Naeng/Classical

Phonology

Old Windermere had breathy voiced vowels ah eh ih oh uh üh /aʱ eʱ iʱ oʱ uʱ yʱ/ which became ä ea ie oa ua üe in Classical Winderemre.

Old Windermere also retained more vowel contrasts in preinitial syllables which was lost in Classical Windermere: it had both /ə/ and /ɪ/ as reduced vowels. This contrast is preserved in Pradiul as palatalization of the preceding consonant.

Morphology

Sandhi

Old Windermere had a complex sandhi system (somewhere between Biblical Hebrew and Sanskrit) which was no longer productive in Classical Windermere.

• th + fric -> fric + t
  • ths -> st, as in sehf (go) -> *thsehf -> stehf (to drive) (Modern binsteaf (energy), sămteaf (to energize))
  • thf -> ft, e.g. tăfi (laugh) -> *tithfi -> tifti (mock) (Classical and Modern Wdm. tăfi, tifti)

Grassmann's law was productive in Old Windermere. When there were two spirant consonants before a stressed vowel in a word, the first was despirantized. e.g. *chăfol > căfol

Derivation

Old Windermere had the following prefixes:

• th- (causative; denominal verbs)
• pi- (agentive; triggers voicing of voiceless stops p t c to b d g)
  • da (know) -> pida ('sage'; Classical păda, Modern pda)
  • tüth (to grasp) -> pidüth (meaning, intention)
• ha- (passive)

Old Windermere also used breathy voice ablaut to denote tools: snar (capture) -> snahr (trap, snare) which survives in Modern Windermere as snär.