Mila
Introduction
Mila is the language spoken by the lula on the planet Kukca. The lula come originally from a technologically advanced planet. The planet Kukca had been terraformed many million years previously and was deemed ripe for colonisation. The colonists were sent under the pretext that they would be repairing the on-planet communication system (in the form of a pyramid), but were not told that they would subsequently become colonists, (it has been discovered that finding willing volunteers is a far from easy task and the home planet necessarily resorted to tricks to send colonists). The colonists had been genetically altered to thrive on the planet, based on readings sent from the communication towers.
Other planets which have been previously terraformed have become 'zoos' which may be occasionally visited (our own Earth is one such planet), holiday destinations or like this one colonies, and partly as an elaborate social experiment from the home planet to see how lula can cope. The colonists first arrived about 150 years previous to the language as described here is spoken. On colonisation the language was completely regular having been the constructed lingua franca of the home planet.
Goals
The original aim of Mila was not to create a whole language fitting into a constructed world, but rather a way to experiment with language change. I wanted to create a language with a simple phonological system and phonotactics which may be manipulated to explore how language can change and to test certain linguistic hypotheses, historical phonology being my main area of interest. I soon discovered though that it would be a good chance to improve my knowledge of other areas of linguistics and it has inevitably developed into a full language. I didn't want at an early stage to deal with loan words which is why I felt it necessary to have the language in complete isolation and a constructed world has thus also been created. With a constructed world and culture it brings with it all the problems of translations from Earth-based languages. How does one translate 'dog' for example? Mila does have a word for 'dog' but it should be understood as a dog-like creature, as opposed to an actual dog. As such the goals of the language have somewhat drifted, now focussing on a realistic setting for the language, though development of the language into separate daughter languages is also an ultimate goal.
Design
As mentioned the sound system is very simple consisting of 11 consonants and two (or three) vowels depending on the phonological analysis. Commonly found consonants have been chosen, with the possible exception of palatal stops. There is a high and a low vowel, the high one being allophonically predictable based on the following consonant, although there are irregularities in both the consonant and vowel systems because of loan-developments from separate dialects and phonological processes and shortenings. I've tried to push myself with the grammar to make it as un-European as I could, but it is after all a language and as such will have certain similarities to other languages, although these similarities were not a conscious decision.
History
The lula who first inhabited the planet were taught raised by scientists in isolation, a necessity as they had been genetically moderated to cope with the planets climate (which is much hotter than the home planet) and air (which is richer in oxygen than the home planet). The scientists, being from an international background, spoke the planet's lingua franca, which is itself a constructed language, based on many of the home planet's language families. The original Mila (meaning simply 'language') was therefore completely regular. In the 150 years since colonisation the original population of 56 has risen to a few thousand (they breed quickly) and the language is now the everyday mother-tongue of the speakers, a situation which has never occurred on the home planet, such that Mila on the home planet has changed little in years. As a mother-tongue, though, the language has undergone a number of changes and irregularities have crept in, most notably in the phonology, shortenings of pronouns and semantic shifts.
Phonology
The Mila phonological system consists of 11, 14 or 15 consonants and two or three vowels, depending on the analysis as shall be described below.
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p (b) | t (d) | c (ɟ) | k (ɡ) | |
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Fricative | s (z) | h | |||
| Trill | r | ||||
| Approximant | j | ||||
| Lateral (velarised) | ɫ |
Notes on the consonants:
Voiceless Plosives
/p/ This is a bilabial voiceless stop [p]. It is unaspirated with voicing occurring very shortly after its release. It may occur in onset and coda position. In coda position before a following consonant it is unreleased with the release occurring on the following onset consonant. Phrase finally it is usually unreleased but this varies by speaker. Examples: oωɾ /ʹpinda/ [ʹpindɐ] ‘many’; coo /ʹsupa/ [ʹsupɐ] ‘same’; ooɔ /ʹpupka/ [ʹpup˺ka] ‘sick’; υυó /luʹlap/ [ɫuʹɫap˺ ~ ɫuʹɫap] ‘I.3'.
