Re: Proto-Conlang rough sketch (was: Re: First Post and . . . )

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:44:30 -0400, Alex Fink <a4pq1injbok_0@...> wrote:

>You're saying the zero-grade of a root with say [aen] will contain [a_^n_=],
>as opposed to [an]?  That's pretty weird, and it goes against the sonority
>hierarchy, especially for a low vowel like [a].  It's not even clear what
>[a_^] might be -- perhaps a pharyngeal?
>
>For that matter, is [ae] an opening diphthong or a closing one?
Oops. I typoed. Yes, [aen] > [an]. I'm afraid that I don't understand what
an opening or closing diphthong is, but if you've ever heard the Japanese
word for "front/forward": mae, pronounced, then that's what it sounds like.
Basically, it sounds similar to [aj], but the diphthong levels off at [e]
instead of rising all the way to [i].

However, I may have a phonological option that /ae/ > [aj], which would
contrast dialectically with [ae]. This could allow for a further lowering in
one of the daughters to [{] while the other begins splitting into [ai:].

>>The grades will be based on gaining or losing stress: i.e., o-grade is
>>stressed, e-grade is defult, and zero-grade is not stressed. If stress
>>shifts from the o-grade, it becomes an e-grade. If stress shifts from an
>>e-grade, it becomes a zero-grade. Conversely, if stress shifts TO a
>>zero-grade, it becomes an e-grade, and an e-grade beomes an o-grade.
>
>Simplistically it seems you have two ablaut patterns here, stressed [e] vs.
>unstressed [0] and stressed [o] vs. unstressed [e], so that no vowel in the
>same form ever has all three realizations as stress moves.  What determines
>which vowels are zero-grade when unstressed, and which e-grade?  I get the
>impression they're not meant to contrast in roots; so does the morphology
>select which vowel alternations any given derivative of the root uses?
>
>Alex
Well, I'm still trying to work out some rules beyond that, but for now, I
hink that affixation will do it. I called the e-grade "defult" because
unadorned, the root will take the e-grade. However, an affix will lose its
e-grade and lend its stress to the root, sending the root into the o-grade:
CeC + Ce > CoCC0, for example. Now, if we take that same compound of Root +
Affix, and we add another affix, the new afix will go into its zero-grade
(loss of stress by lending its stress to the preceding zero-grade, sending
it into e-grade, which, rather than defult, would be secondary stress: CoCC0
+ Ce > CoCCeC0.

Now what I need to figure out is how I can have stress taken from syllables
that are of a higher grade.