I have decided to create a fictional branch of Indo-European, currently nameless, with three main languages, for now named language A, B and C, and their ancestor, Proto-ABC (I suck at making up names).
Each language has a detailed history, with an old-, middle- and new- phase, describing language change comparable to that from Sanskrit to modern Indo-Aryan languages. I have already sketched all of the sound changes, as well as nominal and verbal morphology of each language, but all is liable to change.
For starters, a brief sketch of Language C:
Phonology:
The transliteration is loosely inspired by Biblical Hebrew.
CONSONANTS:
plosives: /p t k b d g/ <p t k b d g>
fricatives: /f θ s z ʃ ʒ x χ h/ <f ṯ s z š ž ḵ x h>
nasals: /m n ŋ/ <m n ŋ>
liquids: /l ɾ/ <l r>
semivowels: /w j/ <w y>
Each of the voiced plosives has a fricative allophone. Plosives occur utterance-initially, and after a homorganic nasal, (plus a homorganic fricative in the case of /d/), otherwise they are fricatives. Fricative allophones can be written
as <ḇ ḏ ḡ> if wanted/needed, because I may make them marginally phonemic (that is still undecided, for example, I may distinguish /zd/ and /zð/), and because it adds to the Biblical Hebrew esthetic.
VOWELS:
high: /i iː u uː/ <i ī u ū>
mid: /eː ɛ ɛː ə oː ɔ ɔː/ <ê e ē ə ô o ō>
low: /a aː/ <a ā>
Schwa is marginally phonemic, usually deriving from unstressed /a/, but not all unstressed /a/ change to schwa.
STRESS:
Placement of stress is phonologically distinctive. It is written with an acute accent, but will be replaced here by the IPA mark since the acute looks ugly in this font.
PHONOTACTICS:
Syllable structure is (C)(w, y)V(C), with an optional /t/ added to it word-finally. Roots frequently do not obey the structure, in which case an epenthetic schwa is added.
a voiceless consonant can precede a voiced consonant, but not the opposite.
MORPHONOLOGY:
There is ablaut, some inherited from PIE, but mostly innovated: the vowel slot can sometimes move between different consonants of a root, although every root still has an inherent vowel. The system is thus far from a true triconsonantal root system.
Morphology:
This is what the descendant of PIE *bʰer- "to carry" looks like in the present tense, just to give you a taste of the language:
singular:
1. munˈḇār /munˈβaːɾ/
2. tinˈḇār /tinˈβaːɾ/
3. ˈbart /ˈbaɾt/
dual:
1. ˈmêlḇəren /ˈmeːlβəɾen/
2. ˈtêlḇəren /ˈteːlβəɾen/
3. ˈlaḇāren /ˈlaβaːɾen/
plural:
1. ˈmêḇəren /ˈmeːβəɾen/
2. ˈtêḇəren /ˈteːβəɾen/
3. ˈbāren(t) /ˈbaːɾɛn(t)/
I would be glad to hear your suggestions regarding the phonology and the orthography.
Zekoslav's conlang attempt thread - Indo-European descendant
Zekoslav's conlang attempt thread - Indo-European descendant
Last edited by Zekoslav on 03 Dec 2017 13:25, edited 2 times in total.
Languages:
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A linguistics enthusiast who occasionally frequents the CBB.
- Guide to Slavic accentuation
[:D], [;)], [:D], [:|], [:(], [:'(]
A linguistics enthusiast who occasionally frequents the CBB.
- Guide to Slavic accentuation
Re: Zekoslav's conlang attempt thread - Indo-European descendant
Does this language preserve laryngeals? Are the fricatives descended from them? I'm interested in seeing the diachronics in gen eral, and if you're interested ,the phonology you used as a starting point from PIE itself.
Also, regarding the two x's.... Some mobile browsers merge those two, so I had to copy paste into Wikipedia to find out which was which .
edit: actually, it's doing it on my desktop PC too. This ----> ꭓ <----- might work, but I cant even see it myself, so I'd say it's just a limitation we'll have to deal with. I figured the IPA symbol would be in Unicode with a separate value, but it apparently isnt.
Also, regarding the two x's.... Some mobile browsers merge those two, so I had to copy paste into Wikipedia to find out which was which .
edit: actually, it's doing it on my desktop PC too. This ----> ꭓ <----- might work, but I cant even see it myself, so I'd say it's just a limitation we'll have to deal with. I figured the IPA symbol would be in Unicode with a separate value, but it apparently isnt.
