Aims and intro
Čəsač or (Bechsukchwan Čəsač, Bechsukchwan Chusach) is the name I've given a modern-day descendant of the completely revamped Nomadic language family. I've decided to completely restructure the Nomadic languages again, keeping only the phonemic inventory /t d k g i u e a/ of Proto-Nomadic (now renamed Old Chusach or proto-Bechsukchwan). My goal for this specific language is for it to have smoll but distinctive consonant and vowel inventories, a lot of complex morphophonology and an overall vaguelly North American aesthetic. I also plan to make some sister languages with various degrees of divergence to show off the sound changes. Currently I only have sound changes worked out for one branch of said family but I envisage the language tree looking something like this:
Code: Select all
Proto-Bechsukchwan
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Chusachan Other one
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Archaic Chusach Proto-Other
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Middle C. Təčču-Šfšši Type 1 Type 2 Type 3
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Čəsač Təčču Lang A Lang D Lang H
Šfšši Lang B Lang E Lang I
Lang C Lang F
Lang G
A timeline of the various historical forms of Čəsač would be something like the following, reserving the native spelling Čəsač for the modern language and the anglicised Chusach for ancestors.
Proto-Bechsukchwan (PB): 3000BC
Archaic Chusach (AC): 1BC
Early Middle Chusach (EMC): 1000AD
Middle Chusach (MC): 1300AD
Modern Čəsač: 1900AD
Čəsač phonology
To start with, I'll do a (mostly) synchronic analysis of Čəsač phonology. The modern language uses eight consonants and six vowels:
/b t tʃ k ʔ/ <b t č k ʔ>
/n ɲ/ <n ñ>
/s/ <s>
/i ɨ u/ <i ə u>
/ɪ ɔ/ <e o>
/ɐ/ <a>
/b/ occurs only root-initally; words beginning with a vowel are considered as beginning with /ʔ/ and are written as such.
Defence of this being naturalistic
- Having /b/ as the only voiced plosive with no /p/ is relatively common
- The only nasals are /n ɲ/ because they derive from older *ɾ *g *dʲ
- Approximants other than *ɾ never existed; *ɾ became /n/ or /ʔ/
- The vowel system is disgusting. It can also be analysed as having two sets of vowels; tense [i u ɐ ɨ] and lax [ɨ ɔ ɪ ɪ], which originally derive from long vs. short vowels
- Also Omagua has /i ɨ ɪ u a/ so there
Allophony
The vowels /ɨ ɪ ɔ ɐ/ are realised as [ɘ~ɨ~ɵ e~e̝ o a~ɑ] when word-final before a pause and [ɨ ɪ ɔ ɐ] otherwise. I call them /ɨ ɪ ɔ ɐ/ instead of /ɘ e o a/ because most words end in a consonant so the [ɘ e o a] realisations are much rarer. /i/ and /u/ have strict realisations as [i] and [u].
- /ɲisɪktɪ/ → [ɲi.sɪh.te] ñi-sekte (ñi-sehte)
- /ʔɨs/ → [ʔʉs], [ʉs] ʔəs
- /satkɪt/ → [sɐt.kɪθ] satket or satkeþ
- /tɪtʃɐk/ → [tɪ.tʃɐh] tečak or tečah
- /bɪʔkɪ/ → [bɪk’e] biʔke
- /tuʔtʃɨ/ → [tutʃ’ɘ] tuʔčə
Morphophonological alterations
There are four main phonological processes in Čəsač morphology; syncope, ablaut, more ablaut and consonant alterations. These are mostly regular but require stricter definitions of roots, e.g. the root of čəsač has to be defined as ČəSəKaČu(sk→s) for the syncope and consonant alteration to be predictable.
Syncope
In Early Middle Chusach, a major stress shift occured, which was followed by complete syncope. Stress was changed to be always on the first syllable (by this time, Archaic Chusach lexical stress had been changed into vowel length), then the vowel in every every even syllable from the left was syncopated. In some cases, these lost vowels caused ablaut to the previous vowel, which will be discussed below. Syncope happened regardless of any prefixes, of which there were several, meaning that roots switch their form completely when combined with prefixes:
NəNe(nn→n,n→ʔ) "water"
PB *gi̯ádu̯e → AC *ɾa:ɾa → EMC /ɾaːɾ/→ Čəsač /nɨʔ/ nəʔ
PB *di-gi̯ádu̯e → AC *ñiɾa:ɾa → EMC /ɲiɾɾa/ → Čəsač /ɲɨnɪ/ ñə-ne (older *ñə-nne)
KəÑəNo(ñn→n,n→ʔ) "plantain"
PB *ku̯ádedu → AC *kaːɲaɾu → EMC /kaːɲɾu/ → Čəsač /kɨɲɔ/ kəño (older *kəñno)
PB *di-ku̯ádedu → AC *ɲikaːɲaɾu → EMC /ɲikɲiɾ/ → Čəsač /ɲɨkɲɨʔ/ ñə-kñəʔ
SaTeKeTe(sk→s) "whiteness"
PB *ti̯eu̯tákata → AC seːtaːkata → EMC /seːtkat/ → Čəsač /sɐtkɪt/ satket
PB *dí-ti̯eu̯takata → AC ɲiːseːtakata → EMC /ɲiːstakta/ → Čəsač /ɲisɪktɪ/ ñi-sekte
Ablaut
Also in Middle Chusach, the vowels /eː aː a/ were raised to [iː eː i] in a syllable before a high vowel. In Modern Čəsač, this is seen as a surface change of /ɐ ɨ ɪ/ to /i ɐ ɨ/. It occurs with some suffixes containing /ɨ/ and all suffixes containing /i u ɔ/.
