Phrase evolution game

[Karch]

1: ɵ > e
2: dissimilation: ɔ̯ɐ(:)ɔ̯ɐ > β̞ɐ(:)ɔ̯ɐ
3: monophthongization: ɔ̯ɐ ɔ̯ɐ: > ɔ:, ɐ̃ũ õũ ĩũ > ɔ̃: õ: ũ:
4: postoralization: prevocalic nasals not adjacent to nasal vowels gain an oral offglide
5: stressed and/or long lax vowels become tense
6: ɾ > ɹ
7: uV iV > uwV ijV
8: fl fɹ > hl hɹ
The orthography is then reformed, with the representation of unstressed vowels being regularized, and vowel deletion resulting in compensatory lengthening being marked by an apostrophe.

Ão lehuar da Mãija, de cuy' nõumre ne quier' varcrarme, nua much' tiãobo que vivía un higalgo us de lãhua en astiller, abarga ãdigua, recĩu flac' y halgo corrahior.

More: show

Ão

in a

lehuar

place

da

of the

Mãija,

Mancha

de

of

cuy'

whose.M.SG

nõumre

name

ne

not

quier'

want.PRS.IND.1SG

vacrarme,

remember.INF-1SG.REFL

nua

not have

much'

much.M.SG

tiãobo

time

que

that

vivía

live.IMPF.IND.3SG

un

ART.NDEF.M.SG

higalgo

noble.M.SG

us

of the

de

of

lãhua

lance

en

in

astiller,

lance_rack

abarga

leather_shield

ãdigua,

old.F.SG

recĩu

nag

flac'

thin.M.SG

y

and

halgo

greyhound

corrahior.

running.M.SG

[ˌɔ̃ː leˈɔː ɹɐ ˈmãĩ.d͡ʒɐ | d̪ɐ ˈkuːj ˈnõː.mɹɐ ne ˈkjeː ˌβ̞aːˈkɹaː.mᵇɐ | ˈnᵈɔː ˈmᵇuːt͡ʃ ˈt͡ʃɔ̃ː.be kɐ β̞ɪˈβ̞i.jɐ ˌũ.n͜ᵈ ɪˈjal.lʊ ʊz ɹɐ ˈlãː.ɔː ɐ̃.n͜ᵈ ɐʃ.t͡ʃɪˈjeː | ɐˈβ̞aː.ɔː ãːˈd͡ʒi.jɔː | ɹeˈfũː ˈhlaːk ɥɪ ˈjɐl.lʊ ˌko.ɹɐˈjɔː]

[StrangerCoug]

1. /hl/ > /ɬ/; /hɹ hj hw/ would become /ɹ̥ ç ʍ/ were they in the sample.
2. Consonants degeminate, with compensatory lengthening in preceding short stressed vowels (as in both cases here).
3. Final voiceless stops cease to have an audible release.

Ão lehuar da Mãija, de cuy' nõumre ne quier' varcrarme, nua much' tiãobo que vivía un higalgo us de lãhua en astiller, abarga ãdigua, recĩu flac' y halgo corrahior.

More: show

Ão

in a

lehuar

place

da

of the

Mãija,

Mancha

de

of

cuy'

whose.M.SG

nõumre

name

ne

not

quier'

want.PRS.IND.1SG

vacrarme,

remember.INF-1SG.REFL

nua

not have

much'

much.M.SG

tiãobo

time

que

that

vivía

live.IMPF.IND.3SG

un

ART.NDEF.M.SG

higalgo

noble.M.SG

us

of the

de

of

lãhua

lance

en

in

astiller,

lance_rack

abarga

leather_shield

ãdigua,

old.F.SG

recĩu

nag

flac'

thin.M.SG

y

and

halgo

greyhound

corrahior.

