291 lines
18 KiB
Org Mode
291 lines
18 KiB
Org Mode
#+setupfile: ../headers
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* Phonetics and Phonology of Proto-Ñyqy
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** Phonetic Inventory and Translitteration
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*** Vowels
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As we stand today, eight vowels were reconstructed for Proto-Ñyqy, as
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presented in the table below.
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#+NAME: table:vowels:trans
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#+CAPTION: Proto-Ñyqy Vowels
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#+ATTR_LATEX: :placement [htb]
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| | antérieures | postérieures |
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|-------------+-------------+--------------|
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| fermées | y | ú |
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| pré-fermées | i | u |
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| mi-fermées | ø | œ |
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| mi-ouvertes | e | o |
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Below is a short guide to their pronunciation:
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- e :: {{{phon(*ɛ)}}} as in General American English /“bed”/ [bɛd]
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- i :: {{{phon(*ɪ)}}} as in General American English /“bit”/ [bɪt]
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- o :: {{{phon(*ɔ)}}} as in General American English /“thought”/ [θɔːt]
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- ø :: {{{phon(*ø)}}} as in French /“peu”/ [pø]
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- œ :: {{{phon(*ɤ)}}} as in Scottish Gaelic /“doirbh”/ [d̪̊ɤrʲɤv]
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- u :: {{{phon(*ʊ)}}} as in General American English /“hook”/ [hʊ̞k]
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- ú :: {{{phon(*u)}}} as in General American English /“boot”/ [bu̟ːt]
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- y :: {{{phon(*y)}}} as in French /“dune”/ [d̪yn]
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We also have a ninth vowel, noted «ə» which denotes an unknown vowel.
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It is most likely this was before the Proto-Ñyqy breakup a simple
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schwa standing where a vowel got reduced either at an earlier stage
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than Proto-Ñyqy or during the breakup of the language. Depending on
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the languages that evolved from Proto-Ñyqy, some got rid of it later
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while some other reinstated it as a full vowel with different rules
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each on which vowel it would become. Thus in the current stage of
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reasearch on Proto-Ñyqy, we cannot know for certain which vowel it
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should have been.
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It is however possible to create a featural tree for the known vowels,
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determining which would have been considered closer to others, as
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seens with the vowel tree below.
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#+NAME: vow-tree
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#+header: :var vowels=vowels-featural-list
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#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :wrap "src dot :file proto-nyqy/vowel-feature-tree.png :exports none"
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(conlanging-list-to-graphviz vowels)
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#+END_SRC
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#+RESULTS[eaefac0c72a08ab3e9f428c0d312996e99dc0502]: vow-tree
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#+begin_src dot :file proto-nyqy/vowel-feature-tree.png :exports none
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graph{graph[dpi=300,bgcolor="transparent"];node[shape=plaintext];"vowels-0jqz10ex3ux6"[label="vowels"];"+back-0jqz10ex3uxr"[label="+back"];"vowels-0jqz10ex3ux6"--"+back-0jqz10ex3uxr";"+tense-0jqz10ex3uy2"[label="+tense"];"+back-0jqz10ex3uxr"--"+tense-0jqz10ex3uy2";"+high-0jqz10ex3uyb"[label="+high"];"+tense-0jqz10ex3uy2"--"+high-0jqz10ex3uyb";"/u/-0jqz10ex3uyk"[label="/u/"];"+high-0jqz10ex3uyb"--"/u/-0jqz10ex3uyk";"-high-0jqz10ex3uz6"[label="-high"];"+tense-0jqz10ex3uy2"--"-high-0jqz10ex3uz6";"/ɤ/-0jqz10ex3uzg"[label="/ɤ/"];"-high-0jqz10ex3uz6"--"/ɤ/-0jqz10ex3uzg";"-tense-0jqz10ex3v0u"[label="-tense"];"+back-0jqz10ex3uxr"--"-tense-0jqz10ex3v0u";"+high-0jqz10ex3v14"[label="+high"];"-tense-0jqz10ex3v0u"--"+high-0jqz10ex3v14";"/ʊ/-0jqz10ex3v1d"[label="/ʊ/"];"+high-0jqz10