Zompist Bboard Again

Travis B. wrote: ↑Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:42 pm I have collected what I have written about Rihalle Kaafi into the beginnings of a basic grammar.

TomHChappell wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2025 10:34 pm

Travis B. wrote: ↑Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:42 pm I have collected what I have written about Rihalle Kaafi into the beginnings of a basic grammar.

Wouldn’t it make better sense to have palatalized allophones before close vowels, instead of before front vowels ?

Creyeditor wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 6:04 am Japanese palatalizes before high vowels, right?

TomHChappell wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2025 10:34 pm

Travis B. wrote: ↑Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:42 pm I have collected what I have written about Rihalle Kaafi into the beginnings of a basic grammar.

Wouldn’t it make better sense to have palatalized allophones before close vowels, instead of before front vowels ?

(Or, if you want palatalization to be perseverative rather than anticipatory, after close vowels.)

….

It might not matter what I think makes more sense.

Ryan of Tinellb wrote: ↑Sat Feb 08, 2025 2:59 am I've (mostly) gotten an SCA working on my website, at Demotic Lulani Diachrony. Just gotta deal with pesky consonant clusters, and I'll be ready to unleash it on the actual vocabulary of the parent language.

bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Feb 08, 2025 3:01 am

Ryan of Tinellb wrote: ↑Sat Feb 08, 2025 2:59 am I've (mostly) gotten an SCA working on my website, at Demotic Lulani Diachrony. Just gotta deal with pesky consonant clusters, and I'll be ready to unleash it on the actual vocabulary of the parent language.

I’m curious to know why you made your own, rather than using someone else’s? (For instance — mentioning it purely as a random example — mine?)

Ryan of Tinellb wrote: ↑Sat Feb 08, 2025 2:55 pm I just hope I never get it into my head to make my own programming language, in English or in my conlang!

Skookum wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 4:10 pm Developed the beginnings of a phonology for a language I'm creatively calling "Proto-Plateau", ancestor of a relatively shallow language family (2-3000 years old) that will split into Proto-Highland and Proto-Lowland. The language was spoken by highly mobile hunter-gatherers, evidenced by the fact that there are no reconstructable lexemes for domesticated plants/animals other than "dog". Highland peoples still practice a nomadic way of life, while Lowland peoples are more sedentary, inhabiting productive river valleys with a focus on fishing and small-scale horticulture. Anyways, the phonology:

Consonants
/*t (*č¹) *k *kʷ *ʔ/
/*s *h/
/*r² *y *ɣ *w/

¹: Occurs only in morphophonogical alternation with *y, and in a handful of nominal/adjectival roots, all with diminutive or onomatopoeic associations (eg., *ča:ča: little sister, *čokʷčokʷ crow, raven, *tu:čẽh grey (cf. *tu:kẽh black)).
²: An alveolar approximant, as this is the pronunciation it has in most daughter languages where it hasn't shifted to /l/.

Vowels
/*i *i: *u *u:/
/*ẽ *ẽ: *ə *õ *õ:/
/*a *a:/

Syllable structure is CV(C). Roots are typically bisyllabic, and always end in a consonant.

Consonant mutation
Proto-Plateau was a highly suffixing language, and certain suffixes trigger mutation in the final consonant of a stem.

Certain (but not all) vowel initial suffixes trigger weakening of a stem-final consonant:

Code: Select all

Plain    *t *s *k *kʷ *h
Weakened *r *r *ɣ *w  *y,w,∅¹

¹: *h weakens to *y following a front vowel, *w following a rounded vowel, and deletes following *a *a: *ə.

Certain (but not all) consonant-initial suffixes trigger hardening of a stem-final resonant.

Code: Select all

Plain    *r *y *ɣ *w
Hardened *t *č *k *kʷ

Working on stress at the moment.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 5:15 pm

Skookum wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 4:10 pm Developed the beginnings of a phonology for a language I'm creatively calling "Proto-Plateau", ancestor of a relatively shallow language family (2-3000 years old) that will split into Proto-Highland and Proto-Lowland. The language was spoken by highly mobile hunter-gatherers, evidenced by the fact that there are no reconstructable lexemes for domesticated plants/animals other than "dog". Highland peoples still practice a nomadic way of life, while Lowland peoples are more sedentary, inhabiting productive river valleys with a focus on fishing and small-scale horticulture. Anyways, the phonology:

Consonants
/*t (*č¹) *k *kʷ *ʔ/
/*s *h/
/*r² *y *ɣ *w/

¹: Occurs only in morphophonogical alternation with *y, and in a handful of nominal/adjectival roots, all with diminutive or onomatopoeic associations (eg., *ča:ča: little sister, *čokʷčokʷ crow, raven, *tu:čẽh grey (cf. *tu:kẽh black)).
²: An alveolar approximant, as this is the pronunciation it has in most daughter languages where it hasn't shifted to /l/.

Vowels
/*i *i: *u *u:/
/*ẽ *ẽ: *ə *õ *õ:/
/*a *a:/

Syllable structure is CV(C). Roots are typically bisyllabic, and always end in a consonant.

Consonant mutation
Proto-Plateau was a highly suffixing language, and certain suffixes trigger mutation in the final consonant of a stem.

Certain (but not all) vowel initial suffixes trigger weakening of a stem-final consonant:

Code: Select all

Plain    *t *s *k *kʷ *h
Weakened *r *r *ɣ *w  *y,w,∅¹

¹: *h weakens to *y following a front vowel, *w following a rounded vowel, and deletes following *a *a: *ə.

Certain (but not all) consonant-initial suffixes trigger hardening of a stem-final resonant.

Code: Select all

Plain    *r *y *ɣ *w
Hardened *t *č *k *kʷ

Working on stress at the moment.

Have you thought of adding allophonic nasal consonants, e.g. realizing /*r *y *ɣ *w/ as a nasal, say, before a nasal vowel?