Pulqer/History

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  • Analogical levelling of irregular forms or substitution by diminutives etc, e.g. auris > auricula > oricla.

Vulgar Latin Changes

The following changes were underway already in Vulgar Latin when it reached Jacques in 3rd century:

  • Syncope of unstressed vowels adjacent to glides, e.g. solidus > soldus.
  • Change of prevocalic /e, i/ > /j/, e.g. filia > filja.
  • Merger of /b, w/ as allophonic /b ~ β/, e.g. bibere > bivere.
  • Loss of h, e.g. hominem > ominem.
  • Loss of final consonants, e.g. mūrum > mūru.
  • Assimilation of ns > s with compensatory lengthening, e.g. mensa > mēsa > mẹsa
  • Assimilation of rs > ss, e.g. ursus > ussu
  • Assimilation of quu > cu, e.g. coquus > koku
  • Loss of vowel quantity
  • Palatalisation of all consonants before /j/, e.g. ratione > ratsone
  • Palatalisation of c, g before i, e.g. cippus > tsippu

Old Pulqer Changes

A number of fundamental changes between Latin and Old Pulqer are believed to have happened almost immediately as a result of Kelt speakers learning Latin imperfectly.

  • High mid vowels ẹ, ọ merge with high vowels i, u, e.g. mesa > misa, dracọ > trakhu
  • Low-mid ǫ becomes:
    • u before v and merges, e.g. fovea > fuja
    • ą /ɑ/ elsewhere, e.g. rota > arątha, homine > ąmine
  • Chain shift in which voiced plosives become unaspirated voiceless plosives and voiceless plosives become aspirated voiceless plosives, e.g. cadere > khatere
    • b > p > ph (word-initial v- also > p)
    • d > t > th
    • g > k > kh
    • gu > q(u) > qh(u) /kʷ/
      • kuV and khuV merge with q, qh, e.g. phinkue > phinqe
  • Affricate /d͡ʒ/ (from L. j, gi) becomes /t͡ʃ/.
  • Voiced fricatives /z/ and /β/ (from intervocalic allophones of s, v, b) are devoiced to /s/ and /ɸ/, the latter merging with f, e.g. bibere > pifere, casa /kaːza/ > khaesa.
  • Assimilation of consonant clusters, e.g. octō > attu
    • mn > nn
    • ct > tt
    • x /ks/ > ss
  • Prothesis before word-initial r- or sC-, e.g. rẹge > arike, stella > astella

The following are later developments within OP.

  • Stressed open vowels are lengthened, later diphthongised e.g. car'tate > kharthaethe
    • a > ae /ae > ɛː/
    • e > ei /ɛi/
    • i > ie /iə > iː/ (except before r, l)
    • ą > au /ɑə > ɑː/
    • u > ue /uə > uː/ (except before r, l)
  • /au/ merges with /ɑː/ < L. o, e.g. auru > auru /ɑːru/; short ą merges with a.
  • All other unstressed internal vowels are lost between stressed syllables, wherever possible, e.g. aumine > aunne
  • Syllabic liquids ḷ, ṛ develop between other consonants, e.g. sacramentum > sakhṛmentu

Middle Pulqer Changes

  • q, qh > p, ph before a, au, e.g. linqa > limpa.
  • Geminate resonants (ll, rr, nn, mm) are preoccluded (> tl, tr, tn, pm, e.g. khapallu > khapatlu.
  • Excrescent t is inserted between other resonants or between s + resonant, e.g. esre > estre,
  • Final vowels are lost, e.g. mueru > muer
  • f becomes h, e.g. filtś > hiltś
    • f is probably already lost before u, e.g. fulpr > ulpr
    • new medial h is quickly lost or moves to the front of the word, e.g. ifant > ihant > hiant)
  • Remaining geminate consonants simplified, e.g. khatth > khath
  • r and l become unstable, the former usually preferred in pre-vocalic position and the latter in post-vocalic position, e.g. phlutś > phrutś.

Modern Pulqer Changes

  • Loss of vowel quantity, e.g. autn > atn
    • ae > e
    • ei > i
    • ie > i
      • but > ia before r, l, e.g. miel > mial
    • au > a
    • ue > u
      • but > ua before r, l, e.g. muer > muar
  • Aspirated stops merge with unaspirated (th, kh, ph > t, k, p), e.g. khath > kat.
  • Development of epenthetic vowel y /ə/, e.g. kapatl > kapatyl
  • Remaining q merge with k, e.g. qistu > kistu
  • (recent) Loss of unstressed final syllables in words of three or more syllables, e.g. kapatyl > kapat (except infinitives).