running.M.SG

[ˌɔ̃ː leˈɔː ɹɐ ˈmãĩ.d͡ʒɐ | d̪ɐ ˈkuːj ˈnõː.mɹɐ ne ˈkjeː ˌβ̞aːˈkɹaː.mᵇɐ | ˈnᵈɔː ˈmᵇuːt͡ʃ ˈt͡ʃɔ̃ː.be kɐ β̞ɪˈβ̞i.jɐ ˌũ.n͜ᵈ ɪˈjaː.lʊ ʊz ɹɐ ˈlãː.ɔː ɐ̃.n͜ᵈ ɐʃ.t͡ʃɪˈjeː | ɐˈβ̞aː.ɔː ãːˈd͡ʒi.jɔː | ɹeˈfũː ˈɬaːk̚ ɥɪ ˈjɐː.lʊ ˌko.ɹɐˈjɔː]

After we've decided this has run its course, someone else can do a new phrase; I've already come up with the last two (although one of Otto's was originally done instead of this one).

[Travis B.]

• Post-stopped nasals unstop.

Ão lehuar da Mãija, de cuy' nõumre ne quier' varcrarme, nua much' tiãobo que vivía un higalgo us de lãhua en astiller, abarga ãdigua, recĩu flac' y halgo corrahior.

More: show

Ão

in a

lehuar

place

da

of the

Mãija,

Mancha

de

of

cuy'

whose.M.SG

nõumre

name

ne

not

quier'

want.PRS.IND.1SG

vacrarme,

remember.INF-1SG.REFL

nua

not have

much'

much.M.SG

tiãobo

time

que

that

vivía

live.IMPF.IND.3SG

un

ART.NDEF.M.SG

higalgo

noble.M.SG

us

of the

de

of

lãhua

lance

en

in

astiller,

lance_rack

abarga

leather_shield

ãdigua,

old.F.SG

recĩu

nag

flac'

thin.M.SG

y

and

halgo

greyhound

corrahior.

running.M.SG

[ˌɔ̃ː leˈɔː ɹɐ ˈmãĩ.d͡ʒɐ | d̪ɐ ˈkuːj ˈnõː.mɹɐ ne ˈkjeː ˌβ̞aːˈkɹaː.mɐ | ˈnɔː ˈmuːt͡ʃ ˈt͡ʃɔ̃ː.be kɐ β̞ɪˈβ̞i.jɐ ˌũ.n͜ ɪˈjaː.lʊ ʊz ɹɐ ˈlãː.ɔː ɐ̃.n͜ ɐʃ.t͡ʃɪˈjeː | ɐˈβ̞aː.ɔː ãːˈd͡ʒi.jɔː | ɹeˈfũː ˈɬaːk̚ ɥɪ ˈjɐː.lʊ ˌko.ɹɐˈjɔː]

[StrangerCoug]

After we've decided this has run its course, someone else can do a new phrase; I've already come up with the last two (although one of Otto's was originally done instead of this one).

Ah, screw it, I want to revive this game. Here's one from French:

Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmants masques et bergamasques
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.

More: show

Votre

2S.FOR.POSS.SG

âme

soul

est

be.3S.PRS.IND

un

ART.NDEF.M

paysage

landscape

choisi

choose.PPRT

Que

that

vont

go.3P.PRS.IND

charmants

charming.M.PL

masques

mask.PL

et

and

bergamasques

Bergamasks

Jouant

play.APRT

du

of_ART.DEF.M

luth

lute

et

and

dansant

dance.APRT

et

and

quasi

almost

Tristes

sad.PL

sous

under

leurs

3P.POSS.PL

déguisements

disguise.PL

fantasques.

fancifal.PL

[vɔ.tʁ‿ɑ.m‿ɛ.t‿œ̃ pɛ.i.za.ʒə ʃwa.zi | kə vɔ̃ ʃaʁ.mɑ̃ mas.k‿e bɛʁ.ɡa.mas.kə ‖ ʒu.ɑ̃ dy ly.t‿e dɑ̃.sɑ̃.t‿e ka.zi | tʁis.tə su lœʁ de.ɡiz.mɑ̃ fɑ̃.tas.kə]

Your soul is as a moonlit landscape fair,
Peopled with maskers delicate and dim,
That play on lutes and dance and have an air
Of being sad in their fantastic trim.

