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Atlantic/Older version: Difference between revisions
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Among mid vowels, the short ones were raised to /i u/ while the long ones remained /e o/, cf. <small>TERRA</small> > ''tira'' "land, earth, soil", <small>FOCVM</small> > ''fug'' "fire", <small>RATIŌNEM</small> > ''raçon'' "reason, cause", <small>TRĒS</small> > ''cet'' "three (m/f)". | Among mid vowels, the short ones were raised to /i u/ while the long ones remained /e o/, cf. <small>TERRA</small> > ''tira'' "land, earth, soil", <small>FOCVM</small> > ''fug'' "fire", <small>RATIŌNEM</small> > ''raçon'' "reason, cause", <small>TRĒS</small> > ''cet'' "three (m/f)". | ||
Long vowels /iː uː/ were diphthongized to /ai̯ au̯/ when in open syllables, while they shortened and merged into /i u/ in other cases: <small>LV̄NA</small> > ''rauna'' "moon", <small>VICĪNVM</small> > ''uiçain'' "neighbour; close", <small>MAURĪTĀNIAM</small> > ''Muridonea'' "Mauritania", <small>NV̄LLIFICĀRE</small> > ''nuiifigò'' "to cancel, revoke". Latin /au̯/ had probably merged with /uː/ before, and shifted back to /au̯/ for the same reason, cf. <small>AVRA</small> > *ūra > aura "gold" <small>(plurale tantum)</small>; evidence of the shift to /uː/ is given by words where it was unstressed, such as <small>AVGVSTVM</small> > *uuust > ''uust'' /wust/ "August".<br/>/ai̯ oi̯ eu̯/, meanwhile, all merged into */eː/, following the same development mentioned before (cf. <small>AEDICVLAM</small> > *ēdicula > ''eìguea'' /eˈiɡuja/ "house"; <small>EVCHARISTIAM</small> > *ēcaristia > *egarisça > ''egariça'' "Eucharist"; <small>POENAM</small> > ''pena'' "pain"). | Long vowels /iː uː/ were diphthongized to /ai̯ au̯/ when in open syllables, while they shortened and merged into /i u/ in other cases: <small>LV̄NA</small> > ''rauna'' "moon", <small>VICĪNVM</small> > ''uiçain'' "neighbour; close", <small>MAURĪTĀNIAM</small> > ''Muridonea'' "Mauritania", <small>NV̄LLIFICĀRE</small> > ''nuiifigò'' "to cancel, revoke". Latin /au̯/ had probably merged with /uː/ before, and shifted back to /au̯/ for the same reason, cf. <small>AVRA</small> > *ūra > aura "gold" <small>(plurale tantum)</small>; evidence of the shift to /uː/ is given by words where it was unstressed, such as <small>AVGVSTVM</small> > *uuust > ''uust'' /wust/ "August".<br/>Original /ai̯ oi̯ eu̯/, meanwhile, all merged into */eː/, following the same development mentioned before (cf. <small>AEDICVLAM</small> > *ēdicula > ''eìguea'' /eˈiɡuja/ "house"; <small>EVCHARISTIAM</small> > *ēcaristia > *egarisça > ''egariça'' "Eucharist"; <small>POENAM</small> > ''pena'' "pain"). | ||
Short word-final vowels except for /a/ were lost as in Gallo-Romance, but in some words short vowels, usually /i/ or /u/, were later added again in order to break clusters; typically it was inserted into a -Cr cluster (<small>CASTRVM</small> > *castr > ''càistur'' "city", cf. <small>CASTRA</small> > ''caistra'' "cities") but after a -NC cluster (<small>QVĪNQVE</small> > *quingui > *pimb > ''pimbi'' "five"). /-ts/ (> /s/ today in most dialects) and /s/ + stop clusters were not changed, cf. <small>LACTEM</small> > *nasti > ''nast'' "milk". First-person singular verbs typically added /a/ to avoid difficult clusters, as in *<small>ADOP(E)RŌ</small> > *dubr > ''dubra'' "I use". | Short word-final vowels except for /a/ were lost as in Gallo-Romance, but in some words short vowels, usually /i/ or /u/, were later added again in order to break clusters; typically it was inserted into a -Cr cluster (<small>CASTRVM</small> > *castr > ''càistur'' "city", cf. <small>CASTRA</small> > ''caistra'' "cities") but after a -NC cluster (<small>QVĪNQVE</small> > *quingui > *pimb > ''pimbi'' "five"). /-ts/ (> /s/ today in most dialects) and /s/ + stop clusters were not changed, cf. <small>LACTEM</small> > *nasti > ''nast'' "milk". First-person singular verbs typically added /a/ to avoid difficult clusters, as in *<small>ADOP(E)RŌ</small> > *dubr > ''dubra'' "I use". | ||