User:Chrysophylax/Sketches

Avahil

Nouns

Obligatory social opinion-marking on high animate nouns.

1. Vr- where V is an echo vowel, e.g., avan → aravan ‘a liked man’

   liked, having a positive opinion of

2. Vm- where V is an echo vowel, e.g., vasan → ãvasan ‘a disliked baker’

   disliked, having a negative opinion of

3. Vth- where V is an echo vowel, e.g., ana → athana ‘a trusted woman’

   trusted, having trust in

4. Vl- where V is an echo vowel, e.g., agan → alagan ‘a distrusted ruler’

   distrusted, lacking trust in

5. V(h)- where V is an echo vowel and h is obligatory before front vowels, e.g., eyin → eheyin ‘a farmer’ but avan → avan ‘a man’

   having not yet formed an opinion of, neutral

Hypocoristics are formed by infixes.

1. -ri- e.g., avan → arivan ‘boy, child’, ana → arina ‘girl, young woman’

   a neutral diminutive

2. -th- e.g., caha ‘flower’ → catha ‘small blossom’, vasan → vathahan ‘cherished apprentice baker’

   an affectionate diminutive

3. -m- e.g., asan ‘hunter’ → ãhan ‘(mockingly) hunterling’, talagan ‘bear’ → talãhan ‘brash, aggressive, young person’

   a derisive, mocking diminutive

Uses a falling pitch accent to mark the possessum.

1. This accent is put on the ‘center’ syllable of a word, e.g., ereyin alàna ‘the beloved farmer's treacherous wife’, but arivan àna ‘the boy's mother’

Uses compounding to form adjective-noun and noun-noun words.

1. Word stems ending in a vowel reduplicate their consonant, e.g. eyi- + ana → eliyana¹ ‘farmwife’, unless the first word ends in the same vowel as the second one begins with; then they merge: tala ‘honey’ + agan → talagan ‘bear’
2. Word stems ending in a consonant undergo a radical change if clashing with another consonant.

   ag- + vasan → ahavasan ‘head baker’ [ɑːʋasan] or [ɑxaʋasan]

   avan- + sil → avahil ‘common speech’ [aʋaːil] or [aʋaxil]

Notes on sound changes

1. Regressive dissimilation strikes: the first y is here depalatalised to l, giving eliyana [ɛliʎana] instead of expected *eyiyana [ɛʎiʎana]

Syntax

Word order is VSO. Possessors precede possessa.

yašur ḇa aškilun

IPA: /ˈjaˌʃur p’əˈʾaʔʃkʰəˌlun/

Sketching out syntax

Yamin gal ḇ'aštaḏ yamraḏ ašarraḡin ḇakaduš waḏiš.

yamin	gal	ḇa-aštaḏ	ya-m-raḏ-ø	a-šarraḡ-in	ḇaka-du-š	waḏi-š
once	here	1sg.poss.encl-father	3sg-ven-gather-pfv	det.anim-queen-dat.anim	sheep-pl-acc.anim	all-acc.anim

"My father once came and gathered all sheep for the queen."

Yamin gal laḇal isakušu ḇ'aštaḏin aši kašu ini l'adur lašut.

yamin	gal	la-ḇal-ø	i-sakuš-u	ḇa-aštaḏ-in	aši	kašu	ini	la-adur	laš-ut
once	here	2sg-promise-pfv	det.inan-task-dat.inan	1sg.poss.encl-father-dat.anim	one	night	with	2sg.poss.encl-side	your

"You did once here for this task promise one night by your side to my father."

Gir šarraḡa parḇi, laš, lawkad ya ulamkad šamat.

gir	šarraḡ-a	parḇi	laš	la-w-kad-ø	ya	u-la-m-kad-ø	šamat
yet	queen-voc	illustrious	you	2sg-and-go-pfv	and	not-2sg-ven-go-pfv	again

"Yet, O illustrious queen, you left and did not again return."

