Proto-Taquu

Proto-Taquu is the proto-language of the Taquu languages, part of the larger Ta-Rai language family, spoken around 2000 years before present along the southern and western coasts of continent of Myarolan. Descendants of the language include the Dahtashé language and Doñaxi. It descends from Proto Ta-Rai.

## Phonological Evolution

Proto-Taquu underwent a number of phonological developments from Proto-Ta-Rai. The phonological evolution of Proto-Taquu can be described as such:

* Conditioned consonant changes
	+ before stress (except in clusters), consonants are fortified
	+ between vowels or voiced consonants (except before stress), consonants are lenited
	+ assimilation
	+ backing or fronting based on following vowel or semivowel
	+ word-initial consonant shifts. These shifts do not occur when the consonant is no longer word-initial (with the addition of a prefix), leading to some alternation in word stems.
* A small number of unconditioned consonant shifts and mergers, generally occurring *after* the previous allophonic consonant changes
* Vowel alterations
	+ stressed short vowels undergo umlaut (alteration based on following vowel)
	+ stressed diphthongs undergo levelling, resulting in long versions of the above umlauted vowels
	+ unstressed diphthongs are generally merged into vowel + semivowel (or v.v.) sequences
		- some unstressed diphthongs are instead reduced to a single vowel (especially in certain grammatical affixes or common roots)
	+ unstressed vowels are reduced or elided, depending on position (including unstressed vowels derived from the above diphthong reanalysis/merger). Note that elided vowels can resurface in certain circumstances, leading to some alternation in word stems.

## Consonant Evolution

### Consonant fortition

This change affects consonants appearing immediately pre-stress; it does not apply to clusters.

* Plosives and affricates are aspirated pre-stress (purely allophonic, not marked in orthography)
* Nasals add a following voiced plosive: /m/ > /mb/; /n/ > /nd/; /ɲ/ > /ɲɟ/; /ŋ/ > /ŋg/
* Fricatives, approximants and taps are devoiced. Approximants are often also fricated
	+ /ɣ/ > /x/
	+ /l/ > /ɬ/
	+ /j/ > /ɕ/
	+ /w/ > /ɸ/
	+ /ɾ/ when non-initial: [ɾ] trilled and devoiced to /r̥/
	+ /ɾ/ when initial: [d] devoiced to /t/

Examples:

* /ˈta/ > [ˈtʰa]
* /a.ʃiˈmoa/ > /ɕɨmˈbɔː/
* /ˈjal/ > /ˈɕal/

### Consonant lenition

This change affects consonants which appear between vowels or voiced consonants (/m, n, ɲ, ŋ, l, ɾ, w, j, ɣ/). Consonants which appear before stress are only lenited if they are in a cluster with a voiced consonant, since clusters block fortition - single consonants pre-stress are never lenited.

* Nasals will nasalise the previous vowel
	+ /m/ leaves behind a semivowel /w/
	+ /ɲ/ leaves behind a semivowel /j/
	+ /n/ and /ŋ/ do not leave behind semivowels
* Plosives, affricates and unvoiced fricatives are voiced
	+ /p/ > /b/; /t/ > /d/; /k/ > /g/
	+ /s/ > /z/; /ʃ/ > /ʒ/
	+ /t͡s/ > /d͡z/; /t͡ʃ/ > /d͡ʒ/
* Approximants and taps do not change (the initial allophone of /ɾ/ is never affected by lenition as lenition cannot affect initial consonants)
* /ɣ/ is elided. The hiatus is maintained initially, but resolved in a subsequent step (vowel elision/reduction)

### Assimilation

Nasals preceding other consonants in clusters assimilate to the place of the following consonant. They change to the new place of articulation if the consonant changes in the following steps.

Consonants also mutate based on following vowels or semivowels. In clusters, only the consonant immediately before the mutator is affected (except for nasals, which assimilate as above). There are 2 classes of mutations: O-mutation (which includes the semivowel /w/) and I-mutation (which includes the semivowel /j/). The semivowel /j/ is always lost when it causes a mutation; /w/ is maintained however.

All of these assimilatory processes were initially allophonic, however subsequent vowel changes have masked many of the triggering vowels, with the allophones becoming phonemic.