From there:

1. Lexical stress comes to be, falling on the final syllable UNLESS it ends in an e muet, in which case it falls on the antepenult. Stress continues to be unmarked in monosyllabic function words; polysyllabic function words carry secondary instead of primary stress.
2. Resulting open stressed syllables become long (syllables that are followed by a consonant that is in turn followed by an e muet is considered open for the purposes of this rule).
3. /ʁ/ devoices to [χ] after a voiceless consonant.
4. Syllable-final /s/ debuccalizes to /h/.

[ˌvɔˈtχ‿ɑː.m‿ɛ.t‿œ̃ pɛ.iˈzaː.ʒə ʃwaˈziː | kə ˈvɔ̃ː ʃaʁˈmɑ̃ː ˈmah.k‿e bɛʁ.ɡaˈmah.kə ‖ ʒuˈɑ̃ː dy ˈlyː.t‿e dɑ̃ˈsɑ̃ː.t‿e kaˈziː | ˈtχih.tə ˈsuː lœʁ de.ɡizˈmɑ̃ː fɑ̃ˈtah.kə]

[bradrn]

[vɔ.tʁ‿ɑ.m‿ɛ.t‿œ̃ pɛ.i.za.ʒə ʃwa.zi | kə vɔ̃ ʃaʁ.mɑ̃ mas.k‿e bɛʁ.ɡa.mas.kə ‖ ʒu.ɑ̃ dy ly.t‿e dɑ̃.sɑ̃.t‿e ka.zi | tʁis.tə su lœʁ de.ɡiz.mɑ̃ fɑ̃.tas.kə]

Your dialect distinguishes /ɑ a/ and /ɛ̃ œ̃/? Up till now I’ve mostly been exposed to Parisian French which merges them to [a ã] respectively.

[Travis B.]

[vɔ.tʁ‿ɑ.m‿ɛ.t‿œ̃ pɛ.i.za.ʒə ʃwa.zi | kə vɔ̃ ʃaʁ.mɑ̃ mas.k‿e bɛʁ.ɡa.mas.kə ‖ ʒu.ɑ̃ dy ly.t‿e dɑ̃.sɑ̃.t‿e ka.zi | tʁis.tə su lœʁ de.ɡiz.mɑ̃ fɑ̃.tas.kə]

Your dialect distinguishes /ɑ a/ and /ɛ̃ œ̃/? Up till now I’ve mostly been exposed to Parisian French which merges them to [a ã] respectively.

I am always amused by people who think that Parisian French is the end-all and be-all of French (kind of as if SSBE were the only variety of English).

[bradrn]

[vɔ.tʁ‿ɑ.m‿ɛ.t‿œ̃ pɛ.i.za.ʒə ʃwa.zi | kə vɔ̃ ʃaʁ.mɑ̃ mas.k‿e bɛʁ.ɡa.mas.kə ‖ ʒu.ɑ̃ dy ly.t‿e dɑ̃.sɑ̃.t‿e ka.zi | tʁis.tə su lœʁ de.ɡiz.mɑ̃ fɑ̃.tas.kə]

Your dialect distinguishes /ɑ a/ and /ɛ̃ œ̃/? Up till now I’ve mostly been exposed to Parisian French which merges them to [a ã] respectively.

I am always amused by people who think that Parisian French is the end-all and be-all of French (kind of as if SSBE were the only variety of English).

Yes, well, I’m not very well-informed on French dialectology… I have no idea how common it is for people to have or lack that merger.

[Travis B.]

Your dialect distinguishes /ɑ a/ and /ɛ̃ œ̃/? Up till now I’ve mostly been exposed to Parisian French which merges them to [a ã] respectively.

I am always amused by people who think that Parisian French is the end-all and be-all of French (kind of as if SSBE were the only variety of English).