/t/ This is an alveolar voiceless stop [t]. There is some speaker variation as to its exact production. Women generally produce this sound apically whereas men have a tendency to produce this laminally, [t̻]. When it is produced laminally is may be slightly affricated as [t̻s] in pre-stressed position though affrication does not occur elsewhere. It is unaspirated with voicing occurring very shortly after its release. It may occur in onset and coda position. In coda position before a following consonant it is unreleased with the release occurring on the following onset consonant. Phrase finally it is usually unreleased but this varies by speaker. Examples: ɾɾυ /ʹtidla/ [ʹtidɫɐ ~ ʹt̻idɫɐ ~ ʹt̻sidɫɐ] ‘coin’; oɾɾ /ʹpita/ [ʹpitɐ ~ ʹpit̻a] ‘to crave’; oɾɔ /ʹpitka/ [ʹpit˺kɐ ~ ʹpit̻˺kɐ] ‘already’; ɾ́ɾɾ /at/ [ɐt˺ ~ ɐt̻˺ ~ ɐt ~ ɐt̻] ‘it.present.1'.
/c/ This is generally described as a palatal voiceless stop [c] though there is allophonic variation as well as speaker variation. Allophonically this becomes [c̠] when followed by a non-front vowel, so when followed by /a/ or /u/. Many speakers also slightly affricate this sound to [cç ~ c̠ç̠] in pre-stress position. The pronunciation [ç] may also be heard in any position but is generally stigmatised. It is unaspirated with voicing occurring very shortly after its release. It may occur in onset and coda position. In coda position before a following consonant it is unreleased with the release occurring on the following onset consonant. Phrase finally it is usually unreleased but this varies by speaker. Examples: nɾʌ /ʹcidra/ [cidɾɐ ~ cçidɾɐ ~ çidɾɐ] ‘red’; nιo /ʹcuhpa/ [c̠uhpɐ ~ c̠çuhpɐ ~ çuhpa] ‘big’; ιnn /ʹhica/ [ʹhic̠ɐ] ‘late’; υnn:n /ʹlicic/ [ʹɫicic˺ ~ ɫicic ~ ʹɫiçiç] ‘baby-sub’; υnɾ /ʹlicta/ [ʹɫic˺tɐ ~ ʹɫic˺t̻ɐ] ‘arm’.
/k/ This is generally described as a velar voiceless stop [k] though there is allophonic variation. This sound becomes [k̟] allophonically before the front vowel /i/ and as such it forms a near merger with [c̠] mentioned above, though the two sounds occur in different environments and are recoverable if the following vowel is altered. It may occur in onset and coda position. In coda position before a following consonant it is unreleased with the release occurring on the following onset consonant. Phrase finally it is usually unreleased but this varies by speaker. Examples: ɔʌυ /ʹkila/ [ʹk̟iɫɐ] ‘abyss’; ɔυɔ /ʹkuga/ [ʹkugɐ] ‘wall’; ɔɔɔ /ʹkuka/ [kukɐ] ‘earth’; ɔɔɔ:ω /ʹkukin/ [ʹkuk̟in] ‘earth-adj’; ɔιɔ /kuʹhak/ [kuʹhak˺ ~ kuʹhak] ‘gold.3’.
Voiced Plosives
The voiced plosives are only marginally phonemic. In the earliest forms of Mila if a voiceless plosive and /s/ is preceded and followed by voiced sounds within the same word then the plosive will become voiced. As such voiced plosives were formerly only allophones of the voiceless plosives. Some language changes have occurred such that pronouns (and in one case a suffix) are shortened in common speech which has meant that voiced plosives now occur word initially in a limited number of words and [d] may occur word finally in words with the suffix :υɾ [-ud]. Also degemination has meant that former voiceless geminates are now simplex voiceless sounds which appear intervocalically, so in a position which previously triggered voicing. Their distribution is however very limited so can at best only be described as marginally phonemic. The Mila orthography does not have separate symbols for these sounds although the Romanisation does indicate them. Mila scholars therefore enjoy debating the status of these sounds, with purists denying their existence and looking at the phonology from a historic perspective, with progressives accepting them.
