Phonological history of Terch

The Phonological History of Terch describes the phonological changes that took place between Old Sumrë and Modern Terch. For information of the diachronic history stretching back to Proto-Sumro-Letaeric see The Phonological History of Old Sumrë.

Key to abbreviations

 * OS = Old Sumrë
 * MS = Middle Sumri
 * Mw = Malelweri
 * Mf = Maifri
 * T = Terch
 * → = changes into

Middle Sumri Period
This period covers the changes from Old Sumrë into Middle Sumri up to the 11th Century BR.
 * Loss of productivity in mobile pitch accent: The mobile pitch accent of Old Sumrë which always had a high pitch on the penultimate syllable (with the exception of definite nouns) was no longer productive in Middle Sumri. While inflected words and compounds formed in Old Sumrë carried their pitch patterns in Middle Sumri, new Middle Sumri compounds didn't follow the pattern of placing the high pitch on the penultimate syllable. OS lústas [lústas] "fruit" → OS lustásvar [lùstásvar] "fruit tree" → MS lustásvar [lùstásvar] "fruit tree" compared to MS lústas [lústas] "fruit" → MS lústaspi [lústaspi] "fruit sack". Notice how the OS compound shifted the high pitch to the penultimate syllable while the MS compound did not. It is from this point on that pitch patterns became fossilised.
 * Vowels are dropped between plosives and /l, n, r, s/: OS âtólen [àːtɔ́lɛn] "to turn, to twist, to spin" → MS âtlen [àːtlɛn] "to wind", OS ansóca [ànsɔ́ka] "milk tooth" → MS ànsca [ànska] "milk tooth"
 * Exceptions to this are:
 * when /l, n, r, s. are word final: OS ápal [ápal] "other" → MS ábal [ábal] and not ábl.
 * when before /lC, rC/: OS apáltwo [àpáltwɔ] "to avoid" → MS abáltwo [àbáltwɔ] and not abltwo.
 * when after /Cl, Cn, Cr, Cs/: OS ạglag [áːglag] "trap hunting"  → MS ạglag [áːglag] and not ạglg.
 * /wV/ is dropped after plosives and before /s, r, l/: OS upwólen [ùpwɔ́lɛn] "to point, to gesture, to specify" → MS ùplen [ùplɛn] "to single out"
 * /ɔʊ/ is lost between /n, s/ and /r/: OS atonasówri [atɔnàsɔ́ʊri] "kindness" → MS atnàsri [atnàsri]

One exception to /b/ being lost intervocalicaly is when it was allophonicaly gemminated in OS, this mosly occurs in non-nominative B-nouns. In this case the consonant became ungemminated: OS estụbab [ɛ̀stʌ́bab] "spider" and OS estụbbë [ɛ̀stʌ́bːe] "spiders" → MS estúab [ɛ̀stúab] "spider" and MS estúbi [ɛ̀stúbi] "spiders".
 * Epenthetic /u/ between /m/ and /n/: OS émnen [ɛ́mnɛn] "to be" → MS émunen [ɛ́munɛn]
 * Epenthetic /i/ between /n/ and /m/: OS tínma [tínma] "field" → MS tínima [tínima]
 * The voiced plosives /b/ and /d/ are dropped intervocalicaly: OS múben [múbɛen] "mountain" → MS múen [múɛn], OS wañídë [wàɲíde] "always" → MS wayí [wàjí]. This change had a great effect on S-nouns whose nominative singular forms ended in /b/ but when inflected the /b/ was intervocalic where it was lost in MS:
 * S-noun: OS tércub [tɛ́rkub] "bone" and tercúbas [tɛ̀rkúbas] "bones" → MS tércub [tɛ́rkub] and tercúas [tɛ̀rkúas].
 * Consonants voice intervocalicaly: OS áculc [ákulk] "slush" → MS águlc [águlc], OS asrápi [àsrápi] "apple" → MS asrábi [àsrábi]. This has the effect of causing words ending in voiceless consonants followed by vowels to voice when inflected: OS árbat [árbat] "jacket" and OS arbátë [àrbáte] "jackets" → MS árbat [árbat] "jacket" and MS arbádi [àrbádi] "jackets".
 * /e/ merges with /i/ unconditionaly: OS tër [tér] "sad" → MS tir [tír].
 * /ɲ/ merges with /j/ unconditionaly: OS ñóca [ɲɔ́ka] "forest" → MS yóga [jɔ́ga].
 * /n/ becomes /j/ when after /ɛr/ and before a vowel with a medial stage of /ɲ/: OS érnûr [ɛ́rnʌr] "father" → MS [ɛ́rɲʌr]   → MS éryur [ɛ́rjur].
 * /g/ devoices word intially: OS gíren [gírɛn] "to fight" → MS círen [círɛn]
 * /h/ is lost unconditionally: OS họyi [hóji] "whisper" → MS ọyi.
 * [ç] becomes phonemic: In OS word final /h/ was realised as [ç]. The loss of [h] caused [ç] to become a phoneme in MS: OS colh /kɔ́lh/ [kɔ́lç] "claw" → MS colh /kɔ́lç/.
 * /aːwa/ becomes /a/: OS mâwátar [màːwátar] "buzzard" → MS mádar [mádar]
 * /ʌ/ merges with /u/ unconditionally: OS mụlmen [mʌ́lmɛn] "to hunt" → MS múlmen [múlmɛn]
 * The sequence /F1VF1/ becomes /F1/: OS ansísten [ànsístɛn] "to whiten" → MS ànsten [ànstɛn]

