Phonological history of Valthungian

N.B.: This article uses a phonetic feature notation shorthand in which all described features are limited to three characters. Please refer to the legend here.

Changes from Griutungi & Gothic to Old Valthungian (ca. 300ᴀᴅ‒950ᴀᴅ)

Spirantisation I

This is an expansion (or possibly merely a clarification) of the persistent inherited Spirantisation rule present in Proto-Germanic. The Proto-Germanic rule (“Spirantisation 0”) holds that voiced stops become spirantised when intervocalic. It is unclear whether spirantisation also occurred in the presence of other sonorants in Proto-Germanic, Gothic, or Griutungi. This rule cements the expansion to include liquids in the environment.

300ᴀᴅ: Voiced Stops become Continuant when Liquid-Adjacent
Type:	Phonetic
Rule:	C[-snt][+vox] → [+cnt] / V,L}___{V,L “A voiced stop becomes continuant after a vowel or liquid when followed by a vowel or liquid.”
Exhaustive:	b,d,g → β,ð,ɣ / V,r,l}___{V,r,l
Notes:	Already present in pre-Gothic and even Proto-Germanic (“Spirantisation 0”), but may not have included liquids in the environment. Allophonic at this stage.
Examples:	‘to have’ ‘terrible’ ‘bed’ ‘wonder’ ‘days’ ‘nice’ PGmc: *habaną [haβanã] *abrō [a{b/β}roː] *badją [badją] *seldō [sel{d/ð}oː] * dagōz [daɣoːz] *fagrō [ɸa{ɡ/ɣ}roː] Goth: haban [haβan] abra [a{b/β}ra] badi [baði] silda [sil{d/ð}a] dagōs [daɣoːs] fagra [ɸa{ɡ/ɣ}ra] Griut: *haban [haβan] *abra [a{b/β}ra] *badi [baði] *silda [sil{d/ð}a] *dagōs [daɣoːs] *fagra [ɸa{ɡ/ɣ}ra] Spir.I: *haban [haβan] *abra [aβra] *badi [baði] * silda [silða] *dagōs [daɣoːs] *fagra [ɸaɣra] OldVal: *habvan [haβan] abvra [aβra] *badvi [baði] *slidva [sliða] dagyous [daɣoʊ̯s] fagyra [ɸaɣra] MidVal: havɴ [havn̩] avʀ [avr̩] baði [baði] sliða [sliðə] dagos [daɡos] fagʀ [faɡr̩] Valth: havna [havna] avra [avra] baðe [baðe̞] sliða [sliða] dagas [daɡas] fagra [faɡra]
Limit:	450ᴀᴅ
Persistence:	Expanded into Spirantisation II
Phonemic Inventory:	(unchanged) Consonants ⟨ p t k kw b d g gw hw f þ s z h m n l r j w ⟩ / p t k kw b d ɡ ɡw hw ɸ θ s z h m n l r j w / [ p~pʰ t~tʰ k~kʰ kw~kʷ b~β d~ð ɡ~ɣ ɡw~ɡʷ hw~hʷ~ʍ ɸ θ s z h~x m n~ŋ l r~ɾ j w ] Vowels ⟨ i e a o u ī ē ǣ ā ǭ ō ū iu ⟩ / i e a o u iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː iw / [ ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː ɪʊ̯ ]

Pre-Liquid Stop Insertion

This is a persistent phonological rule that operated optionally in the Gothic period, but became mandatory sometime before Old Valthungian metathesis, affecting all of the resulting /NL/ and /sr/ clusters. Later, in the Middle Valthungian period, stop insertion is able to cross morpheme boundaries, occurring after prefixes like in‑, an‑, or un‑. This remains a persistent rule in the phonotactics of the language to the present.

