Carrick/History

Common Brittonic

Carrick inherited the following consonant inventory from Common Brittonic:

Inherited Consonant Inventory of Common Brittonic
Bilabial Dental/
Alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p b t d k g
Fricative ɸ (β, μ) s (ð) x (ɣ) (h)
Nasal m n (ŋ)
Approximant w l j
Trill r

The process of lenition weakened intervocalic consonants, including those at the beginning and end of a word in continuous speech, creating a chain shift of voiceless stop > voiced stop > voiced fricative, plus m > μ (a voiced bilabial nasalised fricative), s > h and probably ɸ > Ø. Meanwhile, geminate stops and ss were shortened to fill the gap created by the lenited allophones (e.g. katus "battle" > kaduh but kattā > katā).

The Brittonic vowel inventory had already undergone changes, creating long monophthongs from old diphthongs. It consisted of five short and seven long vowels, plus triphthongs consisting of ijV:

Vowel Inventory of Common Brittonic 1C
Short Long
Front Back Front Back
Close i u
Close-Mid
(< ei)

(< oi)
Open-Mid ɛ ɔ ɛː
(< ai)
ɔː
(< ou, eu)
Open a
(< aː, au)

Proto-Carrick

Proto-Carrick, ranging from approximately the 3rd to the 8th centuries, underwent a series of significant changes:

  • Changes to unstressed word-final sounds:
    • short -a, -e, -o are lost, along with any preceding j, w (e.g. donjo- > don)
    • final -n is lost and a preceding vowel nasalised (e.g. kanton > kantõ)
  • Vowel changes:
    • unstressed short e > i (e.g. imbed > imbid)
    • short o > a, long aː > ɔː (e.g. don > dan, laːμaː > lɔːμɔː)
  • Short I-Mutation: a > æ, e > i, o > ø, u > y before i, iː, j in next syllable (e.g. dani > dæni).
  • Short word-final vowels are deleted in words of 3 syllables or more (e.g. riːɣænĩ > riːɣæn)
  • Vowel Changes:
    • final-syllable unstressed oː > uː, ɛː > eː (e.g. kadoː > kaduː, tundɛː > tundeː)
    • unstressed eː > iː
    • non-final ɛː > aː (e.g. kɛːd > kaːd)
  • x < earlier xs and in the combination xt becomes h
    • h < earlier x and s are lost, lengthening preceding vowel (e.g. oxtuː > ɔːtuː, swehr > sweːr)
  • Lenition 2 of intervocalic and final consonants:
    • also affects consonants adjacent to l, r (balg > balɣ, mark > marg)
    • previously lenited stops lenite again: b > β, d > ð, g > ɣ,
    • p, t, k from earlier pp, tt / xt, kk become b, d, g (ɔːtuː > ɔːduː)
    • s (from ss) > h (sanes > saneh, )
  • Final consonants are devoiced: (e.g. kaːð > kaːθ, balɣ > balx)
  • Full I-Mutation before i, iː or j in the next syllable:
    • Short vowels: a > æ, e > i, o > ø, u > y
    • Long vowels: aː > æː, eː > iː, ɔː > øː, oː > œː, uː > yː

Early Carrick

  • U-Mutation: a(ː) > ɔ(ː), e > ø, eː > œː, i(ː) > y(ː) before u(ː), w in next syllable (e.g. kaðu > kɔðu)
    • word-initial combinations of (C)wV are mutated (e.g. sweːr > sœːr, gwan- > gon-).
  • Stressed e(ː) becomes ja(ː) (e.g. geːhl > gjaːhl, menn > mjann)
  • Syncope:
    • unstressed short vowels in open syllables (including word-final) are lost (e.g. kɔðu > kɔθ)
    • unstressed æ, ø become e (e.g. salæn > salen)
    • unstressed long vowels are shortened (e.g. ɔːduː > ɔːdu)
  • mp, nt, nk > pp, tt, kk

Late Carrick

  • medial s > h before p, k, t (sisp > sihp)
  • long vowels break: aː > au, æː > ai, eː > je, øː > oy, ɔː > ou, oː > wo, œː> jo, iː > ei, y > ey, u > eu (e.g. ɔːdu > oudu).
  • ɣ merges with h (< s) (e.g. selɣ > selha
  • h is lost, with lengthening of preceding vowel:
    • before a consonant (e.g. sihp > siːp)
    • between a consonant and a vowel (e.g. selha > seːla)