Re: Sound change rules for erosion

Amanda Babcock wrote:
> I currently have:
>
>   C=ptkmlrswh
>   V=aeiuo
>   all syllables CV
>
> Root words are 3-4 syllables long.  There are 1-syllable derivational
> infixes (they go before the final syllable) and 2-syllable suffixes (maybe
> also prefixes).
>
> Accent is on the first syllable, with a dactyllic pattern (secondary
> accent on 4th and, if there is one, 7th syllable).  A secondary accent
> is on the following syllable, with the third (sixth, ninth) syllables
> very short.
Some changes you could consider:

Assimilations
  Nasal + stop -> voiced stop
   mt -> nt -> d
   tm -> d
  Stop + h -> aspirated stop
   th -> /t_h/
  Thereby creating a threefold distinction between voiced, voiceless
  unaspirated and voiceless aspirated
Consonant losses
  intervocalic /h/ -> 0
Compensatory lengthening
  VhC -> V:C
Vowel shifts and monophthongalization
  i     -> ja
  e     -> i
  a     -> O
  o     -> u
  u     -> wa
  ae    -> E
  ai    -> e
  ao    -> o
  au/aw -> o
  ei    -> i
  ea    -> j&
  eo    -> jo
  eu/ew -> ju
  oi    -> y
  oe    -> 2
  oa    -> wa
  ou/ow -> u
  (Just a suggestion, there's lots of possibilities for vowel
   combinations)
More assimilations
  hw, wh -> /w_0/ -> /f/
  tl -> /tK/ -> /K/ (voiceless lateral fricative)
Allophony and loss of conditioning environment
  ti = [tsi]
  tiha [tsiha] -> tia [tsia] -> tsa [tsa]
Voiceless vowel allophones deleted
  sita [si_0ta] -> [sta]
  (If you want to avoid syllable types like [kta], you can have a rule
   that deletion only occurs after fricatives, and then later lose the
   voiceless alophones, thus kita [ki_ta] -> [kita] Alternately, you
   can have something happpen to complex initial clusters, say,
   [kt] -> [xt] or [ks] or simply [kt] -> [t])

You may need semantic changes.  Significant changes are likely to
completely obliterate gramatical paradigms, leading to losses of
categories.  Also, more homophones will likely come into existence,
requiring compounding and/or derivation to compensate

Also, don't be afraid to invoke foreign influences.  Perhaps your people
come into contact with a people whose language is far more complex, and
thus, there will be syllable types and phonemes introduced via
borrowings, which would only exist (at least initially) in the new
words.  Presumably the earliest borrowings would be the most heavily
nativized, while later borrowings would be less so.

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