nn].

The distinction between [l] and [r] seems very minor, with [l] mostly occurring between front vowels. Likewise the distinction between [k] and [ɡ] applies mostly intervocally.

We might be able to analyze medial [k ɡ] as /kk k/. Similarly, tho there's no medial [t], medial [d] might be /t/. I now see my original idea to have [r] as the medial allophone of /t/ seems unlikely: if [rɡ] is to be /tk/, medial voicing/lenition needs to apply thru two stops, but [ʃk kʃ] demonstrate it not applying thru a stop and a fricativ? OTOH not even single medial [ʃ] is voiced, so /ʃ/ is clearly more resilient to voicing (perhaps its distinguishing feature is not continuancy, but stridency). There is also the option of an underlying /r/ fortified to [t] adjacent to a word boundary.

These models differ in a few testable respects: an underlying /t/ or /d/ would lead to clusters [ʃt tʃ], while an underlying /r/ would lead to [ʃr rʃ].

The labial situation seems more straightforward: the two possibilities initially suggesting itself are [w] = /u/ and [w] = /p/, but since there is no overlap between these two scenarios, we can simply go with a single labial phoneme [p w u] = /P/ as long as no roots beginning with [pu-] turn up.

Grammar

The cryptolect

A highly unusual feature appearing in Classical Chinese is the creation of ritual jargon based on repeating religious chants with distinct phonetical variations. See Proto-Insane for details.