User:Nicolasstraccia/Minhastid

Introduction

This is a tribute to Minhast, by Chris Borillo: a Minhastid of sorts.

Phonology and Orthography

Phonemic Inventory

The following chart contains the consonants in the Minhast phonology. The Minhast Latinized alphabet is derived from the Americanist system and is used throughout this article. Where Americanist and IPA symbols diverge, the IPA version is indicated by the IPA syllable surrounded by two forward slashes.

Minhast Consonantal Inventory

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal	Laryngeal	Pharyngeal
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Plosive	p b	t d		k g
Fricative	f	s z	ʃ ʒ		χ	ʔ	h	ħ
Affricates			t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Approximants	w		j
Trill		r
Lateral Approximant		l

Minhast Vowel Inventory

	Front	Near- front	Central	Near- back	Back
Close	u ɪ ɛ a
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Vowel length in Minhast is distinctive. Devoiced vowels occur as allophones frequently, based on regular phonotactic rules:

Short	Long	Devoiced
a	ā	[ạ]
e	ē	[ẹ]
i	ī	[ị]
u	ū	[ụ]

Syllabic Structure and Phonemic Interactions

Minhast words are subject to complex morphophonemic changes resulting from interactions with other morphemes occurring in the word. The verb is particularly complex in the various sound changes that may occur as a result of noun incorporation as well as the aggluginative processes involved in conjugation or other inflectional processes. These phonemic changes can be broken down according to the following classifications:

• Assimilation
• Metathesis
• Syncope
• Epenthesis
• Voicing/Devoicing
• Aspiration

These complex morphophonemic interactions operate according to the general phonological principals outlined below:

1. No syllable can have a consonant cluster of more than two consonants. Syncope can be applied only if a biconsonantal cluster is formed, and the vowel is not a part of a heavy syllable (i.e. the vowel is long, or it occurs in a VCC sequence).
2. No Minhast word can have an initial consonant cluster. After any initial consonant cluster results from one or more of the possible morphophonemic alternations described below, an epenthetic is automatically appended to the head of the word to form the permissible iCC- pattern.
3. An epenthetic vowel is always inserted between two syllables if combining the syllables results in a triconsonantal cluster. The default epenthetic vowel is -i-, but the other 3 vowels may also be used, depending on multiple factors (e.g. vowel harmony, an underlying quiescent initial vowel as part of the attached morpheme, etc.)
4. Minhast has a strong tendency to form intermedial clusters, either or , providing that Rules #1-#3 are observed. If necessary, an epenthetic vowel may be added before or after the syllable to create these syllabic patterns, e.g. e.g. kanut-maris-kar- >> -kant-(u)-maris-kar
5. The tendency to form intermedial consonant clusters creates complex assimilation interactions that nevertheless are predictable and almost always regular. These interactions are illustrated in Table X below:

   Minhast Phonotactics Table

   Initial Consonant	Final Consonant
   	f	p	b	k	x	g	t	d	s	š	z	l	r	m	n	h	w	y
   f	ff	pp	pp	fk	fx	fk	ft	ft	fs	ff	fs	fl	fr	fm	fn	ff	fw	fy
   p	pfV, ppC	pp	pp	pk	fx	pk	pt	pt	ps	pʼš	ps	pl	pr	pm	pn	ħp	pw	pç
   b	pp	pp	bb	pk	xp	mg	pt	mb	ps	pʼš	ps	bl	br	mb	mb	ħp	bw	by
   k	kf	kp	kp	kk	kx	kk	kt	kt	ks	kʼš	ks	kl	kr	km	kn	ħk	kw	ky
   x	xf	xp	xp	kk	xx	gg	xt	xt	ss	šš	ss	xl	xr	xm	xn	xx	xw	xy
   g	kf	kp	gb	kk	kk	gg	kt	gd	ks	ħk	zg	lg	gr	gm	gn	ħk	gw	gy
   t	ft	pt	pt	kt	xt	kt	tt	tt	st	št	st	tt	rt	mt	nt	ħt	wt	šš
   d	ft	pt	bb	kt	xt	gd	tt	dd	st	ħt	zd	ld	rd	mb	nd	ħt	dw	dy
   s	sp	sp	sp	sk	xs	sk	st	st	ss	šš	ss	sl	ss	sm	sn	ħs	sw	šš
   š	šf	šp	šp	šk	šš	šk	št	št	ss	šš	ss	šl	šš	šm	šn	ħš	šw	šš
   z	sp	sp	zb	sk	ss	zg	st	zd	ss	šš	zz	zl	zz	zm	zn	ħs	zw	zy
   l	lf	pp	lb	lkV, kkC	xl	lg	tt	ld	ls	ɬɬ	zl	ll	rr	lm,mm	nn	ħl	lw	yy
   r	rf	rp	rb	rk	rx	rg	rt	rd, dd	rs, ss	rš, šš	zz	ll	rn, nn	rm, mm	nn	rħ, ħr	rw	ry
   m	mf	mp	mb	nk	xn	mg	mt	md	ns	šm	nz	ml	mr	mm	nn	mh	ww	my
   n	mf	mp	mb	nk	xn	mg, ng	nt	nd	ns, sn, ss	nš, šn, šš	nz	ll	rr	mm	nn	nh	nw	ny,yy
   h	ff	ħp	ħp	ħk	xx	ħk	ħt	ħt	ħs	ħš	ħs	ħl	ħr	ħm	ħn	ħħ	ħw	ħy