/b/ This is the voiced equivalent of /p/. It is a voiced bilabial stop [b]. It occurs marginally in initial position in unstressed shortened versions of some pronouns and is also possible in loan words which begin with a voiced bilabial. In this position voicing starts prior to the stop closure and manifests itself as prenasalisation. Its usual position is intervocalically or in a voiced environment and as such historically was an allophone of /p/ but degemination and shortenings have allowed for its phonemic status. It never occurs in word final position. Examples: ooó /ba/ [mbɐ] ‘it.absent.3’; υoʌ /ʹlubra/ [ʹɫubɾɐ] ‘enemy’; υυo /ʹluba/ [ʹɫubɐ] ‘I’.
/d/ This is a voiced alveolar stop [d]. It does not display the speaker variation present for /t/ so may not be produced laminally and it also therefore resists affrication. As it has historically evolved from an allophone of /t/ its environments are more restricted than the voiceless stops. It may occur initially in unstressed shortened versions of some pronouns and is also possible in loan word which begin with a voiced alveolar. In this position voicing starts prior to the stop closure and manifests itself as prenasalisation. Its usual position is intervocalically or in a voiced environment. It may also occur in coda position in the isolated ending :υɾ /-ud/ ‘doer’. In coda position it is usually unreleased but this varies by speaker. Examples: ɾɾɾ́ /da/ [ndɐ] ‘it.present.3’; υɾω /ʹlidna/ [ʹɫidnɐ] ‘group’; υʌɾ /ʹlida/ [ʹɫidɐ] ‘boy’; ɔυo:υɾ /ʹkubud/ [ʹkubud˺ ~ ʹkubud] ‘supporter’.
/ɟ/ This is generally a voiced palatal stop [ɟ] but it shows allophonic as well as speaker variation in much the same way as /c/. Allophonically this becomes [ɟ-] when followed by a non-front vowel, so when followed by /a/ or /u/. Many speakers also slightly affricate this sound to [ɟʝ ~ ɟ-ʝ] in pre-stress position. The pronunciation [ʝ] may also be heard in any position but is generally stigmatised. It may occur initially in unstressed shortened versions of some pronouns and is also possible in loan word which begin with a voiced palatal. In this position voicing starts prior to the stop closure and manifests itself as prenasalisation. Its usual position is intervocalically or in a voiced environment and as such historically was an allophone of /c/ but degemination and shortenings have allowed for its phonemic status. It never occurs in word-final position. Examples: nnń /ɟa/ [ɲɟ-ɐ] ‘it.visible.3’; υωn:ω /ʹlinɟin/ [ʹlinɟin] ‘south-adj’; ιnυ /hiɟla/ [hiɟlɐ] ‘empty’; ɔʌn /ʹkiɟa/ [ʹk̟iɟ-ɐ] ‘anvil’; ɔʌv:ω /ʹkiɟin/ [ʹkiɟin] ‘anvil-adj’.
/ɡ/ This is a voiced velar stop [ɡ] which has allophonic variation in much the same way as /k/. This sound becomes [ɡ+] allophonically before the front vowel /i/ and as such it forms a near merger with [ɟ-] mentioned above, though the two sounds occur in different environments and are recoverable if the following vowel is altered. It does not occur in initial position. Its usual position is intervocalically or in a voiced environment and as such historically was an allophone of /k/ but degemination has allowed for its phonemic status. It never occurs in word final position. Examples: vɔɷ /ʹjugma/ [ʹjugmɐ] ‘beech’; ɔυɔ /ʹkuga/ [ʹkugɐ] ‘wall’; ɔυɔ:ω /ʹkugin/ [ʹkug+in] ‘wall-adj’.
