Phonological history of Valthungian

N.B.: This article uses a phonetic feature notation shorthand in which all described features are limited to three characters. Please refer to the legend here.

Changes from Proto-Germanic through East Germanic to Griutungi & Gothic to Old Valthungian (ca. 500ʙᴄ‒300ᴀᴅ)

(This section is incomplete; I'll circle back around to it at some point and try to pry out of my notes which rules are applicable to East Germanic. I will try to include rules that are referenced in later sections.)

Changes from Griutungi & Gothic to Old Valthungian (ca. 300ᴀᴅ‒950ᴀᴅ)

Spirantisation I

This is an expansion (or possibly merely a clarification) of the persistent inherited Spirantisation rule present in Proto-Germanic. The Proto-Germanic rule (“Spirantisation 0”) holds that voiced stops become spirantised when intervocalic. It is unclear whether spirantisation also occurred in the presence of other sonorants in Proto-Germanic, Gothic, or Griutungi. This rule cements the expansion to include liquids in the environment.

300ᴀᴅ: Voiced Stops become Continuant when Liquid-Adjacent
Type:	Phonetic
Rule:	C[-snt][+vox] → [+cnt] / V,L}___{V,L “A voiced stop becomes continuant after a vowel or liquid when followed by a vowel or liquid.”
Exhaustive:	b,d,g → β,ð,ɣ / V,r,l}___{V,r,l
Notes:	Already present in pre-Gothic and even Proto-Germanic (“Spirantisation 0”), but may not have included liquids in the environment. Allophonic at this stage.
Examples:	‘to have’ ‘terrible’ ‘bed’ ‘wonder’ ‘days’ ‘nice’ PGmc: *habjaną [ha{b/β}janã] *abrō [a{b/β}roː] *badją [ba{d/ð}ją] *seldō [sel{d/ð}oː] * dagōz [daɣoːz] *fagrō [ɸa{ɡ/ɣ}roː] Goth: habān [haβaːn] abra [a{b/β}ra] badi [baði] silda [sil{d/ð}a] dagōs [daɣoːs] fagra [ɸa{ɡ/ɣ}ra] Griut: *habān [haβaːn] *abra [a{b/β}ra] *badi [baði] *silda [sil{d/ð}a] *dagōs [daɣoːs] *fagra [ɸa{ɡ/ɣ}ra] Spir.I: *habān [haβaːn] *abra [aβra] *badi [baði] * silda [silða] *dagōs [daɣoːs] *fagra [ɸaɣra] OldVal: *habvaan [haβaːn] abvra [aβra] *badvi [baði] *slidva [sliða] dagyous [daɣoʊ̯s] fagyra [ɸaɣra] MidVal: havɴ [havn̩] avʀ [avr̩] baði [baði] sliða [sliðə] dagos [daɡos] fagʀ [faɡr̩] Valth: havna [havna] avra [avra] baðe [baðe̞] sliða [sliða] dagas [daɡas] fagra [faɡra]
Limit:	450ᴀᴅ
Persistence:	Expanded into Spirantisation II
Phonemic Inventory:	(unchanged) Consonants ⟨ p t k kw b d g gw hw f þ s z h m n l r j w ⟩ / p t k kw b d ɡ ɡw hw ɸ θ s z h m n l r j w / [ p~pʰ t~tʰ k~kʰ kw~kʷ b~β d~ð ɡ~ɣ ɡw~ɡʷ hw~hʷ~ʍ ɸ θ s z h~x m n~ŋ l r~ɾ j w ] Vowels ⟨ i e a o u ī ē ǣ ā ǭ ō ū iu ⟩ / i e a o u iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː iw / [ ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː ɪʊ̯ ]

Pre-Liquid Stop Insertion

This is a persistent phonological rule that operated optionally in the Gothic period, but became mandatory sometime before Old Valthungian metathesis, affecting all of the resulting /NL/ and /sr/ clusters. Later, in the Middle Valthungian period, stop insertion is able to cross morpheme boundaries, occurring after prefixes like in‑, an‑, or un‑. This remains a persistent rule in the phonotactics of the language to the present.

350ᴀᴅ: Stops Inserted before Liquids in Clusters
Type:	Phonemic
Rule:	∅ → b,d / N___L ∅ → t / s___r “A homorganic stop is inserted between a nasal consonant or /s/ and a following liquid (!s_l).”
Exhaustive:	ml → mbl mr → mbr nl → ndl nr → ndr sr → str
Notes:	Already present (optional) in Gothic (cf timrjan/timbrjan)
Examples:	‘to build’ ‘spring’ ‘north’ PGmc: *temrijaną [temrijanã] *wazrą [wazrã] *nurþą [nurθã] Goth: timrjan~timbrjan [tɪm(b)rjan] *wasr [wasr̩] naurþ [nɔrθ] Griut: *timbrjan [tɪmbrjan] *wasr [wasr̩] *norþ [nɔrθ] Meta: *timbrjan [tɪmbrjan] *wasr [wasr̩] *nroþ [nrɔθ] Stop Ins.: *timbrjan [tɪmbrjan] *wastr [wastr̩] *ndroþ [ndrɔθ] OldVal: *timbrjan [tɪmbrjan] vastr [wastr̩] nroþ¹ [ndrɔθ] MidVal: timbrjen [tɪmbrjən] wastʀ [wastr̩] droðþ [drɔθ] Valth: timbrin [timbrin] wastra [ʋastra] droþ [dro̞θ] ¹ It is assumed that this sound shift was completed immediately after metathesis, but Old Valthungian spelling conventions usually do not show it when word-initial (e.g. nroþ ‘north’, mrogins ‘morning’, nravgz ‘anxious’
Persistence:	persistent until Middle Valthungian Expansion.
Chronological Considerations:	Occurs optionally in Gothic. Must become mandatory before metathesis. Remains persistent until Middle Valthungian Expansion of Stop Insertion change allowing the rule to cross morpheme boundaries.
Phonemic Inventory:	(Unchanged, but phonotactics change; /NL/ and /sr/ clusters no longer allowed.) Consonants ⟨ p t k kw b d g gw hw f þ s z h m n l r j w ⟩ / p t k kw b d ɡ ɡw hw ɸ θ s z h m n l r j w / [ p~pʰ t~tʰ k~kʰ kw~kʷ b~β d~ð ɡ~ɣ ɡw~ɡʷ hw~hʷ~ʍ ɸ θ s z h~x m n~ŋ l r~ɾ j w ] Vowels ⟨ i e a o u ī ē ǣ ā ǭ ō ū iu ⟩ / i e a o u iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː iw / [ ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː ɪʊ̯ ]

