Pulqer/History

• Analogical levelling of irregular forms or substitution by diminutives etc, e.g. auris > auricula > oricla.

Vulgar Latin Changes

The following changes were underway already in Vulgar Latin when it reached Jacques in 3rd century:

• Syncope of unstressed vowels adjacent to glides, e.g. solidus > soldus.
• Change of prevocalic /e, i/ > /j/, e.g. filia > filja.
• Merger of /b, w/ as allophonic /b ~ β/, e.g. bibere > bivere.
• Loss of h, e.g. hominem > ominem.
• Loss of final consonants, e.g. mūrum > mūru.
• Assimilation of ns > s with compensatory lengthening, e.g. mensa > mēsa > mẹsa
• Assimilation of rs > ss, e.g. ursus > ussu
• Loss of vowel quantity
• Palatalisation of all consonants before /j/, e.g. ratione > ratsone
• Palatalisation of c, g before i, e.g. cippus > tsippu

Old Pulqer Changes

A number of fundamental changes between Latin and Old Pulqer are believed to have happened almost immediately as a result of Kelt speakers learning Latin imperfectly.

• High mid vowels ẹ, ọ merge with high vowels i, u, e.g. mesa > misa, dracọ > trakhu
• Low-mid ǫ becomes:
  • u before v and merges, e.g. fovea > fuja
  • ą /ɑ/ elsewhere, e.g. rota > arątha, homine > ąmine
• Chain shift in which voiced plosives become unaspirated voiceless plosives and voiceless plosives become aspirated voiceless plosives, e.g. cadere > khatere
  • b > p > ph (word-initial v- also > p)
  • d > t > th
  • g > k > kh
  • gu > q(u) > qh(u) /kʷ/
• Affricate /d͡ʒ/ (from L. j, gi) becomes /t͡ʃ/.
• Voiced fricatives /z/ and /β/ (from intervocalic allophones of s, v, b) are devoiced to /s/ and /ɸ/, the latter merging with f, e.g. bibere > pifere, casa /kaːza/ > khaesa.
• Assimilation of consonant clusters, e.g. octō > attu
  • mn > nn
  • ct > tt
  • x /ks/ > ss
• Prothesis before word-initial r- or sC-, e.g. rẹge > arike, stella > astella

The following are later developments within OP.

• Stressed open vowels are lengthened, later diphthongised e.g. car'tate > kharthaethe
  • a > ae /ae > ɛː/
  • e > ei /ɛi/
  • i > ie /iə > iː/ (except before r, l)
  • ą > au /ɑə > ɑː/
  • u > ue /uə > uː/ (except before r, l)
• /au/ merges with /ɑː/ < L. o, e.g. auru > auru /ɑːru/; short ą merges with a.
• All other unstressed internal vowels are lost between stressed syllables, wherever possible, e.g. aumine > aunne
• Syllabic liquids ḷ, ṛ develop between other consonants, e.g. sacramentum > sakhṛmentu

Middle Pulqer Changes

• Geminate resonants (ll, rr, nn, mm) are preoccluded (> tl, tr, tn, pm, e.g. khapallu > khapatlu.
• Excrescent t is inserted between other resonants or between s + resonant, e.g. esre > estre,
• Final vowels are lost, e.g. mueru > muer
• vh merges with f
• f becomes h, e.g. filtś > hiltś
  • f is probably already lost before u, e.g. fulpr > ulpr
  • new medial h is quickly lost or moves to the front of the word, e.g. ifant > ihant > hiant)
  • mf (< earlier mvh < L. nqu, ngu) > mp, e.g. limf > limpf > limp
  • sf (< earlier svh < L. squ) > sp, e.g. svhaem > spaem
• Remaining geminate consonants simplified, e.g. khatth > khath
• r and l become unstable, the former usually preferred in pre-vocalic position and the latter in post-vocalic position, e.g. phlutś > phrutś.

Modern Pulqer Changes

• Loss of vowel quantity, e.g. autn > atn
  • ae > e
  • ei > i
  • ie > i
    • but > ia before r, l, e.g. miel > mial
  • au > a
  • ue > u
    • but > ua before r, l, e.g. muer > muar
• Aspirated stops merge with unaspirated (th, kh, ph > t, k, p), e.g. khath > kat.
• Development of epenthetic vowel y /ə/, e.g. kapatl > kapatyl
• (recent) Loss of unstressed final syllables in words of three or more syllables, e.g. kapatyl > kapat (except infinitives).