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

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:44:00 -0400, Jason Monti <yukatado@...> wrote:
[...]
>So, here's the final product:
>
>{b c d ð f g h j k l m n p r s t þ v w y z} + {a i u} + e + {l n r} + {bə c
>də ðə_ f gə h jə k lə mə nə p rə s t þ və wə yə zə}
>
>Or more simply: (C)(a/i/u)e(l/n/r)(C)(É™)
>
>So now that original sample using only p and t becomes:
>
>aelt pae  paelt
>aent pael paent
>aert paen paert
>aet  paer paet
>elt  pel  pelt
>ent  pen  pent
>ert  per  pert
>ielt pie  pielt
>ient piel pient
>iert pien piert
>iet  pier piet
>uelt pue  puelt
>uent puel puent
>uert puen puert
>uet  puer puet
>
>There are only three limitations:
>
>1) /e/ cannot appear by itself in a CVC: it _must_ have at least one of the
>six availble semivowels adjacent to it, so the smallest morphemes (in their
>e-grade) are: /ae/, /el/, /en/, /er/, /ie/, and /ue/.
>
>2a) An initial /y/ cannot be followed by an /i/: no /yi/
>2b) However, /ya/ and /yu/ are possible initials.
>
>3a) An initial /w/ cannot be followed by a /u/: no /wu/
>3b) However, /wa/ and /wi/ are possible initials.
>
>The 3-grade system still stands: e-grade, o-grade, and zero-grade, but I now
>have a total of six possible zero-grades, rather than four. In the
>zero-grade, if the {l n r} is preceded with an {a i u} then it is the {l n
>r} that become syllabic, not the {a i u}.
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?

>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