Review of Stage I
Last time, I assigned a bunch of phonemic values to my underspecified proto-phonemes *μ, *q, *x and *λ, and they are currently in complementary distribution. What we’re starting out with for the changes from Stage I to Stage II is the following phoneme inventory:
MOA |
bilabial |
dental |
velar |
uvular |
glottal |
nasals |
*m |
*n |
*Å‹ |
|
|
plosives |
|
*t |
*k |
*q |
*Ê” |
|
*tʰ |
*kʰ |
|
|
taps/flaps |
|
*r |
|
|
|
fricatives |
|
*s |
*x |
|
*h |
approximants |
*w |
*l |
|
|
|
The vowels stayed all the same:
Height |
Front |
Central |
Back |
high |
*i |
|
*u |
mid |
|
*É™ |
|
low |
|
*a |
|
Stage I to Stage II
For the record, I’m leaving out the syllable delimiter $ when it is not strictly part of the condition of the sound change. It doesn’t matter for most of the changes.
1. Generating bilabial plosives in partial analogy to *m:
- [+plosive +oral] > *p / _ w
The oral plosives *t, *k, *q produce *p when before *w; *Ê” remains *Ê”. This is maybe stretching things somewhat, but let’s just go with *tÊ· merging with the result of a merger of *kÊ· and *qÊ·, all into *pÊ·, and then becoming *p. Example words that get affected by this: *kwÉ™s → *pÉ™s; *twá.kwa → *pá.pa; *qwá.tra → *pá.tra.
2. Homorganic nasals (assimilation of nasals’ POA to the following plosive):
- [+nasal] > *m / _ [+bilabial +plosive]
- [+nasal] > *n / _ [+dental +plosive]
- [+nasal] > *Å‹ / _ [+velar +plosive]
Currently, the relevant plosives are just the voiceless ones, so we get *mp, *nt, *Å‹k from this change for combinations that aren’t congruent, e.g. *húwm.txa → *hón.tja.
3. Retract *r to *x after *q:
This means, *qr merges with *qx (see section 6 below). This would be a possible move through a [+back] allophone of *r (maybe via ?[Ê] for *r), let’s call it *Ê€. Then, *Ê€ devoices after the voicless stop, leaving us with what we might reasonably refer to as *qxâ‚‚ if we assume that due to the merger with original *qxâ‚, the association of *xâ‚‚ ↠*ʀ̥ with *r disappears over time.
4. Resolve *Vw sequences into monophthongs or diphthongs, respectively:
- *iw → *e / _ … a
- *uw → *o
- *aw → *aʊ
*iw gets lowered to *e before the low vowel *a; an example for this is *tʰÃwt.kxa → *tʰé.tja. In analogy, *uw lowers to *o (though everywhere). Since *aw can’t lower any further, it stays *aw~*aÊŠ (I will now assume it’s a diphthong). These three changes only operate within a syllable, except for *iw → *e, since the vowel that triggers the lowering will always be in the next syllable since CVaC is not a valid syllable pattern. *É™w could lower to merge with *aw but doesn’t – or at least not yet. Examples: *tʰÃw.qak → *tʰé.kak; *húwm.txa → *hón.tja; *aÊ”.ráwk → *a.ráʊk.
5. Simplify coda clusters in unstressed syllables:
- C → Ø / [–stress] _ C $
In unstressed syllables, clusters of two consonants in final position simplify to leave only the latter, e.g. *ask.tʰÃln → *as.tÃɪn.
6. Partial reduction of word-initial *q, *qx:
- *q(x) → *x / # _ [+high]
Examples: *qis → *xis, *qxú.kʰu → *xú.ku.
7. Merger of remaining *q with *k:
Examples: *qə.rán → *gə.rán.
