Spoiler:
I've decided to go for something a bit different (for me at least) and make an Australian-inspired language family with big consonant inventories and plenty of agglutination. I'm calling it Tumbleweed because I think it sounds cool and I can't think of anything else to call it.
Proto-Tumbleweed
1. Phonology
Tumbleweed is something different for me, inspired by Australian languages. It has a lot of consonants, not many vowels and strict restrictions on word formation. Other distinctive features include three series of stops with no plain voiceless ones, eight pre-stopped consonants (inspired by Kaurna) and uvular nasals.
1.1 Consonant inventory
Proto-Tumbleweed (PT) had 46 consonants
/d ɖ ɟ ɡ ɡʷ ɢ ɢʷ/
/n͡t ɳ͡ʈ ɲ͡c ŋ͡k ŋ͡kʷ ɴ͡q ɴ͡qʷ/
/n͡d ɳ͡ɖ ɲ͡ɟ ŋ͡ɡ ŋ͡ɡʷ ɴ͡ɢ ɴ͡ɢʷ/
/d͡l ɖ͡ɭ ɟ͡ʎ ɡ͡ʟ/
/d͡n ɖ͡ɳ ɟ͡ɲ ɡ͡ŋ/
/l ɭ (ʎ)/
/n ɳ ɲ ŋ ŋʷ ɴ ɴʷ/
/ɾ ɻ j ɰ w ʁ ʁʷ/
/ʎ/ only occurred in suffixes as a result of laminal harmony. The three series of coronals were laminal dental, apical retroflex and laminal palatal.
1.2 Vowel inventory
PT only had two vowels
/i ɑ/
These likely had a lot of allophonic variation, with /i/ being [i~e~ɛ] and /ɑ/ being [a~ɑ~ʌ]. There were no rounded vowels. Although there were no diphthongs, there was the sequence /ɑji/ which may have become monosyllabic [ɑe̯] allophonically.
1.3 Word structure
Word structure was quite restrictive.
1.3.1 Syllable structure
Word-initially, only approximants (/ɾ ɻ j ɰ w ʁ ʁʷ/) or stop-initial segments (/d ɖ ɟ ɡ ɡʷ ɢ ɢʷ d͡l ɖ͡ɭ ɟ͡ʎ ɡ͡ʟ d͡n ɖ͡ɳ ɟ͡ɲ ɡ͡ŋ/) could occur; word-internally any consonant could occur. Every syllable was CV with an obligatory onset.
1.3.2 Word length restrictions
All words had to be an even number of syllables. This meant that all nouns were even-syllable roots, and all verbs were odd-syllabled roots with obligatory odd-syllabled affixes.
1.3.3 Laminal harmony
In a word, only consonants from one series of laminals (i.e. dental or palatal) could occur; this caused assimilation of affixes which is the only source of /ʎ/.
1.3.4 Vowel harmony
All vowels other than the first vowel in a word had to be the same, including suffixes. This means that all suffixes are unspecified for vowel quality and just assimilate to the second vowel of the root.
1.3.5 Word structure strings
Word structure can be defined as CaVaCbVb(CcVbCdVb... CeVbCfVb), such that Ca is any permissible word-initial consonant.
1.4 Prosody
There was probably some form of strict prosodic pattern in PT which incentivised the even syllable word length, but I’m not sure what it was yet. I’ll have to read up on Yidiny.
1.5 Orthography
PT is written with an Australianist-based orthography. Dentals are written Ch, palatals Cy and uvulars rC.
⟨dh d dy g gw rg rgw⟩
⟨nth nt nty ngk ngkw rnq rnqw⟩
⟨ndh nd ndy ngg nggw rng rngw⟩
⟨dlh dl dly gl⟩
⟨dnh dn dny gng⟩
⟨lh l ly⟩
⟨nh n ny ng ngw rn rnw⟩
⟨rh r y gh w rr rw⟩
The vowels are obviously written ⟨i a⟩.
Descendants
I've got a couple of ideas for descendants, for example:
Proto-Tumbleweed
1. Phonology
Tumbleweed is something different for me, inspired by Australian languages. It has a lot of consonants, not many vowels and strict restrictions on word formation. Other distinctive features include three series of stops with no plain voiceless ones, eight pre-stopped consonants (inspired by Kaurna) and uvular nasals.