ØəKeSa “reeds”
PB *u̯ái̯katai → AC aːkateː → EMC /aːkteː/ → Čəsač /ʔɨktɐ/ ʔəkta
PB *u̯ái̯katai-ti → AC aːkateːsi → EMC /aːktiːs/ → Čəsač /ʔɨktis/ ʔəkti-s
ØəNeKə(n→ʔ) "smooth pebble"
PB *u̯édakai → AC aːɾakaː → EMC /aːɾkaː/ → Čəsač /ʔɨʔkɨ/ ʔəʔkə
PB *u̯édakai-ti → AC aːɾakaːsi → EMC /aːɾkeːs/ → Čəsač /ʔɨʔkɐs/ ʔəʔka-s
SeKəTe "spearhead"
PB *ti̯akáta → AC sakaːta → EMC /sakta/ → Čəsač /sɪktɪ/ sekte
PB *ti̯akáta-kauki → AC sakaːtakuːtsi → EMC /saktiktsi/ → Čəsač /sɪktɨktʃɨ/ sektə-kčə
More Ablaut
A second form of ablaut also occurs as a result of regular stress shifting in Proto-Bechsukchwan; where a prefix caused lexical stress to fall on a syllable after the first two syllables, the first syllable of the prefix was stressed instead. These then became long vowels in Archaic Chusach through to Middle Chusach, after which they became separate vowels. This results in an alteration between "short" /ɨ ɨ ɔ ɪ ɪ/ and "long" /i ɐ u ɐ ɨ/.
SaNu(n→ʔ) "to nurture, grow sth."
PB *ti̯ádau̯ → AC saːɾuː → EMC /seːɾ/ → Čəsač /sɐʔ/ saʔ
PB *gúti-ti̯adau̯ → AC buːsisaɾuː → EMC /buːssiɾ/ → /busɨʔ/ bu-səʔ
Consonant alterations
A few consonant alterations happen as a result of sound changes in Middle Chusach following syncope. The alterations seen are:
a) Expected /n/ becomes /ʔ/ when not preceding a vowel
TuNeČə(n→ʔ) "fuzzy"
PB *taudáti → AC tuːɾasi → EMC /tuːɾsi/ → Čəsač /tuʔtʃɨ/ tuʔčə (expected */tuntʃɨ/)
b) Expected sequences of */sk st stʃ nɲ ɲn ts/ become /s s s ɲ ɲ tʃ/
ÑiSəČe(sč→s) "underneath"
PB *dítike → AC ɲiːsitsa → EMC /ɲiːstsa/ → Čəsač /ɲisɪ/ ñise (expected */ɲistʃɪ/)
ØəÑiNu(ñn→n,n→ʔ) "seven"
PB *adídu → AC aɲiːɾu → EMC /iɲɾu/ → Čəsač /ʔɨɲɔ/ ʔəño (expected */ʔɨɲnɔ/)
KəTuSe(ts→č) "shin bone"
PB *katúti̯a → AC katuːsa → EMC /kitsa/ → Čəsač /kɨtʃɪ/ kəče (expected */kɨtsɪ/)
c) Expected doubled consonants become single consonants
ØeNəNe(nn→n,n→ʔ) "garnet"
PB *agágu̯a → AC anaːna → EMC /anna/ → Čəsač /ʔɪnɪ/ ʔene (expected */ʔɪnnɪ/)
d) Expected root-initial /ʔ/ disappears before a consonant (considered Ø for root formation)
ØaNo(ʔ→Ø,n→ʔ) "firefly"
PB *ádu → AC aːɾu → EMC /eːɾ/ → Čəsač /ʔɐʔ/ ʔaʔ
AC /ɲi- + aːɾu/ → /ɲiaːru/ → EMC /ɲiɾu/ → Čəsač /ɲɨnɔ/ ñə-no (expected */ɲɨʔnɔ/)
e) Unpredictable irregularities
ʔuʔ(irr.) "gnat"
PB *údu̯a → AC uːɾa → EMC /uːɾ/ → Čəsač /ʔuʔ/ ʔuʔ
PB *di-údu̯a → AC ɲuːɾa → EMC /ɲuːɾ/ → Čəsač /ɲuʔ/ ñuʔ (expected ?*/ɲunɐ/)
And that's about enough for the first post