Summary of Middle Sumri sound changes:
V→∅/T_{l, n, r, s}! _{l, n, r, s}#, !_ {l, r}C,

V→∅/{l, n, r, s}_T! C{l, n, r, s}_

wV→∅/T_{s, l, r}

ɔʊ→∅/{n,s}_r

∅→u/m_n

∅→i/n_m

b, d→∅/V_V

C[-voice]→C[+voice]/V_V

e→i

ɲ→j

n→j/ɛr_V

g→k/#_

h→∅

aːwa→a

ʌ→u

Malelweri Period
This period covers the changes from Middle Sumri to Malelweri up until the 5th Century BR.
 * /d/ becomes /d͡ʒ/: MS àldo [àldɔ] "firewood" → Mw àljo [àld͡ʒɔ]
 * An exception to this is when /d/ is followed by /r, l, w/ : MS àldra [àldra] "torch" → Mw àldra [àldra] "candle"
 * The cluster /sk/ becomes /ʃ/: MS scémen [skɛ́mɛn] "to hit" → Mw ṡémhe [ʃɛ́ṽɛ]
 * Epenthetic /a/ between /m/ and /g/: MS nímga [nímga] "daughter" → Mw nímaga [nímaga] → nímagha [nímaɣa].
 * Consonantal Apocope: MS árbat [árbat] "jacket" → Mw árba [árba] "jacket"
 * When a word ended in a sonorant followed by a consonant an epenthetic schwa was placed between the two consonants: MS erd [ɛ́rd] "high" → Mw [ɛ́rəd]. The word final consonant was then dropped (ɛ́rəd → ɛ́rə) and the schwa become /ɔ/: Mw éro [ɛ́rɔ] "high".
 * This change had a large effect in merging the buzzard and deer genders. Since the only distinction between the buzzard and deer genders was that buzzard nouns ended in consonants and that deer nouns ended in vowels this change causes every noun to end in a vowel, in effect wiping out the buzzard gender. Some trace of the buzzard gender noun existed in Malelweri as the deleted word final consonants in buzzard nouns were retained when inflected as they were no longer word final. This was quickly leveled out however so that the vast majority of nouns inflected just like deer nouns without the deleted consonant reappearing. Some commonly used nouns preserved the lost consonant. This retention formed a new, but small irregular declension of deer nouns named the buzzard-declension: MS ron [rɔ́n] "dog" and rónu [rɔ́nu] "dog.acc" → Mw ro [rɔ́] "dog" and rónu [rɔ́nu] "dog.acc".
 * However Middle Sumri buzzard nouns that ended in /r/ levelled in Malelweri to join the R-noun declension. Middle Sumri R-nouns ended in /s f, t, d/ but alternated those consonants to /r/ when inflected. In Malelweri the final /s, f, t, d/ were dropped but the /r/ still appeared in inflected forms. As previosuly common declension Malelweri nouns that ended in /r/ dropped the final /r/ but retained in inflected forms showed a similar pattern of retaining the /r/, they were moved to the R-noun declension and adopted R-noun case endings (which were identical to Malelweri common noun endings except that R-nouns has no distinguishable non-nominative plural forms): MS éryur [ɛ́rjur] "father", eryúri [ɛ̀rjúri] "fathers" and eryúran [ɛ̀rjúran] "of fathers" → Mw éryu [ɛ́rju] "father", eryụri [ɛ̀rjýri] and eryụra [ɛ̀rjýa] "father's, of fathers"


