Thropoi Phonology

The phonology of Thropoi is pretty standard, with one or two exceptions.

Consonants


p b t d th k
p b t d θ~ð k

f v w s z sh zh

f v w~ʋ s z ʃ ʒ

m n l r j
m n* l r** j

* <n> is /ŋ/ before k
** <r> is /ɹ/ when not followed by a vowel

Vowels


a á o ó i í
ɐ a ɔ o ɪ i

u ú ü e é ë
u y ʏ ɛ e *

The last vowel is the most interesting. It is generally not pronounced. You could consider it a mix between a glottal stop and a /ə/. For instance, "darëthi" ('my') is pronounced [dɐɹθɪ], [dɐɹəθɪ] or [dɐrəθɪ]. The combination "të ... të" would be [tə ... tə] in most cases.

When a vowel is followed or preceded by an ë, the ë is omitted. E.g. 'mano'+'ëth' > "manoth" ('I have'). When there is a word break in between, the ë remains visually, but is not pronounced. For instance, "atë átallëth" ('and I eat') would be [ɐ:ta:tɐlθ].

Alternatively, you could write the <ë> as <'>. For instance "at' átallëth" or even "at' átall'th".

Wow.

Єϝтιε Mεтακαтαᴧυ!


What's that? A new letter?

Λυмοειн ὑπнεειнκε βωειтει ἁϝтιιϝ οφтιтeрιει. Єϝ ουрυ.

Lie.inf sleep.inf-and couch.dat self.gen old.comp.dat. Good life.

"To lie and sleep on a couch older than yourself. That's life." 

It is. Well, the Waua only appears in some dialects, such as the one seen above. It's some proto dialect, as it features unassimilated forms (-οειн instead of -οιн) and ancient noun conjugations (-ιϝ instead of -ου).

I have started writing down my grammar and collecting it all, as it seemed some rules were only on this paper, and other collocations can only be found on that webpage. Also, I have been working out the proto-languages' vowel assimiliation, as well as vowel elision.

Cupboard Utopia

Єтι Καтαᴧυ!

I've been working on some diachronics of some sort; it started with noun conjugations, but I will develop it to a couple of dialects. I'll probably put some of those into my conworld. You might just see something about all this sometime soon.

Δακрι мнεc xтωнc εмοнε οᴧβκε?

Back.dat is.3pl lands happiness.gen wealth.gen-and?

Are there lands of happiness and wealth on the other side?

Noortje was quite jumpy at that moment. Strolling across my table as if I weren't trying to get something done on my pc. I guess she noticed it was almost time for dinner, demanding some extra attention in the meantime.

And yes, both the ευтιε καтαᴧυ and The Sentence were written in a dialect of some sort. This one was created after first applying 'elesion' and then 'contraction'. Well, I haven't worked that out, really.

Verbal Vowel Assimilation (part 2)

Let's take a look at the verb stems alone:

Indi.: мεн-, нοιмε-, οιδα-, παнxο-, δεικн-
Con.: мεнe-, нοιмe-, οιδά-, παнxό-, δεικнύ-
Opt.: мεнε͂ι-, нοιмε͂ι-, οιδᾶι-, παнxο͂ι-, δεικнῦι-

There are five different verb types: verbs without a thematic vowel and ε-, α-, o- and υ-thematic verbs. υ-thematic vowels do not appear in the indicative.

In the coniunctive, the thematic vowel is prolongued. ε>e; α>ά; ο>ό, υ>ύ.
Verb stems without a thematic vowel get an -e- added.

In the optative, -ε͂ι- is added to the verb stem.

Verbal Vowel Assimilation

As a response to yesterday's comment, I will run through the examples given their again, this time with pre- and post-assimilation forms.

If you haven't read seen the TALVAC yet, please 'tab' it as a reference.

The Lurioneski verbs have the following suffices for person and number:

1sg (I) -ω
2sg (you) -ὶc
3sg (he) -ὶ
1pl (we) -ὸмα
2pl (you) -ὶтε
3pl (they) -εc

For instance, "I am" is мεнω and "you are" (pl) is мεнιтε.

However, most verbs also have a thematic vowel, which is either -ε, -α, -ο or -υ.
Ignoring the last one (as it is a rather tricky one), they assimilate as usual, meaning they combine with other vowels (in this case those of the verb suffices).

ε+ω > ω; ε+ὶ > ε͂ι*; ε+ὸ > ω; ε+ε > ε
E.g.: нοιмεὶc > нοιмε͂ιc ("you name"); нοιмεὸмα > нοιмωмα ("we name").

