Proto-Antarctican: Difference between revisions

Sound Changes in Evolution to Antarctican
(Started section on sound changes)
(Sound Changes in Evolution to Antarctican)
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===Monophthongs====
===Monophthongs===
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{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
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===Japanese===
===Japanese===
Quite a lot of Proto-Antarctican vocabulary also comes from Japanese. In general, these words did not need to undergo many sound changes to be compatible with Proto-Antarctican phonology, since Japanese phonology is very restrictive. However, there were a few that need mentioning:
Quite a lot of Proto-Antarctican vocabulary also comes from Japanese. In general, these words did not need to undergo many sound changes to be compatible with Proto-Antarctican phonology, since Japanese phonology is very restrictive. However, there were a few that need mentioning:
*Japanese devoiced vowels were deleted.
*Japanese short /i/ and /u/ (but not /ju/) were deleted between non-geminated obstruents with similar voicing e.g. Japanese /youfuku/ - clothes -> P.A. /joːfku/., Japanese /zubon/ - pants -> P.A. /zbõ/
*Japanese short /i/ or /u/ (but not /ju/) were deleted at the end of a word, as long as they were not preceded by a consonant cluster e.g. Japanese /sakki/ - some time ago -> P.A. /sakːʲ/, Japanese /mazu/ - firstly -> P.A. /maz/.
*Japanese /ɯ/ became /u/.
*Japanese /ɯ/ became /u/.
*Japanese /ts/ became /s/ after a long vowel or diphthong e.g. Japanese /koutsu/ - traffic -> P.A. /koːsu/.
*Japanese /ts/ became /s/ after a long vowel or diphthong e.g. Japanese /koutsu/ - traffic -> P.A. /koːsu/.
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*Japanese /ao/ became /au/ (i.e. took part in a chain shift with /au/.
*Japanese /ao/ became /au/ (i.e. took part in a chain shift with /au/.
*Japanese /ae/ merged into /ai/.
*Japanese /ae/ merged into /ai/.
*Japanese word final /iru/, /eru/, /oru/ and /uru/ became /iu/, /eu/, /ou/ and /uː/ respectively e.g. Japanese /kanjiru/ - to feel -> P.A. /kãdʲiu/, Japanese /nagareru/ - to flow -> P.A. /nagaɫeu/, Japanese /shiboru/ - to squeeze -> P.A. /sʲbou/, Japanese /tsuru/ - to hang -> P.A. /tsuː/.
*If the preceding sound change would create a tripthong, it was broken up into two syllables by inserting a semivowel (/w/ if the first vowel was back, and /j/ otherwise) e.g. Japanese /kazoeru/ -> to count -> P.A. /kazoweu/, Japanese /naoru/ - to get better -> P.A. /najou/.




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The next step was for /ʔ/ and /ɦ/ to influence the pitch and phonation of the preceding vowels.
The next step was for /ʔ/ and /ɦ/ to influence the pitch and phonation of the preceding vowels.


====Breathy Phonation===
====Breathy Phonation====
*/ɦ/ put breathy voice on the vowel that preceded it, and lowered the pitch e.g.  
*/ɦ/ put breathy voice on the vowel that preceded it, and lowered the pitch e.g.  
/kaːɦ/ - membership card (the final /d/ had debuccalised to /ɦ/) -> /kàːɦ/
/kaːɦ/ - membership card (the final /d/ had debuccalised to /ɦ/) -> /kàːɦ/
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====Chain Shifts====
====Chain Shifts====


While Antarctican has a great deal more vowel phonemes than Proto-Antarctican, the first vowel shifts to occur actually took the language in the other direction, causing the loss of /o/. What happened depended on whether or not the vowel was preceded by /j/ or a palatalised consonant.
While Antarctican has a great deal more vowel phonemes than Proto-Antarctican, the first vowel shifts to occur actually took the language in the other direction, causing the loss of /o/. What happened depended on whether or not the vowel was preceded by /j/ or a palatalised consonant. These two sound changes below are the reason why vowels in Antarctican change if their preceding consonant changes from soft to hard or vice versa.




