Bźatga/History
Outline History
Old Bźatga
The Latin alphabet was introduced to Veśŕa by Irish monks in about the 8th century and was quickly adapted to writing Old Bźatga.
| Short Vowels | Long Vowels | Diphthongs | Consonants | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | /a/ | á | /aː/ | ia | /ea > ia/ | p | /p/ | b | /b/ | u | /β/ |
| e | /ɛ/ | é | /eː/ | ie | /ie/ | t | /t/ | d | /d/ | z | /ð̠/ |
| i | /ɪ/ | í | /iː/ | ua | /oa > ua/ | c | /k/ | g | /g/ | i | /j/ |
| o | /ɔ/ | ó | /oː/ | uo | /uo/ | m | /m/ | n | /n/ | s | /s/ |
| u | /ʊ/ | ú | /uː/ | l | /l/ | r | /r/ | h | /h/ | ||
| áe | /ɛː/ | ||||||||||
| óe | /ɔː/ |
The loss of distinctive vowel quantity during the Old Bźatga period led to the following vowel system: a, e, é, i, o, ó, u, where é, ó represent /e, o/. Marked í, ú were often used to represent sequences of ii, uu, e.g. dúo "black", ríe "kings". Iotisation continued to be marked with i after the consonant, e.g. Bźatga was written Briatéga, ModBź. brańa "foul" was written brania (but in earlier texts also braina or brainia).
Nominal Inflection
| donia "man" | more "sea" | prédo "shape" | troues "foot" | aú "river" | aua "name" | teia "house" | adir | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nsg. | donia | more | prédo | troues | aú | aua | teia | adir |
| Asg. | troueda | auona | adera | |||||
| Gsg. | donie | auane | teía | adra | ||||
| Dsg. | doniu | trouede | auone | teieie | adre | |||
| Npl. | donii | mori | prédoue | trouede | auone | auana | teía | adre |
| Apl. | doniu | prédu | troueda | auona | adra | |||
| Gpl. | donia | moría | prédúa | |||||
| Dpl. | donioua | moreua | trouedua | auova | auaua | teíeua | adréva |
Phonological History
Proto-Celtic to Common Brittonic (to 1st Century AD)
- Short vowels remain in stressed syllables: a, e, i, o, u
- Long vowels and diphthongs in stressed syllables:
| Proto-Celtic | Common Brittonic |
|---|---|
| ā, au | aː |
| ai | ɛː |
| ei | eː |
| eu, ou | ɔː |
| ī | iː |
| oi | oː |
| ū | uː |
- Reduction of pretonic & final vowels
- short vowels lowered: o > ɔ (merges with a), i > e, u > o
- long vowels shortened
- Lenition of intervocalic stops, m & s
- voiceless stops p, t, k > voiced b, d, g
- voiced stops b, d, g > voiced fricatives v, ð (later z), ɣ
- m > ṽ
- s > h
- st > ss
Proto-Bźatga (1st to 8th Centuries)
Defined as the period after Bźatga split from Common Brittonic, before it was written.
- Compensatory Lengthening of vowels before nC
- a > ā; e > ɛː; i > eː; o > ɔː; u > oː
- Diphthonisation before CC or C + non-high vowel
- ɛː > ea > ia
- eː > ie
- ɔː > oa > ua
- oː > uo
- Vocalisation of ɣ
- Intervocalic ɣ > w after o(ː), ɔː, u(ː)
- Intervocalic ɣ > j after other vowels
- ɣC > jC (note ɣj already j)
- Cɣ > Cw, Cj depending on the quality of the preceding vowel
- Vocalisation of -h-
- medial -h- (from s) becomes j before front vowels (i, e etc), w before u and is lost before a, o.
- esa, eso > iːa, iːo
- ese, esi > ɛːje, ɛːji
- final -h- (from s) is lost
- medial -h- (from s) becomes j before front vowels (i, e etc), w before u and is lost before a, o.
- Merger of v, ṽ and w
- v (from PrC. b), ṽ (from PrC. m) and w (from PrC. w, g, h) merge into a single sound, probably the bilabial fricative β
- metathesis of Cβ as uC
- vocalisation of βC > uC
Old Bźatga (8th to 12th centuries)
Defined as the period from the first written records to the phonemicisation of iotisation.
- Metathesis of VrC > rVC
- new mr- > br-, nr- > dr-
- Loss of vowel quantity
- all long vowels become short, creating an 8 vowel system.
- aː, ɛː, ɔː merge with their short counterparts, a, ɛ, ɔ
- eː, oː create new short vowels e, o, merging with existing ɪ, ʊ as ê, ô (note ɪjV, uβV become ijV, uβV.
- iː, uː create new short vowels i, u
- the new vowel system:
| Front | Near- front | Central | Near- back | Back | ||
| Close | 
| |||||
| Near-close | ||||||
| Close-mid | ||||||
| Mid | ||||||
| Open-mid | ||||||
| Near-open | ||||||
| Open | ||||||
- Iotisation
- semi-vowel j merges with adjacent consonant
- tj, kj > ć; dj, gj > ģ; s > ś; z > ź; l > ĺ; n > ń; r > ŕ
- does not affect bilabials p, b, m
- βj remains word-initially but becomes j medially.
