Tæĺf

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]