User:IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic/Diachronics

Sketch of systematic sound changes for Knench, alongside important grammatical events

PCanaanite to Ancient Knench

1. i u → e o
2. ā form
3. ā → ō → ū
4. ay aw → ē ō
5. Final ʔ and h deleted, yielding overlong vowels
6. z → Basque z; s š → Basque s

Ancient Knench to Middle Knench

1. Emphatics merge with voiced stops, yielding unaspirated stops; these stops are subject to allophonic voicing mutation
2. Consonant shifts
   1. Basque s → š
   2. ħ ś > sje-sound (ś)
   3. ʕ > Eevo L
   4. Initial š → h
3. Spirantization of aspirated stops; fricatives become subject to voicing mutation
4. Unstressed long vowels shorten, preserving vowel quality
5. Knench stress shift: Stress shifts to the propretonic if there is a propretonic
6. Maghrebi syncope
   1. pretonic /a/ and /e/ deleted
   2. unstressed long vowels shorten; unstressed overlongs shorten to unreduced
7. Pre-consonantal v ð ɣ lenite, causing loss of consonantal roots
   1. What else to help along?

Finite verbs are still common, hence tons of principal parts; also much Old Canaanite grammar is retained (like how Old Irish retains much of PIE morphology). This motivates replacement of finite verbs by infinitives and verbnouns in Modern Knench.

Middle Knench to Modern Knench

1. OSL
2. final ə drops
3. -əð → əɹ
4. Non-rhoticity, triggering crazy vowel shifts to formerly non-rhotic vowels; this is the "Knench GVS"