Geminate Collapse I

This is an expansion of the earlier Germanic Geminate Simplification rule inherited from Proto-Germanic and persistent through the Gothic era.

400ᴀᴅ: Sonorant Degemination before C,#
Type:	Phonetic
Rule:	CC[+son] → C / ___{C,# “A geminate sonorant is degeminated before another consonant or when word-final.”
Notes:	Already occurred optionally in some instances in Gothic.
Examples:	‘I swam’ ‘to fill’ ‘you can’ ‘I could’ ‘to make known’ PGmc: *(ek) swamm [swamm] *fullijaną [ɸullijanã] *(þū) kannt [kannt] *(ek) kunnþǭ→ kunþǭ [ kʊnθõː] *kannijaną' [ kannijanã] Goth: swamm [swamm] fulljan [ɸulljan] kannt~kant [ kannt] kunþa [kʊnθa] kannjan [kannjan] Griut: *swamm [swamm] *fulljan [ɸulljan] *kannt [kannt] *kunþa [kʊnθa] *kannjan [kannjan] Gem.I: *swam [swam] *fuljan [ɸuljan] *kant [kant] *kunþa [kʊnθa] *kanjan [kanjan] OldVal: *svam [swam] feuljan [fʏljan] kant [kant] kunþa [kʊnθa] *keanjan [kɛnjan] MidVal: swam [swam] fyljen [fʏljən] kant [kant] kunþa [kʊnθa] kenjen [kɛnjən] Valth: suam [swam] fylin [fylin] kant [kant] kunþa [kunθa] kenin [kenin] Note the diachronic differences in the three examples on the right, which are all derived from the same verb.
Persistence:	None
Phonemic Inventory:	(unchanged) Consonants ⟨ p t k kw b d g gw hw f þ s z h m n l r j w ⟩ / p t k kw b d ɡ ɡw hw ɸ θ s z h m n l r j w / [ p~pʰ t~tʰ k~kʰ kw~kʷ b~β d~ð ɡ~ɣ ɡw~ɡʷ hw~hʷ~ʍ ɸ θ s z h~x m n~ŋ l r~ɾ j w ] Vowels ⟨ i e a o u ī ē ǣ ā ǭ ō ū iu ⟩ / i e a o u iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː iw / [ ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː ɪʊ̯ ]

→ This stage of the language is approximately what would have been spoken by the Ostrogoths who sacked Rome in 410ᴀᴅ.

Spirantisation II

This is the second expansion of the Germanic Spirantisatrion Rule inherited from Proto-Germanic. The rule is unchanged, but the environment expands to include a following nasal.

450ᴀᴅ: Voiced Stops become Continuant before Nasals
Type:	Phonetic
Rule:	C[-snt][+vox] → [+cnt] / V,L}___{V,L,N “A voiced stop becomes continuant after a vowel or liquid when followed by a vowel, a liquid, or a nasal.”
Exhaustive:	b,d,g → β,ð,ɣ / V,r,l}___{V,r,l,m,n
Notes:	Allophonic at this stage.
Examples:	‘voice’ ‘to become separated’ ‘tree’ PGmc: *stebnō [stebnoː] *gaskaidnaną [ɡaskaidnanã] *bagmaz [baɡmaz] Goth: stibna [stɪbna] gaskaidnan [ɡaskɛːdnan] bagms [baɡm̩s] Griut: *stibna [stɪbna] *gaskǣdnan [ɡaskɛːdnan] *bagms [baɡm̩s] Spir.II: *stibna [stɪβna] *gaskǣdnan [ɡaskɛːðnan] *bagms [baɣm̩s] OldVal: stibvna [stɪβna] *gaskaedvnan [ɡaskɛːðnan] bagyms [baɣm̩s] MidVal: stivna [stivnə] gaskêðnɴ [gəskɛːðnn̩] bagᴍs [baɡm̩s] Valth: stivna [stivna] gaskǣðnan [ɡaske̞ːðnan] bagᴍs [baɡmas]
Limit:	550ᴀᴅ
Persistence:	Expanded into Spirantisation III
Phonemic Inventory:	(unchanged) Consonants ⟨ p t k kw b d g gw hw f þ s z h m n l r j w ⟩ / p t k kw b d ɡ ɡw hw ɸ θ s z h m n l r j w / [ p~pʰ t~tʰ k~kʰ kw~kʷ b~β d~ð ɡ~ɣ ɡw~ɡʷ hw~hʷ~ʍ ɸ θ s z h~x m n~ŋ l r~ɾ j w ] Vowels ⟨ i e a o u ī ē ǣ ā ǭ ō ū iu ⟩ / i e a o u iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː iw / [ ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː ɪʊ̯ ]