Yes, well, I’m not very well-informed on French dialectology… I have no idea how common it is for people to have or lack that merger.

IIRC Québécois and Belgian French lack these mergers, even though Québécois does interesting things to the nasal vowels, and in Belgian French the distinction between /ɑ a/ is a quantity rather than quality distinction.

[bradrn]

Anyway:

1. [ɑ̃ ɔ̃] merge to [ɒ̃]; [ɛ̃ œ̃] merge to [æ̃]
2. E muet disappears for good, including in clitics
3. Coda [ʁ] becomes compensatory lengthening of previous vowel with accompanying secondary stress
4. Prepositions and determiners lose stress and vowel length
5. Unstressed vowel reduction: [a ɛ e i œ ø y ɑ ɔ o u ɒ̃ æ̃] → [ɛ ɛ ɪ ɪ ɛ ɵ ɵ ʌ ʌ ʊ ʊ ɐ̃ ɐ̃]
6. Académie française is forced (presumably at gunpoint) to introduce a minor spelling reform

[ˌvɔˈtχ‿ɑː.m‿ɛ.t‿ɐ̃ pɛ.ɪˈzaːʒ ʃwɛˈziː | k‿ˈvɒ̃ː ˌʃaːˈmɒ̃ː ˈmah.k‿ɪ ˌbɛː.ɡɛˈmahk ‖ ʒʊˈɒ̃ː dɵ ˈlyː.t‿ɪ dɐ̃ˈsɒ̃ː.t‿ɪ kɛˈziː | ˈtχiht sʊ lɛ dɪ.ɡɪzˈmɒ̃ː fɒ̃ˈtahk]

Votre âme est un paysage choesi / Qu vant charmants masques et berguemasques / Jouant du luth et dansant et quesi / Tristes sous lers déguisements fantasques.

(We should try to do some grammatical changes, too! Only in this short text I don’t see any obvious candidates.)

[StrangerCoug]

1. Coda [h] undergoes the same change that coda [ʁ] did in the previous post.
2. Final /p t k/ cease to have an audible release when enchainement does not occur.
3. Most instances of plural marking are lost in the spelling when they are homophonous with their singular counterparts. Verbs are unaffected in this sample except for participles, but homophonous verb forms distinguished in meaning only by number and person are generally spelled as in the third-person singular form; inversion involving third-person plural verbs is respelled on the pattern of parle-t-ils instead of parlent-ils as previously. Otherwise homophonous verb forms that are distinguished when pronounced in liaison remain heterographs.

[ˌvɔˈtχ‿ɑː.m‿ɛ.t‿ɐ̃ pɛ.ɪˈzaːʒ ʃwɛˈziː | k‿ˈvɒ̃ː ˌʃaːˈmɒ̃ː ˈmaː.k‿ɪ ˌbɛː.ɡɛˈmaːk̚ ‖ ʒʊˈɒ̃ː dɵ ˈlyː.t‿ɪ dɐ̃ˈsɒ̃ː.t‿ɪ kɛˈziː | ˈtχiːt̚ sʊ lɛ dɪ.ɡɪzˈmɒ̃ː fɒ̃ˈtaːk̚]

Votre âme est un paysage choesi / Qu vant charmant masque et berguemasque / Jouant du luth et dansant et quesi / Triste sous ler déguisement fantasque.

[Lērisama]

1. All consonants in liaison are lost. The spelling is for now unaffected.
2. Unreleased stops are merged into [ʔ].
3. Reduced vowels in hiatus become glides, with [ɛ ɪ ɵ ʌ ʊ ɐ̃] becoming [j j ɥ ɰ w ɰ̃]. If both vowels are reduced, then only the first does this.
4. Académie français is somehow disbanded, presumably by embarrassment from allowing the last spelling reforms, opening up the possibility of more spelling reforms in the future.

