Re: CHAT: vowel reduction (was Re: CHAT: A flat minor)

From: "Isaac A. Penzev" <isaacp@...>
> In addition to the previous post:
> ObConlang: Does any of your conlangs have regular vowel
> reduction bound to stress shift, like in Russian [dOm]
> - [dV"ma] "house" - "houses", ["gOr@t] - [g@rV"da]
> "city" - "cities"; or (Old) Hebrew [kQ:"Bo:D] -
> [k@Bo:"Do:] "glory" - "his glory", [zQ:"qe:n] -
> *[z@q@"ne:] > [ziq"ne:] "elder" - "elders of"?
Kirumb's descendants did at one point (I'm not sure if this is retained..  it's
been awhile since I've even looked into them).  [ISTR a really, really old form
for 'raccoon'--[run] sg., ["rAoni] pl.]

Henaudute only has initial stress, so no.

Trentish--I'm not even sure where the stress is yet, but there's no changes.

Ibran has vowel *lengthening* due to stress shifts.
You have forms like:

    amaar  ["AmA:]   "to love"
    amaré  [a"mAre]  "I/he/she/it will love"

I'm not sure how realistic that is, but what happens is that the original
stressed syllable was also somewhat longer, and when the stress shifted [stress
moves back one syllable] the length remained.  (The length of the [e] doesn't
change, since it's from an earlier diphthong, [eI] I think, that gets reduced
after the stress shift.)

My notes here indicate *something* like this is supposed to happen in my
yet-unnamed dragon language.  There are two schwalike proteins.. um.. phonemes
in the protolanguage.  They're supposed to assimilate somewhat to "full" vowels
in drakish and... ... well, I find this set of correspondences somewhat suspect,
and I may end up retooling them.

Here's the mystery list.  The roots all have a blank space, which was filled
with a new schwa based on.. the following vowel, I suppose.  [Been a while..
really either gotta keep up or annotate better]

    däG-n  =  däGäní
              dexen      [second e has breve]
    d@m-n  =  d@mäní
              dVmèn
    dän-G  =  dänäGi
              denèx
    d@hh-s =  d@hhäsí
              dohès      [o should actually be V, see b'low]
    däGí  -> dèG  (dêx?)
    dMxí  -> dMx         [M with grave]
    ---------------------
    Gär-kk =  Gäräkkí
           -> GerekkV
              GerèkkV
    ä?-r   =  ä?@rí
              e?Vr       [V with grave]
    @n-s   =  @n@sí      [s with dot]
              VnVT       [V with grave, T-approximant]
    @n-d   =  @nädí
              Vnèd
    häz-G  =  häzäGí
              esex       [second e with breve]
    @ss-kk =  @ss@kkí    [first @ with undertilde]
              VssVkkV    [first V with und~, second with grave]

I gather that the bits on the left are the proto-roots, the bits on the right of
the eqsigns protoforms, and the bits on their own lines are the hypothetical
drakish outcomes.  [The preponderance of [V], and the [M], are consequences of
no-rounded-vowels acting on what ought to be [o] and [u].]

The stress seems to move back a syllable to create a grave accent, then the
final vowel drops.  I don't know where the breves come from.  :|


    *Muke!
--
http://www.frath.net/