- note that iotisation continues to work as a productive sound change.
- Merger of semivowels
- sequences ij, ji, uβ, βu merge into a single vowel i or u
- iV > jV, causing iotisation to the preceding consonant
- oβi > oi
Middle Bźatga (12th to 16th centuries)
Defined as the period in which syncope phonemicised iotised consonants to the period of renewed contact with the outside world.
- Syncope
- intervocalic, internal vowels are lost except where this would cause an impossible consonant cluster.
- Palatalisation
- consonants preceding i are palatalised
- t, d > ts, dz
- n, l, r > ń, ĺ, ŕ
Modern Bźatga (16th century to Present)
Following the Middle Bźatga period, phonology has remained fairly stable but there has been a significant amount of analogical levelling in the inflectional paradigms, along with a considerable growth in borrowed words, particularly of a scientific and technological nature. The modern period also saw the replacement of the archaic, formal written language with a vernacular form and the creation of the modern spelling system.
Examples
| Brythonic | wesanteinos | brigantiːnos |
|---|---|---|
| Monopthongisation | wesanteːnos | brigantiːnos |
| Vowel reduction | wesanteːnəs | brigantiːnəs |
| Lenition | wehanteːnəs | briɣantiːnəs |
| Comp. Lengthening | wehaːteːnəs | briɣaːtiːnəs |
| Diphthonisation | wehaːtienəs | |
| Vocalisation of ɣ, h | wiːaːtienə | brijaːtiːnə |
| Merger of v, ṽ, w | βiːaːtienə | |
| Methathesis of r | ||
| Loss of vowel quantity | βiatienə | brijatinə |
| Merger of high vowels | ||
| Iotisation | βiaćenə | |
| Merger of semivowels | βjaćenə | bŕatinə |
| Syncope | βjaćnə | bŕatnə |
| Palatalisation | ||
| Bźatga | vjaćna | bźatna |
Vowels
| PC | Brythonic | + Length | General | Initial | -w, -lC, -bC | -jC | j- | w- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | a | a | a | a | au | aCʲ | ja | va |
| ā | ||||||||
| ā | ā | ā | ||||||
| au | ||||||||
| ai | ɛː | ia1 ɛː2 |
ʲa | ja | jau | eCʲ | je | vja |
| e | e | e | e | ve | ||||
| e | ||||||||
| ei | ē | ie1 ē2 |
ʲe | je | ʲeu | iCʲ | vje | |
| ê | eu | i | vê | |||||
| i | i | i | ||||||
| ī | i | i | ju | vi | ||||
| ī | ī | |||||||
| o | o | o | o | o | ou | oCʲ | jo | vo |
| ɔː | ||||||||
| eu | ɔː | ɔː | ||||||
| ou | ||||||||
| oi | ō | ō | ô | vo | uCʲ | jô | vô | |
| u | u | u | ||||||
| ū | u | u | u | ju | u | |||
| ū | ū | u |
- before a back vowel in next syllable
- before a front vowel in next syllable
Consonants
| PC | Initial | +j | +i | Medial | +j | +i | Geminate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p (kʷ) | p | pj | b | bj | p | ||
| t | t | ć | ŝ | d | ģ | ẑ | t |
| k | c | ć | g | ģ | c | ||
| b (gʷ) | b | bj | v | j | b | ||
| d | d | ģ | ẑ | z | ź | d | |
| g | g | ģ | j/v | j | g | ||
| m | m | mj | v | j | m | ||
| n | n | ń | ń | n | ń | ń | n |
| l | l | ĺ | ĺ | l | ĺ | ĺ | l |
| r | r | ź | ź | r | ź / ŕ | ź / ŕ | r |
| s | s | ś | ś | - | j | s | |
| j | j-, - | ||||||
| w | v, - | v | j |
Consonant Clusters
| Inital | Medial | |
|---|---|---|
| tl | ĺ | zl |
| tn | zn | |
| tr | tr | dr |
| tri, trj | ć | ģ |
| kl | ĺ | ĺ |
| kn | ń | ń |
| kr | cr | gr |
| ks | ś | |
| kt | ć | |
| dl | ĺ | zl |
| dm | zv | |
| dn | zn | |
| dr | dr | zr |
| gl | ĺ | ĺ |
| gn | ń | ń |
| gr | gr | ź |
| lp, lt, lk | up, ut, uc | |
| lb, ld, lg | v, l, v | |
| mp, nt, nk | ~p, ~t, ~k | |
| mb, nd, ng | ~b, ~d, ~g | |
| rp, rt, rk | rVp, rVt, rVk | |
| rb, rd, rg | rVv, rVz, rVv | |
| sɸ, sw | zv | v |
| st | śt | s |
| sti, stj | ść | ś |
| stl, str | sl, sr | sl, sr |
| sk | śc | śc |
| ski, skj | ść | ść |
| skl, skr | sl, sr | sl, sr |
| sm, sn | zn | _m, _n |
| smi, sni | źńi | |
| sl, sr | zl, zr | _l, _r |
| sli, sri | źĺi, źi |