8. Vowel lowering before glottal stop:
- *iʔ → *e
- *uʔ → *o
- *əʔ → *a
- *aʔ → *a / [–stress] _
- *aÊ” → *aË
All of the original non-low vowels drop to the next lower tier while *a gets extra treatment: in unstressed syllables it just remains *a while it gets lengthened everywhere else. The glottal stop gets elided in all cases. Examples include:
- *sÃÊ”.stu → *sé.stu;
- *ti.súʔ → *di.só;
- *tʰu.qÉ™ÌÊ” → *du.ká;
- *wák.tʰaʔ → *wá.ga and
- *háʔ.ska → *háË.ska.
Note that the list above does not include ?*eÊ” and ?*oÊ”, since they do not occur. So far, we get our *e and *o from *iw and *aw, respectively (see section 4), which means that since *q only turns into *Ê” syllable-finally after vowels, and *w is considered a consonant for this purpose, *iwq and *awq stay *iwq and *awq until *q eventually merges with *k (see section 7).
9. Metathesis of *xs:
- *xs → *sx / _ [–alveolar] and !#
Except before alveolar consonants and word-finally (*t, *d, *n, *r, *s, *l), *xs switches around into *sx, e.g. in *Ãlx.san → *Ãls.xan → *Ãɪ.sjan (*rat.sÃxs → *ra.zÃËs).
10. Merger of initial *ts and *ks:
Examples of this simplification include: *tsa.káls → *sa.káɪs and *tʰÃx.ksÉ™ → *tʰÃË.sÉ™.
11. Reduction of *ts:
- *ts → *s / _ [–voiced]
- *ts → *z / [+voiced] _ [+voiced]
Before a voiceless consonant, *ts changes into *s; between voiced sounds in general (both voiced consonants and vowels), *ts turns into *z. Examples: *húlt.stu → *húɪs.tu; *rát.sra → *ráz.da, *kált.su → *káɪ.zu.
11. Metathesis of *ks:
Note that *ks doesn’t appear at the beginning of syllables anymore at this stage, as per section 10. Example: *rúqs.ra → *rúks.ra → *rúsk.da.
12. Reduction of *sx:
*sx is now further eroded to *sj (see section 9), exemplified by the previously quoted *Ãlx.san → *Ãls.xan → *Ãɪ.sjan.
13. Elision of *x:
As *x is dropped between a vowel and a consonant, it only leaves compensatory lengthening behind. Note that this is not supposed to lead to long diphthongs like ?*aÊŠË! Also, we now have created ourselves a bunch of long vowels. Example: *ruÊ”.tʰÃxk → *ro.tʰÃxk → *ro.tʰÃËk.
Furthermore, *x gets lost at the end of syllables – though without triggering lengthening – where the previous change hasn’t yet deleted it:
Example: *rux.tʰálx → *ruË.tʰálx → *ruË.tʰál.
14. Reduction of word-initial *kx:
Example: *kxÃ.kʰal → *xÃ.kal.
15. Simplification of two plosives in succession:
- [+plosive] → Ø / [+plosive] _
A plosive (*p, *t, *tʰ, *k, *kʰ) gets elided after another plosive. Example: *krÃt.qÉ™lq → *krÃt.qÉ™l → *krÃt.kÉ™l → *krÃ.tÉ™l → *krÃ.dÉ™l.
16. Reduction of *x after plosives:
The same thing as in section 12, except now with plosives as well. Example: *krÃ.txÉ™ → *krÃ.tjÉ™ → *krÃ.djÉ™.
17. *l vocalization:
After vowels, vocalize *l to *ɪ in syllable codas (except at the end of words if no consonant is present at the end), creating rising diphthongs, for example: *qál.sku → *kál.sku → *káɪ.sku.
18. *É™ raising:
- *ə → *ɨ / [+stress] _
In stressed syllables, raise *É™ to *ɨ. Example: *sa.kÉ™Ìs → *sa.kɨÌs.
