Re: DISC: phonological system of Adain

At 03:50 PM 3/14/2002 -0500, I wrote:
>  Follows is a discussion of phonological patterns in Adain (formerly known
>as Sephas). And in case you wonder, no, it is not an anagram of my name! It
>derives from _adan_ 'people' and the adjectival/language suffix -in.
    ook, i forgot the happy euphonic rule!

    no two syllables can contain the same consonant. For purposes of this
rule, geminate consonants count as different from single consonants. The
sound changes that result are varied, and still mostly unexplored. I can
detail the nasals, however. In general, single nasals drop, and geminate
nasals simplify in unstressed syllables only.

    aonnen 'I itch' is fine because 'nn' and 'n' are different consonants.
    adanin is not permitted, so the first n is dropped > Adain (the name of
the lang) (for now).
    hammemme 'we sit' isn't allowed. The stress is on the first syllable,
which includes the geminate consonant which indicates the short vowel. The
second geminate simplifies > hammem, or hammeme.


    In terms of clusters, only identical clusters are considered to duplicate:

    tendande 'it was needed' > tendaine
       the strangesness here is due to the fact that the stem is tendad-.
The preterite conjuct form of tenda 'to need', which also serves as the
stative verb form. Tendad- + imperf. -ne > tendande. However, the conjunct
form of tenda has a stem tendai- as well : the d fricativizes and then
vocalizes, which is used as the new pattern here.

    I have this feeling that most cluster duplications are going to be
handled similarly, i.e. with recourse to alternate forms.

   Also, if anyone has info on English stress patterns, i'd be greatly
appreciative. It seems that Adain will use these stress patterns as well.
at least, it certainly looks that way so far.

   Aidan

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