Some project with plosive-nasal allophonic intermingling

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Prinsessa
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Joined: 07 Nov 2011 14:42

Some project with plosive-nasal allophonic intermingling

Post by Prinsessa »

So I don't know if this is eventually going to replace Vanga or is simply to be seen as a new language entirely, but I'm still basing the grammatical forms on what I currently have for Vanga – the big difference is the phonology.

Phonology

Consonants

I've reduced the consonantal phonemic inventory to the following:

/p t k j w h l n s/

This may or may not be interpreted as more phonemes by others. I prefer a diachronic analysis to a synchronic one.

As it stands now, only /p t k j w h s/ may be root-initial (but stem-initial consonants are not necessarily restricted to these). Roots are biliteral as in Vanga.

Through various allophonic processes many other consonants emerge on the surface, including [m n̥ ŋ ɲ], , [β ð ɣ], [ɸ θ x], [z] and a retroflex series.

Consonants can be:

  • short
  • long
  • overlong
/j w h n/ contract under various circumstances just like in Vanga in order to form long vowels, dipththongs and nasalised vowels but the rules differ slightly from Vanga.


Vowels

The vowel inventory is however richer than Vanga's at least on the surface. Still, underlyingly, it may be considered perhaps to be /a i u/, possibly with an underlying but not surfacing /ə/ as well (with different rules from Vanga's archiphonemic /ə/, however). Depends on how diachronic the analysis is.

On the surface we may see [a i u e o] as well as diphthongs [ai̯ au̯ ea̯ eu̯ oi̯ ui̯ u̯o] and possibly others if they crop up.

There is:
  • nasalisation
  • a two-way pitch accent
  • monophthongs short or long
All features can be combined and there is no restriction as to which vowels may take each, but unstressed vowels take no specific accent and unstressed [a e o] are reduced to [ə i u].

Morphophonology

There is consonant gradation similar to that of Vanga, but with unshifted voiced fricatives; i.e. [β ð ɣ] exist in this languages, whereas in Vanga those sounds historically turned into [w z j].

Nasalisation of plosives, change of pitch accent along with ablaut of personal suffixes, preäspiration and gemination are other features. The nasalisation is probably the most important, as it was my whole initial idea for this phonology.

Historical accent/stress is the most important factor governing the modern surface forms. This older system has been lost, but remains as pitch accent.


Consonant gradation

Depending on whether the historical stress was on the stem or the suffix, we get a weak or strong grade respectively. I will use the markers O, I and M for old, intermediate and modern forms. Note that in the old and intermediate forms, the acute accent <á> marks the old stress system, whereas it alongside the grave accent <à> marks pitch accent in the modern forms.

O *ták-a=i > I *táɣəi̯ > M tàɣi
O *tak-á=i > I *təkái̯ > M táŋəi̯

Here several factors in differentiating between these two forms (which might mark volition like in Vanga) can be seen:
  • The two grades have different pitch accents.
  • The medial, non-weaked *k is allophonically nasalised to ŋ in the strong grade.
  • The historical diphthong of the personal suffix *-ai is reduced to *-i when unstressed but remains a diphthong when stressed.

Nasalisation

Both vowels and consonants can be nasalised. In the case of a consonant this generally means a full assimilation into a nasal stop at the point of articulation of the consonant in question. We have already seen the allophonic nasalisation of root-medial nasals, but there is also a nasal prefix that may cause nasalisation of the root-initial consonant.

O *n-ták-a=i > I *ndáɣəi̯ > M nàɣi
O *n-tak-á=i > I *ndəkái̯ > M náŋəi̯

Vowels are nasalised before all true nasals (i.e. underlying /n/; not before nasals that are allophones of plosives as in the above case) and in the weak grade of n-roots the /n/ is completely elided, leaving nasalisation on the preceding vowel or resulting diphthong. This generally comes with length and an epenthetic glide depending on the vowel following the historical /n/.

