Jonlang wrote: ↑Tue May 25, 2021 5:27 pm
Would anyone here care to share the sound changes from their proto-lang to their target conlang? I ask because mine are currently taking up approximately 8 A4 pages and working words through them can be quite time consuming and I’m starting to think I may have over complicated it, but maybe not, maybe it’s supposed to be complicated
Sure.
I don't claim to have any special deep insights, but I like working with diachronics. I find it's a bit of an art. It can be either simple or very elaborate. You can do very nice things with very simple changes.
Last year I worked on Voigari (basically, an alternate history Italian) and I really liked how it turned out.
Using it as an example feels incredibly conceited, but hey, people seemed to like the language, and I think it'll be easier to follow as it fits Romance diachronics.
A few samples:
Si non fia le Cesar, fia un'artista.
Si demadda padressu
Què resposa voi dellu?
Misa la manno esso petto
E cendo lebre i dedde
Code: Select all
[ei] → j /C_V
[ou] →w /C_V
ai→ɛ/ [+stressed]
e→ɛ/ [+stressed]
oi→ɛ/[+stressed]
o→ɔ/[+stressed]
e→ɛ/[+stressed]
ai→e/_
oi→e/_
i,ē→e/_
ī→i/_
au →o/_
[uō] →o/_
ū → u/_
[aā]→a/_
[mn]→/_# [-stress]
ns→n/_#
nt→n/_#
ns→s/_
bdg → vðɣ /V(")_V
--clusters
[kpgb]→t/_t
[kpgb]→t/_t
[kpgb]→s/_s
l→j/[stop]_
--palatals
skj→ʃ/_
stj→ʃ/_
ssj→ʃ/_
g→dʒ/_[jieɛ]/g_
k→tʃ/_[jieɛ]/k_
j→/[ʃʒ]_
t→ts/_[jieɛ]V
d→dʒ/_[jieɛ]V
kw→k/_
nj→ɲ/_
gn→ɲ/_
lj→ʎ/_
ll→l/_
sj→j/_/C_
This bit here follows SCA2 syntax. In plain English vowel are raised/broken whenever there's a final high vowel.
It's an exceedingly simple change, and it's pretty much the one bit that gives the language its character.
(Something similar happened in Old Tuscan, though it evolved differently; you'll find similar changes all over Central/Southern Italy)
Code: Select all
--Metaphony
ɛ→je/_CV…[iu]
ɔ→wo/_CV…[iu]
e→i/_…[iu]
o→u/…_[iu]
That bits is a feature of the Romanesco dialect.
Code: Select all
l→j/_[stop]
-- Finals i
t → ∅ /s_#
This part is what happened in Italian:
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s→i/V_# [+stressed]
as→e/_#
is→i/_#
es→i/_#
This is, on the face of it, a very simple change; except it gives the languages a very distinct esthetic
and allows it to keep a tiny bit more nominal inflection.
That is standard Italian:
And that is specifically Southern:
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[-voiced] → [+voiced] /V_V
[-voiced] → [+voiced] /_r
Standard Italian:
That is typical Southern Italian. Again, a very simple change that gives the language a particular feel.
These are pretty much the Latin to Italian sound changes, by the way, and all the changes there are attested somewhere in Central / Southern Italy. So you get an idea of what kind of changes to expect.
Index Diachronica is an unvaluable reference, but I agree with Nortaneous: you won't get the full story. For that you need a sizeable volume, focussing on one specific language.
Not necessarily English, but yeah, if you want anything exhaustive or definitive, you'll probably end up with the treatment of an European language. They're the best studied and their evolution is documented by centuries of written records. There must be some great stuff out there on Dravidian and Indo-Aryan languages, too.
On the time consuming part: I use the SCA² myself, and there are any number of sound change appliers out there. It's generally less time consuming, and anyway when I do the sound changes by hand I always end up doing something wrong. I believe taking some time figuring out how to make the SCA of your choice doing what you want would be time well spent.