conlang.phundrak.com/docs/eittlandic/phonology.org

#+setupfile: ../headers
* Phonetic Inventory and Translitteration
** Evolution from Early Old Norse to Eittlandic
Eittlandic evolved early on from Early Old Norse, and as such some
vowels it evolved from are different from the Old Norse vowels and
consonants some other Nordic languages evolved from. In this chapter,
we will see the main list of attested phonetic evolution Eittlandic
lived through.

The history of Eittlandic goes from the late 8th century until
modern-day Eittlandic. Its history is divided as shown on table below.
It is not an exact science though as changes happened progressively
through the country. Changes were also progressive, meaning the dates
chosen to go from one language to the other are relatively arbitrary.
In evolution examples, it will be indicated whether the Eittlandic
pronunciation is specific to a certain time area (with /Early Middle
Eittlandic/, /Late Old Eittlandic/, etc…) but if it only specifies
/Eittlandic/ it means no significant changes in pronunciation occurred
since the phonetic rule shown. Meaning is also shown between
parenthesis. In case of semantic shift, its new meaning in Eittlandic
is shown --- the same goes for the word’s spelling.

#+name: table:history-eittlandic-language
#+caption: Linguistic eras of Eittland
| Period                      | Language          |
|-----------------------------+-------------------|
| 8th century - 12th century  | Old Eittlandic    |
| 13th century - 16th century | Middle Eittlandic |
| 17th century - today        | Modern Eittlandic |

It is generally considered the gj-shift of the 13th century is the
evolution that marks the change from Old Eittlandic to Middle
Eittlandic while the great vowel shift marks the change from Middle
Eittlandic to Modern Eittlandic between the 16th and the 17th century.

*** hʷ > ʍ
One of the first evolution of the Eittlandic was the evolution of the
{{{phon(hʷ)}}} into a {{{phon(ʍ)}}} (written «hv»). It differs from other nordic
languages which evolved their {{{phon(hʷ)}}} into a {{{phon(v)}}}, like in
Icelandic or in Norwegian. However, this evolution is cause to debate,
mainly due to the original phoneme {{{phon(hʷ)}}} which could be inherited
from Proto-Norse instead.

+ Example :: Early Old Norse or Late Proto-Norse /hvat/ (what)
  {{{phon(hʷɑt)}}} > Eittlandic /hvat/ (what) {{{phon(ʍɑt)}}}

*** C / #h_ > C[-voice]
When preceded by a {{{phon(h)}}}, word-initial consonants such as «l», «r»,
«n» would lose their voicing and become voiceless consonants. Note
«hj» went to {{{phon(ç)}}}.

+ Example ::  
  - Early Old Norse /hlóð/ (/hearth/) {{{phon(hloːð)}}} > Old Eittlandic /hlóð/
    {{{phon(l̥oːð)}}}
  - Early Old-Norse /hneisa/ (/shame, disgrace/) {{{phon(hneisɑ)}}} > Early Old
    Eittlandic {{{phon(n̥eisɑ)}}}
  - Early Old Norse /hrifs/ (/robbery/) {{{phon(hrifs)}}} > Old Norse {{{phon(r̥ifs)}}}
  - Early Old Norse /hjól/ (wheel) {{{phon(hjoːl)}}} > Old Eittlandic {{{phon(çoːl)}}}

*** g / {#,V}_⁣{V,#} > ɣ
In word-initial position and followed by a vowel or when between
vowels, Early Old Norse {{{phon(g)}}} gets palatalized into a {{{phon(ɣ)}}}.

+ Example :: Early Old Norse /gegn/ (/against, right opposite/) {{{phon(gegn̩)}}}
  > Old Eittlandic {{{phon(ɣegn̩)}}}

*** V / _⁣# > ∅ ! j _
When finishing a word, short unaccented vowels disappeared.
Historically, they first went through a weakening transforming them
into a {{{phon(ə)}}}, but they eventually disappeared before long vowels got
affected by the first part of the rule. However, it did not apply to
final vowels following a «j».

+ Example :: Old Norse /heilsa/ (/health/) {{{phon(heilsɑ)}}} > Late Old
  Eittlandic /heils/ {{{phon(heils)}}}.

Reflecting this change, the last vowel got lost in the Eittlandic
orthography. However, this rule did not get applied consistently with
a good deal of people that kept them well until the [[file:./phonology.md#great-vowel-shift][Great Vowel Shift]].

