Phonological history of Old Suzish
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Sound changes from Proto-Germanic to Old Suzish
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 6 Mar 2019, 11:48.
[comments] tochistory Chei, alla! This is an article explaining the sound changes from Proto-Germanic to Old Suzish, so people familiar with Germanic languages can have a sense of what this language would sound like. This won’t be going into semantic shifts, only changes in pronunciation. Also, if I state something as a theoretical, it’s probably because I haven’t made up my mind. With that said, let’s begin!
Proto-Germanic to Proto-West-Germanic
Suzish belongs to the West Germanic branch, so all of those sound shifts apply here. For a quick recap:
/ɑ o u/ > [æ ø y] before /i/ or /j/ in the next syllable, /u/ > [o] before non-high vowels, final /ɔː/ > /o/, /ɛː/ > /ɑː/, final /ɑː/ > /ɑ/, final /ɔːi/ > /ɔː/, /ɔːː ɛːː/ > /ɔː ɛː/, unstressed /ɑi ɑu/ > /eː oː/, final /z/ > /∅/, /z/ > /r/, /Cj -rj/ > /Cː/.
Now we shall look at the more unique developments.
Old Suzish Period
Old Suzish open syllable lengthening: vowels in stressed, open syllables become lengthened.
Unstressed pre-cluster shortening: unstressed long vowels become shortened before a cluster of two or more consonants, including germinates.
Thorn affrication: /θ ð/ > [t̪͡θ d̪͡ð].
Cluster assimilation: /r l w/ assimilate based on certain preceding or following consonants.
• /ɸl ɸr/ > [l̥ r̥]
• /ɣl ɣr/ > [lˠ rˠ]
• /xl xr/ > [l̥ˠ r̥ˠ]
• /wr/ > [rʷ]
• Daughter languages later split into H-Suzish (l l̥ distinction) and G-Suzish (l lˠ distinction).
Bilabial rounding: Bilabial approximants round surrounding vowels; /ɑ æ e i/ > /ɒ ɶ ø y/.
• /w ʍ/ retract vowels; /æ ɶ e ø i y/ > [ɑ ɒ ɤ o ɯ u]. (Unrounded vowels do not remain in daughters and are not distinctly written)
• /ɸ β ʍ rʷ/ > /h v ɸ r/.
Intervocalic voicing: voiceless consonants become voiced between vowels.
• Approximants will block the voicing, but diphthongs will not.
Vowel nasalization: Vowels followed by /m n/ drop the nasal and nasalize the vowel.
• Intervocalic /m n/ > [ⱱ̃ ɾ̃].
• Germinate nasals shorten and nasalize the vowel before them.
• Vowels are also nasalized before /m n/ over word barriers or in compounds, leading to spelling inconsistencies such as
Old Suzish fronting: back vowels are fronted when preceded or followed by /i j/ in the same or adjacent syllable; /ɑ(ː) o(ː) u(ː)/ > [æ(ː) ø(ː) y(ː)].
• Long vowels are fronted with /i j/ in the following syllable, but not with /i j/ in the preceding syllable.
• Diphthongs ending in /i̯/ do not cause fronting, suggesting a pronunciation [ɪ̯] at this time.
• Fronting only applies to vowels with no more than one consonant between, so /aj.ja/ > /æj.jæ/, but hypothetical /aj.pa/ > [æj.pa].
Diphthong harmonization: the first element of diphthongs assimilates to the second element. Diphthongs with /i/ experience fronting, those with /u/ experience rounding. Length is no longer distinguished.
• /ɑi̯ ɑu̯/ > /æi̯ ɒu̯/
• /oi̯ eu̯/ > /øi̯ øu̯/
• /iu̯/ > /iy̯/. Many, but not all, dialects start inconsistently shifting to /yː/.
Labiovelar rounding: Labiovelars /kʷ gʷ/ preceding a front vowel round the vowel and subsequently lose their labialisation.
Velar palatization: Velar consonants palatalized preceding or following /i j/.
• /k/ > [c]
• /g/ > [ɟ]
• /x/ > [ç]
• /ɣ/ > [ʝ]
Unstressed centralization: Unstressed short vowels become more central; [æ~ɑ ɶ~ɒ e~ɤ ø~o i~ɯ y~u] > [ɐ~ɜ ɞ ɘ ɵ ɪ̈ ʏ̈~ʊ̈]. Long vowels remain unchanged.
Suzish Short Vowel Shift: Cross-dialectal and cross-linguistic vowel changes, starting in Late Old Suzish.
• /i y ɯ u/ > [ɪ ʏ ɤ ʊ]
• /ø ɤ o/ > [œ ʌ ɔ]
• /e/ > /ɪ/
Sibilant retraction: /s/ retracts around velar and palatal consonants.
• /sk ks xs/ [ʂk kʂ xʂ]
• /sc cs çs/ [ʃc cʃ çʃ]
That’s everything I can think of now. I will update this as I come up with / remember more things.
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