1.1 Consonant inventory
Proto-Tumbleweed (PT) had 46 consonants
/d ɖ ɟ ɡ ɡʷ ɢ ɢʷ/
/n͡t ɳ͡ʈ ɲ͡c ŋ͡k ŋ͡kʷ ɴ͡q ɴ͡qʷ/
/n͡d ɳ͡ɖ ɲ͡ɟ ŋ͡ɡ ŋ͡ɡʷ ɴ͡ɢ ɴ͡ɢʷ/
/d͡l ɖ͡ɭ ɟ͡ʎ ɡ͡ʟ/
/d͡n ɖ͡ɳ ɟ͡ɲ ɡ͡ŋ/
/l ɭ (ʎ)/
/n ɳ ɲ ŋ ŋʷ ɴ ɴʷ/
/ɾ ɻ j ɰ w ʁ ʁʷ/
/ʎ/ only occurred in suffixes as a result of laminal harmony. The three series of coronals were laminal dental, apical retroflex and laminal palatal.
1.2 Vowel inventory
PT only had two vowels
/i ɑ/
These likely had a lot of allophonic variation, with /i/ being [i~e~ɛ] and /ɑ/ being [a~ɑ~ʌ]. There were no rounded vowels. Although there were no diphthongs, there was the sequence /ɑji/ which may have become monosyllabic [ɑe̯] allophonically.
1.3 Word structure
Word structure was quite restrictive.
1.3.1 Syllable structure
Word-initially, only approximants (/ɾ ɻ j ɰ w ʁ ʁʷ/) or stop-initial segments (/d ɖ ɟ ɡ ɡʷ ɢ ɢʷ d͡l ɖ͡ɭ ɟ͡ʎ ɡ͡ʟ d͡n ɖ͡ɳ ɟ͡ɲ ɡ͡ŋ/) could occur; word-internally any consonant could occur. Every syllable was CV with an obligatory onset.
1.3.2 Word length restrictions
All words had to be an even number of syllables. This meant that all nouns were even-syllable roots, and all verbs were odd-syllabled roots with obligatory odd-syllabled affixes.
1.3.3 Laminal harmony
In a word, only consonants from one series of laminals (i.e. dental or palatal) could occur; this caused assimilation of affixes which is the only source of /ʎ/.
1.3.4 Vowel harmony
All vowels other than the first vowel in a word had to be the same, including suffixes. This means that all suffixes are unspecified for vowel quality and just assimilate to the second vowel of the root.
1.3.5 Word structure strings
Word structure can be defined as CaVaCbVb(CcVbCdVb... CeVbCfVb), such that Ca is any permissible word-initial consonant.
1.4 Prosody
There was probably some form of strict prosodic pattern in PT which incentivised the even syllable word length, but I’m not sure what it was yet. I’ll have to read up on Yidiny.
1.5 Orthography
PT is written with an Australianist-based orthography. Dentals are written Ch, palatals Cy and uvulars rC.
⟨dh d dy g gw rg rgw⟩
⟨nth nt nty ngk ngkw rnq rnqw⟩
⟨ndh nd ndy ngg nggw rng rngw⟩
⟨dlh dl dly gl⟩
⟨dnh dn dny gng⟩
⟨lh l ly⟩
⟨nh n ny ng ngw rn rnw⟩
⟨rh r y gh w rr rw⟩
The vowels are obviously written ⟨i a⟩.
Edit:
Switched around everything to make it only even-syllabled
Descendants
I've got a couple of ideas for descendants, for example:
- A split based on how the stop series evolve (kinda like IE)
- A split based on where the vowel inventory will be retained as /i (e) ɑ/, or expanded to /i ʉ (e) ɔ a/
- Innovation of a prestopped approximant series /d͡ɾ ɖ͡ɻ ɟ͡j ɡ͡ɰ (ɡʷ͡w ɢ͡ʁ ɢʷ͡ʁʷ)/
- A shift of /d̻ ɖ ɟ ɡ ɢ/ → /d̪ ɖ d̠ ɟ ɡ/
- Syncope
- Non-contrastive pitch-accent based on how prosody evolved alongside syncope