*** V / j_# > ə
While the final short vowel of words did not disappear when preceded
by a «j», they still weakened to a schwa.

+ Example :: Old Norse /sitja/ (/to sit/) {{{phon(sitjɑ)}}} > Old Eittlandic
  {{{phon(sitjə)}}}

*** Vː / _# > ə
When at the end of a word, long unaccented vowels get weakened into a
schwa.

+ Example :: Old Norse /erþó/ (as though) {{{phon(erθoː)}}} > Late Old
  Eittlandic {{{phon(erθə)}}}.

Notice how in the modern orthography the «ó» didn’t get lost, unlike
with the previous rule. Unlike the schwa from the previous rule, the
current schwa still bears the long vowel feature, although it is not
pronounced any more by that point, influencing the [[file:./phonology.md#ə-long-c-∅][final schwa loss]].

*** ɣ / {#,V}_ > j ! _{l,j}
During the 13th century, continued palatalization of the letter «g»
when beginning or preceding a vowel transformed it from {{{phon(g)}}} in
Proto-Norse to {{{phon(ɣ)}}} in Old Eittlandic to {{{phon(j)}}} in Early Modern
Eittlandic.

+ Example :: Old Norse /gauð/ (a barking) {{{phon(gɑuð)}}} > Early Middle
  Eittlandic /gauð/ (a barking, a quarrel) {{{phon(jɑuð)}}}.

This is the first rule of the g/j-shift along with the three next
rules, marking the passage from Old Eittlandic to Middle Eittlandic.

*** gl > gʲ
The exception to the above rule is the «g» remains a hard {{{phon(g)}}} when
followed by an «l» in which case {{{phon(gl)}}} becomes {{{phon(gʲ)}}}.

+ Example :: Old Norse /óglaðr/ (sad, moody) {{{phon(oːɡlɑðr̩)}}} > Early
  Middle Eittlandic /óglaðr/ (very sad, miserable) {{{phon(oːɡʲɑðr̩)}}}

*** d g n s t / _j > C[+palat]
Another exception to the [[file:./phonology.md#g-v-%E2%81%A3-v-ɣ][lenition of {{{phon(ɡ)}}}]] is it remained until the
appearance of this change a hard {{{phon(g)}}} when followed by a {{{phon(j)}}}.
It however ended up getting assimilated by {{{phon(j)}}}. Other phonemes
{{{phon(d)}}}, {{{phon(h)}}}, {{{phon(n)}}}, {{{phon(s)}}}, and {{{phon(t)}}} also get palatalized,
assimilated by the following {{{phon(j)}}}. In the end, we have the
conversion table given by the table below.

#+name: cons:palatalization
#+caption: Consonants palatalization
| Early Old Norse | Eittlandic |
|-----------------+------------|
| {{{phon(dj)}}}        | {{{phon(dʒ)}}}   |
| {{{phon(gj)}}}        | {{{phon(jː)}}}   |
| {{{phon(nj)}}}        | {{{phon(ɲ)}}}    |
| {{{phon(sj)}}}        | {{{phon(ʃ)}}}    |
| {{{phon(tj)}}}        | {{{phon(tʃ)}}}   |

Note this is also applicable to devoiced consonants [[file:phonology#c-h-c-voice][described above]].

+ Example ::  
  - Early Old Norse /djúp/ (/deep/) {{{phon(djuːp)}}} > Middle Eittlandic /djúp/
    (/deep, profound/) {{{phon(dʒuːp)}}}
  - Early Old Norse /gjøf/ (/gift/) {{{phon(gjøf)}}} > Early Middle Eittlandic
    {{{phon(jøf)}}}
  - Early Old Norse /snjór/ (/snow/) {{{phon(snjoːr)}}} > Middle Eittlandic
    {{{phon(sɲoːr)}}}
  - Early Old Norse /hnjósa/ (/to sneeze/) {{{phon(hnjoːsɑ)}}} > Middle Eittlandic {{{phon(ɲ̥oːs)}}}
  - Early Old Norse /sjá/ (/to see/) {{{phon(sjɑː)}}} > Middle Eittlandic {{{phon(ʃɑː)}}}
  - Early Old Norse /skilja/ (/to understand, to distinguish/)
    {{{phon(skiljɑ)}}} > Early Middle Eittlandic {{{phon(ʃkiljə)}}}
  - Old Eittlandic /sitja/ (/to sit/) {{{phon(sitjə)}}} > Middle Eittlandic {{{phon(sitʃə)}}}

*** j > jə / _#
With the appearance of word-final {{{phon(j)}}}, and epenthtetic {{{phon(ə)}}}
appeared due to the phonological rule forbidding word-final consonant
clusters to end with a {{{phon(j)}}}.