Nasals
/m/ This is the voiced bilabial nasal [m]. It becomes slightly devoiced when preceded or followed by /h/, but it is not fully devoiced. It may occur in both onset and coda position. Examples: ɷɷɷ /ʹmuma/ [ʹmumɐ] ‘mouth’; vɷι /ʹjumha/ [ʹjumhɐ ~ ʹjum̥hɐ] ‘bread’; vιɷ́ /juʹham/ [juʹham] ‘egg.3’.
/n/ This is the voiced alveolar nasal [n]. It becomes slightly devoiced when preceded or followed by /h/, but it is not fully devoiced. It may occur in both onset and coda position. In the standard language, unlike in many other languages, it does not assimilate for place of articulation when followed by non-alveolar consonants. Examples: ωωω /ʹnina/ [ʹninɐ] ‘smell’; ɔιω /ʹkuhna/ [ʹkuhnɐ ~ ʹkuhn̥ɐ] ‘to jump’; ɷωo /ʹminba/ [ʹminbɐ] ‘tale’; ɷɾώ /miʹdan/ [miʹdan] ‘tongue.3’.
Fricatives
/s/ This is the voiceless alveolar fricative [s]. There is some speaker variation as to its exact production. Women generally produce this sound apically with some retraction [s̺] whereas men generally produce this laminally, [s]. It may occur in onset or coda position. Examples: ccc /ʹsisa/ [ʹsisɐ ~ s̺is̺a] ‘liquid’; ɷcn /ʹmisca/ [ʹmisc̠a ~ ʹmis̺ca] ‘spit’; ɔoυ:c /ʹkublis/ [ʹkubɫis ~ ʹkubɫis̺] ‘again’.
/h/ This is the voiceless glottal fricative [h]. It remains voiceless in all positions, including intervocalically. It may occur in onset and coda position. Examples: ιιι /ʹhuha/ [ʹhuhɐ] ‘air’; vɷί /juʹmah/ [juʹmah] ‘bread.3’.
/z/ This is the voiced alveolar fricative [z]. There is some speaker variation as to its exact production. Women generally produce this sound apically with some retraction [z̺] whereas men generally produce this laminally, [z]. It may only occur in voiced positions, so intervocalically and between a vowel and a voiced sound and as such may usually be treated as an allophone of /s/, but degemination and loss of coda /r/ and /l/ followed by /s/, which is allophonically [z], have altered its status slightly, though it is less phonemic than the voiced stops as it has not resulted from pronoun shortenings. It does not occur in final position. It is shown in Romanisations as 'z'. Example: ɔcʌ /ʹkizra/ [k̟izɾɐ ~ k̟iz̺ɾɐ] ‘cliff’.
Liquids and Approximants
/r/ This is a voiced alveolar trill [r]. In initial pre-stressed position and intervocalically it usually has at least two taps in all other positions it is more commonly a voiced flap [ɾ]. In the environment of an adjacent /h/ it will be slightly devoiced, though not fully so. Examples: ʌʌʌ /ʹrira/ [ʹrirɐ] ‘noise’; oʌ́ω /ʹparna/ [ʹpaɾnɐ] ‘bad.2’; υιʌ /ʹluhra/ [ʹɫuhɾɐ ~ ɫuhɾ̥ɐ] ‘father’; υιʌ́ /luʹhar/ [ɫuʹhaɾ] ‘father.3’.
This trilled sound is notoriously difficult for many lula to produce and often becomes other sounds, which would usually be classed as speech defects. One very common ‘speech defect’ is to produce this sound as a ‘whistled s’, i.e. an apical retracted [s] which sounds a little like a kettle boiling. Another common pronunciation is to produce the trill as an apical voiced fricative [z̺]. The flapped [ɾ] allophone does not undergo these changes.
