User:Ceige/Tossaq

Tossaq (Toqyaq) is an Indo-European language with aggressive assimilatory sound changes.

Sound Changes

Pre-Proto-Tossaq

• Diphthongisation of e and o to ie and uo respectively
• Treatment of any vowel + h(1, 2, 3) as ʀǝ
• epenthetic vowels added before and after clusters, with:

• liquids L and R assimilating to the adjacent consonant's manner of articulation e.g. tr- -> ǝtr- -> ǝtt-
• nasals staying unassimilated.

Examples:

• tewt-eh2 -> tjewt-ʀǝ
• drukós -> ǝdduk-uos

Proto-Tossaq

• ie, uo, ʀǝ become ja, wa, ʀa respectively
• metathesis of any second liquid sound to the end of the word, e.g. tjewt- -> tjatw-
• general loss of word final vowels and inflectional endings

Examples

• tjewt-3a -> tjatw(-ʀa)
• ǝdduk-uos -> ǝdduk(-was)

Old-Tossaq

• consonants assimilate to the place of articulation of following liquids (or i/u):

• for plosives: Pw, Pj, Pʀ -> p, t, k (b, d, g, bh, dh, gh etc)
• for fricatives: Fw, Fj, Fʀ -> f, s, h
• for liquids: Lw, Lj, Lʀ -> w, y, ʀ
• for nasals: Nw, Nj, Nʀ -> m, n, ŋ

• front/back distinctions of vowels are lost, e.g. twa, tja, tʀa -> pa, ta, ka

• for open vowels: a
• for closed vowels: ɯ (ı, ǝ in writing)

Examples

• tjatw(-ʀa) -> tap(ʀa)
• ǝdduk(-was) -> ǝbbǝk(was)

Early-Middle Tossaq

• syllabe-final consonants colour the preceding vowel and merge together:

• labials add the ring diacritic, dentals add the trema, e.g. ǝbbǝk -> ǝ̊bbǝk
• in some dialects, velars add the macron, e.g. ǝ̊bbǝ̂k
• voiceless plosives become -q
• voiced plosives lengthen the preceding vowel
• fricatives become -h
• liquids still colour the final vowel, but leave no other direct trace
• nasals become -n
• in summary: -P, -V, -F, -L, -N -> -q, -:, -h, -ø, -n

Examples:

• tap(ʀa) -> tåq(ʀa)
• ǝbbǝk(was) -> ǝ̊ǝ̊bǝ̂q(wäh)

Late-Middle Tossaq

• Vowel colouring results in a new vowel system:

• å ä â a -> o, e, a, æ (where a and æ are often merged)
• ǝ̊ ǝ̈ ǝ̂ ǝ -> u, i, ů, ǝ (where u and ů are often merged, and i and ǝ are also often merged)

Examples:

• tåq(ʀa) -> toq(ʀa)
• ǝ̊ǝ̊bǝ̂q(wäh) -> uubůq(weh)

Early-Middle Tossaq

• Voiceless consonants preceded by -q become geminated
• In some dialects, long vowels before voiced consonants become -VN

• in other dialects, vowels followed by -q and a voiced consonant become long

• In some dialects, liquids preceded by both -q & -h become voiceless

• In other dialects, liquids and fricatives preceded by -q become plosives

• In some dialects, -qN- yields a geminate plosive, in others it just results in a prestopped consonant.
• Across most dialects, voiced ʀ becomes /l~r/

Examples:

• toq-yaq -> toqẙak (toççaq, toccaq)
• toq-fan -> toqfan (toffan, toppan)
• toq(ʀa) -> toq, toqʀ̊a
• uubůq(weh) -> unbůq, unbůqẘa

Modern Tossaq

• In some dialects, the following vowel mergers occur:

• u, ů
• i, ǝ
• a, æ

• In most dialects, ç -> sh, c -> ch

• In some dialects, hi, ʀ̊i and hu, ʀ̊u yield çi and fu, and these varying merge with other fricatives in behaviour here.

• -h is merged with -q in some dialects, and lengthens vowels in others
• In some dialects, -q disappears when it has nothing to interact with. Its assimilatory effects are still productive in those dialects.

• This sometimes leads to an accent system forming, with -Vq vowels becoming -v̀.
• This accent system then expands such that all closed syllables become low accents, and all open syllables become high accents.

• In some dialects, -qʀ- becomes -kk- ~ -qq-.

Examples:

P.Indo-European	Proto-Tossaq	Late-Middle Tossaq	Modern Tossaq	English
*tewtex-yekós	tyatwăʀă-yakwă	toq-yaq	tòcchà	national language
*tewtex-somos	tyatwăʀă-swamăs	toq-fan	tòppàn	union
*drukós	ǝddukwăs	uu-bůq	únbù	trough
*wiḱpotís	wǝkpwatyǝ̆s	wůq-peq	ùppè	village head
*déḱos, -es-	dyakyăsă	deq, deteh	dè, détèè	right, proper, honourable; honours
*nébhos, -es-	nyab̈yăsă	nee, nedeh	néé, nédèè	cloud; clouds