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Meskangela: Difference between revisions
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===Prosody=== | ===Prosody=== | ||
===Syllable structure=== | ===Syllable structure=== | ||
The typical Proto-Meskangela root syllable consisted of the following structural elements: an onset consisting of a root initial consonant '''C<sub>i</sub>''', optionally followed by a liquid '''L''' or semivowel glide '''G''' (either "j" or "w"); and a vocalic nucleus consisting minimally of a simple vowel '''V''', followed by a final consonant '''C<sub>f</sub>'''. The semivowels could also occur postvocalically, forming falling diphthongs in "-w" and "-j", thus belonging to the inventory of '''C<sub>f</sub>'''. Unlike word roots, prefixes and suffixes followed a different pattern, consisting of a single consonant followed by a vowel '''PV<sub>p</sub>''' or '''SV<sub>s</sub>''' (in case of prefixes and suffixes respectively). Only root vowels could carry vowel length (:) and tone ('''t'''), the latter being a consonantal feature at the Proto-Meskangela stage. There was no contrast between zero-initial *VC and glottal-initial *ʔVC, in such cases the second variant is reconstructed with '''C<sub>i</sub>''' being an obligatory element. of the root syllable. Two non-syllabic suffixes are reconstructible for Proto-Meskangela, *-s and *-n. When added they could have resulted in a forbidden postvocalic sequence of two consonants ( e.g. -C<sub>f</sub>s or C<sub>f</sub>n). For these specific instances the suffixes are instead reconstructed as '''ə<sub>s</sub>S''' with "ə" being a short semi-syllabic element that disappeared in Classical Meskangela and later dialects. In other cases, where a single final consonant suffix is expected, a "hollow" consonant is reconstructed (which in some cases gives rise to tone H<sub>t</sub>, or disappear without a trace H<sub>0</sub>), as in *rjaH<sub>0</sub>ən “to laugh”. In Classical Meskangela the suffix became phonetically identical the C<sub>f</sub>, becoming a part of the root ( e.g. ''gësata'' ← ''*gVsaH<sub>0</sub>t-ʔa'' “he/she kills”. Thus a potential fully inflected word consists of the following elements: | |||
: {| | |||
|PV<sub>p</sub>—C<sub>i</sub>—L—G—V(:)—C<sub>f</sub>/H<sub>0/t</sub>—SV<sub>s</sub>—(ə<sub>s</sub>S) | |||
|} | |||
A word could have more than one suffix and prefix. In Classical Meskangela this system was altered, allowing open root syllables, as well as consonant clusters within syllables, where the first element was "s" followed by a consonant, usually an aspirated plosive, which could precede the third element "l". Individual consonants could be geminated depending on their position in the string of morphemes. The semivowel phonologically had become a part of the initial consonant or cluster by the classical period, but in the model it is still convenient to analyse it as a separate element. Certain suffixes underwent syncope of their reduced vowels, thus allowing more consonant clusters outside the root. Thus, during the classical period the inflected word typically followed this structure: | |||
: {| | |||
|PV<sub>p</sub>—(s)C<sub>i</sub>(:)—(l)—G—V(:/t)—C<sub>f</sub>—(V<sub>s1</sub>)—S(:)(V<sub>s2</sub>) | |||
|} | |||
Later dialects generally follow the model above, modifying some individual elements, such as adding more permissible clusters, or merging the clusters into single consonants, thus retaining all the elements only nominally. This is especially true for the Southern dialects, most of which became fairly analytic and lost most of their suffixes and prefixes in the process, as well as tone and contrastive vowel length. | |||
[[Category:Languages]] | [[Category:Languages]] | ||