=====After /j/ or a Palatalised Consonant=====
=====After /j/ or a Palatalised Consonant=====


This chain shift began with the fronting of /a/ to /e/ after /j/ or a palatalised consonant e.g. /'máʎájáːʔ/ - manners -> /'máʎéjéːʔ/ (notice how the first /a/ was unaffected, since it was preceded by /m/).
In the same situation, /jo/ and /ʲa/ lowered to /jo/ and /ʲa/ respectively e.g. /'tʲókóɫéːʔ/ - chocolate -> /'tʲákóɫéːʔ/.


This chain shift began with the fronting of /a/ to /e/ after /j/ or a palatalised consonant e.g. /'máʎájáːʔ/ - manners -> /'máʎéjéːʔ/ (notice how the first /a/ was unaffected, since it was preceded by /m/).
Also, the vowel /iu/ became /uː/ (though the palatalisation of the preceding consonant was retained) e.g. /paxaʔcaçiːʎiu/ - tripe -> /paxáʔceçiːʎu#720;/ (notice how /ca/ changed to /ce/ as well).
In the same situation, /jo/ and /ʲa/ lowered to /jo/ and /ʲa/ respectively.




=====After a Non-Palatalised Consonant=====
=====After a Non-Palatalised Consonant=====


After this, a second, anti-clockwise chain shift began with the fronting of short /u/ to /i/ e.g. /tuwasuwai/ - jinx -> /tiwasiwai/  The diphthong /ui/ became long /iː/ e.g. /pmui/ - cold (weather) -> /pmiː/ (note that these never created any new homophones because previously /i/ had only occurred before /j/ or a palatalised cononant.). Short /o/ was then raised to /u/ e.g. /doko/ - where -> /duku/. Sometimes a word might be affected by more than one of these sound changes at once e.g. /sáʔtozuː/ - enemy -> /sáʔtuzii/.
After this, a second, anti-clockwise chain shift began with the fronting of short /u/ to /i/ e.g. /tuwasuwai/ - jinx -> /tiwasiwai/  The diphthong /ui/ became long /iː/ e.g. /pmui/ - cold (weather) -> /pmiː/ (note that these never created any new homophones because previously /i/ had only occurred before /j/ or a palatalised cononant.). Short /o/ was then raised to /u/ e.g. /doko/ - where -> /duku/.
 