Last edited by Pabappa on 23 Nov 2017 00:31, edited 1 time in total.
Makapappi nauppakiba.
The wolf-sheep ate itself. (Play)
The wolf-sheep ate itself. (Play)
Re: Zekoslav's conlang attempt thread - Indo-European descendant
Yes, my browser does it as well. The first x is the Latin x, the second is supposed to be the Greek Chi, that is, the IPA for velar and uvular fricatives respectively.Pabappa wrote: ↑21 Nov 2017 18:39 Does this language preserve laryngeals? Are the fricatives descended from them? I'm interested in seeing the diachronics in gen eral, and if you're interested ,the phonology you used as a starting point from PIE itself.
Also, regArding the two x's.... Some mobile browsers merge those two, so I had to copy paste into Wikipedia to find out which was which .
The diachronics are coming soon, I promise . I should probably put them in a separate document since there is quite a few sound changes happening!
As for the Laryingeals, no, the language does not preserve them. /h/ derives from PIE *s, while the uvular /x/ derives from multiple clusters involving PIE *k(w). The velar /x/ is comparatively young, deriving from a devoiced [ɣ ], an allophone of /g/, which has then been introduced into other environments.
Languages:
[:D], [;)], [:D], [:|], [:(], [:'(]
A linguistics enthusiast who occasionally frequents the CBB.
- Guide to Slavic accentuation
[:D], [;)], [:D], [:|], [:(], [:'(]
A linguistics enthusiast who occasionally frequents the CBB.
- Guide to Slavic accentuation
Re: Zekoslav's conlang attempt thread - Indo-European descendant
Where is this language spoken?
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
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Re: Zekoslav's conlang attempt thread - Indo-European descendant
You might consider using an extension like Stylish, at least until the default font is changed to something other than Trebuchet MS.
[ˈaʃt̪əɹ ˈbalɨˌnɛsʲtʲəɹ]
Re: Zekoslav's conlang attempt thread - Indo-European descendant
Most likely on a conworld, whose geography is currently a work in progress. It started as a silly story I wrote as a teenager and I am trying to make it more serious now. If spoken on Earth, it would probably be located somewhere in the Carpathians since it is a satem language sharing isoglosses with Indo-Iranian, Greek and Albanian.
Languages:
[:D], [;)], [:D], [:|], [:(], [:'(]
A linguistics enthusiast who occasionally frequents the CBB.
- Guide to Slavic accentuation
[:D], [;)], [:D], [:|], [:(], [:'(]
A linguistics enthusiast who occasionally frequents the CBB.
- Guide to Slavic accentuation
Re: Zekoslav's conlang attempt thread - Indo-European descendant. EDIT: heavily edited for readability.
Diachronics time!
First, a taste of what the endpoint is: a particularly divergent dialect spoken in modern times, spoken a couple of centuries after the dialect from the last post. All examples will be in IPA because I haven't decided it's orthography yet.
1. SKETCH OF THE LANGUAGE
NOUNS:
[ˈmuːɑ̯̆ħ] "mother"
INDEPENDENT:
sg. [ˈmuːɑ̯̆ħ], pl. [ˈmuːʔt]
POSSESSED:
sg. noun: 1. sg. [ˈmuːj], 2. sg. [ˈmuːjɐ̆ħ] 3. sg. [ˈmuːj > ˈmuːjɑ], 1. pl. [ˈmuːjmi], 2. pl. [ˈmuːjsi] 3. pl. [ˈmuːjə > ˈmuːjɑ(ʁ̞)]
pl. noun: 1. sg. [ˈmuːʔt], 2. sg. [ˈmuːʔtħ] 3. sg. [ˈmuːʔtɑ], 1. pl. [ˈmuːʔtmi], 2. pl. [ˈmuːʔtsi] 3. pl. [ˈmuːʔtɑ(ʁ̞)]
VERBS:
[tm̩ˈχuːwɑː] "to divide"
UNMARKED ASPECT (meaning undecided):
Present:
sg. 1. [ˈmteməχ], 2. [ˈsteməχ], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ]
pl. 1. [ˈmiːtm̩χu], 2. [ˈtiːtm̩χu], 3. [tm̩ˈχuː]
Past:
sg. 1. [tm̩ˈχuː], 2. [tm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːw]
pl. 1. [tm̩ˈχuːmə], 2. [tm̩ˈχuːtə], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːw]
MARKED ASPECT (meaning undecided):
Present:
sg. 1. [ˌmətm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ ~ m̩tm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ], 2. [ˌsətm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ ~ stm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːħoɐ̯̆ħ]
pl. 1. [ˈmiːtm̩ˌχuːħu], 2. [ˈtiːtm̩ˌχuːħu], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːħu]
Past:
sg. 1. [tm̩ˈχuːħuː], 2. [tm̩ˈχuːħuːɐ̯̆ħ], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːħuˑw]
pl. 1. [tm̩ˈχuːħuːmə ~ tm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħmə], 2. [tm̩ˈχuːħuːtə ~ tm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħtə], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːħuˑw]
If I have managed to achieve any of my conlanging goals, I hope I have made this conlang innovative (from a diachronic point of view).