+ Example :: Early Old Norse /berg/ (/rock/, /boulder/) {{{phon(berɡ)}}} > Middle
  Eittlandic /berg/ {{{phon(berjə)}}}

*** u / V_ > ʊ
When following another vowel, {{{phon(u)}}} becomes an {{{phon(ʊ)}}}.

+ Example :: Old Norse /kaup/ (/bargain/) {{{phon(kɑup)}}} > Early Middle
  Eittlandic {{{phon(kɑʊp)}}}

*** {s,z} / _C[+plos] > ʃ
If {{{phon(s)}}} or {{{phon(z)}}} precede a plosive consonant, they become
palatalized into a {{{phon(ʃ)}}} --- the distinction between «s» and «z» is
lost.

+ Example ::  
  - Old Norse /fiskr/ (/fish/) {{{phon(fiskr̩)}}} > Middle Eittlandic {{{phon(fiʃkr̩)}}}
  - Early Old Norse /vizka/ (/wisdom/) {{{phon(βizkɑ)}}} > Middle Eittlandic
 /viska/ {{{phon(βiʃk)}}}

Note that in the Modern Eittlandic orthography, the «z» is replaced
with an «s».

*** f / {V,C[+voice]}_ {V,C[+voice],#} > v
When a «f» is either surrounded by voice phonemes or is preceded by a
voiced phoneme and ends a word, it gets voiced into a {{{phon(v)}}}.

+ Example :: Old Norse /úlf/ (wolf) {{{phon(uːlf)}}} > Middle Eittlandic /úlv/ {{{phon(uːlv)}}}.

*** l / _j > ʎ
When followed by a «j», any «l» becomes a {{{phon(ʎ)}}}, merging with the
following «j».

+ Example :: Early Middle Eittlandic /skilja/ (to understand, to
  distinguish) {{{phon(ʃkiljə)}}} > Middle Eittlandic {{{phon(ʃkiʎə)}}}

*** ɑʊ > oː
Sometime in the 15th century, any occurence of «au», pronounced by
then {{{phon(ɑʊ)}}}, began shifting to {{{phon(oː)}}}.

+ Example :: Early Middle Eittlandic /kaup/ (/bargain/) {{{phon(kɑʊp)}}} > Late
  Middle Eittlandic /kaup/ (/commerce/) {{{phon(koːp)}}}

*** C[+long +plos -voice] > C[+fric] ! / _C > C[+long +plos] > C[-long]
Unless followed by another consonant, any unvoiced long plosive
consonant becomes a short affricate while other long plosives simply
become shorter.

+ Example ::  
  - Old Norse /edda/ (great grandmother) {{{phon(edːɑ)}}} > Late Middle Eittlandic
 /edda/ (great grandmother, femalle ancestor) {{{phon(edɑ)}}}
  - Old Norse /Eittland/ {{{phon(eitːlɑnd)}}} > Late Middle Eittlandic {{{phon(eitlɑnd)}}}
  - Old Norse /uppá/ (/upon/) {{{phon(upːɑː)}}} > Late Middle Eittlandic {{{phon(upɸə)}}}

*** r > ʁ (Eastern Eittlandic)
From the beginning of the 16th century, the Eastern Eittlandic {{{phon(r)}}}
began morphing into an {{{phon(ʁ)}}} in all contexts except in word-final
«-r», remanants of Old Norse’s nominative «-R». This is typical in the
Eastern region of Eittland, and it can be even heard in some dialects
of Southern Eittlandic.