ex3v14"--"/ʊ/-0jqz10ex3v1d";"-high-0jqz10ex3v20"[label="-high"];"-tense-0jqz10ex3v0u"--"-high-0jqz10ex3v20";"/ɔ/-0jqz10ex3v29"[label="/ɔ/"];"-high-0jqz10ex3v20"--"/ɔ/-0jqz10ex3v29";"-back-0jqz10ex3v4z"[label="-back"];"vowels-0jqz10ex3ux6"--"-back-0jqz10ex3v4z";"+tense-0jqz10ex3v59"[label="+tense"];"-back-0jqz10ex3v4z"--"+tense-0jqz10ex3v59";"+high-0jqz10ex3v5i"[label="+high"];"+tense-0jqz10ex3v59"--"+high-0jqz10ex3v5i";"/y/-0jqz10ex3v5r"[label="/y/"];"+high-0jqz10ex3v5i"--"/y/-0jqz10ex3v5r";"-high-0jqz10ex3v6c"[label="-high"];"+tense-0jqz10ex3v59"--"-high-0jqz10ex3v6c";"/ø/-0jqz10ex3v6m"[label="/ø/"];"-high-0jqz10ex3v6c"--"/ø/-0jqz10ex3v6m";"-tense-0jqz10ex3v7w"[label="-tense"];"-back-0jqz10ex3v4z"--"-tense-0jqz10ex3v7w";"+high-0jqz10ex3v86"[label="+high"];"-tense-0jqz10ex3v7w"--"+high-0jqz10ex3v86";"/ɪ/-0jqz10ex3v8f"[label="/ɪ/"];"+high-0jqz10ex3v86"--"/ɪ/-0jqz10ex3v8f";"-high-0jqz10ex3v91"[label="-high"];"-tense-0jqz10ex3v7w"--"-high-0jqz10ex3v91";"/ɛ/-0jqz10ex3v9a"[label="/ɛ/"];"-high-0jqz10ex3v91"--"/ɛ/-0jqz10ex3v9a";}
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#+end_src
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#+html: <ImgFigure src="/img/proto-nyqy/vowel-feature-tree.png" alt="Proto-Ñyqy Vowel Featural Tree">Proto-Ñyqy Vowels Featural Tree</ImgFigure>
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**** Private Data :noexport:
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#+name: vowels-featural-list
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- vowels
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- +back
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- +tense
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- +high
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- /u/
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- -high
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- /ɤ/
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- -tense
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- +high
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- /ʊ/
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- -high
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- /ɔ/
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- -back
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- +tense
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- +high
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- /y/
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- -high
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- /ø/
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- -tense
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- +high
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- /ɪ/
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- -high
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- /ɛ/
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*** Consonants
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The topic of consonants, unlike vowels, is a hot debate among
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linguists. while we are pretty sure proto-ñyqy has twelve consonants,
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we are still unsure which consonants they are due to the extreme
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unstability of the dorsal feature, and there is seemingly no
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consistency as to how the consonants stabilized in the different
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languages that emerged from the proto-ñyqy breakup. it is only in the
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recent years Ishy Maeln proposed a new theory that is gaining traction
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among proto-ñyqy specialists: each consonant could be pronounced
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either as a dorsal or as a non-dorsal depending on its environment and
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both potential pronunciation can be correct. she even goes further and
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proposes proto-ñyqy had an alternating rule stating a given consonant
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had to be non-dorsal if the previous one was, and vice versa. this
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would explain the common pattern of dorsal consonants alternation
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found in some early languages found after the breakup such as
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proto-mojhal. this phenomenon is more thouroughly explained in
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[[file:phonology.md#consonants][Consonants]].
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You can find the featural tree of the Proto-Ñyqy consonants in the
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consonant tree below. Each grapheme displays below its dorsal
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pronunciation on the left and its non-dorsal pronunciation on the
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right.