/l/ This is a voiced velarised alveolar lateral [ɫ]. It may appear in both onset and coda positions. In the environment of an adjacent /h/ it will be slightly devoiced, though not fully so. Examples: υυυ /ʹlula/ [ʹɫuɫɐ] ‘person’; υύι /ʹlalha/ [ʹɫaɫhɐ ~ ɫaɫ̥hɐ] ‘alone.2’; υɔύ /luʹgal/ [ɫuʹgaɫ] ‘house.3’.
/j/ This is a voiced palatal approximant [j]. In coda position it is produced with slightly more friction [j ̝]. It may appear in both onset and coda positions. In the environment of an adjacent /h/ it will be slightly devoiced, though not fully so. Examples: vvv /ʹjija/ [ʹjijɐ] ‘animal’; v́ιɷ /ʹajhum/ [ʹaj ̝hum ~ ʹaj̊ ̝hum] ‘egg.1’; ɔιv /ʹkuhja/ [ʹkuhjɐ ~ ʹkuhj̊ɐ] ‘leg’; υɔυ:v /lugʹlij/ [ɫugʹɫij ̝] ‘house-lat’.
Vowels
The language can be either analysed as having two phonemic vowels, one high and one low, or three, where the high vowel is split into two separate phonemes. The vowels are predictable based on the consonant which follows, with [i] appearing before coronals, and [u] appearing before non-coronals, and [ɐ] being produced if there is no following consonant. These three realisations may be considered as a single vowel, /V/, although we shall see that the status of [ɐ] is usually considered separately to the other two. There is also a 'phonemic' low vowel /a/ which occurs as a grammatical marker in the object forms of sentences which shows agreement with the subject. The phonemic status of this vowel is also open to debate. In the Romanisation of the language the three vowels 'i', 'u' and 'a' are given, with [ɐ] being shown as 'a'. Note that [ɐ] only occurs in unstressed position and [a] only in stressed position, but because of the proximity they are often considered as a stressed and unstressed allophonic pair.
Taking this analysis, the three vowels are described below.
/i/ This is a high front unrounded vowel [i]. It is consistently high and front in both stressed and unstressed positions. Examples: ɔɾɔ /ʹkiga/ [ʹk̟igɐ] ‘axe’; ɔɾɔ:ω /ʹkigin/ [ʹk̟ig+in] ‘axe-adj’.
/u/ This is a high back (slightly) rounded vowel [u]. It is consistently high and back in both stressed and unstressed positions, though it may variably be produced with less rounding tending towards [ɯ] before non-labial consonants. Examples: ɔυɔ /ʹkuga/ [ʹkugɐ (~ ʹkɯgɐ)] ‘wall’; ɔυɔ:ɷ /ʹkugum/ [ʹkugum (~ ʹkɯgum)] ‘wall-ben’.
/a/ In stressed position this is a low mid vowel [a]. In unstressed position this is more centralised to [ɐ]. Example: oίn /ʹpahca/ [ʹpahc̠ɐ] ‘happy.2’.
In linguistic discussions the phonemic status of the vowels is much discussed, especially the status of [ɐ]. In a 'neutral' word, or the root pronunciation of the word a following coronal consonant will mean that a vowel is produced as [i]. (Note here that /l/ does not behave like the other coronals and so its velar gesture is considered of greater importance than its coronal gesture.) If a following consonant is non-coronal then it is produced as [u], with slight or no rounding. If however no following consonant is present we have the production of [ɐ]. In an analysis such as this [i], [u] and [ɐ] are treated together. [a] is only ever produced as a marker of person on the object to show agreement with the subject. As every sentence necessarily has agreement with the subject, this vowel is present frequent, but it serves a grammatical role as opposed to a phonemic one. If it is considered non-phonemic, then the phonology can best be described as having just one vowel.
