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Gweinic Description: Phonology and Roots (Corrections)

From:Anthony M. Miles <theophilus88@...>
Date:Saturday, June 3, 2000, 14:09
There are a few corrections and additions that I need to make.
I will also provide examples.
1) [d^] should be [dj], [d<w>] [dw] in Gweinic. The orthography
is the same, and grammarians do not emerge until EL speakers do.
For consistnecy's sake, the exampleS shall be in EL, not GW.
2) The marine pidgin>creole should be Nadanic [ND], not Todanic
The meaning of ND [to.dan-] is 'foreign(er)' < CM [to:.dan.or.Se]
'foreigner, Labic-speaker'< CL [t^o:.g<w>ajn.drak<h>] 'the one from beyond
the water'<[t^o:] 'beyond', preposition governing dative case
+ [g<w>ajn.drak<h>] 'waterman'. The equivalent in EM would be
*[tSY:.zvajn.orSe]. The meaning of [nadan-] is 'sail(or)' < CM
[na.dan.orSe] 'sailor'< CL [na.g<w>ajn.drak<h>] 'sailor, through-water
-man' < [na], 'through', preposition governing the accusative case, +
[g<w>ajn.drak<h>]. The equivalent in EM would be *[n&.zvajn.orSe].
That, my dear Nicole, is why language groups are fun.
3) The syllabic consonants (sonorants?) are slightly different in EL.


>Thus, the complete phonemic list in GW/EL is p [p], ph [p<h>], >py [p^], b [b], bh [b<h>], by [b^], bw [b<w>], t [t], th [t<h>], >ty [t^], d [d], dh [d<h>], dy [d^], dw [d<w>], k [k], kh [k<h>], >ky [k^], kw [k<w>], g [g], gh [g<h>], gy [g^], gw [g<w>], m [m], n [n[], r >[r[], y [j], w [w], h [h], a [a], e [e], i [i], o [o], u [u], >r, [r<syl>], >l [l<syl>], m [m<syl>], and n [n[<syl>]. > >Simple roots always follow one of following forms: C(G)VC(G)VC, >C(G)VGNCVC, C(G)VC(G)V(G), CV(G)C, CVCS, where C=consonant, G=glide ([j] or >[w]), N=nasal, V=vowels, and S=syllabic.
hiyik- go khemit- eat khyimod- curve laghyal [laghya:l]- love dwagyid- make, craft dhainakh [d<h>aj.na:k<h>]- be big delow- be beautiful mena- be bhekwe- be small dhab- be earth, soil gwain- be water rotr- [ro:t.r]- be king
>CV(G)C is far behind, but >currently slightly more common than > >C(G)VC(G)V(G), which is prominent only because of the meanings of its > >roots (be, have, place, be beautiful).
mena-, kine-, bhelaw-, and delow-, respectively.
>CVCS is extremely rare, but again gains prominence >through the >meaning of >its roots (soul, king, Create)
As a simple root, that is. tann-, rotr-, labhn- respectively. labhn- 'Create' is properly only used if one is making something out of nothing. Hence colloquial derogatory term for 'to lie' (now that's weird).
>C(G)VGNCVC is an alternative form of certain C(G)VC(G)VC roots, with > >-VjnV- corresponding to -Vd^V- and -VwnV- to -Vd<w>V-. It should >be noted, however, that the EL form [b<h>ajnet<h>], 'sheep' is onomatopoeia >and the alternative form [b<h>ad^et<h>] is analogical.
dhainakh, dhadyakh [d<h>ajna:k<h>, d<h>a:d^a:k<h>]- be large kyeumor, kyebwor [k^ewmo:r, k^e:b<w>o:r] - discover, find Note that the first vowel of the second form is long, one of the signs that [b<h>ad^et<h>] is analogical (besides the fact that sheep don't live on glaciers).
>The first cluster of a root may be an 'orphan', an 'adult', or a 'family'. >An exception to this is a root CV(G)C, which may not have >a 'family' in this position.
[g^] and [g<h>j] never occur in the first cluster of a simple root.
>root CVCS, the second cluster may be a plain or aspirated stop
Or a nasal.
>The last cluster may be an 'orphan' or an 'adult'. If it is an >'adult', it >must be an aspirate. Glides are rare in this position and sound 'childish'.
Perhaps 'childish' is the wrong word. An adult Dhabra would not be embarrassed by using the root delow- (the name of the first female Dhabra was Deloudethakar [de.low.de.t<h>a:k.ar], the feminine form of Deloudethakra 'beautiful companion'), but it is a word that would be typical of a child's limited vocabulary.
>There is no sonority rule in GW other than a distaste for two [z]'s >in a row, the prohibition of a triconsonantal root with the same voicing of >homorganic stops, and the prohibition of homorganic stops > in CV(G)C roots
Therefore gwein- 'be ice' is acceptable, but *gweig would not be
>The second syllable of a CVCS route is the syllabic, which counts as >a >cluster for syllabification, but as a vowel for stress placement. >Thus: >C(G)V.C(G)VC open-closed >C(G)VG.NCVC open-closed >C(G)V.C(G)V(G)open-closed >CV(G)C closed >CVC.S closed-?open
I am not sure whether a syllable containing a syllabic consonant is open or closed. Normally, I would say that a closed syllable ends in a consonant, and therefore the syllable S must be closed, but a normal closed syllable contains at least a vowel as well. Any thoughts?
>Related words (most notoriously the hiyik-family) may have identical >or similar clusters.
[hVjVk] hiyik-go hiyak-leap huyuk-crawl heiek-flow [p<h>V:len] phalen-say phelen-sing pholen-orate > boast phulen-command > command (troops) [lVg^V:L] lagyal- love legyel- be devoted to lugyul- lust ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com