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#+name: cons-tree
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#+header: :var consonants=consonants-featural-list
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#+begin_src emacs-lisp :wrap "src dot :file proto-nyqy/consonant-feature-tree.png :exports none"
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(conlanging-list-to-graphviz consonants)
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#+end_src
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#+RESULTS[084ff9041851d57a11859fbe86f3939212c0caf5]: cons-tree
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#+begin_src dot :file proto-nyqy/consonant-feature-tree.png :exports none
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graph{graph[dpi=300,bgcolor="transparent"];node[shape=plaintext];"consonants-0jqz10keat1f"[label="consonants"];"+coronal-0jqz10keat1m"[label="+coronal"];"consonants-0jqz10keat1f"--"+coronal-0jqz10keat1m";"+anterior-0jqz10keat1p"[label="+anterior"];"+coronal-0jqz10keat1m"--"+anterior-0jqz10keat1p";"+voice-0jqz10keat1r"[label="+voice"];"+anterior-0jqz10keat1p"--"+voice-0jqz10keat1r";"+nasal-0jqz10keat1t"[label="+nasal"];"+voice-0jqz10keat1r"--"+nasal-0jqz10keat1t";"n\nɳ / n-0jqz10keat1v"[label="n\nɳ / n"];"+nasal-0jqz10keat1t"--"n\nɳ / n-0jqz10keat1v";"-nasal-0jqz10keat21"[label="-nasal"];"+voice-0jqz10keat1r"--"-nasal-0jqz10keat21";"z\nʝ / z-0jqz10keat22"[label="z\nʝ / z"];"-nasal-0jqz10keat21"--"z\nʝ / z-0jqz10keat22";"-voice-0jqz10keat2d"[label="-voice"];"+anterior-0jqz10keat1p"--"-voice-0jqz10keat2d";"s\nç / s-0jqz10keat2e"[label="s\nç / s"];"-voice-0jqz10keat2d"--"s\nç / s-0jqz10keat2e";"-anterior-0jqz10keat2t"[label="-anterior"];"+coronal-0jqz10keat1m"--"-anterior-0jqz10keat2t";"+voice-0jqz10keat2v"[label="+voice"];"-anterior-0jqz10keat2t"--"+voice-0jqz10keat2v";"j\nɟ / d͡ʒ-0jqz10keat2y"[label="j\nɟ / d͡ʒ"];"+voice-0jqz10keat2v"--"j\nɟ / d͡ʒ-0jqz10keat2y";"- voice-0jqz10keat34"[label="- voice"];"-anterior-0jqz10keat2t"--"- voice-0jqz10keat34";"c\nc / t͡ʃ-0jqz10keat36"[label="c\nc / t͡ʃ"];"- voice-0jqz10keat34"--"c\nc / t͡ʃ-0jqz10keat36";"-coronal-0jqz10keat5e"[label="-coronal"];"consonants-0jqz10keat1f"--"-coronal-0jqz10keat5e";"+voice-0jqz10keat5g"[label="+voice"];"-coronal-0jqz10keat5e"--"+voice-0jqz10keat5g";"+nasal-0jqz10keat5i"[label="+nasal"];"+voice-0jqz10keat5g"--"+nasal-0jqz10keat5i";"+labial-0jqz10keat5k"[label="+labial"];"+nasal-0jqz10keat5i"--"+labial-0jqz10keat5k";"m\nŋ͡m / m-0jqz10keat5m"[label="m\nŋ͡m / m"];"+labial-0jqz10keat5k"--"m\nŋ͡m / m-0jqz10keat5m";"-labial-0jqz10keat5r"[label="-labial"];"+nasal-0jqz10keat5i"--"-labial-0jqz10keat5r";"ñ\nɴ / ɦ̃-0jqz10keat5t"[label="ñ\nɴ / ɦ̃"];"-labial-0jqz10keat5r"--"ñ\nɴ / ɦ̃-0jqz10keat5t";"-nasal-0jqz10keat63"[label="-nasal"];"+voice-0jqz10keat5g"--"-nasal-0jqz10keat63";"+labial-0jqz10keat65"[label="+labial"];"-nasal-0jqz10keat63"--"+labial-0jqz10keat65";"+constricted-0jqz10keat67"[label="+constricted"];"+labial-0jqz10keat65"--"+constricted-0jqz10keat67";"w\nw / v-0jqz10keat6d"[label="w\nw / v"];"+constricted-0jqz10keat67"--"w\nw / v-0jqz10keat6d";"-constricted-0jqz10keat6h"[label="-constricted"];"+labial-0jqz10keat65"--"-constricted-0jqz10keat6h";"b\ng͡b / b-0jqz10keat6k"[label="b\ng͡b / b"];"-constricted-0jqz10keat6h"--"b\ng͡b / b-0jqz10keat6k";"-labial-0jqz10keat6u"[label="-labial"];"-nasal-0jqz10keat63"--"-labial-0jqz10keat6u";"g\nɡ / ʕ-0jqz10keat6w"[label="g\nɡ / ʕ"];"-labial-0jqz10keat6u"--"g\nɡ / ʕ-0jqz10keat6w";"-voice-0jqz10keat7t"[label="-voice"];"-coronal-0jqz10keat5e"--"-voice-0jqz10keat7t";"+labial-0jqz10keat7v"[label="+labial"];"-voice-0jqz10keat7t"--"+labial-0jqz10keat7v";"p\nk͡p / p-0jqz10keat7w"[label="p\nk͡p / p"];"+labial-0jqz10keat7v"--"p\nk͡p / p-0jqz10keat7w";"-labial-0jqz10keat81"[label="-labial"];"-voice-0jqz10keat7t"--"-labial-0jqz10keat81";"q\nq / ħ-0jqz10keat83"[label="q\nq / ħ"];"-labial-0jqz10keat81"--"q\nq / ħ-0jqz10keat83";}
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#+end_src
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#+html: <ImgFigure src="/img/proto-nyqy/consonant-feature-tree.png" alt="Feature Tree of Proto-Ñyqy Consonants">Feature Tree of Proto-Ñyqy Consonants</ImgFigure>
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As you can see, each one of the consonants have their two alternative
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indicated below their grapheme. In the case of the coronal consonants,
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the alternative consonant is obtained by replacing the anterior
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feature by the dorsal feature when it is present.
