Re: gradation (was: Sibling)

On Wed, Dec 12, 2001 at 11:37:45PM -0800, Anton Sherwood wrote:
> "H. S. Teoh" wrote:
> > after I incorporate the recent vowel length and vowel gradation changes
> > I've been toying with... (sigh, I *never* get round to these things).
>
> is gradation like ablaut?
[snip]

Yep. My conlang actually pushes the idea a little further, and has the
concept of vowel "contour". Each noun case is characterized by its
characteristic vowel on the last syllable of the noun; the preceding
syllables will shift the vowels according to a "contour".

For example, the originative case has _0_ (/A/) as the characteristic
vowel, and a "contour" that mandates less open vowels preceding this
vowel. Hence, for a word like _th0'tai_ (/TAta.i/), the originative form
is
        tho't30         /Tot@.A/

The conveyant case, OTOH, has a characteristic vowel _3_ (/V"/ or /@/),
and a contour that centralizes preceding vowels. Hence, _th0'tai_ becomes
        tha't33'        /TatV":/

(In this case there's also syllable assimilation, but that's another topic
I won't get into.)

I personally find vowel contouring quite pleasing aesthetically(sp?), in
such words as the feminine intimate pronoun _jubi'_:
        Originative:    jub0'   /jubA/
        Receptive:      jobu'   /jobu/
        Instrumental:   jwba'   /ju"ba/
        Conveyant:      jwb3'   /ju"bV"/
        Locative:       jubi'   /jubi/


T

--
Fact is stranger than fiction.