[ˌvɔˈtχ‿ɑː.m‿j‿ɐ̃ pjɪˈzaːʒ ʃwɛˈziː | k‿ˈvɒ̃ː ˌʃaːˈmɒ̃ː ˈmaː.k‿ɪ ˌbɛː.ɡɛˈmaːʔ ‖ ʒwɒ̃ː dɵ ˈlyː‿j dɐ̃ˈsɒ̃ː‿j kɛˈziː | ˈtχiːʔ sʊ lɛ dɪ.ɡɪzˈmɒ̃ː fɒ̃ˈtaːʔ]

Votre âme est un paysage choesi / Qu vant charmant masque et berguemasque / Jouant du luth et dansant et quesi / Triste sous ler déguisement fantasque.

[bradrn]

1. [χ] → ∅ after a consonant
2. Secondarily stressed syllables destress if immediately before primary stress, following the same reduction rules as last time (presumably still active)
3. [ʒ] → [ɰ], [ʒwV] → [ɰwV] → [ɪwV]
4. Québécoisation: [aː ɛː eː iː œː øː yː ɑː ɔː oː uː ɒ̃ː æ̃ː] → [ɛj aɛ̆ ej ɪj œɥ œɥ ʏɥ ɑw ow ɑɔ̆ ʊw ɒ̃w̃ æ̃j̃]
5. Resyllabification of glide sequences: in this case [Vjɰ Vɥj Vw̃j] → [Vjɪ Vɥɪ Vw̃ɪ]
6. Grammatical change: pronominal clitics become obligatory prefixes on finite verbs; before a vowel c’est [sj‿] fuses to [ʃ‿].

(Also fixed two mistakes from my last post: [fɒ̃ˈtahk] should have been [fɐ̃ˈtahk], and votre should have been destressed.)

[vʌˈt‿ɑw.m‿ʃ‿ɐ̃ pjɪˈzɛj.ɪ ʃwɛˈzɪj | k‿ˈvɒ̃w̃ ʃɛˈmɒ̃w̃ ˈmɛj.k‿ɪ ˌbaɛ̆.ɡɛˈmɛjʔ ‖ ɪˈwɒ̃w̃ dɵ ˈlʏɥ‿ɪ dɐ̃ˈsɒ̃w̃‿ɪ kɛˈzɪj | ˈtɪjʔ sʊ lɛ dɪ.ɡɪzˈmɒ̃w̃ fɐ̃ˈtɛjʔ]

Vot âme c’est un paisage choesi / Qu vant chemant maque et bèguemaque / Iouant du lu et dansant et quesi / Tite sou ler diguisement fantaque.

[StrangerCoug]

1. Nasal monophthongs become long. Phonemic nasalization is subsequently lost, though it remains allophonically and now occurs any time a nasal consonant immediately follows the vowel in the same word.
2. /ɑw/ merges with resulting /ɒw/.
3. /aɛ̆/ widens and slightly raises to /æj/.
4. The monophthongal low vowels redistribute so that [ɐ] occurs only when short and unstressed and [a] occurs elsewhere. [ɵ], which occurs only in unstressed position, merges into [ɐ].
5. Liaison is no longer transcribed after a semivowel.

[vʌˈt‿ɒ̃w̃.m‿ʃ‿aː pjɪˈzɛj.ɪ ʃwɛˈzɪj | k‿ˈvɒw ʃɛ̃ˈmɒw ˈmɛj.k‿ɪ ˌbæj.ɡɛ̃ˈmɛjʔ ‖ ɪˈwɒw dɐ ˈlʏɥ ɪ daːˈsɒw ɪ kɛˈzɪj | ˈtɪjʔ sʊ lɛ dɪ.ɡɪzˈmɒw faːˈtɛjʔ]

Vot âme c’est un paisage choesi / Qu vant chemant maque et bèguemaque / Iouant du lu et dansant et quesi / Tite sou ler diguisement fantaque.