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The way of writing consonants was therefore standardized as presented
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in the table below.
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#+name: table:consonants-pronunciation
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#+caption: Possible Pronunciations of the Proto-Ñyqy Consonants
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| Main Grapheme | Dorsal Phoneme | Non-Dorsal Phoneme | Alternate Grapheme |
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|---------------+----------------+--------------------+--------------------|
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| ñ | {{{phon(*ɴ)}}} | {{{phon(*ɦ̃)}}} | ḿ |
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| q | {{{phon(*q)}}} | {{{phon(*ħ)}}} | ħ, h_{1} |
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| g | {{{phon(*ɢ)}}} | {{{phon(*ʕ)}}} | ȟ, h_{2} |
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| c | {{{phon(*c)}}} | {{{phon(*t͡ʃ)}}} | ł |
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| j | {{{phon(*ɟ)}}} | {{{phon(*d͡ʒ)}}} | ʒ |
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| w | {{{phon(*w)}}} | {{{phon(*v)}}} | l |
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| m | {{{phon(*ŋ͡m)}}} | {{{phon(*m)}}} | r, r_{1} |
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| p | {{{phon(*χ)}}} | {{{phon(*p)}}} | xh, r_{2} |
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| b | {{{phon(*g͡b)}}} | {{{phon(*b)}}} | rh, r_{3} |
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| n | {{{phon(*ɳ)}}} | {{{phon(*n)}}} | y |
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| s | {{{phon(*ç)}}} | {{{phon(*s)}}} | x, r_{4} |
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| z | {{{phon(*ʝ)}}} | {{{phon(*z)}}} | ɣ, r_{5} |
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For each of these consonants, the letter chosen represents what we
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suppose was the most common or the default pronunciation of the
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consonant represented. In the table are also included alternate
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graphemes you might find in other, mostly older works, though they are
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mostly deprecated now.
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As you can see, Proto-Ñyqy had potentially two different consonants
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that could be pronounced as {{{phon(*m)}}}. Although it did not influence
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Proto-Ñyqy as far as we know, it definitively influenced the Pritian
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branch of the family, with «ñ» and «m» influencing differently the
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vowel following it.
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Several consonants used to be unknown at the beginnings of the
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Proto-Ñyqy study, as can be seen with the old usage of «h_{1}, h_{2}, r_{1},
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r_{2}, r_{3}, r_{4}, and r_{5}». These are found mostly in the earlier documents
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but progressively dissapear as our understanding of the Proto-Ñyqy
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grew during the past century. They are not used anymore, but any
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student that wishes to read older documents on Proto-Ñyqy should be
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aware of these.
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**** Private Data :noexport:
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#+name: consonants-featural-list
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- consonants
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- +coronal
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- +anterior
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- +voice
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- +nasal
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- n\nɳ / n
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- -nasal
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- z\nʝ / z
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- -voice
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- s\nç / s
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- -anterior
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- +voice
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- j\nɟ / d͡ʒ
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- - voice
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- c\nc / t͡ʃ
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- -coronal
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- +voice
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- +nasal
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- +labial
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- m\nŋ͡m / m
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- -labial
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- ñ\nɴ / ɦ̃
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- -nasal
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- +labial
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- +constricted
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- w\nw / v
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- -constricted
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- b\ng͡b / b
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- -labial
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- g\nɡ / ʕ
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- -voice
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- +labial
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- p\nk͡p / p
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- -labial
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- q\nq / ħ
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*** Pitch and Stress
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It is definitively known Proto-Ñyqy had a stress system that was used
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both on a clause and on a word level, as the languages that evolved
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from it inherited this characteristic. However, it is not possible to
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reconstruct it accurately, we only know the vowel «ə» was unstressed
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and only appeared in words with two syllables or more. However, we do
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not know if it had any morphological meaning or if it was productive.