 * /z/ devoices to /s/: MS aslázo [aslázɔ] "orb" → Mw asláso [aslásɔ]
 * Consonant clusters assimilate in voicing with the first consonant: MS azilcía [azilkíá] "illness" → Mw asilgía [asilgía]
 * The cluster /tst/ becomes /st/: MS abàltsten [abàltstɛn] "to seperate" → Mw abhàlste [aβàlstɛ] "to split, to crack, to flee"
 * i-umlaut: 
 * The back vowels /ɔ, o, u/ front to /œ, ø, y/ when /i/ occurs in the following syllable : MS rúgis [rúgis] "sheath" → Mw rụghi [rýɣi]
 * The front unrounded vowels /{a, aː} ɛ/ round to /ɶ, œ/ when /i/ occurs in the followning syllable: MS atnàsri [atnàsri] "kindness" → Mw atnȁsri [atnɶ̀sri] "joy", MS loréli "stream" → Mw lorẹli [lɔ̀rœ́li]
 * The biggest affect of this was final vowels of nouns mutating due to the common plural suffix being -i /i/. Mw ā̀dbo [àːbɔ] "nightmare" → ȁdbi [ɶ̀dbi] "nightmares"
 * /p, b, t, k, g, m/ lenite into /ɸ, β, θ, x, ɣ, ṽ/ intervocalicaly: MS asrábi [àsrábi] "apple" → Mw asrạbhi [àsrɶ́βi].
 * Due to the previous change of V1FV1→FV1 in Middle Sumri causing penultimate /i/ to drop in plural forms of nouns ending in /iC/, when that C was /p, b, k, g, m/ it was no longer in an intervocalic environment when plural, but was when singular. This caused the creation of a new declension named the Si-plurals. MS rúgis [rúgis] "sheath" and rugízi [rùgízi] "sheaths" → Mw rụgi [rýgis] and rȕgzi [rýgsi] → rụghi [rýɣi] "sheath" and rȕgsi [rỳgsi] "sheaths".
 * Loss of /w, r, l/ after a plosive and before a vowel: MS abáltwo [àbáltwɔ] "to avoid" → abhálto [àβáltɔ]
 * Metaphesis of /bd/ to /db/: MS ârbdwo [àːrbdwɔ] "nightmare" → Mw ā̀dbo [àːdbɔ]
 * Loss of /r/ before /d/: This change was very restricted and attested only in a handfull of words. MS ârbdwo [àːrbdwɔ] "horror, terror" → Mw ā̀rdbo [àːrdbwɔ] → ā̀dbo [àːdbwɔ]

Summary of Malelweri sound changes:
d→d͡ʒ

sk→ʃ

∅→a/m_g

VRC→VRəC/_#

C→∅/_#

ə→ɔ

z→s

C[-voice]→C[+voice]/C[+voice]_

C[+voice]→C[-voice]/C[-voice]_

tst→st

a, {ɛ, ɔ}, {e,o}, u→ ɶ, ø,  œ, ø, y/_...i

p, b, t, k, g, m→ɸ, β, θ, x, ɣ,  ṽ/V_V

w, r, l→∅/T_V

bd→db

r→∅/_d (sporadic)

