I created the first two versions of this language for a friend's SF novel, or rather, for its sequel (which is alas unlikely to come out). I based it on the names provided by the author, and as they were not much thought out (think Hor'blis, Sa'ak, Bijakhine, Cervalien, Orphane, Makor) I had a hard time coming with a coherent phonology.
V2 is described a bit here (in French) and here. I let it sleep for some years, and recently decided to make something prettier out of it, informed by my wider knowledge as a linguist (I was only interested in Chinese, Russian, & Arabic back then).
I am not sure my description of tone is at all clear. I was inspired by Otjiherero and by that paper by Aidan Aannestad.
Inner context
Old Greedian, as the name indicates, is an ancient form of the Greedian language spoken by the Greedians (red aliens with a cucumber-shaped head) in the xxɪᴠth century, where it plays the role of a ritual language. Its autonym is Geree thual "Greedians' speech".
Phonology
Consonants
There are 18 consonants, although the phonemic status of /w/ is doubtful: it may be that all occurrences of it are non-syllabic /u/.
- Stops: /p t k pʰ tʰ kʰ b d ɡ/ <p t k ph th kh b d g>
- Fricatives: /s z/ <s z>
- Nasals: /m n ŋ/ <m n ng>
- Approximants: /w j l r/ <w y l r>
There are five short vowels /a e i o u/ and three long ones /aː eː oː/ <aa ee oo>.
Phonotactics
The maximum shape of the syllable is CVVC, where the only restrictions are that /ŋ/ cannot be an onset, nor /j w/ codas. Two vowels in a syllable are resolved in the following manner:
Code: Select all
1st\2nd a e i o u
a aa aa aa aa aa
e ee ee ee ee ee
i ia ie i io iu
o oo oo oo oo oo
u ua ue ui uo u
Ex: kiat /kìàt/ [kʲàt] arm; hand buem /bùèm/ [bʷèm] finger; toe rǐ /rìí/ [rǐ] to eat.
High + low vowel without an initial consonant are resolved by the high vowels becoming glides: /ùó/ > [wǒ] wǒ to open.
As we can see, such an analysis of "two vowels are possible as a nucleus" is needed to explain tone. More on that below.
Some internal clusters are disallowed:
- *-lr- becomes -rr-
- Consonants + glide become Consonants + palatalisation/labialisation
- n assimilates to the place of articulation of a following labial or velar
- The second obstruent of a cluster agrees in voicing with the first: *-bt- > -bd-, *-pd- > -pt-
Stress
Stress comes at the end of words, except for some interjections and VN compounds, where it stays on the end of the verb.
Orthographically, non-final stress is marked by an apostrophe after the stressed syllable: Saa'yak [ˈsaːjak] potential is freed (a name).
Basic tones
There are two basic tones, High and Low. They organise themselves into melody onto words, mapped onto morae; long vowels count for 2 morae, as do strings of vowel + word-final sonorant.
HH is disallowed in roots, but this isn't the case for words: ígíti swelling; tumour, with a HHL melody, is valid because it involves a reduplicative affix #CVg-.
Some morae don't have an inherent tone; it surfaces as a L.
Tones in contact
When a mora must bear two dissimilar tones, for example after vowel reduction, the rightmost tone moves, pushing following tones rightwards until one can settle on a mora with the same tone or without inherent tone (∅ in the melody). Ex:
ǐ /ìí/ [ǐ] mountain has a LH melody, and with the locative clitic na, which has no tone, it gives i ná /ìí na/ [ì ná].
If there is no free mora at the end, the clashing tones combine thus (with /a/ as an example):
Code: Select all
1st\2nd H L
H á â
L ǎ à
wǒ to open + ̀# "action/patient nominalisation" > wo [wò] hole.
However, syllables closed by an obstruent cannot bear contour tones and the last level tone is deleted until a ∅ affix or clitic comes next. Ex:
phiús hard; solid; clear /pʰíùs/ > [pʰʲús], a HL melody surfacing as H; then with the H∅ suffix -ékhe we get phiúsekhé to focus; to harden /pʰíùsékʰe/ [pʰʲúsèkʰé], with a HLH melody.
Orthography remark: low tone is normally not written (à > a) outside discussion of the melody of affixes. Neither is tone on word-final sonorants, being written on the previous vowel: thus thílîm king not thílím̀.
Grammatical tone
There is an extra-low tone (noted ạ) that is only used in the negation of verbs.
The predicative copula is an upstep on the predicate, indicated by an em-dash after it:
Or — dua <small 1sg> I'm small /ꜛòr ꜜdùà/, distinct from or dua small me.