350ᴀᴅ: Stops Inserted before Liquids in Clusters
Type:	Phonemic
Rule:	∅ → b,d / N___L ∅ → t / s___r “A homorganic stop is inserted between a nasal consonant or /s/ and a following liquid (!s_l).”
Exhaustive:	ml → mbl mr → mbr nl → ndl nr → ndr sr → str
Notes:	Already present (optional) in Gothic (cf timrjan/timbrjan)
Examples:	‘to build’ ‘spring’ ‘north’ PGmc: *temrijaną [temrijanã] *wazrą [wazrã] *nurþą [nurθã] Goth: timrjan~timbrjan [tɪm(b)rjan] *wasr [wasr̩] naurþ [nɔrθ] Griut: *timbrjan [tɪmbrjan] *wasr [wasr̩] *norþ [nɔrθ] Meta: *timbrjan [tɪmbrjan] *wasr [wasr̩] *nroþ [nrɔθ] Stop Ins.: *timbrjan [tɪmbrjan] *wastr [wastr̩] *ndroþ [ndrɔθ] OldVal: *timbrjan [tɪmbrjan] vastr [wastr̩] nroþ¹ [ndrɔθ] MidVal: timbrjen [tɪmbrjən] wastʀ [wastr̩] droðþ [drɔθ] Valth: timbrin [timbrin] wastra [ʋastra] droþ [dro̞θ] ¹ It is assumed that this sound shift was completed immediately after metathesis, but Old Valthungian spelling conventions usually do not show it when word-initial (e.g. nroþ ‘north’, mrogins ‘morning’, nravgz ‘anxious’
Persistence:	persistent until Middle Valthungian Expansion.
Chronological Considerations:	Occurs optionally in Gothic. Must become mandatory before metathesis. Remains persistent until Middle Valthungian Expansion of Stop Insertion change allowing the rule to cross morpheme boundaries.
Phonemic Inventory:	(Unchanged, but phonotactics change; /NL/ and /sr/ clusters no longer allowed.) Consonants ⟨ p t k kw b d g gw hw f þ s z h m n l r j w ⟩ / p t k kw b d ɡ ɡw hw ɸ θ s z h m n l r j w / [ p~pʰ t~tʰ k~kʰ kw~kʷ b~β d~ð ɡ~ɣ ɡw~ɡʷ hw~hʷ~ʍ ɸ θ s z h~x m n~ŋ l r~ɾ j w ] Vowels ⟨ i e a o u ī ē ǣ ā ǭ ō ū iu ⟩ / i e a o u iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː iw / [ ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː ɪʊ̯ ]

Geminate Collapse I

This is an expansion of the earlier Germanic Geminate Simplification rule inherited from Proto-Germanic and persistent through the Gothic era.

400ᴀᴅ: Sonorant Degemination before C,#
Type:	Phonetic
Rule:	CC[+son] → C / ___{C,# “A geminate sonorant is degeminated before another consonant or when word-final.”
Notes:	Already occurred optionally in some instances in Gothic.
Examples:	‘I swam’ ‘to fill’ ‘you can’ ‘I could’ ‘to make known’ PGmc: *(ek) swamm [swamm] *fullijaną [ɸullijanã] *(þū) kannt [kannt] *(ek) kunnþǭ→ kunþǭ [ kʊnθõː] *kannijaną' [ kannijanã] Goth: swamm [swamm] fulljan [ɸulljan] kannt~kant [ kannt] kunþa [kʊnθa] kannjan [kannjan] Griut: *swamm [swamm] *fulljan [ɸulljan] *kannt [kannt] *kunþa [kʊnθa] *kannjan [kannjan] Gem.I: *swam [swam] *fuljan [ɸuljan] *kant [kant] *kunþa [kʊnθa] *kanjan [kanjan] OldVal: *svam [swam] feuljan [fʏljan] kant [kant] kunþa [kʊnθa] *keanjan [kɛnjan] MidVal: swam [swam] fyljen [fʏljən] kant [kant] kunþa [kʊnθa] kenjen [kɛnjən] Valth: suam [swam] fylin [fylin] kant [kant] kunþa [kunθa] kenin [kenin] Note the diachronic differences in the three examples on the right, which are all derived from the same verb.
Persistence:	None
Phonemic Inventory:	(unchanged) Consonants ⟨ p t k kw b d g gw hw f þ s z h m n l r j w ⟩ / p t k kw b d ɡ ɡw hw ɸ θ s z h m n l r j w / [ p~pʰ t~tʰ k~kʰ kw~kʷ b~β d~ð ɡ~ɣ ɡw~ɡʷ hw~hʷ~ʍ ɸ θ s z h~x m n~ŋ l r~ɾ j w ] Vowels ⟨ i e a o u ī ē ǣ ā ǭ ō ū iu ⟩ / i e a o u iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː iw / [ ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ iː eː ɛː ɑː ɔː oː uː ɪʊ̯ ]

→ This stage of the language is approximately what would have been spoken by the Ostrogoths who sacked Rome in 410ᴀᴅ.