+ Example ::  
  - Old Norse /dratta/ (/to trail/ or /walk like a cow/) {{{phon(drɑtʃ)}}} > Eastern Modern
    Eittlandic /dratt/ (/act mindlessly/) {{{phon(dʁɑtʃ)}}}
  - Early Old Norse /fjárdráttr/ (/(unfairly) making money/)
    {{{phon(fjɑːdrɑːtːr̩)}}} > Eastern Modern Eittlandic /fjárdráttr/ (/to scam/)
    {{{phon(fjɛʁdʁɛtr̩)}}}

*** Great Vowel Shift
The great vowel shift happened during the 16th and 17th century during
which long vowels underwent a length loss, transforming them into
different short vowels. Only three rules governed this shift:
- V[+high +long] > V[-high -long +LT]
- V[+tense +long] > V[-tense -long +LT]
- V[-tense +long] > V[-long -low +LT]

This shift reintroduced a bitonal system in Eittlandic, contrasting
former long vowels with short vowels. Hence, the vowels evolved as
shown in the table below.
#+name: vow:eittland:evolution
#+caption: Evolution of Old Norse long vowels to Eittlandic short vowels
| Orthography | Old Eittlandic vowel | Modern Eittlandic Vowel |
|-------------+----------------------+-------------------------|
| á           | {{{phon(ɑː)}}}             | {{{phon(ɛ̀)}}}                |
| é           | {{{phon(eː)}}}             | {{{phon(ɛ̀)}}}              |
| í           | {{{phon(iː)}}}             | {{{phon(è)}}}                |
| ó           | {{{phon(oː)}}}             | {{{phon(ɔ̀)}}}                |
| œ (ǿ)       | {{{phon(øː)}}}             | {{{phon(œ̀)}}}                |
| ú           | {{{phon(uː)}}}             | {{{phon(ò)}}}              |
| ý           | {{{phon(yː)}}}             | {{{phon(ø̀)}}}                |

As you can see, some overlap is possible from Old Norse vowels and
Modern Eittlandic vowels. For instance, Eittlanders will read «é» and
«á» both as an {{{phon(ɛ̀)}}}.

+ Examples ::  
  - Middle Eittlandic /sjá/ (/to see/) {{{phon(ʃɑː)}}} > Modern Eittlandic {{{phon(ʃɛ̀)}}}
  - Old Norse /fé/ (/cattle/) {{{phon(feː)}}} > Modern Eittlandic /fé/ (wealth) {{{phon(fɛ̀)}}}
  - Late Proto-Norse /hví/ (/why/) {{{phon(hʷiː)}}} > Modern Eittlandic {{{phon(ʍè)}}}
  - Old Norse /bók/ (/beech/, /book/) {{{phon(boːk)}}} > Modern Eittlandic (/book/)
    {{{phon(bɔ̀k)}}}
  - Early Old Norse /œgir/ (/frightener/, /terrifier/) {{{phon(øːɡir)}}} > Modern
    Eittlandic /Œgir/ (a kind of mythical beast) {{{phon(œ̀jir)}}}
  - Middle Eittlandic /úlv/ (/wolf/) {{{phon(uːlv)}}} > Modern Eittlandic {{{phon(òlv)}}}

Diphthongs also evolved following these rules:
- {{{phon(ei)}}} > {{{phon(ɑɪ)}}}
- {{{phon(ou)}}} > {{{phon(ɔʊ)}}}
- {{{phon(øy)}}} > {{{phon(œʏ)}}}

It is probably up to this time period when Eittlandic stopped
nasalizing its vowels aside from Southern Eittland (see below),
although the timeframe regarding this evolution is very much unclear
and it might have happened as early as during the 13th century.

*** rɡ > ʁ (Southeastern Eittlandic)
In Southeastern Eittlandic, in the area around Hylfjaltr, the phonemes
{{{phon(r)}}} and {{{phon(ɡ)}}} assimilated each other into a {{{phon(ʁ)}}}, affecting
words such as /myrgun/ pronounced then as {{{phon(myʁun)}}}.

*** ə[-long] / C_# > ∅
As described in the [[file:./phonology.md#vː-ə][weakening of final long vowels]], the schwa
resulting from it kept its long vowel feature, although it wasn’t
pronounced anymore. This resulted in the current rule making all
schwas resulting from short vowels at the end of words to disappear
when following a voiced consonant. However, this process lengthened
any previous vowel, thus reintroducing a contrast between short vowels
and long vowels in Eittlandic. This distinction is however unmarked
when written in Standard Eittlandic due to the spelling dropping the
final vowels affected here.