O *tán-a=i > I *tánəi̯ > M tã̀ːji ([j] is epenthetically inserted into *tãːi)
O *tán-a=un> I *tánəu̯n > M tã̀ːwũ ([w] is epenthetically inserted into *tãːũ)

Note that the /n/ surfaces as a stop in the strong grade, but still nasalises the preceding vowel.

O *tan-á=i > I *tənˑái̯ > M tã́nəi̯
O *tan-á=un> I *tənˑáu̯n > M tã́nə̃ũ̯


Gemination

Consonant gemination is the general result of applying a /w/ suffix.

O *tak-á-w=as > I *təkwáːs > M táɡːus (from earlier *taɡʷəs)
O *ták-a-w=as > I *táɣwaːs > M tàɣːus (from earlier *taɣʷəs)


Nasalisation and gemination

When an /n/ infix is applied to a plosive root, the strong and weak grade outcomes are respectively the following:

O *ta<n>k-á-w=as > I *tənkáːs > M táŋɡəs
O *tá<n>k-a-w=as > I *tánɡaːs > M tàŋːəs


Preäspiration

When a /h/ suffix is applied, it metathesises with the preceding consonant (note that this change postdates the elision of weak grade nasals) and devoices it.

O *tak-á-h=as > I *təkháːs > M táhkəs
O *ták-a-h=as > I *táxhaːs > M tàhxəs (possibly [tàxːəs])


Glottalisation

The plosives are reduced to glottal stops when followed by /n/, colouring this /n/ with their own point of articulation in return.

O *tap-á-n=as > I *təpnáːs > M táʔməs
O *tat-á-n=as > I *tətnáːs > M táʔnəs
O *tak-á-n=as > I *təknáːs > M táʔŋəs

Epenthetic glottal stops are also inserted to all words lacking an initial consonant.

O *á-tak-a=as > I *átəɣaːs > M ʔàdəɣəs

This glottal stop is only realised phrase-initially and after other vowels.


Reduction

Historically unstressed */au ai/ are reduced to M in suffixes but M [o e] in an unstressed stem. Historically stressed they remain as diphthongs but are slightly reduced to [əu̯ əi̯] in suffixes.

O *tá<i>k-a=i > I *tái̯ɣəi̯> M tài̯ɣi
O *ta<i>k-á=i > I *təi̯kái̯> M téŋəi̯
O *á-ta<i>k-a=i > I *átəi̯ɣəi̯> M ʔàdeɣi

/a/ and historical *aː are reduced to [ə] when unstressed and [o e] to .

O *ták-a=i > I *táɣəi̯> M tàɣi (from *tàɣe)


Elision

The glides, to which /n/ counts, are /j w h n/. When second in a root in the weak grade, these are elided and generally affect surrounding vowels.

O *táj-a=i > I *tájəi̯ > M tèːji (epenthetic [j] inserted into *tèːi)
(O *taj-á=i > I *təjái̯? > M *tjái̯? (from earlier *tijái̯; maybe it should be kept like this?))

O *táw-a=i > I *táwəi̯ > M tòːwi (epenthetic [w] inserted into *tòːi)
(O *taw-á=i > I *təwái̯? > M *twái̯? (from earlier *tuwái̯; maybe it should be kept like this?))

O *tán-a=i > I *tánəi̯ > M tã̀ːji (epenthetic [j] inserted into *tã̀ːi)
(O *tan-á=i > I *tənˑái̯? > M *tã́nəi̯? *nái̯? *n̥ái̯?)

O *táh-a=i > I *táhəi̯ > M tàːji (epenthetic [j] inserted into *tàːi)
(O *tan-á=i > I *təhˑái̯? > M *táhəi̯? *tái̯? *tʰái̯?)

As can be seen by the parentheses and question marks above, I'm not entirely sure about their strong grades yet.


Voicing

Plosives and /s/ are generally voiced between vowels. Suffixed, but not prefixed, plosives are also nasalised.

O *tat-á=as > I *tətáːs > M tánəs
O *á-tat-a=as > I *átəðaːs > M ʔàdəðəs
O *tas-á=as > I *təsáːs > M tázəs
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