19. Make *ŋx homorganic (and simplify *ŋkŋ):
Example: *saŋ.xáŋk → *saŋ.káŋk. Where we now get *ŋkŋ (or originally already had it), simplify further to *ŋk:
Example: *táŋk.ŋawm → *táŋk.ŋaʊm → *táŋ.kaʊm → *táŋ.gaʊm.
20. Generate *b from *w:
Example: *kʰám.wəʔ → *kʰám.wa → *kʰám.ba.
21. Dissimilation of *r … r:
- r → d / r … V _
- r → j / r … C _
If *r precedes in the previous syllable, turn *r into *d after a vowel and *j after a consonant. Examples: *srá.rat → *srá.dat; *trá.sra → *trá.sja.
22. Abolish phonemic aspiration in unstressed syllables:
- t → d / ([+sonorant]) [–stress] _ !#
- k → g / ([+sonorant]) [–stress] _ !#
- tʰ → t / [–stress] _
- kʰ → k / [–stress] _
Since the introduction of the voiced unaspirated plosives *b and *d, we’re stuck with a three-way distinction between [+voiced –aspirated] (*b, *d), [–voiced +aspirated] (*tʰ, *kʰ) and [–voiced –aspirated] (*p, *t, *k). We’re now gradually simplifying this into a [±voiced] distinction, starting with unstressed syllables.
Examples for this particular change are:
- *tʰáxt.xuln → … → *tʰáË.tjul → *tʰáË.djul;
- *tsÉ™Ìl.kaÊ” → … → *sɨÌɪ.ga;
- *tʰa.kwá → *tʰa.pá → *ta.pá and
- *kʰa.kʰÃt → *ka.kʰÃt → *ga.kʰÃt.
23a. Fix: Undo newly created plosive-plosive sequences:
- [+voiced]₠> Ø / [–voiced]₠_
- [–voiced]₠> Ø / [+voiced]₠_
Example: *rást.ras → *rást.das → *rás.tas.
23b. Fix: Another round of homorganic assimilation:
- [+nasal] > *m / _ [+bilabial +plosive]
- [+nasal] > *n / _ [+dental +plosive]
- [+nasal] > *Å‹ / _ [+velar +plosive]
See section 2.
23c. Fix: Delete instances of gemination:
Example: *rÃs.tsa → *rÃs.sa → *rÃ.sa.
Phonemic Inventory for Stage II
A whole lot has changed (and maybe too much for cramming this all into one stage), and especially *x was extremely unstable.
Consonants
MOA |
bilabial |
dental |
palatal |
velar |
glottal |
nasals |
*m |
*n |
|
*Å‹ |
|
plosives |
*p *b |
*t *d |
|
*k *g |
|
|
*tʰ |
|
*kʰ |
|
taps/flaps |
|
*r |
|
|
|
fricatives |
|
*s *z |
|
*x |
*h |
approximants |
*w |
*l |
*j |
|
|
Vowels
Height |
Front |
Central |
Back |
high |
*i |
*ɨ |
*u |
mid |
*e |
*É™ |
*o |
low |
|
*a |
|
These all can appear as rising diphthongs, however, in my list of 2000 generated and processed words, ?*eɪ and ?*oɪ did not appear, since there is no ?*ʔλ coda in the Proto Language. Additionally, however, there is *aʊ. For diphthongs we thus get this smaller chart:
Height |
Front |
Central |
Back |
high |
*iɪ |
*ɨɪ |
*uɪ |
mid |
|
*əɪ |
|
low |
|
*aɪ, *aʊ |
|
Similarly, there are long versions of all vowels, except for ?*eË, however this seems only due to my word generator not generating ‘Ciwx.Ca sequences by chance (*CÃwx.Ca → *Ce:.Ca), so ?*eË should be possible. The chart for long vowels looks like this, accordingly:
Height |
Front |
Central |
Back |
high |
*iË |
*É¨Ë |
*uË |
mid |
*eË |
*É™Ë |
*oË |
low |
|
*aË |
|