Re: Personal Introduction

Cf below


>From: nicole perrin <nicole.eap@...>
>Reply-To: Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...>
>To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
>Subject: Re: Personal Introduction
>Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 18:36:14 -0400
>
>Anthony M. Miles wrote:
> >
> > My name is Anthony. I am twenty-three and have been conlanging on and
>off
> > for ten years. I prefer language families to isolates, although I tend
>not
> > to have long wordlists of more than one of them. I also can't resist
> > fiddling. My current conlang family is called the 'Gweinic' family and
>is
> > spoken on a flat world ringed by mountains by 'people' born straight
>from
> > the earth. The ancestor of the Gweinic language family is Gweinic,
>spoken by
> > the ice people and therefore possessing words such as [beraddhalej] 'an
> > angle between 18 and 36 degrees viewed
> > from directly ahead/behind'. Gweinic became Early Lahabic and Early
>Maradic
> > on two of the islands after the great melt and transmigration of souls.
> > Early Lahabic split into Classical Labic and Wouenic for political
>reasons
> > which I may go into in conculture. Early Maradic became Classical
>Maradic.
> > Both Classical languages have considerable borrowed vocabulary, and
>there is
> > a marine pidgin which produces a creole called Todanic.
>
>Hi and welcome.  I see you can now post, hmm? :)
>Tell us more about this family -- what are the languages like?
>Isolating, polysynthetic, VSO, VOS, etc etc?
>As an aside, I'm always so jealous of people who do entire language
>families.  I don't have the attention span to do that.  Or the time.
>But I would love to have a real family, with a proto-language, and a
>classical language, and the modern language, and this that and the
>other.  Maybe the summer...nah, I have too many other ambitious projects
>to find time any time soon.  Oh well.
>
>Nicole
>
>PS -- For those on the list who aren't participating, the relay was
>kicked off last night!
Here's the code: GW=Gweinic; EL=Early Lahabic; CL=Classical Labic;
W=Woeuenic; EM=Early Maradic; CL=Classical Maradic; TD=Todanic. BTW, the ou
of Woeuenic is pronounced [Yw].
I suppose I should start with Gweinic, the ancester of the others.
Most of this information pertains to EL, but keep in mind that I have not
had to articulate much of this before. GW phonology is heavily
stop-oriented, possessing plain, aspirated, palatalized, and labiovelarized
stops, that the only voiceless labiovelar stop is the velar [k<w>]. The
velars and labials are favored in roots. The [t] and [d] series are dental,
not alveolar. There are two nasals, [m] and [n[], which become homorganic
before another stop or nasal; [N], although it receives a symbol in the
CL runic alphabet, is an allophone of [n], [m], or [g] before a stop. The
sole fricative is [z], although orthographically 's'. The dental approximant
is [r[], the palatal approximant [j], the labiovelar approximant [w], the
glottal approximant [h] The lateral consonant is
also dental [l[].
The syllabics are r, l, m, n.

The vowels are [i] [hgh fnt unrd], [e] [umd fnt unrd], [a] [low cnt unrd],
[o] [umd bck rd], and [u] [hgh bck round]. The diphthongs are formed from a
low or upper-middle vowel followed by a glide. Thus they are [aj], [aw],
[ej], [ew], [oj], and [ow]. An intervocalic glide preceded by [a], [e], [o]
does not form a diphthong.
Thus, the complete phonemic list in GW is p [p], ph [p<h>],
py [p^], b [b], bh [b<h>], by [b^], bw [b<w>], t [t], th [t<h>],
ty [t^], d [d], dh [d<h>], dy [d^], dw [d<w>], k [k], kh [k<h>],
ky [k^], kw [k<w>], g [g], gh [g<h>], gy [g^], gw [g<w>],  m [m], n [n[], r
[r[], y [j], w [w], h [h], a [a], e [e], i [i], o [o], u [u], r [r<syl>], l
[l<syl>], m [m<syl>], and n [n[<syl>].

Simple roots always follow one of following forms: C(G)VC(G)VC,
C(G)VGNCVC, C(G)VC(G)V(G), CV(G)C, CVCS, where C=consonant, G=glide ([j] or
[w]), N=nasal, V=vowels, and S=syllabic.
C(G)VC(G)VC is the most frequent form. CV(G)C is far behind, but currently
slightly more common than C(G)VC(G)V(G), which is prominent only because of
the meanings of its roots (be, have, place, be beautiful). CVCS is extremely
rare, but again gains prominence through the meaning of its roots (soul,
king, Create). C(G)VGNCVC is an alternative form of certain C(G)VC(G)VC
roots, with -VjnV- corresponding to -Vd^V- and -VwnV- to -Vd<w>V-. It should
be noted, however, that the EL form [b<h>ajnet<h>], 'sheep' is onomatopoeia
and the alternative form [b<h>ad^et<h>] is analogical. A plain stop, nasal,
approximant, or lateral is called an 'orphan' An aspirated, palatalized, or
labiovelarized stop is called an 'adult'. A cluster of an 'adult' plus a
glide is called a 'family'.

The first cluster of a root may be an 'orphan', an 'adult', or a 'family'.
An exception to this is a root CV(G)C, which may not have
a 'family' in this position. The first vowel of the root may be a short or
long simple vowel. It may only be a diphthong if the root has the form
C(G)VGNCVC. In a root CV(G)C, the glide, if there is one, follows the (first
and only) vowel. The second cluster may be an 'orphan' or an 'adult', but
never a family. Obviously,the second cluster must be [n[] or [m] if the root
is C(G)VGNCVC. In a root CV(G)C, the second cluster cannot be a glide. In a
root CVCS, the second cluster may be a plain or aspirated stop and may not
be a glide. The second vowel can be a short or long simple vowel and
frequently is the same in quality and quantity as the first vowel. The last
cluster may be an 'orphan' or an 'adult'. If it is an 'adult', it must be an
aspirate. Glides are rare in this position and sound
'childish'.
There is no sonority rule in GW other than a distaste for two [z]'s
in a row, the prohibition of a triconsonantal root with the same voicing of
homorganic stops, and the prohibition of homorganic stops in CV(G)C roots
(the root [mu:zu:z], 'lie', is _meant_ to sound strange and unpleasant). The
second cluster of a triconsonantal root begins a new syllable, but the
second cluster of a CV(G)C  root is part of the only syllable of the root.
The second syllable of a
CVCS route is the syllabic, which counts as a cluster for
syllabification, but as a vowel for stress placement. Thus:
C(G)V.C(G)VC open-closed
C(G)VG.NCVC open-closed
C(G)V.C(G)V(G)open-closed
CV(G)C closed
CVC.S closed-?open
Related words (most notoriously the hiyik-family) may have identical
or similar clusters.
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