Finally, /oi/ and /oːi/ shifted to /ui/ and /uːi/ respectively e.g. /kamoːi/ - thief -> /kamuːi/, or /ʔazoi/ - tasty -> /ʔazui/.
Finally, /oi/ and /oːi/ shifted to /ui/ and /uːi/ respectively e.g. /kamoːi/ - thief -> /kamuːi/, or /ʔazoi/ - tasty -> /ʔazui/.
====Vowel Splits====
The previous two chain shifts left the vowel system profoundly unbalanced, with two front vowels /e/ and /i/, two central vowels /a/ and /ə/ (the latter only long), but only one back vowel /u/. It was not long before this was corrected by another vowel shift, which also dramatically increased the number of vowel phonemes in Antarctican.
This split depended on the phonation of the syllable containing the vowel, and also in some cases the phonation of the following syllable. Tense voiced vowels were lowered and/or fronted (if they were high, they also diphthongised). Breathy voiced vowels were raised and/or backed. If both the vowel and the one in the syllable after it had modal voice, the first vowel was also shifted depending on the voicing of the intervening consonant. Voiced consonants lowered the vowel, voiceless ones raised and/or centred it. The glottal stop had no effect.
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
|-
! rowspan="2" | Original Vowel !! rowspan="2" | Tense Voiced Vowel !! rowspan="2" | Breathy Voiced Vowel !! colspan="3" | Modally Voiced Vowel
|-
! Following Syllable has Voiced Consonant Followed by Modally Voiced Vowel !! Following Syllable has Voiceless Consonant Followed by Modally Voiced Vowel !! Other Cases
|-
| '''i''' || ei || ɨ || i || ɨ || i
|-
| '''iː''' || ɘi || ɨi || iː || ɨː || iː
|-
| '''e(ː)''' || ɛ(ː) || ɘ(ː) || e(ː) || ɘ(ː) || e(ː)
|-
| '''e(ː)i''' || ɛ(ː)i || ɘ(ː)i || e(ː)i || ɘ(ː)i || e(ː)i
|-
| '''e(ː)u''' || ɛ(ː)u || ɘ(ː)u || e(ː)u || ɘ(ː)u || e(ː)u
|-
| '''a(ː)''' || a(ː) || ɜ(ː) || a(ː) || ɛ(ː) || a(ː)
|-
| '''a(ː)i''' || a(ː)i || ɜ(ː)i || a(ː)i || ɛ(ː)i || a(ː)i
|-
| '''a(ː)u''' || a(ː)u || ɜ(ː)u || a(ː)u || ɛ(ː)u || a(ː)u
|-
| '''u''' || ou || u || o || u || u
|-
| '''uː''' || eu || ɨu || ou || uː || uː
|-
| '''u(ː)i''' || o(ː)i || u(ː)i || o(ː)i || u(ː)i || u(ː)i
|-
| '''o(ː)u''' || ɔ(ː)u || o(ː)u || ɔ(ː)u || o(ː)u || o(ː)u
|-
| '''əː''' || ɜː || o || ɒ || ɔ || ɔ
|}
This is the original of the vowel mutations that happen in Antarctican when a vowel changes its phonation.
===Other Consonant Changes===
====Ejectives====
Clusters of glottal stop + obstruent became ejectives before a vowel with tense voice e.g. /'ʔkóuʔ/ - a little bit -> /kʼouʔ/.
====Laterals====
The velarised alveolar lateral /ɫ/ lost its laterality and became uvular /ʁ/. The palatal lateral /ʎ/ became alveolar /l/ (which still has /ʎ/ as an allophone before high vowels).
Antarctican also acquired lateral obstruents /tɬ/, /dɮ/, /ɬ/ from the palatalised alveolar consonants /tʲ/, /dʲ/ and /sʲ/ respectively. The voiced palatalised fricative /zʲ/ was lost, merging into /dɮ/ respectively.
====Loss of Voicing Contrasts====
After this, phonemic voicing was lost in most places in the language. The only consonants for which it was retained were either:
* Those between two instances of modal phonation (vowels or floating phonation), or:
* Those between two instances of breathy phonation (vowels or floating phonation).
=====Prestopped Nasals======
Except for these two cases, prestopped nasals became plain e.g. /ʔɛtetnɜɦluɴɦ/ - heart -> /ʔɛtenɜɦluɴɦ/
======Stops / Affricates=====
Stops and affricates usually became voiceless e.g. /dámá/ - victim of a scam -> /támá/.
The only exception were those preceded by breathy phonation, and followed by another kind of phonation, which became voiced e.g. /`mʲɨbõ/ - my pants, which underwent no change.
Stops and affricates between two instances of breathy phonation usually became voiceless e.g. /`mʲɨ`bɨ`lɨ`ɦ/ - my bridge -> /`mʲɨ`pɨ`lɨ`ɦ/
The exception was those clustered with /ɦ/, which became voiced e.g. /`mʲɨ`ɦbʲɨ`ɦ/.
=====Sibilants=====
/s/ and /z/ patterned with stops and affricates here e.g. /`zɜ`;mɨ`ɦ/ - (major wife) -> /`sɜ`mɨ`ɦ/
=====Spirant Lenition=====
However, in similar circumstances, non-sibilant fricatives (i.e. everything other than /s/ and /z/) became approximants e.g. /teiɬɛ'ːʔ/ - shirt -> /teilɛ'ːʔ/.
This sound change did not apply to ejective fricatives, which (apart from /sʼ/), became plain voiceless fricatives.
====Glottal Codas====
Finally, /ɦ/ was lost everywhere, and /ʔ/ was lost everywhere before a vowel.


[[Category:Languages]][[Category:Conlangs]][[Category:Proto-languages]][[Category:Antarctican]]
[[Category:Languages]][[Category:Conlangs]][[Category:Proto-languages]][[Category:Antarctican]]