[Lērisama]

1. Person and number marking is entirely lost on verbs other than être, with the new form usually based on the 3sg, although irregular verbs often do weird things. In this sample vont becomes [væj] rom the old 1sg, although I think the following changes would merge this with the old 3sg anyway.
2. /æj ɒw/ merge into /ɛj ɔw/.
3. /ʌ/ merges into [a~ɐ]
4. [ʔ] disappears, along with a preceding semivowel.
5. Front rounded vowels unround, along with [ɥ], unless it was around a formerly rounded vowel, in which case it preserves the rounding as [w].

[vɐˈt‿ɔ̃w̃.m‿ʃ‿aː pjɪˈzɛj.ɪ ʃwɛˈzɪj | k‿ˈvɛj ʃɛ̃ˈmɔw ˈmɛj.k‿ɪ ˌbɛj.ɡɛ̃ˈmɛ ‖ ɪˈwɔw dɐ ˈlɪw ɪ daːˈsɒw ɪ kɛˈzɪj | ˈtɪ sʊ lɛ dɪ.ɡɪzˈmɔw faːˈtɛ]

Vot âme c’est un paisage choesi / Qu vais chemant maque et bèguemaque / Iouant du lu et dansant et quesi / Tite sou ler diguisement fantaque.

[StrangerCoug]

1. Retroactively raised an instance of /ɒw/ that didn't merge with /ɔw/.
2. Obstruents at the end of a word are dropped unless it would cause the word to elide entirely. In that case:
   1. the schwa is reintroduced before a word starting with a consonant, and
   2. before a word starting with a vowel, it remains a clitic attached thereto.
3. An excrescent /ʔ/ is added before words starting with a vowel unless a consonant-final clitic precedes.
4. /ɪw/ shifts to /juw/.
5. /j/ is elided before front vowels unless it would create a vowel hiatus, in which case it is retained. /w/ undergoes the same elision before rounded vowels with the same exception; that exception is what prevents it from applying at all in this sample.
6. A new orthography, albeit slightly defective, is established, with the goals of getting rid of most silent letters (though silent ⟨u⟩ remains after ⟨q⟩ and hard ⟨g⟩) and regularizing the spelling of vowels.
7. Liaison is no longer marked unless an apostrophe indicating elision appears in the orthography.

[vɐ ʔɔ̃w̃.m ʃ‿aː pɪˈzɛj.ɪ ʃwɛˈzɪj | kə ˈvɛj ʃɛ̃ˈmɔw ˈmɛj ʔɪ ˌbɛj.ɡɛ̃ˈmɛ ‖ ʔɪˈwɔw dɐ ˈljuw ʔɪ daːˈsɔw ʔɪ kɛˈzɪj | ˈtɪ sʊ lɛ dɪ.ɡɪzˈmɔw faːˈtɛ]

Va ôm ch’â pisêi chuesî / Que vê chemô mê i bêgueme / Iuô da liû i dâssô i quesî / Ti su le diguismô fâte.

[bradrn]

1. Palatalisation: [k ɡ] → [t͡ʃ d͡ʒ] before [ɛ ɪ]
2. [ɛj ɪj ɔw uw] → [ej əj ow əw]
3. Onset clusters [Cw Cj] → [Cʊw Cɪj]
4. Consonantal [w] → [v] (not in diphthongs)
5. [ə] is epenthesised after coda consonants: syllable structure is now consistently (C)V; secondary stress assigned trochaically right-to-left
6. Albanian invasion

[vɐ ˈʔõw̃.mə ʃ‿aː pɪˈzej.ɪ ʃʊ.vɛˈzəj | kə ˈvej ʃɛ̃ˈmow ˈmej ʔɪ ˌbej.d͡ʒɛ̃ˈmɛ ‖ ʔɪˈwow dɐ ˈlɪ.jəw ʔɪ daːˈsow ʔɪ t͡ʃɛˈzəj | ˈtɪ sʊ lɛ dɪˌd͡ʒɪ.zə̃ˈmow faːˈtɛ]

Va ômë sh’â pisêi shuvezî / Kë vê shemô mê i bêxheme / Iuô da lijû i dâsô i qesî / Ti su le dixhizëmô fâte.