2. DIACHRONY
Diachrony will have to be divided into phases: Proto-, Old-, Middle- and New-C (Conlang).
PIE. > Proto-C:
I follow a standard reconstruction of PIE. such as the one on Wikipedia. The amount of change from PIE. to Proto-C should be comparable to that from PIE. to Sanskrit.
Abbreviations: C - consonant, T - stop, S - sibilant, V - vowel
1. Consonants:
*C, *Cʱ > *C / _
*ḱ, *ǵ > *c /t͡s/, *j /d͡z/ / _
*kʷ, *gʷ > *k, *g / _V[+round]
*kʷ, *gʷ > *kw, *gw / _
*s > *š /ʃ/ / RUKI_
*m > *n / _#
2. Consonant clusters:
Bartholomae's law: *T, *s > *Dʱ, *zʱ / Dʱ_
Kluge's law: C1n > C1C1 / _V[+accent]
*tt > *st
*ḱ > *t / _S, S_
*ḱ > *š / _T, T_
*ḱ > *š / _n
*tš, *dž > *čč /t͡ʃː/, *ǰǰ /d͡ʒː/ / _
*cy, *jy, *sy, *šy > *čč, *ǰǰ, *šš, *šš / _
*nw > *nn / _
*rS, *lS > *rr, *ll / _
Next time: vowels!
First, a taste of what the endpoint is: a particularly divergent dialect spoken in modern times, spoken a couple of centuries after the dialect from the last post. All examples will be in IPA because I haven't decided it's orthography yet.
1. SKETCH OF THE LANGUAGE
NOUNS:
[ˈmuːɑ̯̆ħ] "mother"
INDEPENDENT:
sg. [ˈmuːɑ̯̆ħ], pl. [ˈmuːʔt]
POSSESSED:
sg. noun: 1. sg. [ˈmuːj], 2. sg. [ˈmuːjɐ̆ħ] 3. sg. [ˈmuːj > ˈmuːjɑ], 1. pl. [ˈmuːjmi], 2. pl. [ˈmuːjsi] 3. pl. [ˈmuːjə > ˈmuːjɑ(ʁ̞)]
pl. noun: 1. sg. [ˈmuːʔt], 2. sg. [ˈmuːʔtħ] 3. sg. [ˈmuːʔtɑ], 1. pl. [ˈmuːʔtmi], 2. pl. [ˈmuːʔtsi] 3. pl. [ˈmuːʔtɑ(ʁ̞)]
VERBS:
[tm̩ˈχuːwɑː] "to divide"
UNMARKED ASPECT (meaning undecided):
Present:
sg. 1. [ˈmteməχ], 2. [ˈsteməχ], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ]
pl. 1. [ˈmiːtm̩χu], 2. [ˈtiːtm̩χu], 3. [tm̩ˈχuː]
Past:
sg. 1. [tm̩ˈχuː], 2. [tm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːw]
pl. 1. [tm̩ˈχuːmə], 2. [tm̩ˈχuːtə], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːw]
MARKED ASPECT (meaning undecided):
Present:
sg. 1. [ˌmətm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ ~ m̩tm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ], 2. [ˌsətm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ ~ stm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħ], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːħoɐ̯̆ħ]
pl. 1. [ˈmiːtm̩ˌχuːħu], 2. [ˈtiːtm̩ˌχuːħu], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːħu]
Past:
sg. 1. [tm̩ˈχuːħuː], 2. [tm̩ˈχuːħuːɐ̯̆ħ], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːħuˑw]
pl. 1. [tm̩ˈχuːħuːmə ~ tm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħmə], 2. [tm̩ˈχuːħuːtə ~ tm̩ˈχuːɐ̯̆ħtə], 3. [tm̩ˈχuːħuˑw]
If I have managed to achieve any of my conlanging goals, I hope I have made this conlang innovative (from a diachronic point of view).
