Proto-Rathmosian: Difference between revisions
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==Consonants== | ==Consonants== | ||
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;" | {| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;" | ||
|+ '''Consonant Inventory''' | |||
! style="width: 68px; "| | ! style="width: 68px; "| | ||
! colspan="2;" |Bilabial | ! colspan="2;" |Bilabial | ||
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Consonants are generally single. The only consonant combinations permitted within a morpheme (either a root or an affix) are consonant + liquid (/l/ or /r/) at the start of a syllable and semivowel (/j/ or /w/) + consonant at the end of a syllable. Other combinations and geminate consonants may occur across syllable boundaries as a result of affixation and compounding. | |||
The following processes of assimilation occur when certain sounds come into contact across syllables: | |||
* voiced plosives /b, d, g/ are devoiced before voiceless plosives or fricatives /p, t, k, ɸ, s, x/. | |||
* voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ are voiced before voiced plosives and nasals /b, d, g, n, m/. | |||
* /t/ and /d/ assimilate to any following plosive or /n/ | |||
* /n/ assimilate to a following liquid /l, r/. | |||
==Vowels== | ==Vowels== | ||
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<div style="font-size: smaller; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 0.33em"></div> | <div style="font-size: smaller; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 0.33em"></div> | ||
The primary vowels /a, e, i, u/ may be long or short, but /ə/ is always short. Long vowels within the roots of words are originally the result of derivation from an active to a passive root, e.g. ''ker-'' "rule" > ''keer-'' "(is) ruled", but subsequent development of the derivatives of long and short roots has led to vowel length being phonemicised. | |||
The semi-vowels | The semi-vowels /j/ and /w/ may occur after any vowel, effectively creating diphthongs, though for the purposes of syllable structure these are analysed as combinations of vowel + consonant: /aj, ej, uj, ij, əj, aw, ew, uw, iw, əw/. The combinations /ij/ and /uw/ may be analysed as [iː] and [uː]. The primary vowels may still be lengthened in these combinations, e.g. ''aay'' /aːj/, ''eew'' /eːw/. /iːj/ and /uːw/ are therefore equivalent of [iːː], [uːː]. | ||
==Orthography== | ==Orthography== | ||
Proto-Rathmosian is written with the Roman alphabet using the following graphs. | Proto-Rathmosian is written with the Roman alphabet using the following graphs. | ||
:: ''a b d e f g h i k l m n p r s t u ə'' | :: ''a b d e f g h i k l m n p r s t u w y ə'' | ||
The following table shows the sound to spelling correspondences: | The following table shows the sound to spelling correspondences: | ||
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|style="width: 20px; "| '''''i''''' | |style="width: 20px; "| '''''i''''' | ||
| style="width: 20px; "| '''''ii''''' | | style="width: 20px; "| '''''ii''''' | ||
| style="width: 20px; "| '''''k''''' | | style="width: 20px; "| '''''k''''' | ||
| style="width: 20px; "| '''''l''''' | | style="width: 20px; "| '''''l''''' | ||
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| style="width: 20px; "| '''''u''''' | | style="width: 20px; "| '''''u''''' | ||
| style="width: 20px; "| '''''uu''''' | | style="width: 20px; "| '''''uu''''' | ||
| style="width: 20px; "| ''''' | | style="width: 20px; "| '''''w''''' | ||
| style="width: 20px; "| '''''y''''' | |||
| style="width: 20px; "| '''''ə''''' | | style="width: 20px; "| '''''ə''''' | ||
|- | |- | ||
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| i | | i | ||
| iː | | iː | ||
| k | | k | ||
| l | | l | ||
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| uː | | uː | ||
| w | | w | ||
| j | |||
| ə | | ə | ||
|} | |} | ||
== | ==Syllables and Roots== | ||
Words are constructed from a root plus various | Words are constructed from a root plus various derivational or morphological affixes. Roots are almost always monosyllabic and must begin and end with a consonant. They may take one of the following forms: | ||
* '''CVC''', e.g. ''ret-'' 'go, move', ''ker-'' "rule" | |||
* '''CLVC''', in which '''L''' represents a liquid (''l'' or ''r''), e.g. ''glis-'' 'live, stay', ''mlak-'' "be dead" | |||
* '''CVGC''' , in which '''G''' represents a glide (''w'' or ''y''), e.g. ''tiyk-'' 'touch, feel', ''reyk-'' "love" | |||
* '''CLVGC''', e.g. ''trayh-'' "strangle, choke", ''sluyn-'' "seep, ooze". | |||
Affixes may be V, VC, C, CV, CVC. | |||
=Morphology= | =Morphology= | ||