+ Example :: Middle Eittlandic (to understand, to distinguish)
  {{{phon(ʃkiʎə)}}} > Late Middle Eittlandic {{{phon(ʃkiːʎ)}}}

*** VN / _ > Ṽ[-tense] ! V[+high] (Southern Eittlandic)
When preceding a nasal, any vowel that is not high as determined by
the vowel tree in [[*Vowel Inventory][Vowel Inventory]] gets nasalized when preceding a
nasal consonant and loses its tenseness if it has any. Hence, the
pronunciation of the «a» in /Eittland/ is {{{phon(ã)}}}. However, Old Norse
/runa/ (rune) {{{phon(runɑ)}}} becomes /run/ (letter, character, rune) {{{phon(run)}}}
without any nasalization.

Note this evolution is mostly proeminent in the southern regions of
Eittland and the city of Hundraðskip. It is less often documented in
Eastern Eittland and almost undocumented in Western Eittland. It is
more often documented in casual conversation buch rarer in formal
conversation, especially when the majority of the speakers in a group
are not southerners.

*** t / _C > ʔ ! _ʃ
When a {{{phon(t)}}} precedes another consonant, it becomes a glottal stop.

+ Example :: Early Modern Eittlandic /Eittland/ {{{phon(ɑɪtlɑnd)}}} > Modern
  Eittlandic {{{phon(ɑɪʔlɑnd)}}}

*** V^{U} > ə ! diphthongs (Western Eittlandic)
A recent evolution in Western Eittland is weakening any unstressed
vowel that is not a diphthong to a schwa. It is only documented in
casual speech but almost never in formal speech.

+ Example ::  
  - Standard Eittlandic /ádreif/ (spray) {{{phon(ɛ̀drɑɪv)}}} > Western Casual
    Eittlandic {{{phon(ɛ̀drɑɪv)}}}
  - Standard Eittlandic /einlægr/ (/sincere/) {{{phon(ɑɪnlæɡr)}}} > Western
    Casual Eittlandic {{{phon(ɑɪnləɡr)}}}

*** ɣ > h (Urban Eittlandic)
Since around the middle of the 20th century, urban Eittlandic started
leniting any {{{phon(ɣ)}}} into a {{{phon(h)}}}.

+ Example :: Standard Eittlandic /djúplig/ {{{phon(dʒòpliɣ)}}} > urban
  Eittlandic {{{phon(dʒòplih)}}}

In urban areas North of Ðeberget, word-final {{{phon(h)}}} resulting from
this evolution tends to get completely dropped since around the 90s.

+ Example :: Standard Eittlandic /djúplig/ {{{phon(dʒòpliɣ)}}} > urban
  Eittlandic {{{phon(dʒòplih)}}} > Northwestern Urban Eittlandic
  {{{phon(dʒòpli)}}}

** Vowel Inventory
Modern Eittlandic has a total of ten simple vowels and three
diphthongs, regardless of the dialect. It does not directly inherit
the vowel length contrast Old Norse bore anymore since the great vowel
shift (see the [[*Great Vowel Shift][Great Vowel Shift]]), though most of it shifted to a
bitonal contrast instead. The original bitonal contrast believed to
have existed in Old Norse has been most likely lost early on during
Eittlandic’s evolution, leaving room for the current one. The first
table below lists the Eittlandic simple vowels while the second table
lists the Eittlandic diphthongs. Note that the contrast by length or
tone is not listed in the table,

#+name: tab:vow:ipa
#+caption: Vowel inventory of Modern Eittlandic
|       <r> |  <c>  | <c>  |
|           | front | back |
|-----------+-------+------|
|     close |  i y  |  u   |
| close-mid |  e ø  |  o   |
|  open-mid |  ɛ œ  |  ɔ   |
|      open |       |  ɑ   |

#+name: tab:vow:dipththongs
#+caption: Diphthongs of Modern Eittlandic
| diphthong | phonetics |
|    <c>    |    <c>    |
|-----------+-----------|
|    ei     | {{{phon(ɑɪ)}}}  |
|    au     | {{{phon(ɔʊ)}}}  |
|    ey     |  {{{phon(œʏ)}}}  |

#+name: vow-dot-gen
#+header: :var vowels=vowels-featural-list
#+begin_src emacs-lisp :wrap "src dot :file eittlandic/vowel-feature-tree.png :results none :eval no-export"
(conlanging-graphviz-feature-tree vowels :label "vowels")
#+end_src

