i'm assuming the tones are like in Feisen after the second creolization, Very Early Reber will have just 3 tones falling, rising, low rising much like the history of mandarin
Ø, t, s -> rising f, v, l -> low rising n, z, d, b -> falling (the northern invaders supposedly influenced the language)
that means a lot of homophony which means a lot of compounding yes
then the consonants retros should be preserved (or should they merge with alveolars or uvulars?) i might merge them with alveolopalatals so it's a kind of Rebero-Feisic
Middle Wieb doesn't have alveolopalatals they should merge
this is just the first stage with alveolars
voiceless nasals merge with aspirated stops, retroflexes with alveolars, perhaps something happens to clicks as well clicks simply soften! so ! !h g! -> ɧ h ɧ̬ i prefer voiceless nasals > unaspirated stops we need more of them
wine-whine merger, θ -> ɬ ð -> ɮ yes
now, the vowels! the monophthongs shouldn't be much of a problem the closing diphthongs are more problematic aiC, auC, ...
i:a ja -> ia > èC, òC
yes aiɐ auɐ oyɐ -> eɐ oɐ øɐ actually i:a ja je -> ia u:a wa wo -> ua ... yes
ai au oy -> e o ø before stops and nasals
the only click phoneme left is the nasal click so: m n ŋ! ŋ ɴ p t k q ʔ pʰ tʰ kʰ qʰ b d g ɢ f s ɧ ɬ x χ h (ʂ merges with ɧ) z ɧ̬ ɮ ɣ ʁ w l ʐ merges with ɧ̬ yes
vowels: ə: merges with ø: again not sure about the vowels
so: ɑ e i o u y æ ø + long + ei ou øy iə uə yə ea oa øa (i have to redo AW > MW vowel changes again) the voicing pairs aren't homophones yet
now there are 32 consonants in Very Early Reber there should be a merger in the set /ɧ x χ h/
to get from that to Early Reber, i'm thinking of these changes: ŋ ~ ɴ ɧ~χ
yes x~h?
no satemization?
yes! that works k q ʔ -> tʃ k q -> ʃ k q or ɕ k q ʔ > q: really?
yes to make it more distinct no thanks, i think i'll keep ʔ - or drop it
actually maybe middle wieb has ʡ i think i want to drop initial ʔ like mandarin or maybe not, if neck thai and terg both ahve initial ʔ
then, a breathy voice epidemic! p pʰ b f -> p pʰ bʰ f -> b p p f yes that doubles the number of tones to 6 maybe i'll just have tʃ tʃʰ ʃ or just tʃʰ > ʃ before the tone split tS tSh dZ S Z (after satemization) tS dZ S Z (after merger) tS tSh S (after tone split) or maybe not, they can make affricates just fine tS tSh dZ S Z (after satemization) tS tSh S (after tone split) tie languages and terg both have them Ø, t, s f, v, l n, z, d, b
yo, those tonal categories aren't valid for middle wiebian! they're partially allophonic so it's really tone blaoighnity when the split comes along
sounds good then the 6 should merge into 4
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Click | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | /m/ | /n/ | /ŋǃ/ | /ŋ/ | |||
| Plosive | plain | /p/ | /t/ | /!/ | /tʃ/ | /k/ | /ʔ/ |
| aspirated | /pʰ/ | /tʰ/ | /!ʰ/ | /tʃʰ/ | /kʰ/ | ||
| Fricative | /f/ | /s/ | /ʃ/ | /x/ | /h/ | ||
| Approximant | /w/ | /l/ | /j/ | ||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | /i/ | /iː/ | /ɨ/ | /ɨː/ | /u/ | /uː/ |
| Mid | /e/ | /eː/ | /ə/ | /əː/ | /o/ | /oː/ |
| Open | /a/ | /aː/ | ||||
Diphthongs: /ai au iə ɨə uə/