# Votian/Transdialectal morpho-phonemic writing for Votic morphology
## Transdialectal morpho-phonemic writing (2009.)

I use self-made morpho-phonemic system in this project to facilitate representing morphemes of this language, which has no oficial standard but a lot of dialectal alternatives

### Priorities

* Each morpheme should have only one graphic representation.
** This goal could be easier achieved using Chinese logograms .
* Representation of a morpheme should correspond to it's morphophonemic qualities.
** Obstruents in the beginning of closed syllables with short vowels have been weakened due to the consonant gradation , but this is not easy to explain relying only on contemporary Votic examples, because a weak grade (of singular inessive : orgo-za ('in a valley')) opposed to a strong grade (of singular nominative: orko- ) may have preserved no visible reason of this opposition any more until we ask advise of phonological history and comparative linguistics . Even though there is a slight possibility, that Votic may have had an inessive morpheme different from other Finnic dialects, I have marked it by Proto-Finnic -ssa, which clearly explains the riddle above: orgo-za < * orkos-sa .
* Representation of a morpheme should base on it's most complete and least damaged allomorphs found in Votian like dialects.
** E.g. I have marked translative by Proto-Finnic -kse , because it may be pronounced either -s̄ , -ssi , -hsi or even -sse..
* This writing system should not mark phonetic differences caused by phonetic context , if we don't want to emphasize a local or individual peculiarity.
** E.g. most of Votian morphemes have a front vowel and a back vowel alternative according to vowel harmony (I have preferred the one without diaeresis and other diacritic marks):
*** uppot+ttu > upottu (" drowned ")
*** hüppät+ttu > üpättü (" jumped ")

### Concordance with phonology

This writing system bases on the phonemic orthography used in Dictionary of Votic language
by Elna Adler and Merle Leppik with few exceptions:
* Letters which mark lenis plosives like ʙ, ᴅ, ɢ are represented by their strong grade counterparts.
** Stem morphemes are represented by their strong grade if the weak grade is predictable.
* · which marks a stressed vowel, is usually ignored, because it has no morphophonemic significance.
** Anything written down using this morpho-phonemic system should be pronounced according to the individual ( dialectal ) background (or free choice) of a reader.
* ' may mark omitted phonemes (usually in the end of a word), if we want to emphasize a local or individual peculiarity . E.g. " saunast' " < " saunass " < " saunass' ", " 'p' òlĺu' 'an'í anńéttava " < " b õllu ani annõttava " < " 'B õllu ani annõttava ".
* Grave accent flags a letter, which in that particular phonetic context should not be pronounced the way as usual, if we want to emphasize a local or individual peculiarity. E.g. " ò " in " 'p' òlĺu' 'an'í anńéttava " < " b õllu ani annõttava " < " 'B õllu ani annõttava ". Nevertheless it could be pronounced as usual o according to Kukkuzi dialect.
* Acute accent flags a letter, which should be pronounced the way as it's written discarding any phonetic context , if we want to emphasize a local or individual peculiarity. E.g. " ĺ " in " 'p' òlĺu' 'an'í anńéttava " < " b õllu ani annõttava " < " 'B õllu ani annõttava ". Nevertheless we could write it: " 'p' òlǹu' 'an'í anńéttava " presuming, that the reader is familiar with Votian morphophonology. We could write it even: " epi olnut hanhe antattava " and leave readers completely free to choose how to pronounce it.
* A buffering i , which follows a consonant stem may be omitted, because it is required there by phonetic context . E.g. " mer " < " mer/i ".
** That kind of final i is represented by stem vowel e in a vowel stem . E.g. " í " in " 'an'í " < " b õllu ani annõttava " < " 'B õllu ani annõttava " could be written: " epi olnut hanhe antattava ", because Votic (Finnic) phonotactics requires i < * e in such a position.
* tš has been replaced by k . (It is a regular allophone preceding a front wovel.) E.g. " kive " < " tšivi " < " čivi ".
* ĺ has been replaced by l etc. E.g. " päällen " < " pääĺie " < " pǟl̨ėe ".
* ɑ, ɑ̈ have been replaced with a, ä .
* õ has been replaced by the vowel, which occurs in that particular stem in Kukkuzi or any closest Finnic dialect. I.e. it may be:
* o e.g. noistak ('to rise') < nõis/a.
* a e.g. palatak ('to burn') < põl/õa.
* u e.g. puippu ('chick') < põip/põ.
* e e.g. pelto ('field') < põl/to. e and è may stand for õ, if there is not enough knowledge to choose another option.
* yõ has been replaced by ee. E.g. " veeras " < " vyõrɑZ " < " vė̮e̮rɑZ ".
* y has been preserved. E.g. " gryba " < " gri̮ba ", " õnnõvɑd by " < " e̮nne̮vɑd ̮ bi˱ ".
* χ has been replaced by hh . E.g. " hhott " < " χott " < " χ˯ott ".
* Ordinary lower case letters represent voiceless vowels as well (even in Kukkuzi dialect) . E.g. " siällä " < " siällÄ ".
* Upper case letters do not mark beginning of a sentence .
* Upper case letters may mark proper names and toponyms e.g. Kattila-lla on kaks külan ottsata < k a t t i л a - ллa on kahs tšülǟ e̮ttsā ('There are two (village-) ends in Kattila.')
* Upper case letters may mark components of a compound morpheme (the first one excluded) like in Zulu language (Zulu: isiZulu) e.g. akkunAlla ~ akkun'Al'la < * akkunalu'sella < * akkuna(n) aluksella ('in the courtyard')
** Morphemes may be separated by hyphen too, like in Hakka language (Hakka: Hak-kâ-fa) e.g. akkun-alla ~ akkun'-al'la < * akkunalu'sella < * akkuna(n) aluksella ('in the courtyard')