Re: Help on Sound Changes

Santiago Matías Feldman skrev:
> Hi!
>
> I need some advice on my sound changes from Latin into my
> Romlang "Laturslav".
>
> In the inventory of phonemes, I decided to include the
> fricatives /S/, /Z/ and the affricates /tS/ and /ts/. No
> /dZ/ there.
>
> So, I chose a usual sound change in Romanian (I think) and
> in many Slavic languages: /t/ ---> /ts/ before /j/, and
> /k/ ----> /ts/ before 'e' and 'i':
>
> informatio ---> informacya (where c is /ts/) caelum ---->
> cel (idem)
>
> But then, I discovered that if I applied those sound
> changes, Laturslav would be full of /ts/'s and I don't
> want that to happen. Therefore, I decided to replace those
> sound changes with these:
>
> /t/ ---> /s/ /k/ ---> /s/ (this is like in my native
> dialect of Spanish)
>
> But I found that that would mean the absence of /ts/, and
> I don't want that either.
>
> So, the question is, how can I manage to keep /ts/ present
> in the language to a minimum, while at the same time
> applying the changes of /t/ and /k/ to /s/?
>
> That is, where can /ts/ derive from?

Obviously on the Italian/Rumanian model: (I'm using the
Romanicist convention of writing Vulgar Latin sounds and
words with capital letters, and C', G' are these letters
before J, E, I (or Y))

  * C > /tS/
  * G > /dZ/
  * SC > /S/
  * J- > /dZ/ at the beginning of words (i.e. written Latin I
    E before vowels at the beginning of words.)

French has C > /tS/ > /S/ and G > /dZ/ > /Z/ before A as
well, regardless whether A itself becomes /E/ or not.

  * TJ > /ts/

(i.e. written Latin TI/TE/TY before vowels)

  * DJ > /dz/

(i.e. written Latin DI/DE/DY before vowels, not a very
frequent combination, and often becoming /dZ/ even in
Italian -- there was probably a sociolectal difference in
Vulgar Latin!)

The endings -ATICUM etc. would also be expected to end up
with /tS/ or /dZ/ cf. VIATICUM > Fr. _voyage_, Provençal
_viatge_. (It. _viaggio_, Sp. _viaje_, Pt. _viagem_ are
borrowed from Provençzl!)

FWIW my unnamed Romlang with theworking name R3 has

  * C', TJ > /ts/ > /s/ (spelled _c, ç_) but
  * G', J > /dZ/ (spelled _G, GI, J_),
  * SC' > /S/
  * DJ > /dz/ > /z/ (spelled _z_),
  * CT in all positions and CC' > /tS/, also VIATICUM >
    _viatx_ /vi'jatS/ (_tx_ being the normal spelling of
    /tS/)

In addition X metathesized to SC (the reverse of what
actually happened in French!) and this SC also > /S/ where
applicable. Hence _x_ was an early spelling for /S/,
although later _x_ was /ks/ in loans/learned words from
Latin, and /S/ was spelled _sç_ where not followed by
_e/i/y_, notably at the end of words, e.g. CONSCIUM >
/ko:skju/ > _coux_ > _causç_ /kauS/.

>
> Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.
I hope this helps. There is a problem how to get both /dZ/
and /Z/. Perhaps intervocalic G' and/or SJ (BASIUM, CASEUS)
> /Z/. I'm still mulling over this WRT R3. It is tempting to
have initial J- and G'- develop differently, but there is no
precedence for that. In fact they most probably merged as
/j/ in Vulgar Latin, which then hardened to /J\/ > /dZ/ in
most places, with later /dZ/ > /Z/, and then /Z/ > /S/ > /x/
in Spanish. Intervocalic J remained /j/ unless it
disappeared.

/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch at melroch dot se

     a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot

     (Max Weinreich)


--


/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch at melroch dot se

    a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot

                                 (Max Weinreich)