Historical changes have meant that the vowels have become phonemic. A word such as ɔʌι 'work' with the root consonants K-R-H is pronounced [ʹkihɐ]. The vowel [i] is pronounced because of the following /r/ which has disappeared because it is in coda position. This has therefore led to [i] being followed by the non-coronal [h]. This could on different levels be analysed as /kVrhV/ from a purist perspective. Phonological processes would analyse the first /V/ as [i] and the second /V/ as [ɐ] whilst the /r/ would disappear in coda position. Such an analysis is preferred by many as it best demonstrated the underlying consonants, such that the related word ɔʌ́ι [ʹkaɾha] may be analysed as /karhV/. There are however certain isolated irregularities in the production of the vowels, such that the word onυ may be pronounced as expected [piɟlɐ] and here it means 'book', however it has the irregular pronunciation [puɟlɐ] meaning 'ghost'. Because of such changes, it may now be considered phonemic. In such a case [a] and [ɐ] are usually considered allophones of the same vowel.
Prosody
Stress
Stress is usually placed on the first syllable of the root of a word. Exceptions include where a grammatical /a/ is inserted. This will always take the stress. It usually occurs in the first syllable of the root anyway, but in agreement with the third person it will occur on the second syllable of the root. Suffixes generally do not affect stress placement, though the lative suffix :v /-ij ~ -ja/ used inflectionally will always be stressed, and the negative suffix :ɔ /-uk ~ -ka ~ -ga/ may be stressed if the negative itself is stressed.
Intonation
Main sentence stress falls on the part of the sentence where agreement with the subject falls. This however is not the case if this word is a pronoun (which in non-formal speech are shortened). If there is a pronoun then the stress will fall on the verb, and if there is no verb, then the stress will fall on the subject. There is a rise in intonation before the main sentence stress and then the intonation falls from this main stress. There is no difference between statements and questions.
Phonotactics
The phonotactics of a word are very simple. Mila syllables may be of the form (C)V(C). Syllabification starts from the root of a word and base forms will be CVC.CV. If the grammatical /a/ is added then this will be factored into the syllabification such that we have aC.CVC, CaC.CV, CV.CaC. Prefixes are always of the form VC. If this appears directly before a consonant in a root then we have the form VC.CVC.CV, for example. If this is before the vowel /a/ or another suffix then the consonant will resyllabify as the onset of the following syllable, giving for example V.CaC.CVC. Suffixes are treated as a continuation of the syllabification process in forming the root. When two consonants are across a syllable boundary they will assimilate for voicing, such that a voiceless obstruent may not appear next to a voiced consonant (with the exception of /h/). Otherwise any combination of two consonants is possible.
Orthography
The Mila orthography is an abjad system where each symbol represents a consonant. The symbols (given in <> brackets) are given here in the alphabetical order: c /s (~ z)/, ɔ /k (~ g)/, υ /l/, v /j/, ɾ /t (~ d)/, n /c (~ ɟ)/, o /p (~ b)/, ɷ /m/, ω /n/, ʌ /r/, ι /h/. Insertion of grammatical /a/ is indicated by placing an acute accent above the consonant it precedes. Prefixes and affixes are separated from the root and from other affixes with the punctuation mark :. The orthography represents more closely an earlier stage in the language's history, such that the word for 'work' mentioned above has the root form and spelling ɔʌι giving the consonants K-R-H. This will be syllabified as KVRHV. The first vowel will be [i] because of the following coronal sound /r/, whereas the final vowel will be /a/. as there is no following consonant. The /r/ has however disappeared in the history of the language when it follows /i/ in coda position and we are left with the pronunciation [ʹkihɐ]. Phonological processes which have occurred which the orthography does not show include the elision of coda /r/ following /i/ (as mentioned above) and coda /l/ following /u/. Voicing of voiceless obstruents is not shown and former geminates are still shown orthographically as geminates, although they have degeminated in spoken Mila.