2. DIACHRONY
Diachrony will have to be divided into phases: Proto-, Old-, Middle- and New-C (Conlang).
PIE. > Proto-C:
I follow a standard reconstruction of PIE. such as the one on Wikipedia. The amount of change from PIE. to Proto-C should be comparable to that from PIE. to Sanskrit.
Abbreviations: C - consonant, T - stop, S - sibilant, V - vowel
1. Consonants:
*C, *Cʱ > *C / _
*ḱ, *ǵ > *c /t͡s/, *j /d͡z/ / _
*kʷ, *gʷ > *k, *g / _V[+round]
*kʷ, *gʷ > *kw, *gw / _
*s > *š /ʃ/ / RUKI_
*m > *n / _#
2. Consonant clusters:
Bartholomae's law: *T, *s > *Dʱ, *zʱ / Dʱ_
Kluge's law: C1n > C1C1 / _V[+accent]
*tt > *st
*ḱ > *t / _S, S_
*ḱ > *š / _T, T_
*ḱ > *š / _n
*tš, *dž > *čč /t͡ʃː/, *ǰǰ /d͡ʒː/ / _
*cy, *jy, *sy, *šy > *čč, *ǰǰ, *šš, *šš / _
*nw > *nn / _
*rS, *lS > *rr, *ll / _
Next time: vowels!
Languages:
[:D], [;)], [:D], [:|], [:(], [:'(]
A linguistics enthusiast who occasionally frequents the CBB.
- Guide to Slavic accentuation
[:D], [;)], [:D], [:|], [:(], [:'(]
A linguistics enthusiast who occasionally frequents the CBB.
- Guide to Slavic accentuation
Re: Zekoslav's conlang attempt thread - Indo-European descendant
Here's the complete phonology and diachronics for the first phase of my conlang:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b9N7h ... zNcvUhCHDA
It seems that uploading the file to Google Drive has somewhat ruined it's layout, but I don't know how to fix it. If anyone does know, I'd be happy if you could help me
Notes:
1. The sound change list begins with all the allophonic changes of PIE proper (such as Stang's, Siever's and Szemereny's laws) already applied. It is not written in IPA, but in the languages' regular orthography, such as is the tradition in Indo-European studies, but it should not be a problem as it is described earlier in the document.
2. I discovered I haven't described the stress system. It is because I still haven't decided whether the language should preserve PIE accent (with changes as described in the sound change list) or have a fixed stress on the first syllable.
I realise most of the changes are quite similar to those found in real IE languages. This is partly deliberate, because I notice related languages tend to show vaguely similar changes in the period immediately following their split from their proto-language, and partly because I wanted the proto-language to resemble Indo-Iranian languages, since it is supposed to be their close cousin later replaced by the spread of Iranian languages proper.
As always, I appreciate any comment
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b9N7h ... zNcvUhCHDA
It seems that uploading the file to Google Drive has somewhat ruined it's layout, but I don't know how to fix it. If anyone does know, I'd be happy if you could help me
Notes:
1. The sound change list begins with all the allophonic changes of PIE proper (such as Stang's, Siever's and Szemereny's laws) already applied. It is not written in IPA, but in the languages' regular orthography, such as is the tradition in Indo-European studies, but it should not be a problem as it is described earlier in the document.
2. I discovered I haven't described the stress system. It is because I still haven't decided whether the language should preserve PIE accent (with changes as described in the sound change list) or have a fixed stress on the first syllable.
I realise most of the changes are quite similar to those found in real IE languages. This is partly deliberate, because I notice related languages tend to show vaguely similar changes in the period immediately following their split from their proto-language, and partly because I wanted the proto-language to resemble Indo-Iranian languages, since it is supposed to be their close cousin later replaced by the spread of Iranian languages proper.
As always, I appreciate any comment
Languages:
[:D], [;)], [:D], [:|], [:(], [:'(]
A linguistics enthusiast who occasionally frequents the CBB.
- Guide to Slavic accentuation
[:D], [;)], [:D], [:|], [:(], [:'(]
A linguistics enthusiast who occasionally frequents the CBB.
- Guide to Slavic accentuation