This is a conlang that was originally intended to be an IE branch, but ended up being too weird so now it's just a generic a priori click language with floating tones and subtractive morphology (although looking back on it, the PIE to proto-Ánni changes look pretty cool...) This thread may end up being a kind of scratchpad for any random langs I'm working on if I feel like it.
Proto-Ánni
Proto-Ánni had 16 consonants; 8 qualities all with a slender/broad distinction (palatalised vs. velar)
/pʲ pˠ tʲ tˠ kʲ k ʔʲ ʔˠ/ <pi p ti t ci c xi x>
/mʲ mˠ nʲ nˠ ŋʲ ŋ/ <mi m ni n gi g>
/hʲ hˠ/ <hi h>
Earlier */s/ was lost to /tˠ/, which explains what /tˠ/ is doing everywhere.
I guess you could also do it like this
/p t k ʔ/ <p t c x>
/m n ŋ h/ <m n g h>
always +/ˠ/ <> or +/ʲ/ <i>
Which is probably more accurate for late proto Ánni (maybe even with +/ɣ j/ instead)
And five vowels
/i u e o a/ <y u e o a>
All of which carried tone (mostly); one of H, L or HL.
/a˥ a˩ a˥˨/ <á a à>
Syllable structure is on the surface CV(C); however, it's better to analyse this as being C(V)(C). Any sequences of CC or C# gained an epenthetic toneless vowel; after broad consonants /e/ (probably from earlier *[ɤ]) and slender /i/. These are considered the "zero-grade" vowels when they occur in a root (basically just ablaut); otherwise they're just epenthetic (e.g. arising from the infix /-tˠ-/).
Modern Ánni
I won't show any of the sound changes yet, but here's a synchronic look at the modern language.
Ánni has 16 consonants; 8 of these are pulmonic, 2 are ejective and 6 are clicks.
/c k/ <č k>
/ʰc ʰk/ <hč hk>
/t͡s’ k’/ <c' k'>
/ʘʷ ʗ ʗʷ/ <pq tq tqw>
/ŋ͡ʘʷ ŋ͡ʗ ŋ͡ʗʷ/ <mq nq nqw>
/n ɲ ŋ/ <n ň ŋ>
/s/ <s>
I'm using /ʗ/ to represent an alveolar click instead of standard IPA /!/ because I think it looks better. The orthography is kind of quasi-Americanist; it's just a stand-in which may well be replaced with a more conservative one). In the central dialect, /k ʰk k’ ŋ/ are always rounded [kʷ ʰkʷ kʷ’ ŋʷ]; in the southern dialect, /t͡s’ n/ are rounded [t͡sʷ’ nʷ] and /c k/ are voiced [ɟ ɡ]. The clicks are all relatively quiet.
There are six vowels
/i u e ə o a/ <i u e ə o a>
With nine surface tones in stressed syllables and six in unstressed syllables. Underlyingly, Ánni can be analysed with 4 tones; H L HL Ø <á à ạ a>. One of these occurs on any unstressed vowel, and either one of H L HL, or two of H L HL Ø (only some combinations) on a stressed vowel. These double tones may be:
- H+Ø L+Ø HL+Ø, realised as long versions of H L HL (i.e. [aː˥ aː˩ aː˥˨])
- L+H, realised as [a˩˦], which may be either long or short depending on speaker (generally the short form is considered more casual)
- L+HL HL+H, realised as [aː˨˥˧ aː˦˩˧]
The zero (unmarked) tone only occurs on its own in unstressed syllables. In this position it is realised as a mid tone [a˧] if the adjacent vowel closest to the stressed vowel is a contour tone (HL, HL+Ø, L+H, L+HL, HL+H), as [a˧] if it's also unmarked for tone, as [a˨] if it's H(+Ø) and [a˦] if it's L(+Ø).
Stress is generally root-initial, or occasionally on the second vowel of the root.
Nouns
This is by no means finalised, but here's some ideas I had for noun declension. It combines a bit of subtraction, a bit of tone change, a bit of umlaut and a bit of mutation (one of these days I'll make a language that isn't this complicated for a change)
The plural is formed in one of four ways depending on the shape of the verb.
1. For nouns with a plural of the form CVC(V), the singular is formed by the final consonant being deleted and replaced with a Ø-tone being added to the vowel (the vowel will always have one of H L HL as its tone, so this just lengthens the vowel).
/ŋ͡ʗáa ŋ͡ʗáʰk/ <nqáa nqáhk> [ŋ͡ʗaː˥ ŋ͡ʗaʰk˥]
/nêe nêʘʷe/ <nêe nêpqe> [neː˥˨ ne˥˨ʘʷe˧]
When the singular vowel is /ə/, and sometimes when it's /e/, the plural will have /o u/ instead respectively.
/ʗə̀ə ʗòʘʷi/ <tqə̀ə tqòpqi> [ʗəː˩ ʗo˩ʘʷi˦]
/t͡s’ée t͡s’úʰc/ <c'ée c'úhč> [t͡s’e˥ː t͡s’uʰc˥]
2. For nouns with a singular of the form CV, the plural is with the prefix /ce/ (unmarked tone). This also causes a mutation of the root consonant sometimes.
Code: Select all
Sing Plur
hč hk
c' k'
tq k
tqw pq
nq ŋ
nqw mq
s č
n ň
*Any other singular consonants stay the same
/ʗʷò cəʘʷò/ <tqwò čəpqò> [ʗʷo˩ cə˦ʘʷo˩]
3. For nouns with a singular CVCVː, both rules apply; the plural is marked with the prefix čə- and restoring the final consonant (sometimes with a toneless vowel too). The same mutation and umlaut rules apply.
/ŋ͡ʗʷáŋèe cəŋ͡ʘʷáŋùt͡s’/ <nqwáŋèe čəmqáŋùc'> [ŋ͡ʗʷa˥ŋeː˩ cə˨ŋ͡ʘʷa˥ŋut͡s’˩]
4. Borrowed nouns take the prefix /ŋ͡ʗʷə–/.
/ŋ͡ʘʷáas ŋ͡ʗʷəŋ͡ʘʷáas/ <mqáas nqwəmwáas> "apple(s)" [ŋ͡ʘʷas˥ː ŋ͡ʗʷə˨ŋ͡ʘʷas˥ː]
/ʗoŋáce ŋ͡ʗʷəʗoŋáce/ <tqoŋáče nqwətqoŋáče> "tomato(es)" [ʗo˨ŋa˥ce˨ ŋ͡ʗʷə˧ʗo˨ŋa˥ce˨]