Whitmer

Whitmer (j-imbróos whi'tmeréen [dʒ‿ɪmˈbɾüːz xʷɪʔtməˈɾiːn]), also known as Shalaian, is an Idavic language spoken in Verse:Tricin. Most of its speakers are in the Whitmer Autonomous Region of Dodellia, Txapoalli, Cualand and southern Talma. It is inspired by Fuṣħā Arabic, Australian English and PIE.

Rā marbūTa / "what if Arabic were non-rhotic" in both Dodellia and Cualand

historical -s(ret) endings develop into -r endings which then become -ə or lengthening

Abrowéen 'kind, gentle, empathetic' < abra 'heart'

silj 'social housing'

External history

The name Whitmer is an adaptation of an earlier conlang name of mine, Whetmer, which was a straight-up English giblang. The resemblance to real-life persons named Whitmer is coincidental.

Phonology

Vowels

The vowels are a subset of Received Pronunciation vowels.

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i /ɪ/ "KIT"	ee /iː~ɪj/ "FLEECE"				oo /uː~üː/ "GOOSE"
Mid		eer, iya, eeya /ɪə~eː/ "NEAR"	a, er /ə/ "lettER/commA"			oor, or, ōr, uwa /ɔː/ "POOR/FORCE"
Open-mid		air, aia /ɛː/ "SQUARE"		er, ōwa /ɜː/ "NURSE"	o /ɒ/ "LOT"
Open	a /æ/ "TRAP"		[ɐ]			aa, ar /ɑː/ "BATH/START"
Diphthong		ai /ɛɪ/ "FACE"				ō /əʊ/ "GOAT"

Notes

• /ə/ occurred only in unstressed syllables. Adjacent to pharyngeals it is closer to [ɐ].
• It is common to use both etymological linking R and "intrusive" R [ɹ~ɾ] between /ɑː eː ɛː oː ɜː ə/ and a following vowel in a prosodic unit. For example: Għídna al kisál't 'Edna and her dogs' is pronounced [ˈʕednə‿ɹəɫ kɪ'sæɫʔt].
• /ɒ/ is [ɔ] as in Modern RP. It is lowered to [ɒ] after /ʕ/.
• /ɔː/ is [oː] as in Modern RP.
• /æ/ is front [a] or [æ]. However it reduced to /ə/ in certain unstressed syllables.
• /ɪ/ may be [e~ɛ~ɛ̈] after /ʕ/.
• /ɜː/ may be [ɐː], especially after /ʕ/.
• /ɛɪ əʊ/ are normally [ɛɪ ə̟ʊ]. They are realized as [aɪ aʊ] after pharyngeals.
• Whitmer does not have vowel mergers before intervocalic R such as the Mary-marry merger and the mirror-nearer merger. For example, thárrad /'θæɹəd/ 'moon; month', tháirad /'θɛːɹəd/ 'you (sg.) fall', and thárad /'θɑːɹəd/ 'your (sg.) foot' are distinct.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar		Radical	Glottal
							plain	labialized
Nasal		m /m/		n /n/			[ŋ]
Plosive	voiceless			t /t/	ch /tʃ/		k /k/	kw /kʷ/	[ʡ]	' /ʔ/
	voiced	b /b/		d /d/	j /dʒ/
Fricative		f /f/	th /θ/	s /s/	sh /ʃ/		kh /x/	wh /xʷ/	ħ /ħ/	h /h/
Approximant				l /l/	r /r/	y /j/		w /w/	għ /ʕ/

Notes

• Voiceless stops are usually aspirated, as in English.
• /ʔ/ is a phoneme unlike in RP: more syllable types can have glottal reinforcement. The glottal stop is placed after the last resonant (/m n l/ or a vowel) in the glottally reinforced syllable.
• /r/ may be [ɹʷ] or [ɾ]. It tends to be voiceless after voiceless consonants.
• /l/ is velarized [ɫ] when not before a vowel and clear [l] otherwise. The rule applies whether or not the following vowel comes in the next word.
• /n/ assimilates to [ŋ] before /k/ but not before /x xʷ/.
• /tʃ dʒ ʃ/ are labialized [tʃʷ dʒʷ ʃʷ], as in English.
• /kʷ xʷ/ can occur in coda, unlike /Cw/ combinations.
• By default, /ħ/ is a voiceless epiglottal fricative, and /ʕ/ is an epiglottal approximant. They are true pharyngeals before true back vowels.
• The cluster /ʕʔ/ is realized as [ʡ].
• [p z] are found allophonically as allophones of /b s/. Otherwise /p z g/ are only used in loanwords.

