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Luthic: Difference between revisions
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====Vowels==== | ====Vowels==== | ||
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** /l/ is laminal alveolar [l̻]. | ** /l/ is laminal alveolar [l̻]. | ||
** /ʎ/ is alveolo-palatal, always geminate when intervocalic. | ** /ʎ/ is alveolo-palatal, always geminate when intervocalic. | ||
====Historical phonology==== | |||
The phonological system of the Luthic language underwent many changes during the period of its existence. These included the palatalisation of velar consonants in many positions and subsequent [[w:Lenition|lenitions]]. A number of phonological processes affected Luthic in the period before the earliest documentation. The processes took place chronologically in roughly the order described below (with uncertainty in ordering as noted). | |||
=====Vowel system===== | |||
The most sonorous elements of the [[w:Syllable|syllable] are [[w:Vowel|vowels]], which occupy the [[w:Nucleus (syllable)|nuclear]] position. They are prototypical [[w:Mora (linguistics)|mora]]-bearing elements, with simple vowels monomoraic, and long vowels bimoraic. Latin vowels occurred with one of five qualities and one of two weights, that is short and long /i e a o u/. At first, weight was realised by means of longer or shorter duration, and any articulatory differences were negligible, with the short:long opposition stable. Subtle articulatory differences eventually grow and lead to the abandonment of length, and reanalysis of vocal contrast is shifted solely to quality rather than both quality and quantity; specifically, the manifestation of weight as length came to include differences in tongue [[w:Vowel height|height]] and tenseness, and quite early on, /ī, ū/ began to differ from /ĭ, ŭ/ articulatorily, as did /ē, ō/ from /ĕ, ŏ/. The long vowels were stable, but the short vowels came to be realised lower and laxer, with the result that /ĭ, ŭ/ opened to [ɪ, ʊ], and /ĕ, ŏ/ opened to [ε, ɔ]. The result is the merger of Latin /ĭ, ŭ/ and /ē, ō/, since their contrast is now realised sufficiently be their distinct vowel quality, which would be easier to articulate and perceive than vowel duration. | |||