some preliminary Prevli

It's time to let y'all know what's going on....

The sound system is: p b t d k g m n N r l s z y h; vowels i e a u o -- but
these are only the "underlying" phonemes. A lot happens on the way to the
surface.

Underlying forms of lexemes can be V(C), CV(C), CVV(C)-- these are rare;
most are (C)VCV and (C)VCVC. A handful of loans and frozen compounds have CC
clusters in initial and/or medial position-- _prevli_ itself is one such
/peda/ 'tongue' + /bili/ 'speak'). Underlying stress in on the penult.

CVCV nouns and verbs keep that form, though the final V can be dropped.
CVCVC forms > surface C1VC2VC3 (with some mutations) or undergo final-VC
metathesis > C1VC2C3V (also with mutations depending on the resulting
cluster)-- this last is the common form for nouns and realis
verbs/adjectives. I haven't quite decided what will be the function of the
unmetathesized forms, though for verbs I think it's a gerund/infinitive...

Final C mutation: in absolute final position (CVCVC) /ptk/ voice > bdg; both
final and medial /bdg/ lenit > BrG; others are unaffected. BTW, all C except
/y h/ can occur in final pos.

Vowel harmony: in CVCVC and CVCCV, the unstressed final /i a u/ change as
follows:  i--u > i--ü, e--u > e--ö, i/e--a > i/e--& (written ä a-uml); u--i
 > u--ü, o--i > o--ö, u/o--a > u/o--O (written å a-ring); a--i > a--e, a--u >
a--o. (/e o/ do not occur in final unstr. syllables).  There are slightly
different rules for /i a u/ in CVCV and CVV(C) forms :-) Some exs:  /sapit/
 > saped, sapte, /subat/ > suvOd, suftO. /sagud/ > saGor, saGro etc.

The irrealis form of the verb has initial CV metathesis and final stress/no
V-harm., with more phonetic changes to the resulting clusters); exs. /sapit/
 > aSpít (vl.stops don't mutate); /sagud/ > aZGúr (vd.stops do, at least so
far...). A CVCV form /koba/ kovo 'to go' > okfá

Realis passive infixes /-i-/ /s-i-apit/ siapte > S&pte, again, more changes
to the palatalized initial C; irrealis passive prefixes it: /i-aspit/ >
y&Spit; etc.  All this is set forth in extensive tables in the current draft
of the grammar....

Then there are several verbal aspects (right term?): inchoative
(becoming...), causative, desiderative (want to...), obligative (have to...,
must...), debitive (ought to, should...), prospective (about to...),
intentive (going to...), potential (can, able to...) and progressive
(be...ing); these are mutually exclusive, that is, if /ziza/ 'eat' > caus.
/ap-ziza/ abzize 'feed s.o.', you can't have a combined form meaning "I must
feed him"-- in that case, the modal "must" has to be in its independent form
(with pronoun suffix) followed by the caus. form. + I-him pronoun form.

All these aspectual forms can be realis, irrealis, active/passive and even
imperative, semantics permitting. Oh-- and tenses-- present (unmarked), past
/-d/, future /-l/, and irrealis-conditional /-s/. I think I shall indicate
the perfects with a particle.

Enough for now. It's lotsa fun. :-)))))

PS.  Incidentally, I mentioned that watching the recent World Series gave me
several words: here's two: /papil/ papel paple 'crazy, zany'  and /bon/ 'a
men's dance' > paplevon 'an ecstatic/celebratory dance performed by men'