language of 3 - phonology

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Oneiros K
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language of 3 - phonology

Post by Oneiros K »

I’m developing a family of languages for a fantasy story. It would be great to get a feedback on whether or not the diachronic sound changes are plausible. In this post I will only focus on the development of word-initial consonants.

Brain language

This is the mother language of all further languages. It is supposed to be an artificial language even within the scope of the story (so it should NOT be naturalistic), and it’s phonology and structure are symmetrical and based on the number 3.

Word-initially, it has 27 consonant phonemes.
3 places of articulation (labial, dental, velar)
3 manners (plosive, fricative, nasal)
3 modifications (plain, aspirated, ejective/glottalized)

Word-initial consonant cluster are not allowed.

|Labial | Dental |Velar
Plosive |p pʰ pʼ | t tʰ tʼ | k kʰ kʼ
Fricative |f fʰ fʼ | s sʰ sʼ |x xʰ xʼ
Nasal |m mʱ mʼ |n nʱ nʼ |ŋ ŋʱ ŋʼ

Lungs Language
This language evolved from the Brain language.

/f fʰ fʼ/ → /v f p͡fʼ/
/s sʰ sʼ/ → /z s t͡sʼ/
/x xʰ xʼ/ → /ɾ x k͡xʼ/

/ɾ/ has a wide range of realizations:
[ɾ r l ɣ]

/s z/ → [ɕ ʑ] / _{e, i}
/t͡sʼ/ → [t͡ɕʼ] / _{e, i}

Plosive| p pʰ pʼ |t tʰ tʼ |k kʰ kʼ
Affricate| p͡fʼ |/t͡sʼ/ [t͡sʼ t͡ɕʼ] | k͡xʼ
Fricative| v f | /z/[z ʑ] /s/[s ɕ] | x
Nasal| | m mʱ mʼ | n nʱ nʼ |ŋ ŋʱ ŋʼ
Tap| /ɾ/[ɾ r l ɣ]

Ancient Common
Evolved from Lungs.

/p pʰ pʼ/ → /b p pˤ/
/t tʰ tʼ/ → /d t tˤ/
/k kʰ kʼ/ → /g k q/

/p͡fʼ t͡sʼ k͡xʼ/ → /p͡fˤ t͡sˤ q͡χ/

/mʱ mʼ/ → /m mˤ/
/nʱ nʼ/ → /n nˤ/
/ŋʱ ŋʼ/ → /ŋ ɴ/

[ɣ] → [ʁ]

Plosive| b p pˤ | d t tˤ | g k | q
Affricate | p͡fˤ | /t͡sˤ/[t͡sˤ t͡ɕ] |q͡χ
Fricative | v f |/z/[z ʑ] /s/[s ɕ] | x
Nasal | m mˤ | n nˤ | ŋ | ɴ
Tap | /ɾ/ [ɾ r l ʁ]

High Skeleton
Evolved from Ancient Common

Clerics tried to reestablish the the lost aspirated consonants by inserting /x/ after former aspirated consonants.

/pʰ tʰ kʰ/ → /px tx k͡x/
/mʱ nʱ ŋʱ/ → /m̩.x n̩.x ŋ̩.x/

[ɾ r l] → [ɾ̥ r̥ ɬ] / word-initially

Plosive | b px pˤ | d tx tˤ | g | q
Affricate | p͡fˤ | /t͡sˤ/[t͡sˤ t͡ɕ] | k͡x | q͡χ
Fricative| v f | /z/[z ʑ] /s/[s ɕ] | x
Nasal | m mˤ m̩.x | n nˤ n̩.x | ŋ ŋ̩.x | ɴ
Tap | /ɾ/[ɾ̥ r̥ ɬ ʁ]

Southern Common
Evolved from Ancient Common

/pˤ tˤ q/ → /p t k/
/p͡fˤ t͡sˤ q͡χ/ → /p͡f t͡s k͡x/

[ɕ ʑ t͡ɕ] → [ʃ ʒ t͡ʃ ]

/x/ → /h/

/ŋ/ → /ɲ/

/mˤ nˤ ɴ/ → /m n ŋ/

Loss of [ʁ] allophone.