#+RESULTS[c723b412fc993fadd185fd61b5d05018b76844ac]: vow-dot-gen
#+begin_src dot :file eittlandic/vowel-feature-tree.png :results none :eval no-export
graph{graph[dpi=300,bgcolor="transparent"];node[shape=plaintext];"vowels-0ju80zwg7uit"[label="vowels"];"+high-0ju80zwg7ujg"[label="+high"];"vowels-0ju80zwg7uit"--"+high-0ju80zwg7ujg";"+round-0ju80zwg7ukn"[label="+round"];"+high-0ju80zwg7ujg"--"+round-0ju80zwg7ukn";"+front-0ju80zwg7uli"[label="+front"];"+round-0ju80zwg7ukn"--"+front-0ju80zwg7uli";"/y/-0ju80zwg7ume"[label="/y/"];"+front-0ju80zwg7uli"--"/y/-0ju80zwg7ume";"-front-0ju80zwg7uls"[label="-front"];"+round-0ju80zwg7ukn"--"-front-0ju80zwg7uls";"/u/-0ju80zwg7un4"[label="/u/"];"-front-0ju80zwg7uls"--"/u/-0ju80zwg7un4";"-round-0ju80zwg7ukw"[label="-round"];"+high-0ju80zwg7ujg"--"-round-0ju80zwg7ukw";"/i/-0ju80zwg7unw"[label="/i/"];"-round-0ju80zwg7ukw"--"/i/-0ju80zwg7unw";"-high-0ju80zwg7ujs"[label="-high"];"vowels-0ju80zwg7uit"--"-high-0ju80zwg7ujs";"+round-0ju80zwg7uon"[label="+round"];"-high-0ju80zwg7ujs"--"+round-0ju80zwg7uon";"+tense-0ju80zwg7uph"[label="+tense"];"+round-0ju80zwg7uon"--"+tense-0ju80zwg7uph";"+front-0ju80zwg7uq9"[label="+front"];"+tense-0ju80zwg7uph"--"+front-0ju80zwg7uq9";"/ø/-0ju80zwg7ur2"[label="/ø/"];"+front-0ju80zwg7uq9"--"/ø/-0ju80zwg7ur2";"-front-0ju80zwg7uqk"[label="-front"];"+tense-0ju80zwg7uph"--"-front-0ju80zwg7uqk";"/o/-0ju80zwg7urs"[label="/o/"];"-front-0ju80zwg7uqk"--"/o/-0ju80zwg7urs";"-tense-0ju80zwg7upp"[label="-tense"];"+round-0ju80zwg7uon"--"-tense-0ju80zwg7upp";"+low-0ju80zwg7usp"[label="+low"];"-tense-0ju80zwg7upp"--"+low-0ju80zwg7usp";"/œ/-0ju80zwg7uth"[label="/œ/"];"+low-0ju80zwg7usp"--"/œ/-0ju80zwg7uth";"-low-0ju80zwg7usz"[label="-low"];"-tense-0ju80zwg7upp"--"-low-0ju80zwg7usz";"/ɔ/-0ju80zwg7uu6"[label="/ɔ/"];"-low-0ju80zwg7usz"--"/ɔ/-0ju80zwg7uu6";"-round-0ju80zwg7uoy"[label="-round"];"-high-0ju80zwg7ujs"--"-round-0ju80zwg7uoy";"+tense-0ju80zwg7uv2"[label="+tense"];"-round-0ju80zwg7uoy"--"+tense-0ju80zwg7uv2";"/e/-0ju80zwg7uvv"[label="/e/"];"+tense-0ju80zwg7uv2"--"/e/-0ju80zwg7uvv";"-tense-0ju80zwg7uvd"[label="-tense"];"-round-0ju80zwg7uoy"--"-tense-0ju80zwg7uvd";"+low-0ju80zwg7uwl"[label="+low"];"-tense-0ju80zwg7uvd"--"+low-0ju80zwg7uwl";"/ɑ/-0ju80zwg7uxc"[label="/ɑ/"];"+low-0ju80zwg7uwl"--"/ɑ/-0ju80zwg7uxc";"-low-0ju80zwg7uwv"[label="-low"];"-tense-0ju80zwg7uvd"--"-low-0ju80zwg7uwv";"/ɛ/-0ju80zwg7uy0"[label="/ɛ/"];"-low-0ju80zwg7uwv"--"/ɛ/-0ju80zwg7uy0";}
#+end_src