Ini l'astu gani, šarraḡa parḇi, itaḇaḏa baḡduri ulnikutu ugtaḏin.

ini	la-astu	gani	šarraḡ-a	parḇi	i-taḇaḏa	baḡd-ur-i	u-l-nikut-u-ø	ugtaḏ-in
yet	2sg.poss.encl-laws	own	queen-voc	illustrious	det.inan-debts	pay-pass.fut.ptcp-adj	3pl.pass-pass-inherit.pass-3pl.pass-ipfv	son-dat.anim

"By your own laws, O illustrious queen, the debts that are to be paid are inherited to the son."

Phonology

Has three distinctive vowels: i /i/, u /u/,a /a/, which all reduce to ə in a 'weak' position¹.

Three consonant series: unaspirated b /p/, d /t/, g /k/, aspirated p /pʰ/, t /tʰ/, k /kʰ/, ejective ḇ /p’/, ḏ /t’/, ḡ /k’/ These series of stops have traditionally been termed the tenuis, the fortis, and the lenis series.

The language has regressive (leftward) pre-glottalization before the fortis and lenis stops, thus yataḏa /jəˈʔtʰaʔt’a/ 'he collects' but gaduš /katuʃ/ 'knife'

1. In the religious register yašur isali (“refined speech”) every vowel is pronounced as it were and does not reduce. Compare ašarraḡin (“to the queen”) pronounced /aˈʃaraʔˌk’in/ with regular /əˈʃarəʔˌk’in/

Proto-Celtic per Hispaniam

1. Monophthongisation (~Late Latin)

   *oi̯, ,*ou̯, *ei̯ > ū, ū, ī

   ūnos < *oinos, tūtā < *toutā, sūlīs < *sūleis

2. Loss of final *m

   *m > 0 / _#

   ɸatera < *ɸateram

3. Simplifcation of /ns/ to /s/

   *ns > s

   asis < *ansis

4. Loss of *g between vowels

   *g > 0 / V_V

   rīam < *rīgam

5. Short vowels change in quality

   • a, *e, *i, *o, *u > a, ɛ, e, ɔ, o

6. Long vowels shorten

   • ā, *ē, *ī, *ō, *ū > a, e, i, o, u

7. End result: 7-vowel inventory

   a ɛ e ɔ o i u

8. Monopththongisation (Romance)

   *oi̯ , *au̯, *ai̯ > e, ɔ, ɛ~e

   makʷe < *makʷoi, tɔsɔ < *tausom, kɛkɔ < *kaikom

9. Word-initial anaptyxis for /s/ + consonant

   *s > es / #_C

   estrɛna < *strīnām

10. Voicing of plosives between vowels

    *p, *t, *k > b, d, g / V_V

    kɛgɔ < *kaikom

11. Syncope of unstressed syllables near *r and *l

    sulbɔs < *sūlibos, ɸadra < *ɸateram

12. Debuccalisation of *ɸ

    *ɸ > h / #_ && V_V

    hadra < *ɸateram, nɛhuts < *neɸūts

1. Only allow *a, *e, *o as word-final (Proto-Western-Romance?)
2. Syncretism: Replacement of hadrɛbɔs by hadrɛbes in the dat. pl.

r-stem example

hader, hadrɔs (father)
Number	Singular		Plural
Nominative	hader		hadras
Genitive	hadrɔs		hadrɔ
Accusative	hadra		hadras
Dative	hadre		hadrɛbes
Ablative	hadre		hadrɛbes
Instrumental	hadre		hadrɛbes
Locative	hadre		hadrɛbes

NB. ”There also seems to be a marked tendency to confuse different forms even when they have not become homophonous (like in the generally more distinct plurals), which indicates the nominal deflexion was not only caused by phonetic mergers, but also by structural factors.[22] As a result of the untenability of the noun case system after these phonetic changes, vulgar Latin moved from being a markedly synthetic language to a more analytic language.” — Vulgar Latin

> hader, hadra | hadras, hadras