Re: plus idées pour le teque

Danny Wier wrote:

> Anybody ever do a conlang inspired by French phonology? And where can I find
> a good description of Latin-to-French phonetic correspondences?
As promised Danny, here's notes taken from Pierre Bec's "Manuel
Pratique de Philologie Romane" tome II - a set of books I wouldn't
mind owning.  (Translations of any quotes are mine, and I've
replaced his goofy phonetic alphabet with IPA)  [Note that you may
also want to look at:
http://www.orbilat.com/Modern_Romance/Gallo-Romance/French/French.html]

There are "five great evolutionary tendencies in French":

1. Palatalisation
2. Diphthongisation
3. Nasalisation
4. Elision and Contraction
5. Vowel Neutralisation and Labialisation

1. Palatalisation

k+a > tS > S [cantat > chante]
g+a > dZ > Z [*gauta > joue]

In intervocalic position these same consonants pass to [j]:

pacare > payer
necare/negare > neier

Under the same heading he discusses:

[u] to [y]: lúna > lune
[a] to [i] between two palatals
[e:] to [i] after palatals [céra > cire; mercéde > merci]

Also under this category is yotacisme, in two forms:

A. Anticipation of the yod released by a palatal sound (for the
proto [tsj]):

pace > paiz > paix
vóce > voiz > voix
placére > plaisir
palatiu > palais
ratióne > raison
puteu > puits

B. Refraction of [J] (palatal nasal) to [jn] before /t/ or when word
final:

sanctus > saint
cinctus > ceint
cuneu > coin
júniu > juin

2. Diphthongisation; some examples:

téla > teile
sólu > soul/seul
mare > maere > mer [1]
manu > main
decanu > deiien/doyen

[1] a > e after diphthongisation

Diphthongs of coalescence:

        - yod anticipation
        - refraction of [J]
        - vocalisation of certain consonants

                factu > fait
                talpa > taupe

3. Nasalisation of a vowel in contact with [n], [m] or [J]

4. Elision and Contraction

"One of the characteristic tendencies of French is the erosion of
words which results from a general relaxation of articulation.  The
French word is generally much shorter than its Romance
correspondents"

VL caténa
It catena
Sp cadena
Pt cadeia
Fr chaîne [SEn]

He mentions that Celtic and Germanic substratial influence have been
suggested as the cause here, but notes that it is with Middle French
that this tendency to contraction happens "in consequence of various
phonetic accidents."  Modern French chaîne [SEn] was Old French
chaaine [tSaa~jn@]

"But, in any event, French is distinguished from its origins by
three phenomena of weakening which will quickly set off a process of
contraction..."

i. "The loss or palatalisation, after spirantisation of intervocalic
occlusives."

ii. "The loss of final vowels other than -a"

iii. "The neutralisation of this vowel which passes to [@]" and
finally to null.

[Eamon's Note: contrast all of these processes with Occitan; a six
syllable sentence in French might be 12 in Occitan; see Orbilat.com]

5. Vowel Neutralisation and Labialisation

"Old French had in its phonological system a 'neutral' vowel [@],
more central than palatal, and nonlabial.  As in other Romance
languages where it is also found, this phoneme is realised only in
unstressed position:

- finally: vita > vie, femina > femme (Occitan femna)
- contrefinale: sacramentu > sairement, ornamentu > ornement
- pre-stressed: leváre > *levare > lever, caminu > chemin

Finally, from Old French to Modern French we note:

1. Reduction of affricates: ts > s; dZ > Z, tS > S
2. Loss of preconsonantal [s]: e(s)cole, e(s)pine, e(s)té
3. Progressive elision of final consonants

Hope you enjoyed it!
Eamon
____________________________________________________
Robert Eamon Graham              robertg@knology.net

Anugraha banana shundarata dengan bisri bastu-bastu.

                                -- U2, "Grace"

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