#+html: <ImgFigure src="/img/eittlandic/vowel-feature-tree.png" alt="Eittlandic Vowel Featural Tree">Eittlandic Vowels Featural Tree</ImgFigure>

- a {{{phon(ɑ)}}} ::
- á {{{phon(ɛ̀)}}} ::
- æ {{{phon(ɛ)}}} ::
- e {{{phon(e)}}} ::
- é {{{phon(ɛ̀)}}} ::
- i {{{phon(i)}}} ::
- í {{{phon(è)}}} ::
- o {{{phon(o)}}} ::
- ó {{{phon(ɔ̀)}}} ::
- u {{{phon(u)}}} ::
- ú {{{phon(ò)}}} ::
- y {{{phon(y)}}} ::
- ý {{{phon(ø̀)}}} ::

*** Private Data                                                :noexport:
#+name: vowels-featural-list
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
'("high"
  ("round"
   ("front" "/y/" "/u/")
   "/i/")
  ("round"
   ("tense"
    ("front" "/ø/" "/o/")
    ("low" "/œ/" "/ɔ/"))
   ("tense"
    "/e/"
    ("low" "/ɑ/" "/ɛ/"))))
#+end_src

** Consonant Inventory
/Under construction/

*** Private Data                                                :noexport:

** Pitch and Stress
The original bitonal pitch accent of Eittlandic is thought to have
been lost around the 10th or 11th century, though it is no certain
this dating is accurate due to next to no documentation contemporary
documentation existing regarding this evolution. It has been, however,
replaced by a newer bitonal system during the [[file:phonology.md#great-vowel-shift][Great Vowel Shift]] as a
replacement for the loss of the contrast between short and long
vowels. The low pitch is marked, while the high pitch is unmarked.

The distinction between low and high pitch is only done on stressed
vowels, whether they are the bearer of the primary stress or a
secondary stress. The primary stress always falls on the first
syllable of a word, while the secondary stress falls where the primary
stress would fall in compound words, such as /noregsúlv/
{{{phon(ˈnorejsˌòlv)}}}. In this instance, no distinction is made regarding
whether {{{phon(e)}}} is a high pitch or low pitch vowel as it bears no
stress. On the other hand, the initial {{{phon(o)}}} bears a high pitch,
while the second {{{phon(o)}}} bears a low pitch. Note that there is no
correlation between which stress carries which pitch.

** Regional accents
Eittlandic is a language in which three distinct main dialects exist
with their own accent. These three main dialects are Eastern
Eittlandic spoken in the majority Kingdom of Hylfjaltr, Western
Eittlandic spoken in the majority of the Kingdom of Ðeberget, and
Southern Eittlandic spoken on the southern parts of the island,
regardess of the legal kingdom (see the map shown in [[file:./country.md#culture][Culture]]). Three
main elements of their respective accent were presented above in [[file:./phonology.md#*r > ʁ (Eastern Eittlandic)][the
Eastern uvularization of «r»]], [[file:./phonology.md#*VN / _ » Ṽ\[-tense\] ! V\[+high\] (Southern Eittlandic)][the Southern nasalization of vowels]]
and [[file:/phonology.md#vu-»-ə-diphthongs-western-eittlandic][the Western weakening of unstressed vowels]].

Some regional variation can be also found in these dialects, although
less significant and less consistantly than the changes mentioned
above. As such, we can find in some rural parts of the Eastern
Eittlandic dialect area high vowels slightly more open than their
equivalent in Standard Eittlandic, as shown in table below.
#+name: vow:accent:east
#+caption: Equivalence Between Eastern Eittlandic and Standard Eittlandic
|           <c>            |         <c>         |
| Rural Eastern Eittlandic | Standard Eittlandic |
|--------------------------+---------------------|
|         {{{phon(i)}}}          |       {{{phon(ɪ)}}}       |
|         {{{phon(y)}}}          |       {{{phon(ʏ)}}}        |
|         {{{phon(u)}}}          |       {{{phon(ʊ)}}}       |

On the other hand, Southern Eittlandic tends to front its {{{phon(ɑ)}}} into
{{{phon(a)}}} after nasal consonants and glides and into {{{phon(ɐ)}}} otherwise.