Word evolution game

[foxcatdog]

[kʷɛ̃ŋ.ɣo'cœ́]
kʷɛ̃nɣocœ́
"A nikeeyan guard"
It's literally dog+good+huge or dog+safe. Not to common at this point.
Nikeeya are a fantasy species noted for their large size and innate magic relating to enhancement, movement of physical things and cold.

[Zju]

Vowel height assimilation:

[kʷɛ̃ŋ.ɣɔ'cœ́]
kʷɛ̃nɣocœ́
"A Nikeeyan guard; A Nikeeyan servant"
Nikeeya are a fantasy species noted for their large size and innate magic relating to enhancement, movement of physical things and cold.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Unrounding of front rounded vowels:

[kʷɛ̃ŋ.ɣɔ'cɛ́]
kwengghokyé
"A Nikeeyan guard; A Nikeeyan servant"
Note: Nikeeya are a fantasy species noted for their large size and innate magic relating to enhancement, movement of physical things and cold.

[Zju]

Aspiration of plain plosives in onset position:

[kʷʰɛ̃ŋ.ɣɔ'cʰɛ́]
kwengghokyé
"A Nikeeyan guard; A Nikeeyan servant"
Note: Nikeeya are a fantasy species noted for their large size and innate magic relating to enhancement, movement of physical things and cold.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Loss of nasal codas with compensatory lengthening following nasalised vowels:

[kʷʰɛ̃ː.ɣɔ'cʰɛ́]
kwengghokyé
"A Nikeeyan guard; A Nikeeyan servant"
Note: Nikeeya are a fantasy species noted for their large size and innate magic relating to enhancement, movement of physical things and cold.

[Zju]

Loss of phonemic stress:

[kʷʰɛ̃ː.ɣɔ'cʰɛ]
kwengghokyé
"A Nikeeyan servant; (archaic) A Nikeeyan guard"
Note: Nikeeya are a fantasy species noted for their large size and innate magic relating to enhancement, movement of physical things and cold.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Denasalisation

[kʷʰɛː.ɣɔ.cʰɛ]
kwēghokye
"A Nikeeyan servant; (archaic) A Nikeeyan guard"
Note: Nikeeya are a fantasy species noted for their large size and innate magic relating to enhancement, movement of physical things and cold.

[Man in Space]

Tones develop out of prior aspiration and length contrasts, followed by loss of these distinguishing features.

[kʷɛ̋.ɣɔ̀.ʝɛ́]
quêgogé
"magnifying glass; magic mirror; (archaic) Nikeeyan servant"

Note: Nikeeya are a fantasy species noted for their large size and innate magic relating to enhancement, movement of physical things, and ability to drain kinetic energy from particle systems.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Voiced fricatives devoice

[kʷɛ̋.xɔ̀.çɛ́]
quêhohyé
"magnifying glass; magic mirror"

[foxcatdog]

Chainshift *x > *ç > *ɕ

[kʷɛ̋.çɔ̀.sɛ́]
quêhohyé
"magnifying glass; magic mirror, any sort of Nekonya artifact"

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Delabialisation:

[kɛ̋.çɔ̀.ɕɛ́]
kêhyoshé
"magnifying glass; magic mirror, any sort of Nekonya artifact"

[Man in Space]

Hoo boy…

Tones bunch up from the second syllable to the first (i.e. move leftward), that second syllable reducing to a central vowel and losing its tone. With that, final vowels devoice and eject their tone onto the preceding vowel in the word.

[kʷɛ̂.çɐ́.sɛ̥]
quêhohyé
"magnifying glass, monocle; archaeological artifact"

Rounin Ryuuji ninja'd me…how appropriate. Revising, please stand by.

Vowels in the initial syllable raise or lower in tone depending on the tone of the following syllable; final syllables become toneless and devoice if word-final:

[kɛ̄.çɔ̄.ɕɛ̥]
kechosheh
"kaleidoscope; magnifying glass; (archaic) fool's gold, worthless treasure"

[foxcatdog]

Palatisation of *k
[cçɛ̄.çɔ̄.ɕɛ̥]
kechosheh
"kaleidoscope; magnifying glass; (archaic) fool's gold, worthless treasure"

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Adjacent palatal consonants trigger raising and fronting:

[cçē.çø̄.ɕe̥]
kechosheh
"kaleidoscope; magnifying glass; (archaic) fool's gold, worthless treasure"

[Travis B.]

Consonants spread apart in POA space due to being too close together.

[kxē.çø̄.se̥]
kechosheh
"kaleidoscope; magnifying glass; (archaic) fool's gold, worthless treasure"

[Man in Space]

Tone sandhi: The first of two mid tones goes to high.

[kxé.çø̄.se̥]
kechosheh
"kaleidoscope; magnifying glass; display (screen) (especially when kaleidoscopic)"

[foxcatdog]

*s > *l > *n

[kxé.çø̄.ne̥]
kechoneh
"kaleidoscope; magnifying glass; display (screen) (especially when kaleidoscopic)"

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Chain shift [ø e] > [e i]

[kxí.çē.ni̥]
kíhyēnih
"kaleidoscope; magnifying glass; display (screen) (especially when kaleidoscopic)"

[Travis B.]

I think we should forbid arbitrarily changing fricatives, especially voiceless ones, aside from lateral fricatives to laterals.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

I admit I do wonder if [s] > [l] as a direct change is attested in any natural language ever. I could see [s] > [ɬ] > [l], though an unconditional [s] > [ɬ] would also probably be uncommon, and only occur if some other sound were moving towards [s] and triggering a push chain.