Re: Some Sound Changes

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:45:19 +0200, John Vertical
<johnvertical@...> wrote:

>>I just made a set of sound changes for yet another new project that I'd
>>like opinions on.
>
>Do you have phonotactics? That would help here I think, but it seems it's
>(C)V(C) at least. Any original clusters? Or coda / onset prohibitions?
>Stress?
I haven't figured out the phonotactics or the accentuation. There will
definitely be CV, maybe CVC. I guess that some suffixes will have to be V(C).

>>  1. i, u > j, w / __ V     i, u > j, w / V __
>
>This seems a bit ambiguous wrt. /iu ui/. If the first rule takes precedence
>(so > /ju wi/) I'd think it were better to include the two rules as separate
>ones. You might also want to specify the 1st as applying right-to-left to
>avoid eg. /uiu/ > /wju/.
I'll try those.

>>  2. kw, gw, k_hw > k_w, g_w, k_w_h
>
>I'd expect any uvular+w clusters to behave the same too, unless /q(h)uV/
>doesn't originally occur in the first place 'fcors. I think almost all
>languages with both uvulars and labialized velars also have labialized
>uvulars.
OK, I didn't know that.

>>  3. V > Vj / __ Cj
>>     V > Vw / __ C_w
>>  5. ij, ej, aj, oj, uj > i, e, æ, ø, y
>>     iw, ew, aw, ow, uw > ju, jo, Au, o, u
>
>This looks a bit like it would be better analyzed as umlaut, tho /Vj Vw/
>coming from /Vi Vu/ would complicate that. Also, if the /j/ duplicates
>across all consonants, why doesn't /w/ duplicate across non-velars too?
I don't know how to write the rules for umlaut, so I did it in two parts, and
also wanted to handle diphthongs. Good question about /w/, although I don't
have an answer. I'll take a look and see what happens if I change that.

>>  7. tj, dj > ts), dz)     sj, zj > S, Z
>
>....I take /t d/ are dental but /s z/ alveolar, then?
>Also, where does this /zj/ come from? Did you miss a step about /s/ voicing
>between a vowel and a semivowel too?
I don't see why /t d/ can't be alveolar at this stage.
Yes, I forgot that i > j had already occurred and would need a separate rule.

>>10. c, J\, C > tS), dZ), S 11. hj, hw > C, x_w
>
>A new /C/ drifting in just after the old one merged into /S/? Looks a bit
>unlikely to me... but an easy fix would be to switch the order of palatal
>breikdown and aspirate spirantization (i.e: ch > tSh > S)
I think 11 could just occur later.

>>15. i, u > 0 / VC __ CV --- but not always
>
>Any relation to stress or the nature of the consonants? IIRC /i u/ are more
>likely to be elided in the vicinity of unvoiced than voiced consonants, for
>example.
I definitely agree about the unvoiced consonants. It's good that you reminded
me. I still need to figure out what happens with stress and with vowel length.

>>Resulting Consonants
>>     p [p] t [t] tc [tS)] k(j) [k_j] k [k] kw [k_w]
>>     b [b] d [d] dz [dZ)] g(j) [g_j] g [g] gw [g_w]
>>     f [f] s [s] c  [S]   hj   [C]   x [x] xw [x_w] q [X] h [h]
>>                 z  [Z]
>>     m [m] n [n]          nj   [J]   n [N]
>>           l [l]          j    [j]         w  [w]
>>           r [r]
>
>You forgot to include /z/ from /dz/, to specify /nj/ > /J/, and to get rid
>of initial /?/... otherwise, looking good. Now, it's nothing super awesome,
>but I can't see anything wrong in it in general, either. The evolution is a
>bit dependant on onset semivowel clusters, but that's not a problem.
I'll have to change the orthography to handle /z/.
The /nj/ > /J/ change could be specified in a lot of places, I suppose.
I think word-initial /?/ can remain, but be unwritten. The 	question is what to
do with (a) when it's between vowels and (b) when it's between a consonant
and a vowel. For now I'll leave it and use | in the orthography.

>Hmm, a few practice words...
>
>weaqupho > weoffo
>antisima > ontrirmo (?)
ontirmo,I think; probably /i/ isn't dropped after a cluster?

>puakirwa > pwotSje:wo
>lethurios > lehi:jus
>lethuros > lehrus
>dongoresu > duNgworer
duNgurer, I think

Thanks a bunch for working these out.

>Looks like you'll get a contrast between /kw k_w/ there too... or is the
>labialization rule meant to remain live?
The latter, I think. I'm not sure how to specify that.

Jeff

>John Vertical
>
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