A South-Romance Romlang
Posted: 26 Aug 2021 22:55
A South-Romance Romlang
As usual with my new langs, this project does not have a name yet.
Geographically, the lang is positioned on an island in Ionian Sea. The number of its speakers is between 200000 and 500000.
It is affected by Greek and sounds very similar. It basically has many fricatives.
It can be classified as a South Romance language. That is, vowels of Classical Latin just lose length distinction ā => a, ē => e, ī => i, ō => o, ū => u.
Grammatically it is conservative. It preserves three noun cases: nominative, accusative, and dative.
Phonology and Phonological History
Consonant inventory
p t t͡s c k
f θ s ç x
v ð z ʝ ɣ
m n ɲ ŋ
l r (j)
Vowel inventory:
i u
e o
ä
Allophony
Velars (k, x, ɣ) merge with the corresponding palatals before front vowels (i, e).
The distinction between /j/ and / ʝ/ is a bit questionable.
Stress always falls on the penultimate syllable.
Sound changes affecting vowels
1. Loss of Classical Latin vowel length
With exception of ē => i in last (unstressed) syllables
Lat. rēgēs => reʝis <regis> ‘kings’
2. Tendency to regularize paradigms by bringing stress to the stem
Lat. cantámus => cántamus (=> canthaus) ‘we sing’
3. Antepenultimate stress becomes penultimate stress
a) “Loss of second open syllable”
Lat. dóminus => domnus => dounus ‘mister’
b) Loss of a (voiced) consonant between the ultima and penultimate syllable.
(Lat. cantámus =>) cánthamus => canthaus ‘we sing’
Sound changes affecting consonants (The ordering is not historical but one where rules have the right input.)
1. Labialized velars become labials
Lat. aqua => apa (=> afa) ‘water’
LateLat. que => pe ‘what?’
2. Latin velars become palatals (but not affricates) before front vowels (i and e).
3. /tj/ and /dj/, often older /te/+V and /te/+V become affricates /ts/ and /dz/, respectively.
Lat. deus => djus => dzus (=> zus) ‘god‘
4. Voiced stops and affricates lenite to fricatives in all positions.
Lat. dominus => ðominus (=> θounus) ’mister’
Lat. bebeba => veveva (=>vevja) ’drank’
5. Voiced fricatives are lost after nasals but the nasal assimilates with it.
From Old French man.ʝo => maɲo ‘I eat’
6. Voiceless stops lenite to fricatives between vowel (V_V) and between a resonant and a vowel (R_V).
Lat. mater => maθer ‘mother’
Late Lat. <canto> kanto => kanθo ’I sing’
7. /kt/ => tt
lactem => latte (=> late)
8. Geminate stops become short.
/vakka/ => /vaka/ <vaca> ‘cow’
9. /j/ becomes / ʝ/ in many (all?) positions.
10. Non-strident voiced stops (ð ʝ ɣ) are devoiced word-initially.
(Lat. domum =>) ðomu => θomu <domu> ‘house/home’
(Lat. juvenem =>) ʝune => çune <giune> ‘young’
Orthography
Vowels are simple written with <a, e, i, o, u>.
Consonants
p <p>, t <t>, t͡s <ts>, c <c>(before front-vowels) <ci> (before non-front vowels), k <c> (before non-front vowels)
f <f> (when from Lat. /f/) <ph> (when from Lat. /p/), θ <d> (word-initially) <th> (elsewhere), s <s>, ç <g> (before front-vowels word-intially) <ch> (before front vowels non-word-initially) <gi> (before non-front-vowels word-intially) <chi> (before non-front vowels non-word-initially), x <g> (word-intially) <ch> (non-word-initially)
v <v>, ð <d>, z <z>, ʝ <g> (before front-vowels) <gi> (before front vowels), ɣ <g>
m <m>, n <n>, ɲ <ng> (before front vowels) <ngi> before non-front vowels) ŋ <ng>
l <l>, r <r>, j <i>
<h> is sometimes used after <i> to mark that it is not pronounced /j/. <teologiha> [te.o.lo.’ʝi.a]
As usual with my new langs, this project does not have a name yet.