Maifri Period
This period covers the changes from Malelweri to Maifri up until the 1st Century MA.
 * Loss of /l/ before vowels: Mw ā́gla [áːgla] "trap hunting" → Mf áiga [áiga]
 * Loss of /j/ and /p/ unconditionally: Mw piyúro [pìjúrɔ] "moon" → Mf iúra [ìúra]
 * /w/ becomes /f/: Mw äsílawu [ɶ̀sílawu] "morning" → Mf äsíafu [ɶ̀síafu]
 * /ɔ, o/ becomes /a/ word finally: Mw äbírdo [ɶ̀bírdɔ] "void, hollow" → Mf äbírda [ɶ̀bírda] "cave"
 * This caused the dative singular case of common nouns to resemble the genitive singular: Mw àncha [ànxa] "storm.gen" and ànchō [ànxo] "storm.dat" → Mf àncha [ànxa] "storm.gen" and àncha [ànxa] "storm.dat"
 * /ɛ/ and /ɛi/ merge with /i/ unconditionally: Mw àtne [àtnɛ́] "to give" → Mf áni [áni]
 * The diphthong /au/ monophongises into /o/: Mw áyu [áju] "smug person" → Mf áu [áu] → ō [óː]
 * /aː, ia/ become the diphthong /ai/: Mw ā̀ta [àːta] "jewelry" → Mf àita [àita]
 * The affricate /d͡ʒ/ goes through a chain shift of /d͡ʒ→j→ʝ→ʃ→x/: Mw mája [mád͡ʒa] "buzzard" → Mf mácha [máxa]
 * The final shift in the chain caused all occurances of /ʃ/ to become /x/: Mw ànṡu [ànʃu] "storm" → Mf ànchu [ànxu]
 * Tone affection:
 * /d/ is lost after a vowel and before a consonant followed by a vowel, causing the first vowel to have a low tone and the second vowel has a high tone: Mw ā̀dba [àːdba] "nightmare" → Mf aibó [àibɔ́].
 * This had an effect of initial mutation of nouns beginning in /dCV/ when following proclitics ending in vowels such as the definite article i [i]: Mf dnó [dnɔ́] "club, hammer" → i nó [ìnɔ́] "the club".
 * /t/ is lost after a vowel and before a consonant, causing the vowel to take a high tone: Mw àtne [àtnɛ] " to give" → Mf áni [áni].
 * Fricative vowel colouring: Maifri dropped /β, ɣ/ between certain vowels not but before they coloured their surrounding vowels.
 * /aβ{a, o, u}/ became the diphthong /au/: Mw abhálto [àβáltɔ] "to avoid" → Mf áulta [áulta] "to take heed"
 * /Eβ{a, o, u}/ became /juː/: Mw ibhṓju [ìβód͡ʒu] "frog" → Mf yū́chu [júːxu]
 * /yɣi/ became /yi/: Mw artụghi [àrtyɣi] "lightning bolts" → Mf artụi [àrtýi]
 * /œɣi/ became /ø/: Mw sẹghi [sœ́ɣi] "whales" → MF sọ [sø]
 * /ɶɣi/ became /œ/: Mw uthäghíja [uθɶ̀ɣíd͡ʒa] "leather" → Mf uhẹcha [uhœ́xa]
 * /øɣi/ became /y/: Mw pọghiro [pǿɣira] "toe" → Mf ýra [ýra]
 * /ɔɣV/ became /o/: Mw ārdbógha [à:rdbɔ́ɣa] "misfortune" → Mf airbṓ [àirbó] "curse"
 * /Vɣ{a, ɔ}/ became /uɔ/: Mw aghàpste [aɣàpstɛ] "to dye green" → Mf uòsti [uɔ̀sti] "to change colour"
 * /Vɣ{o, ø}/ became /uo/: Mw púghōje [púɣod͡ʒɛ] "slither" → Mf úochi [úoxi]
 * /Vɣu/ became /u:/: Mw aghúlu [àɣúlu] "garden" → Mf ū́ [úː]
 * /Vɣi/ became /ui/: Mw ā́ghe [áːɣɛ] "to hate" → Mf úi [úi]
 * Elsewhere the fricatives /ɸ, β, θ, ṽ/ become /f, v, h, vn/: Mw änsimhóna [ɶnsìṽɔ́na] "winter" → Mf änsivnóna [ɶnsìvnɔ́na]
 * The diphthong /ɔʊ/ monothongises into /u/: Mw ansówri [ànsɔ́ʊri] → Mf ansúri [ànsúri] "ease"

