Silindion Returns (slightly long, but interesting I hope)

Hello All!

   Silindion returns along with its parent languages
and the whole shebang! I don't know how I got off of
the Conlang list originally, but I do know that I
haven't been here since December. I rejoined a week
ago, and have been lurking ever since while preparing
some material for presentation.

   Last week saw the development of Silindion's number
system, an event which was occured independently from
the upsurge of number systems here on Conlang. I'm
still quite excited about the system and I do intend
to share it here next week when I return to school and
the laptop which the system is currently stored on.
For right now, just know that it's a base-12 system
with some base-60 words thrown from time to time. I'll
send the whole thing next week.  :)

  This week, I've been delving into the pre-History of
Silindion in order to figure out the first language
spoken in my world. A brief introduction to that is in
order before I present my phonological findings.

   Silindion derives from the Silic branch of
Silinestic. It's sister languages are North Silic,
Essamea, and South Silic. The sister branch of Silic
is Nindic. Both Nindic and Silic are Silinestic
languages, which along with Sulindori, form the
Western Nestean languages. The Nestean languages are
divided into the Eastern group, the Mendic or Mountain
group and the Western group, which is the only group
that I've developed.

Anyways, what I have been doing is working on is the
Western Nestean phonology and in turn, the
Proto-Nestean phonology. These have been based on what
I know from the Silinestic roots I use to derive
Silindion words.

First I'll present the Proto-Nestean Vowels
 i,i:                  u,u:
   I,I:      i-       U,U:
     E,E:    @      ),):
            &,&:

note: i- is the central vowel barred-i.
      ) is open-o
      U is <u> that looks like the upside down
        omega in IPA. It's pronounced like the <u>
        in <put>, at least in my dialect.
      & is <ash>

Question 1: How viable a vowel system is that?

The vowels described above can all be made into
diphthongs containing the semi-vowels, <w> and <j>.
The semi-vowels are always the second element in the
dihphthong.

The Proto-Western development of the Nestean Vowels:
(the one on the left represents the development of the
short vowel, that on the right is the development of
the long vowel):

Simple Vowels:
i,i: >  @j, ej
u,u: >  @w, ow
I,I: >  I, I:
i-   >   I
U,U: >  U, U:
E,E: >  i-, e
@    >    a
),): >  i-, o
&,&: >  a:, e

J-Diphthongs:
ij,i:j >  I:j, i:
uj,u:j >  U:j, u:j
Ij,I:j >  Ij, I:j
i-j   >   Ij
Uj,U:j >  Uj, U:j
Ej,E:j >  i-j, ej
@j    >    aj
)j,):j >  i-j, oj
&j,&:j >  a:j, ej

W-Diphthongs:
iw,i:w >  I:w, i:w
uw,u:w >  U:w, u:
Iw,I:w >  Iw, I:w
i-w   >   Iw
Uw,U:w >  Uw, U:w
Ew,E:w >  i-w, ew
@w    >    aw
)w,):w >  i-w, ow
&w,&:w >  a:w, ew

The resultant system of simple vowels is:
   i:               u:
    I,I:   i-    U,U:
       e       o
          a,a:

@ only appears in @j and @w.

Question 2: How believable is the development?
Question 3: How viable is the Western Vowel system?

Finally, the Western Vowels developed into the
Silinestic vowels. This development is presented
below:

i:   >   i:
u:   >   u:
I,I: >   E, i
i-   >   @
U,U: >   ), u
e    >   @
o    >   @
a,a: >   a, a:

J-Diphthongs:
@j        > aj
ej        > e:
oj        > o~j
Ij, I:j   > Ej, i:
Uj, U:j   > o~j, uj
u:j       > uj
i-j       > )j
aj        > aj
a:j       > a~j

W-Diphthongs:
@w       >  aw
ew       >  o~w
ow       > o:
Iw, I:w  > Ew, iw
Uw, U:w  > o~w, u:
i:w      > iw
i-w      > )w
aw       > aw
a:w      > a~w

note: those vowels with tildes following them as part
of diphthongs are extra long.

The simple vowel system for Silinestic therefore, is
thus:
  i,i:            u,u:
    e:           o:
      E    @    )
         a, a:

Question 4: Does the development between Western and
Silinestic make sense?

I'll post the major consonantal developments in the
next email.

Elliott Lash









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