Wendoth/Diachronics

To Be Continued... Alces is still working on this article. The contents are incomplete and likely to undergo changes.

The Wendoth language broke up in two waves, so there is a division between Nuclear and Peripheral Wendoth. The Peripheral speakers originally moved towards the mountains in the southwest, and were the ones who came in contact with Proto-Isles. The group is paraphyletic and mainly characterised by grammatical innovations which are probably due to language contact. The Nuclear group, which spread out more to the west and north, was characterised by the full transfer of phonation contrasts away from the vowels.

Wendoth to Proto-Southwestern Wendoth (-2000 to -1500 YP)

1. [ḭ ṵ a̰] become [ɪʔ ʊʔ aʔ], and [i̤ ṳ ɑ̤] become [iː uː oː].
2. [ʔ] before an obstruent disappears, and geminates the obstruent, if it is not word-final.
3. [ʔ] is dropped word-finally.
4. [ə] is deleted if it is in a syllable preceding the stressed syllable, and it is not adjacent to a consonant cluster.
5. [f v] become [p b] if not before a consonant. They do not merge with /p b/ due to the velarisation on these phonemes.
6. [pˠ bˠ] become [x ɣ] when they precede a consonant, and elsewhere [p b].
7. [θ ð] merge with dental [t d] before a vowel, while [t d] merge with [θ ð] before a vowel.
8. [ʁ] is deleted before a following obstruent.
9. Elsewhere, [χ ʁ] merge with [x ɣ].
10. Remaining [ə] merges with [ɪ] finally and [a] elsewhere.
11. [ʎ ɫ] merge with [j w] everywhere, and [ɪ ʊ] in coda.
12. When not before a vowel, [aiː auː oiː ouː] become [ai au oi ou]. They do not merge with [aɪ aʊ oɪ oʊ], as those have a glottal stop between them and the consonant. [aiː auː oiː ouː] can now be analysed where they remain as [aɪj aʊw oɪj oʊw].

Proto-Southwestern Wendoth vowel system

	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i iː/		/u uː/
Mid			/o oː/
Open		/a aː/

Wendoth to Proto-South Central Wendoth (-2000 to -1600 YP)

1. Phonated vowels in syllables directly preceding a stressed phonated vowel acquire the same phonation as that stressed vowel.
2. Creaky-voiced [ḭ ṵ] lower to [e̤ o̤].
3. [ḭ ṵ a̰] become [iʔ uʔ æʔ], and [i̤ ṳ ɑ̤] become [iɦ uɦ ɑɦ].

Wendoth to Proto-Southeastern Wendoth (-2000 to -1200 YP)

1. Creaky-voiced [ḭ ṵ] lower to [ḛ o̰].
2. Phonated vowels in syllables directly preceding a stressed phonated vowel acquire the same phonation as that stressed vowel, without changing quality.
3. [ḭ ṵ ḛ o̰ a̰ ɑ̰] become [iʔ uʔ eʔ oʔ aʔ ɑʔ], and [i̤ ṳ e̤ o̤ a̤ ɑ̤] become [iɦ uɦ eɦ oɦ aɦ ɑɦ].

Wendoth to Proto-Nuclear Wendoth (-2000 to -1750 YP)

1. [ḭ ṵ a̰] become [iʔ uʔ æʔ], and [i̤ ṳ ɑ̤] become [iɦ uɦ ɑɦ].
2. [ʎ ɫ] become [j w] after [ʔ ɦ] and before a vowel.
3. Clusters of [ʔ] + voiceless plosive become ejectives.
4. Clusters of [ɦ] + voiceless plosive become pre-aspirated stops.
5. [ɦ] is deleted before nasals.
6. [ɑ a] merge as [a].

Proto-Nuclear Wendoth vowel system

	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i/		/u/
Mid		/ə/	/o/
Open	/æ/	/a/

Proto-Nuclear Wendoth to Proto-Northwestern Wendoth (-1750 YP to -1300 YP)

1. Clusters of [ʔ] + voiced consonant become a single creaky-voiced consonant, and [ɦ] + voiced obstruent becomes a single breathy-voiced consonant.
2. Clusters of [ʔ] + voiceless fricative become ejective fricatives, and clusters of [ɦ] + voiceless fricative become preaspirated fricatives.
3. [q] becomes [ʔ].
4. Creaky-voiced nasals following the stressed syllable fortify to creaky-voiced stops.

Proto-Nuclear Wendoth to Proto-Northern Wendoth (-1750 YP to -1500 YP)

([ʁ] had already become [ɦ] in the dialect)

1. [ʔ] is deleted before voiced obstruents with compensatory lengthening.
2. [q qʼ qʰ] move forward to [k kʼ kʰ]. The other velar stops become definite palatals.
3. [θ ð] merge with [f v].