α+ω > ῶ; α+ὶ > ὶ; α+ὸ > ῶ; α+ε > α
E.g.: οιδαω > οιδῶ ("I know"); οιδαὶтε > οιδὶтε ("you know" (pl)).

ο+ω > ω; ο+ὶ > ὶ; ο+ὸ > ω; ο+ε > ο
E.g.: παнxοὶ > παнxὶ ("he eats"); παнxοεc > παнxοc ("they eat");

Got it? Great, 'cause it only gets harder.


The Optative is quite easy. It just puts -ε͂ι- between the verb root and the suffix. But again, the vowels assimilate (when possible).

ε+ε͂ι > ε͂ι; α+ε͂ι > ᾶι; ο+ε͂ι > ο͂ι;
E.g.: οιδαε͂ιω > οιδᾶιω ("may I know"); παнxοε͂ιεc > παнxο͂ιεc > παнxο͂ιc ("may they eat").


The Coniunctive does something tricky. When verbs have a thematic vowel, it lengthens it, causing it to assimilate differently. (When there is no thematic vowel, it simply puts -e- in between.) Let's take the same examples as before, but this time in the coniunctive:

e+ω > eω; e+ὶ > eὶ; e+ὸ > eὸ; e+ε > e

E.g.: нοιмeὶc > нοιмeὶc ("you could name"); нοιмeὸмα > нοιмeὸмα ("we could name").

ά+ω > άω; ά+ὶ > άὶ; ά+ὸ > άὸ; ά+ε > ά

E.g.: οιδάω > οιδάω ("I could know"); οιδάὶтε > οιδάὶтε ("you could know" (pl)).

ό+ω > όω; ο+ὶ > όὶ; ό+ὸ > όὸ; ό+ε > ό

E.g.: παнxόὶ > παнxόὶ ("he eats"); παнxόεc > παнxόc ("they eat");

There is no visual distinction between the indicative 3pl and coniunctive 3pl of a verb (e.g. between παнxοc and παнxοc), as accents are rarely used. They are pronounced differently: [pɐnxɔs] and [pɐnxos] respectively.

(* I changed this one, but the chart still says ε+ὶ > ὶ.)

So there you have it.

Vowel Assimilation 2

Although I have already done a post on vowel assimilation (appropriately called 'Vowel Assimilation'), I've given it a second thought, and made

 The Awesome Lurion Vowel Assimilation Chart (or TALVAC)

Yes, I'm making that up while typing. Sometimes my brilliance amazes me.

Oh, and it includes both the Naupilan and the Karvokan accent! How'd you like that?

Well, without further ado, here it is!

Ofcourse you can click on it for a bigger version. How else were you supposed to actually read it?

In case you're wondering how to interpret this fantastic chart (and I know you are):

When a vowel on the left is followed by a vowel on the top, they either assimilate, in which case another vowel(cluster) is shown in the appropriate row and column, or they do not, in which case a hyphen, -, is shown.

The left chart (the big one) is the general Lurion assimilation, the bottom right shows the Karvokan exceptions.

The top right is the Naupilan accented assimilation chart, which is quite compact, as the Naupilans pronounce everything alike and make no distinction between long and short vowels when assimilating.

And to please those who enjoy seeing me make mistakes: no, I did not intentfully forget to add a ~ on the Naupilan α+ο>ῶ and α+ω>ῶ assimilations. But no, I systematically did not add circumfleces on diphthongs (like ε͂ι), so that does not count.

Well, you didn't suspect to see something as shockingly marvelous or overwhelmingly beautiful as TALVAC when you woke up this morning, did you?

Vowel Assimilation

Vowels may assimilate, depending on their length.
The following types can be distinguished:

α, α:, ο, ω, ε, e, ι, ι:, ι., υ, υ:, ει, οι, αι, υι, ου, αυ, ευ

Here the : marks longer vowels. The ι. is a special type, as it is short but strong; it is used e.g. in the verb suffices -ιc, -ι and -ιтε.

They can be categorised according to their length/strength:

ε
α, ι, υ
o
α:, ω, e, υ:, ει, οι, αι, υι, ου, αυ, ευ
ι:, ι.

The first two rows are weak, the last two are strong.

Assimilation occurs when a weak and a strong vowel meet.
(This is only a rule of thumb, though.)

E.g.:
αα - αα
α:ε - α:
α:ω - α:ω
αει - αι

The ο is medially strong, e.g.: αο - ω or eο - eο (both strong), but οω - ω (weak).
The ι: never assimilates (e.g.: ι:α - ι:α), and the ι. 'eats' all weak vowels, including the ο (e.g.: αι. - ι. or ωι. - ωι.).