Intonation

Whitmer has an intonation similar to Australian English.

Stress

Stress is phonemic. Primary stress is transcribed with an acute accent.

Vowel reduction

• /a/ and /ɜː/ reduce to [ə] in unstressed syllables.

Phonotactics

Underlyingly, Shalian roots have the structure CVC, CVCV, CVCC, CVCCV, CVCVC (and some CVCCVC and CVCCC?).

Shalian clusters are similar to Arabic but slightly more restrictive in the direction of Proto-Germanic and Latin.

Clusters in Shalian must obey a sonority hierarchy depending on their position; voicing assimilation is used to resolve clusters that violate it. Obstruent-obstruent clusters are subject to regressive voicing assimilation except that /sb sd ʃb ʃd/ > [zb zd ʒb ʒd]. Few initial clusters (only /Cj/, /Cw/ and /sC/) are allowed, and many non-English clusters are found within words such as /dm/ in għádma /ˈʕædmə/ 'happiness'. However, the most common clusters are ones found in English such as Cr and Cl clusters. Geminates and /rC/ clusters are not allowed within stems, which will be assumed below.

Within stems (assuming no syncope), the following 2-consonant clusters w/o /ʔ/ are allowed:

• mC: mn ml mr my mgħ mb md mzh mt mch mk mkw mth ms msh mkh mħ mh
• nC: nm nr ny ngħ nv nw nd nzh nt nch nk nkw nf nth ns nsh nkh nwh nħ nh
• lC: lm ln ly lgħ lv lw lb ld lzh lt lch lk lkw lf lth ls lsh lkh lwh lħ lh
• għC: għm għn għl għr għy (never initial) għw għv għb għd għzh għt għk għf għth għs għsh għkh għwh
• Cm: nm lm għm dm zhm tm chm km kwm thm sm shm khm ħm hm
• Cn: mn ln għn vn bn dn zhn tn chn kn kwn fn thn sn shn khn whn ħn hn
• Cl: ml għl vl bl dl zhl tl chl kl kwl fl thl sl shl khl whl ħl hl
• Cr: mr nr għr vr br dr zhr tr chr kr kwr fr thr sr shr khr whr ħr hr
• Cy: my ny għy (never initial) vy by dy ty ky fy thy sy khy ħy hy
• Cw: nw għw dw zhw tw chw thw sw shw ħw
• Cgħ: mgħ ngħ lgħ vgħ bgħ dgħ zhgħ tgħ chgħ kgħ fgħ thgħ sgħ shgħ khgħ whgħ
• XX: vd vzh bv bd bzh bt bk bs bwh bħ dv db zhv zhb zhd tf tk tkw tħ cht chk chf chs kt kch kf ks ksh kħ kwt kwch kwf kws kwsh ft fk fs fsh fħ thb [ðb] thk thf thħ sb [zb] sd [zd] st sk sf sħ sht shk shf shħ khf kht khs khsh wht whch whf whth whs whsh ħt ħch ħf ħs

Minimal pairs of glottal + stop final:

• chort = [tʃoʰt] 'to jump'
• chur't = [tʃoʔt] 'his blood'
• chord = [tʃoːd~tʃoːt] 'meaning'

Minimal pairs of glottal + fricative final:

• whais = [ʍɛɪs] 'flesh'
• whai's = [ʍɛɪʔs] 'to avoid'

Sound rules

• Prefixes sometimes cause syncope: C₁V-C₂ə- (second is open) > C₁VC₂-
  • Example: li-ħachai-s > laħcháis 'I shall praise him/her (honorific)'
• Grassmann's law on prefixes?