Re: Swahili on ice (was: Biwa)

> From: John Cowan
>
> daniel andreasson wrote:
>
> > I suppose I _could_ try and make Swahili go through some
> > _major_ sound changes, but still...
>
> Umlauted vowels:  ä  ö  ü
> Edh: ð
>
> How about this:
[snipped examples]


> Sound changes:
>
>         stress becomes initial (not visible orthographically)
>         intervocalic voiced stops become voiced fricatives
>         Swahili j (voiced coronal stop, IPA turned-f) becomes ð
>         final a, u disappear
>         final i disappears, fronts the vowel in the preceding syllable
>         final o, e turn to schwa (written e)
>         the first of two vowels in hiatus disappears, unless stressed
>                 in which case an epenthetic h appears
>         w > v, any preceding vowel disappears (unless stressed)
>         (purely orthographic change) y > j
>         ny > j (nasality lost)
>         syllabic m, n adopt the vowel of the next syllable
> (before the nasal)
John, I love it.  I have been toying with doing a Swahili/Bantu based
conlang for years but never got beyond toying.  Of course, being the Elf
that I am, I considered Sindarin flavored sound changes but your sketch
certainly is inspiring.

David