Tæĺf
Contents
Sound changes from Tēlvo
What changed
- noun & verb pre- and post-bound forms for 2, 3, 4, and 5 phoneme radicals.
- all other non-noun and -verb words
- including declined forms of pronouns
- personal endings as if stressed
The changes
- o → u / __ X[+labial]
- unstressed short vowels reduce
- a → ɐ
- o,e → ə
- i,y,u → ʉ/ɨ
- reduced vowels disappear, diphthongise
- {ə,ʉ,ɐ} → ∅ / __ #
- {ʉ,ə} → {ʉu̯,əu̯} / __ ]σ
- stressed long vowels shifted down; long low vowels diphthongised:
- ī → ē, ē → ǣ, ā → au̯, ō → ā, ū → ō
- Long vowels shorten in a closed syllable
- Vː → [-long] / __ C1]σ
- ī → i, ē → e, ǣ → æ, ā → a, ō → o, ū → u
- ŋg → ŋ
- non-sonorant consonants devoice at the end of a word
- C[-son] → [-voice] / __ #
- except for the personal ending -áð and the corresponding pronoun háð
- consonants devoice before a devoiced consonant (/sound)
- C → [-voice] / __ C[-voice]
- non-coronal (dental/alveolar) fricatives become stops word-finally when after a vowel or voiced sonorant
- C[-coronal] → [+stop] / V __ #
- C[-coronal] → [+stop] / C[+son,+vc] __ #
- voiced non-nasal labials and velars (non-coronals) become approximants
- C[+cons,-cor,-nas,+vc] → [+approx]
- {u̯,v,w} → w
- some things become stops at the beginning of syllables:
- ɣ,ŋ → g / σ[ __
- w → b / σ[ __
- some things become stops at the end of words or syllables:
- w → p / __ #
- big changes in codas:
- l → o̯ / V __ C0 ]σ
- {k,g,z} → {x,ɣ,j} / {V,C[+son]} __ C1 ]σ
- C[+stop,-vc] → [-stop] / __ C1 ]σ
- j → ś / {w,o̯,j} __ ]σ
- w → p / j __ ]σ (e.g., / j __ C )
- continual process of devoicing reapplies to fix recent problems
- {o̯,w} → f / __ C[-vc]
- some vowels don't take nicely to o̯:
- oo̯ → ō
- beginning of words starting with vowels acquire an h, if vowel is long, vowel shortens:
- V → [-long] / # __
- ∅ → h / # __ V
- at the beginning or end of a syllable, coronal palatal simplification:
- {tj,dj,sj,zj,nj} → {ts,dz,ś,j,j} / σ[ __ , __ ]σ
- h → ∅ / C[-stop,-son] __ ]σ
Orthography
- Devoiced sonorants:
- l → ĺ, r → ŕ, n → ń, m → ḿ, ŋ → ŋ´, j → ś
- glide
- o̯ → ɬ
- vowels
- ɨ/ʉ → y, ɐ → a, a → á
- pronunciation of some vowels:
- y [ɜ], ə [ə], u [ʊ], i [ɪ], o [ɔ], e [ɛ], æ [a], a [ɐ], á [ɑ], ū [u], ī [i], ō [o], ē [e], ā [ɒ], ǣ [æ]
Phonology
Morphology
| - | indicates missing copula (see note 1) |- | -k | distributiviser/relativiser, for postpositions (see note 5) |- áwrə + verb.preBF future gerund or participle áwrə + verb.preBF + (j +) pronoun future gerund beā locative, at bir in ble + j + pronoun [pronoun]'s own (e.g., 'blejás' = 'your own') brer temporal locative, during, at the time of ðek like, as (postposition) futGerund + pronoun + [necessary] [it is necessary that] subject verb[s], subject['s] verb[ing is necessary], subject [needs to] verb, subject [should] verb futGerund + pronoun + [possible] [it is possible that] subject verb[s], subject['s] verb[ing is possible], subject [is able to / can] verb futGerund + [come] verb tense: immediate future futParticiple + [give] verb tense: future háð s/he/it (3rd.sg.nom) háfþ you (2nd.pl.nom) hás you (2nd.sg.nom) háwŋ we (1st.pl.nom) háwn they (3rd.pl.nom) həwyðeā me (1st.sg.dat) hasyɬjáp your (2nd.sg.gen) ho I (1st.sg.nom) hojā my (1st.sg.gen) kə (/ke) + verb.preBF passive participle kaj + verb.preBF causative gerund or participle kaj + verb.preBF + (j +) pronoun causative gerund keft QUOT1 (see note 3) kesm QUOT2 (see note 3) laj + verb.preBF past gerund or participle laj + verb.preBF + (j +) pronoun past gerund liry + verb.preBF present gerund or participle liry + verb.preBF + (j +) pronoun present gerund mij instrumental noun.citeF-[y-]noun.citeF compound noun phrase (see note 4a) noun.citeF-[y-]noun.preBF compound noun phrase (see note 4a) noun.postBF oblique (followed by cases/postpositions) noun.postBF + (j +) pronoun possessed/ive form noun.postBF + (j +) əla (+ j + pronoun) plural noun.postBF noun distributive (see note 4) noun.postBF-[y-]noun.citeF compound noun phrase (see note 4a) passParticiple + [put] finite form of passive voice passParticiple + [stay] verb tense: [such a situation definitely exists] presParticiple + [stay] verb tense: [such a situation exists] tēmə + noun.postBF doer, agent; more generally, person whose job deals with noun tsáŋ because of, since, for þá accusative verb.citeF infinitival form verb.postBF (+ j) + pronoun finite form, usually present tense verb.postBF + (y + ) lā(/laj) negative verb.postBF + (y +) tsā + j + pronoun past tense verb.postBF + saŋa + j + pronoun imperative yðeā dative, to