Plosive | b p | d t | g k
Affricate | p͡f | /t͡s /[t͡s t͡ʃ] | k͡x
Fricative | v f | /z/[z ʒ] /s/[s ʃ ] | h
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ
Tap | /ɾ/[ɾ r l]

Mouth
Evolved from Southern Common

Similar to the Skeleton language, /h/ was inserted after consonants which were once aspirated. (For prestige)

/pʰ tʰ kʰ/ → /ph th kh/
/mʱ nʱ/ → /mɦ nɦ/
This did not happen with former /ŋʱ/

In casual speech the consonant clusters with /h/ are often replaced by aspirated consonants.
/ph th kh mɦ nɦ/ → [pʰ tʰ kʰ mʱ nʱ]

The realization of /ɾ/ is often conditioned by sociolinguistic context.
[ɾ] is the most common, neutral realization
[l] has an endearing, soft or feminine touch
[r] can be very aggressiv or flirtatious

Plosive | b p /ph/[ph pʰ] | d t /th/[th tʰ] | g k /kh/[kh kʰ]
Affricate | p͡f | t͡s [t͡s t͡ʃ] | k͡x
Fricative |v f |/z/[z ʒ] /s/[s ʃ ] | h
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ
Tap | /ɾ/[ɾ r l]
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CarsonDaConlanger
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Re: language of 3 - phonology

Post by CarsonDaConlanger »

My only bone to pick is that ejective nasals aren't a thing, but if your language isn't done by humans, it could work.
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sangi39
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Re: language of 3 - phonology

Post by sangi39 »

CarsonDaConlanger wrote: 30 Jan 2018 12:40 My only bone to pick is that ejective nasals aren't a thing, but if your language isn't done by humans, it could work.
Glottalised nasals, on the other hand, are a thing, and they're often represented in the same way as ejectives, i.e. with an apostrophe. Not meaning to speak for Oneiros K, but I'd assumed that's what was being represented.
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Oneiros K
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Re: language of 3 - phonology

Post by Oneiros K »

Yes, they are supposed to be glottalized nasals, not ejectives. I should have made this more explicit (wrote ejectives/glottalized). Maybe I'll use a different IPA notation for glottalized nasals in future. The speakers are supposed to be humans without any changes in anatomy of speech organs.

One thing I'm very uncertain about is the development of /ɣ/ → /ɾ or r/.
I know only of /r/ → /ʁ/ as a sound change, never found /ɣ/ → /r/. However, I love [r l] and hate [ɣ]. So I'd love to keep that unless it's an absolutely unplausible sound change ;)

Thanks for the answers :)
Oneiros K
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Re: language of 3 - phonology

Post by Oneiros K »

Word-internal consonant clusters

In the Brain Language each lexical morpheme (not the grammatical morphemes) has the structure: CVTCC.
C = consonant, V = vowel, T = register tone.
Lexical morphemes are followed obligatorily by a suffix with structure VT(C). Therefore each syllable has the structure CVTC.
The following consonant clusters are possible between the boundary of a lexical morpheme and a suffix:
pp tt kk
pf ts kx
pm tn kŋ
fp st xk
ff ss xx
fm sn xŋ
mp nt ŋk
mf ns ŋx
mm nn ŋŋ

In the early Lungs language the following reductions took place:

/pp tt kk/ → /b d g/
/pf ts kx/ → /b͡v d͡z gɾ/
/pm tn kŋ/ → /p t k/
/fp st xk/ → /p͡f t͡s k͡x/
/ff ss xx/ → /v z ɾ/
/fm sn xŋ/ → /f s x/
/mp nt ŋk/ → stays the same
/mf ns ŋx/ → /m.w n.ɾ ɲ.j/
/mm nn ŋŋ/ → /m.bɾ n.dɾ ŋ.gr/
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gestaltist
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Re: language of 3 - phonology

Post by gestaltist »

Oneiros K wrote: 30 Jan 2018 16:13 Yes, they are supposed to be glottalized nasals, not ejectives. I should have made this more explicit (wrote ejectives/glottalized). Maybe I'll use a different IPA notation for glottalized nasals in future. The speakers are supposed to be humans without any changes in anatomy of speech organs.
You're fine with that transcription. Don't have to change it.
One thing I'm very uncertain about is the development of /ɣ/ → /ɾ or r/.
I know only of /r/ → /ʁ/ as a sound change, never found /ɣ/ → /r/. However, I love [r l] and hate [ɣ]. So I'd love to keep that unless it's an absolutely unplausible sound change ;)
Doesn't sound implausible to me. One possible route: ɣ > w > ɹ > ɾ
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CarsonDaConlanger
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Re: language of 3 - phonology

Post by CarsonDaConlanger »

Oneiros K wrote: 30 Jan 2018 16:13 Yes, they are supposed to be glottalized nasals, not ejectives. I should have made this more explicit (wrote ejectives/glottalized). Maybe I'll use a different IPA notation for glottalized nasals in future. The speakers are supposed to be humans without any changes in anatomy of speech organs.
That was my bad, your notation is fine. :)

May I ask what a glottalized nasal is?
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Oneiros K
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Re: language of 3 - phonology

Post by Oneiros K »

Here's a nice article about glottalized resonants (and ejectives, implosives...)
http://wals.info/chapter/7

Yapese has some.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yapese_language
http://phoible.org/inventories/view/1024#tipa

I've never found an audio file of a glottalized nasal. I just chose them for their rarity and the possibility to turn them into pharyngealized consonants in daughter languages.
But here's an video in the yapese language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uqLHOidNPw&t=386s
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