Re: Unahoban revisited + vowel inflections

Roberto Suarez Soto <ask4it@...> writes:

> Bye bye, 2 conjugations; welcome,
> nice-and-simple single-conjugation system.
Hey! I have two verb and two noun classes in Terbian (my newest).
Admittedly they're a pain in the neck (I guess Spanish genders
and conjugations must be a pain for non-natives, too) but they
add variety (I'd always made conlangs with single-conjugation
systems before...).

>         I'm not 100% sure that I'm using IPA correctly.
Is "c" = /c/ or /k/? (/c/ is the unvoiced palatal stop).
The stress mark is /'/ (/"/ in proper X-SAMPA) but it goes
before the stressed syllable.

>         - In the present tense, the vowel of the stressed syllabe of the
>           feminine form "closes" a little. Thus, it passes from /A/ to
>           /a/.
That would have to be fronting instead of closing. /A/ is a back vowel,
/a/ is a front vowel.

>           changes: it "opens" in the masculine form (/i/ -> /@/) and
>           "closes" in the feminine form (/i/ -> /y/).
/i/ -> /@/ is lowering and centralization.
/i/ -> /y/ is rounding.

>         - In the future tense, the vowel of the stressed syllabe "opens"
>           (/A/ -> /AA/) in the masculine form, and "closes" (/A/ ->
>           /ae/) in the feminine form.
I'm not sure where IPA ends and orthographic transliteration begins,
here. Maybe you should arrange the vowels within a vowel triangle, and
work the changes from that.

> PS: the inflection thing came as a wandering thought while I was going
> to do the weekly shopping. I was thinking about the difference between
> spanish "hombre" (man) and "hembra" (female...
> There was a very obvious inflection here,
Probably someone answered this already, but no, there isn't (AFAICT).
"Hombre" comes from Latin |homine(m?)|, thru /omne/ > /omre/ > /ombre/.
"Hembra" comes from Latin |femina(m?)|, thru a similar process (with
/f/ becoming /h/ and then being lost). The first change is called
syncope (in this case, loss of a medial unstressed vowel), then
dissimulation (/mn/ > /mr/), then IIRC epenthesis (/mr/ > /mbr/).


--Pablo Flores
  http://www.angelfire.com/scifi2/nyh/index.html
  "Your freedom justifies our war."
    (Niccolò Macchiavelli -- slightly paraphrased.)

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