Geographically, the lang is positioned on an island in Ionian Sea. The number of its speakers is between 200000 and 500000.
It is affected by Greek and sounds very similar. It basically has many fricatives.
It can be classified as a South Romance language. That is, vowels of Classical Latin just lose length distinction ā => a, ē => e, ī => i, ō => o, ū => u.
Grammatically it is conservative. It preserves three noun cases: nominative, accusative, and dative.
Phonology and Phonological History
Consonant inventory
p t t͡s c k
f θ s ç x
v ð z ʝ ɣ
m n ɲ ŋ
l r (j)
Vowel inventory:
i u
e o
ä
Allophony
Velars (k, x, ɣ) merge with the corresponding palatals before front vowels (i, e).
The distinction between /j/ and / ʝ/ is a bit questionable.
Stress always falls on the penultimate syllable.
Sound changes affecting vowels
1. Loss of Classical Latin vowel length
With exception of ē => i in last (unstressed) syllables
Lat. rēgēs => reʝis <regis> ‘kings’
2. Tendency to regularize paradigms by bringing stress to the stem
Lat. cantámus => cántamus (=> canthaus) ‘we sing’
3. Antepenultimate stress becomes penultimate stress
a) “Loss of second open syllable”
Lat. dóminus => domnus => dounus ‘mister’
b) Loss of a (voiced) consonant between the ultima and penultimate syllable.
(Lat. cantámus =>) cánthamus => canthaus ‘we sing’
Sound changes affecting consonants (The ordering is not historical but one where rules have the right input.)
1. Labialized velars become labials
Lat. aqua => apa (=> afa) ‘water’
LateLat. que => pe ‘what?’
2. Latin velars become palatals (but not affricates) before front vowels (i and e).
3. /tj/ and /dj/, often older /te/+V and /te/+V become affricates /ts/ and /dz/, respectively.
Lat. deus => djus => dzus (=> zus) ‘god‘
4. Voiced stops and affricates lenite to fricatives in all positions.
Lat. dominus => ðominus (=> θounus) ’mister’
Lat. bebeba => veveva (=>vevja) ’drank’
5. Voiced fricatives are lost after nasals but the nasal assimilates with it.
From Old French man.ʝo => maɲo ‘I eat’
6. Voiceless stops lenite to fricatives between vowel (V_V) and between a resonant and a vowel (R_V).
Lat. mater => maθer ‘mother’
Late Lat. <canto> kanto => kanθo ’I sing’
7. /kt/ => tt
lactem => latte (=> late)
8. Geminate stops become short.
/vakka/ => /vaka/ <vaca> ‘cow’
9. /j/ becomes / ʝ/ in many (all?) positions.
10. Non-strident voiced stops (ð ʝ ɣ) are devoiced word-initially.
(Lat. domum =>) ðomu => θomu <domu> ‘house/home’
(Lat. juvenem =>) ʝune => çune <giune> ‘young’
Orthography
Vowels are simple written with <a, e, i, o, u>.
Consonants
p <p>, t <t>, t͡s <ts>, c <c>(before front-vowels) <ci> (before non-front vowels), k <c> (before non-front vowels)
f <f> (when from Lat. /f/) <ph> (when from Lat. /p/), θ <d> (word-initially) <th> (elsewhere), s <s>, ç <g> (before front-vowels word-intially) <ch> (before front vowels non-word-initially) <gi> (before non-front-vowels word-intially) <chi> (before non-front vowels non-word-initially), x <g> (word-intially) <ch> (non-word-initially)
v <v>, ð <d>, z <z>, ʝ <g> (before front-vowels) <gi> (before front vowels), ɣ <g>
m <m>, n <n>, ɲ <ng> (before front vowels) <ngi> before non-front vowels) ŋ <ng>
l <l>, r <r>, j <i>
<h> is sometimes used after <i> to mark that it is not pronounced /j/. <teologiha> [te.o.lo.’ʝi.a]