   
   

6. Vowels are classified according to a "weak-strong" gradient, where the "strong" vowels are more resistant to syncope than neighboring "weak(er)" vowels. All long vowels are by definition "strong", so the weak-strong gradient really applies to short vowels: Table X: Vowel Gradients In Order of Increasing Strength
7. The shape of a -CVCVC- syllable may contract either to a -CCVC- or -CVCC- pattern, depending on the strength gradients of the vowels with respect to one another. The -CaCaC- syllable pattern is the only one that does not contract. Syllables consisting of the same vowels may appear in either -CCVC- or -CVCC- patterns; the pattern they resolve to is influenced by interactions from surrounding syllables. These contractions are summarized in the following table:

   Initial Pattern	Final Contraction
   -CaCaC-	(no change)
   -CaCuC- -CaCeC- -CaCiC-	-CaCC-
   -CuCaC- -CeCaC- -CiCaC-	-CCaC-
   -CuCuC- -CuCeC- -CuCiC-	-CuCC-
   -CuCuC- CeCuC- -CiCuC-	-CCuC-
   -CeCeC- -CeCiC-	-CeCC-
   -CeCeC- -CiCeC-	-CCeC-
   -CiCiC-	-CCiC- -CiCC-

8. A verb root or an incorporated noun tends to lose one or more vowels to form at least one biconsonant cluster. The vowel that is lost depends on its strength gradient in relation to the noun of the neighboring syllable.
9. With the exception of pattern -CaCa-, when two adjoining syllables have vowels within the same gradient, vocalic syncope resolves to CVCC.
10. The pattern (C)VVCC always resolves to (C)VCC
11. Compared to nominal and verbal roots, inflectional morphemes (e.g. theme, aspect, tense, person, etc) are resistant to syncope because this may lead to the inflectional morpheme to be changed beyond recognition. For example,-šp-irak- he informed (him) (lit. "he caused him to know") does not resolve to -šip-rak-, even though this would prevent the impermissible CCV pattern from occurring. Instead, an epenthetic vowel is added before the causative affix to prevent this impermissible consonant cluster from occurring.
12. Although inflectional morphemes do not experience syncope, they still may experience phonological changes in the form of metathesis and devoicing.
13. Vowel devoicing occurs in C'VħC, C'VxC', C'VsC', or C'VC' syllables, where C' is any of the unvoiced consonants listed in Table X.
14. The initial consonant in syllables with devoiced vowels are strongly aspirated.
15. Liquids and nasals devoice in the word-final syllabic patterns CVC'l, CVC'r, CVC'm, and CVC'n, where C' is any of the unvoiced consonants listed in Table X.
16. Two consecutive syllables with the pattern CVħCVħ resolves to CVCCVħ, due to the difficulty of pronouncing the allophone in two consecutive closed syllables. Additionally, the vowel in the previous syllable may be devoiced if its adjacent consonants are voiceless, as in Example A, where the verb root vowel -a- which occurs the voiceless consonants -k- and -h- devoices to -ạ-. Note also the epenthetic vowel -i- appearing between the verb root and the 1st person incl. pl. affix ,-ħk- e.g.: nattiħkemkaraban >> *naħtiħkemaraban >> *naħt-hkem-ar-ab-an "We were (being) annoying" (lit.: annoying-we.and.you-[past]-[ imperf.]-[intrans]) nekạħtikemaraban >> *nekạħtịħkemaraban >> *nekạħt-ħkem-ar-ab-an "I was avoiding..."
17. Dissimilation occurs in CVC-patterns involving š-Vš, resolving to s-Vš. A prime example is the number "twenty", e.g.*šan-šentāz >> *san-šentāz > > saššentāz
18. Dissimilation occurs in CVC-patterns involving mVm, resolving to nVm.