Summary of Maifri sound changes:
l→∅/_V

j, p→∅

w→f

ɔ, o→a/_#

ɛ, ɛi→i

au→o

aː, ia→ai

d͡ʒ→j→ʝ→ʃ→x

VdCV→V̀CV́

VtC→V́C

aβ{a,o,u}→au

Eβ{a,o,u}→juː

yɣi→yi

œɣi→ø

ɶɣi→œ

øɣi→y

ɔɣv→o

Vɣ{a,ɔ}→uɔ

Vɣ{o,ø}→uo

Vɣu→uː

Vɣi→ui

ɸ, β, θ, ṽ→f, v, h, vn

ɔʊ→u

Terch Period
This period covers the changes between from Maifri to Terch up until the 6th Century MA.
 * The diphthong /ai/ monophongises into /e/: Mf àita [àita] "jewelry" → T èt [èt] "ring".
 * The bilabial consonants /b, m/ became /w/ intervocalicaly: Mf äbírda [ɶ̀bírda] "cave" → T ëwír [œ̀wír]
 * /Vw/ → /Vʊ/: T ëwír [œ̀wír] "cave" → T ëwír [œʊír]
 * Loss of word final /a, ɔ/: Mf árba [árba] "jacket" → T árb [árb]
 * Loss of word final /d/: Mf äsìda [ɶsìda] "destruction" → T ësì [œsì] "revenge"
 * Loss of word final nasal consonants: Mf anstúna [ànstúna] "to be infatuated" → T auntú [ɯ̀ntú] "to love"
 * The vowels /ɶ, œ, y/ shift to /œ, ø, ɨ /: Mf änsíva [ɶ̀nsíva] "top, first" → T ënsív [œ̀nsív] "chief", Mf uhẹcha [uhœ́xa] "leather" → T uhọch [uhǿx], Mf ýra [ýra] "toe" → T ýr [ɨ́r].
 * /s/ is dropped before /t/: Mf äísta [ɶísta] "chaos" → T ëít [œít]
 * Loss of word final /i/ after /r/ and /n/: Mf ansúri [ànsúri] "ease" → T aunsúr [ɯ̀nsúr], Mf áni [áni] "to give" → T án [án].
 * /k/ becomes /x/ after a consonant after before a vowel: anscúti [anscúti] "to throw, to toss" → aunschúti [ɯnsxúti].
 * Loss of word final vowels after /x/: Mf àncha [ànxa] "milk tooth" → T ànch [ànch] "young warrior"
 * Loss of word final /s/ when after /i/: Mf ävísa [ɶ̀vísa] "rude" → T ëví [œ̀ví].
 * Loss of /m/ before vowels: Mf äsilmónga [ɶsìlmɔ́na] "age" → T ësilóng [œsìlɔ́nga].
 * U-umlaut: The vowels /a, e, ɔ/ become /ɯ, ø, u/ when /u/ occurs in the next syllable: Mf ànsu [ànsu] "grey" → T áunsu [ɯ̀nsu].
 * The long vowels /uː/ and /aː/ shorten: Mf yū́chu [júːxu] "frog" → T yúchu [júxu]
 * /o/ merges with /ɔ/: Mf airbṓ [àirbó] "curse" → T erbó [èrbɔ́].

Summary of Terch sound changes:

ai → /e/

{b, m} → w/V_V

Vw → Vʊ

a, ɔ→∅/_#

d→∅/_#

N→∅/_#

ɶ, œ, y → œ, ø, ɨ

s →∅/_t

i → ∅/{r, n}_#

k → x/C_V

V→∅/x_#

s → ∅/i_#

m → ∅/_V

a, e, ɔ → ɯ, ø, u/_...u

uː, aː → u, a

o → ɔ