Bźatga/History

Outline History

Old Bźatga

Old Bźatga (Bríatéga) is the form of the language belonging to the earliest written records from the 8th century when Irish monks (OBz. papi or celí dié) introduced the Latin alphabet to the island. It is characterised by extensive nominal and verbal inflections largely inherited from Common Brittonic and by a small number of words borrowed from Old Irish and Ecclesiastical Latin, largely in the spheres of religion and technology (e.g. liérieca "cleric" (OI cleirech), sagrata "priest" (OI sagart), annódia "mother church" (OI andóit, canniela "candle" (OI caindel), penna "pen" (L penna), scriuade "he writes" (OI scríbaid)).

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

Nouns are inflected for several classes, which show a greater degree of variation than the modern language.

	donia "man"	more "sea"	prédo "shape"	troues "foot"	aú "river"	aua "name"	lieda "valley"	adir "father"
Nsg.	donia	more	prédo	troues	aú	aua	lieda	adir
Asg.	troueda	auona	adera
Gsg.	donie	auane	liedía	adra
Dsg.	doniu	trouede	auone	liedeie	adre
Npl.	donii	mori	prédoue	trouede	auone	auani	liedía	adre
Apl.	doniu	prédu	troueda	auona	adra
Gpl.	donia	moría	prédúa	auana
Dpl.	donioua	moreua	trouedua	auoua	auaua	liedeua	adréua

Verbal Inflection

	Active	Deponent	Passive
	caraue "I love"	baziue "I drown"	caberu "I take"	sebur "I follow"	caradar "is loved"
Pres. Ind.	caraue caraie carade caraua carade carat	baziue bazíe bazide baziua bazide bazit	caberu cabíe cabere caberoua caberede caberot	sebur sebedar sebedra sebouar sebeder sebotra	- - caradar - - caratar
Impf. Ind.	caranne carada carada carammis caraui carates	bazinne bazida bazida bazimmis baziui bazites	caberenne caberida cabereda caberemmes cabereui caberetes	sebinne sebida sebida sebimmis sebiui sebites	- - carade - - caratis
Pret. Ind.	carasu carase carase carasoua carasede carasot	bazisu bazise bazise bazisoua bazisede bazisot	cabretu cabrete cabrete cabretoue cabretede cabretot	sebesur sebesar sebestra sebemar sebeser sebestra
Pres. Subj.	cara cara cara caraua carade carat	bazia bazia bazia baziaua baziade baziat	caberra caberra caberra caberraua caberrade caberrat	sesiur sesietar sesiedra sesioura sesieder sesiotra
Pret. Subj.	caranne carada carada carammis caraui carates	bazinne bazida bazida bazimmis baziui bazites	caberrenne caberrida caberreda caberremmes caberreui caberretes	sesínne sesída sesída sesímmis sesíui sesítes
Past Ptc.	carada	bazida	cabréda	sebida
Pres Ptc.	carat	bazit	caberot	sebit
Ptc. of Nec.	caradoia	bazidoia	cabretoia	sebidoia

A number of irregularities occur in the preterite such as reduplication and ablaut:

• lieú "I hear": celioú, celioie, celioie, celiououe, celioiede
• veziu "I pray": vaza, vaza, vaze, vazaue, vazade, vazar.

Middle Bźatga

The orthography of Middle Bźatga changed little from that of Old Bźatga, except that iotisation came to be written:

• first with a superscript ⁱ after the consonant, e.g. Brⁱatga, donⁱua
• then with an apostrophe-like mark or raised vertical line, e.g. Br’atga/Br^ιatga, don’ua/don^ιua
• finally with an acute accent, e.g. Bŕatga, dońua

Nominal Inflection

The declension paradigm was affected by syncope and the process of levelling, which merged the Nom. and Acc. classes and often the Gen. and Dat. ones, particularly where identical forms recurred in a single class or where iotisation led to stem-changes.

	dońa "man"	more "sea"	prédo "shape"	trouda "foot"	aú "river"	aua "name"	ĺeda "valley"	adir "father"
Nsg.	dońa	more	prédo	trouda	aú	aua	ĺeda	adra
Asg.
Gsg.	dońe	trouda, -e	auna, -e	aune	ĺeďa, -e	adra, -e
Dsg.	dońu	troude	aune	ĺeďe	adre
Npl.	dońi	mori	prédue	troude	aune	auni	ĺeďa, -e	adre
Apl.
Gpl.	dońua	morua	prédua	trouda	auna	auna	ĺeďa	adra
Dpl.	trouda, -ua	auna, -ua	auna, -ua	ĺeda, -ua	adra, -ua

Verbal Inflection

Syncope initially resulted in a complex verbal system akin to Old Irish, in which verbs with unstressed prefixes such as ca-, var-, ab- had two different forms: a primary form, used when the verb stood alone (e.g. cabére "he takes", vagánde "he plays") and a secondary form used when another prefix was added (e.g. nacábre "he does not take", ravágnade "he might play"). Quite quickly, however, the situation was levelled so that the primary form was used throughout but with a shift of stress to the original prefix (e.g. nacábere, ravágande).

There was also some simplification of the verbal paradigm and, in particular, the reduction of anomalous forms. Weak verbs ending in 1sg pres. ind. -ue are merged into a single category, following caruemi and deponent verbs are mainly taken into the -ue category. The use of pronominal endings becomes increasingly mandatory in non-3rd person forms.

	Active	Passive
	carue "I love"	bazue "I drown"	caberu "I take"	sebue "I follow"	caradar "is loved"
Pres. Ind.	carue(mi) caŕe(tu) carde carua(zni) carde(zui) carat	bazue(mi) baźe(tu) bazde bazua(zni) bazde(zui) bazat	caberu(mi) cabeŕe(tu) cabere caberua(zni) caberde(zui) caberot	sebue(mi) sebie(tu) sebde sebua(zni) sebde(zui) sebat	- - cardar - - cartar
Pret. Ind.	carsu(mi) carse(tu) carse carse(zni) carse(zui) carsot	bazsu(mi) bazse(tu) bazse bazse(zni) bazse(zui) bazsot	cabretu(mi) cabrete(tu) cabrete cabrete(zni) cabrete(zui) cabretot	sebsu(mi) sebse(tu) sebse sebse(zni) sebse(zui) sebsot
Pres. Subj.	cara(mi) cara(tu) cara cara(zni) cara(zui) cara(ie)	baza(mi) baza(tu) baza baza(zni) baza(zui) baza(ie)	cabera(mi) cabera(tu) cabera cabera(zni) cabera(zui) cabera(ie)	seba(mi) seba(tu) seba seba(zni) seba(zui) seba(ie)
Past Ptc.	carda	bazda	cabréda	sebda
Pres Ptc.	carat	bazit	caberot	sebit
Ptc. of Nec.	cardoia	bazdoia	cabrédoia	sebdoia

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.

• Geminate stops and ss simplified
  • dd > d, bb > b, gg > g, tt > t, kk > c.
• Compensatory Lengthening of vowels before nC
  • a > ā; e > ɛː; i > eː; o > ɔː; u > oː
• Diphthonisation in stressed syllables, except before Cj
  • ɛː > ea > ia
  • eː > ie
  • ɔː > oa > ua word-initially
  • oː > uo word-initially
• 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
• 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	i u e o ə ɛ ɔ a
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
  • also affects jr, jn, jl < gC; jt, js < xC
  • 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
    • Where the i represents the word stem, it remains, e.g. ría > źia
    • The sequence iu becomes ju, e.g. liua > ĺua
  • 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

1. before a back vowel in next syllable
2. 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