Orthography

Minhast uses two writing systems. One of them is a variant of the Latin script, called "Ammerkast". This variant is an adaptation of the Americanist phonetic notation, with the exception of the grapheme <ħ>, which was adopted from IPA. Note the glottal stop <'> is usually not written unless there is a hiatus between two vowels.

Ammerkast Characters
a, ā, e, ē, i, ī, u, ū, ('), b,p,f, d, t, g, k,x n, m, l,r, z, s, š,h, ħ, w,y

Another system is an indigenous script adapted from the Tagalog and Ilocano versions of the Baybayin script, a native Philippine abugida:

The Baybayin

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The Minhast script is called Širkattarnaft, which literally means "that which is scratched across a surface".

The Širkattarnaft

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Although the Širkattarnaft is based on the Baybayin, several differences can be found between the two. Several Minhast innovations arose, partly from the influence of the materials used for writing, and the addition of characters from the older Minhast ideographic-logographic script. Comparisons and contrasts are enumerated as follows:

The relationship between the glottal stop in the Baybayin and that of the Širkattarnaft is recognizable. The Širkattarnaft glyph for <d> is actually an inverted form of the Baybayin glyph for <t>. Similarly, the Širkattarnaft glyph for <z> is descended from the Baybayin glyph <s>. Other discernable similarities can be found with the glyphs <l> and <m>. Some phonemes not found in the Tagalog or Ilocano languages were innovated, but these innovations came from a method of deriving additional glyphs from a base glyph from which certain classes of phonemes could be derived.

The Širkattarnaft was modified from the original Baybayin to map a base glyph and its variants to certain related phonemes (e.g. the base glyph <b> and its variants to the labial consonants). For example, the glyphs for the labials <b>, <p>, and <f> are based on the glyph <b>. Additions of dashes to the base glyph distinguish voiced, unvoiced, and fricatives. This explains why there is less variability in the Širkattarnaft script. The glyphs for the dentals /d/ and /t/ in the Baybayin are represented by two separate glyphs that have no resemblance to each other; in contrast the glyphs in the Širkattarnaft for these same phonemes differ from each other only by the addition of a dash to the base glyph <d> to derive the glyph <t> . As can be seen from the chart, the voiced consonant is assigned the base glyph, and dashes are added to this base glyph for unvoiced and fricatives for a given phonemic class (labials, dentals, aleveolars, etc). The Širkattarnaft is thus more economical.

Each glyph of the Širkattarnaft has a default underlying vowel /a/; all other vowels must be marked explicitly attached to the vowel signs (indicated in the lower right-hand corner; the box is simply a representation of where the base glyph would be located). Long vowels are represented by a vertical dash through the diamonds representing the short vowels <u> and <e>, and a horizontal one between the diamonds of the vowel <i>.

The Širkattarnaft, unlike the Baybayin, is written vertically, from right to left.

One striking difference between the two writing systems is the angularity of the Širkattarnaft vs. the Baybayin. The Širkattarnaft consists of straight lines and is very angular, whereas the Baybayin is wavy. This is because the Širkattarnaft was originally carved into wooden planks, as is still done today among the Salmon Speakers; writing on a hard writing surface is easier with straight lines than curvy shapes.

Another difference, as mentioned earlier, is the addition of glyphs from the older native script. This script was largely ideographic, but a few glyphs were determinatives used to indicate case or even verbal tense. Glyphs for common words, such as conjunctions, connectives, existential particles, and negators were added to the Širkattarnaft. Some of these glyphs are combinations of two glyphs, as in the glyph for hambin ("there is no X"), which is a combination of the negator hatāʔ and matti ("there is an X"). The characters for the case clitics =(a)ran (Dative), =ni (Benefactive), =yar (Ablative), =par (Instrumental), etc. can actually appear before a verb written in the Širkattarnaft, in which case these characters represent the Applicative affixes -dut-, -rak-, -raħk-, -ngar-, respectively.

The following graphic demonstrates how the Širkattarnaft letters map to the corresponding Baybayin letters from which they were derived:

Mapping of Širkattarnaft to Baybayin Characters

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