andrew <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> This is an interesting project, a conlang from an existing language (ot=
her
> than vulgar latin).  I wait to see how it will develop.

Thanks. So far I have established a primary stage of the language,
with changes that extrapolate current tendencies and some likely
sound changes which would take maybe five centuries to take place.
I don't want a conhistory yet, but I'll need some of it soon if
I want to continue.

[regarding h-protesis]
> This effect also occurs in Brithenig as an initial mutation.  In its
> current orthography the examples you have given would be written _bo
> h-ama(h)_ and _bo theme(h)_ using the spirant mutation found in Welsh.
> The -h becomes attached to the following word, h- before a vowel, and
> causing stops to become fricatives.  You may not wish to go that far an=
d
> keep it as a liaison rather than a mutation or a spirantisation.

Yes, I'll keep it in liaison. Maybe a mutation could take place in anothe=
r
stage, but I don't want to have so many interactions... I already have
nasal mutation.

For anyone interested, here are the phonetic changes so far:

Vowel reduction: unstressed /a o/ become /@/, while /i e u/ become /1/
(that's IPA barred i, high central vowel).

Nasal voicing: nasal + unvoiced stop makes the stop voiced. The change
is only reflected in orthography for medial changes (that is, _campamento=
_
gives _cambament_ /k@[log in to unmask] This also causes mutation with the articl=
e
_un_ and probably some other common enclitics. Nasal + unvoiced sound in
general may cause voicing too.

Palatalization: dental stops become alveolar, and /t d/ palatalize before
front vowels. Also /n l/ become palatal (like <=F1>, Castilian <ll>) befo=
re
front vowels. Liquid /l/ (in clusters like /bl/) always becomes palatal.
I'll note this using just [^] for palatalization in my IPA rendering...
It's easier. Besides I don't want to use symbols that I'm not sure of.

Palatal spread: vowels right before and after a palatal(ized) sound
become front vowels, even if they're reduced. This in turn might
cause other consonants to palatalize, and so. For example:
_mondase_: final [e] is reduced to [1] and then disappears, but
the [s] is palatalized to [s^]. Therefore, the previous [a] is
fronted to [&], which in turn causes [nd] to palatalize to [n^d^],
which in turn fronts the [@], reduced from [o], to [E]. Final result:
[mEn^'d^&s^], where [s^] is somewhere between [C] and [S], and [d^]
is [d_j]. These changes are all allophonic; some will be reflected
in orthography.

--> Is this 'palatal spread' found in any natlang? Do you guys think
it's likely or even possible?

Approximantization (ugh, ugly word!): the fricative allophones of voiced
stops become approximants when closing a syllable (mostly in word-final
position), according to the frontness of vowel that followed (which has
disappeared):

Original   + Orig. front vowel   + Orig. back vowel

 /b/             [j<rnd>]                [w]
 /d/                [j]                   0  (lost)
 /g/                [j]                  [3] (velar approx.)

So for example: Sp. _vivo_ [bibo] becomes [biw], _vive_ becomes [bij<rnd>=
];
_mida_ [mi@], _mide_ [mij]; _niego_ [n^e3], _niegue_ [n^ej].

Loss of final vowels (with several effects).

Aspiration of syllable- and word- final [s] in [h], with total loss
in word-final position, except for h-liaison.

Now I'm struggling with the verbal conjugation... like a brontosaurus in =
a
china shop. :) Future Spanish will surely have a lot of grammatical const=
ructions
of prefix + infinitive derived from periphrases. For example <ba-> from S=
panish
_va a_ 'he's going to' (which is the usual form of the future).


--Pablo Flores