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On the other hand, we are much less sure about whether it had a pitch
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system, and if it did whether it was productive or not. Most of the
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languages that evolved from Proto-Ñyqy had or have one such as the
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Mojhal-Andelian family, but some don’t such as the Pritian family. The
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most commonly accepted answer is a pitch system appeared after the
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breakup of the pitchless branches which happenned earlier than the
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other branches which do have a pitch system. In reconstructed
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Proto-Ñyqy however, if such a system was present, pitches were most
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likely non-phonemic and unproductive. It only gained productivity in
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later stages, after the first breakups we know, in a common unknown
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ancestor language of the branches which did or still do have either an
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accent or a pitch system, and even there the evolutions seem to have
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happened in different ways depending on the branches. It is therefore
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impossible to know what the pitch system of Proto-Ñyqy was if it had
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one.
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** Phonotactics
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*** Syllable Structure
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The prototypical syllable in Proto-Ñyqy appears as a (C)V(C)(C)
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syllable with at least one consonant around the vowel, either in the
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onset or in the coda. At most, it can have one consonant in the onset
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and two in the coda.
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No special rule have been found to rule the onset, it can host any
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consonant without any effect on the vowel.
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However, it has been found the coda has some rules:
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- two nasal consonants cannot follow each other --- no {{{recon(-ñm)}}}
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- two coronal consonants cannot follow each other --- no {{{recon(-ns)}}}
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- labial consonants are never found with another consonant in the coda
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--- no {{{recon(-ps)}}}
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For instance, {{{recon(noc zebec)}}} would be pronounced as {{{recon(noc
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gebec)}}}. It is most likely the features to chose from when converting a
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consonant from a coronal to a non-coronal were considered as absent by
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default. This results in the table below --- as you can see, the pair
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«z» and «j» and the pair «s» and «c» convert to the same consonant
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respectively.
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#+name: table:coronal-to-non-coronal-consonants
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#+caption: Conversion Table of Coronal to Non-Coronal Consonants
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| Coronal Consonant | Non-Coronal Consonant |
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|-------------------+-----------------------|
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| n | ñ |
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| z | g |
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| s | q |
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| j | g |
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| c | q |
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It has also been found that if two coronal consonants do follow each
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other in cross-syllabic environments, with the first one in the coda
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of a first syllable and the second one in the onset of a second
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syllable, then the former will become voiced as the latter.
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Similarly, if two nasal consonants are found near each other in a
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cross-syllabic environment, the second nasal consonant will become
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denasalized. Thus, we get the conversion table below.
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#+name: table:consonants-denasalization
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#+caption: Denasalization Table for Proto-Ñyqy Consonants
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| Nasal Consonant | Non-Nasal Consonant |
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|-----------------+---------------------|
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| n | z |
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| m | w |
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| ñ | b |
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It has also been found a schwa tends to appear between syllables when
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the first one ends with two consonants and the second one begins with
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one.
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*** Consonantal Dorsal Alternation
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As mentioned above in [[file:phonology.md#consonants][Consonants]], it seems probable according to
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Maeln’s theory consonants were alternating between dorsals and
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non-dorsals. We do not know if it only happened between words, within
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words, or along whole clauses, but this would explain much of the
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different languages that evolved from Proto-Ñyqy. The table below
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shows different possible pronunciation of Proto-Ñyqy words with
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word-wise consonantal dorsal alternation whether the first consonant
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is to be considered a dorsal consonant or not. Note the nasal switch
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as well as the extra schwa insertion in the third example as described
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above in [[file:phonology.md#syllable-structure][Syllable Structure]].
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#+name: table:word-consonantal-dorsal-alternation
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#+caption: Different Possible Pronunciation of Proto-Ñyqy Words
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| Word | Dorsal-Initial | Dorsal-Final |
|
||
|-----------------+-----------------------+---------------------|
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| {{{recon(pœwec)}}} | {{{phon(*pɤwɛt͡ʃ)}}} | {{{phon(*pɤvɛc)}}} |
|
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| {{{recon(zebec)}}} | {{{phon(*zɛg͡bɛt͡ʃ)}}} | {{{phon(*ʝɛbɛc)}}} |
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| {{{recon(ñocm noc)}}} | {{{phon(*ɴɔt͡ʃŋ͡m ə ɦɔc)}}} | {{{phon(*ɦɔcm ə ɴot͡ʃ)}}} |
|