* Bilabials
	+ no change for O
	+ I-mutation shifts to labiodental
		- /p/ > /pf/ [p̪f]; /b/ > /bv/ [b̪v]
		- /m/ and /mb/ > /mv/ [ɱv]
* Alveolars
	+ no change for O
	+ I-mutation shifts to palatal
		- /n/ > /ɲ/; /t/ > /c/; /d/ > /ɟ/
		- /s/ > /ɕ/; /z/ > /ʑ/
		- /ts/ > /tɕ/; /dz/ > /dʑ/
		- /l/ > /ʎ/; /ɬ/ > /ɕ/
		- clusters /tl/, /kl/ > /tɕ/
		- /ɾ/ does not palatalise (including initial allophones [d] and [t])
* Post-Alveolars
	+ Post-alveolars are all lost in Proto-Taquu, merging variously depending on following vowel
	+ O-mutation:
		- fricatives /ʃ/, /ʒ/ move back to /x/, /ɣ/
		- affricates /tʃ/, /dʒ/ merge with alevolars /ts/, /dz/
	+ I-mutation shifts to palatal. Also shifts to palatal when preceding any other palatal consonant (e.g. /aʃɲa/ or /aʃti/ > /aʃci/)
		- /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ shift to /ɕ/, /ʑ/, /tɕ/, /dʑ/
	+ When there is no mutation (before another neutral consonant or /a/) merges with alveolars
		- /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ shift to /s/, /z/, /ts/, /dz/
* Palatals do not change
* Velars
	+ /ŋ/ is not affected
	+ O-mutation shifts to uvular
		- /k/ > /q/; /g/ > /ɢ/
		- /x/ > /χ/; /ɣ/ > /ʁ/
	+ I-mutation shifts to palatal (merging with alveolars in this environment)
		- /k/ > /c/; /g/ > /ɟ/
		- /x/ > /ɕ/; /ɣ/ > /j/

Examples:

* /ˈɾinkaki/ > [ˈtiŋgaɟi] > /ˈteŋgəɟ(ɨ)/
* /ˈmjaɾolan/ > [ˈɱvaɾolan] > /ˈmvɑɾlən/
* /ʃoɾaˈɣaŋo/ > [xoɾaˈxã.o] > /xəɾˈxɑ̃ː/
* /ˈkwaɲo/ > [ˈqwãjo] > /ˈqβɑ̃j/

### Other consonant shifts

The only consonant to shift unconditionally is /w/, which fricates to /β/ (written as v). Fortified /w/ shifts to /ɸ/.

Certain consonants have allophonic variants when word-initial.

/ɾ/ already possessed a word-initial allophone in Ta-Rai, [d], which is maintained. The fortified phoneme /r̥/ has a similar word-initial allophonic [t]. This allophone is also encountered after a nasal consonant, e.g. /anˈɾa/ [anˈda].

Fortified nasals (nasal + voiced plosive clusters) lose the nasal component when word-initial, e.g. /ˈna/ > /ˈnda/ [ˈda] vs /iˈna/ > /inˈda/ [inˈda].

## Vowel Evolution

### Umlaut and diphthong levelling

Umlaut occurs for all short stressed vowels followed by an unlike vowel (or diphthong) in the following syllable, resulting in a mutated short stressed vowel. Diphthong levelling occurs for all stressed diphthongs, resulting in similar stressed vowels as umlaut but long. As a result of these changes, the original vowel system of Proto-Ta-Rai of 3 vowels with length distinction and 6 diphthongs is extended to 9 vowels with length distinction.

### Unstressed diphthong reanalysis

Unstressed diphthongs are generally reanalysed as a vowel + semivowel or semivowel + vowel sequence. In a few specific cases, they instead become different unstressed vowels. The /j/ resulting from the new sequence is still elided if it palatalises the preceding consonant - e.g. *ákio* /ˈakio/ > \*/ˈɨkjo/ > *ýca* /ˈɨcə/

 /ia/
 /oa/

### Vowel elision and reduction

Vowels in hiatus merge into a single syllable. If any vowel is nasalised, then the result is nasalised.

* Short stressed + unstressed (any) > Long stressed (having already undergone umlaut)
* Long stressed + unstressed (any) > Long stressed (unstressed vowel is simply deleted)
* Both unstressed:
	+ /i.i/ > variously *jy* /jɨ/ or *yj* /ɨj/
	+ when otherwise including /i/, shift the /i/ to /j/
		- this /j/ is still elided if following an I-mutated consonant (e.g. *ákino* /ˈakino/ > \*/ˈæcĩ.o/ > \*/ˈæcjõ/ > *äcah* /ˈæcə̃/
	+ when otherwise including /e/, the result is *e* /e/
	+ when composed of only /o/ and /a/, the result is *a* /ə/

Short vowels in unstressed syllables tend to be elided. When they are unable to be elided, they are reduced instead. Vowel elision if blocked when there would be an illegal cluster. Illegal clusters include:

* clusters with discordant voicing (one voiced and one unvoiced consonant, excluding semivowels)
	+ note that these clusters can still be formed due to diphthongs introducing a /w/ which is subsequently fricated, adjacent to an unvoiced consonant.
* clusters not following the sonority hierarchy of semivowels > l/r > nasals > fricatives > plosives
* clusters longer than 3 consonants
* initial and final clusters other than those allowed in Proto-Ta-Rai
	+ initial /p, t, k, t͡s, m/ + /n, s, j, l, w/ (other than /t͡ss/). /mw/ is allowed but shifted to /mv/ instead, /ts/ merges with /t͡s/.
	+ final clusters other than /ns, jn, js, jl, ln, ls/

If the word ends in a vowel, this is always the first to be considered for elision. After this, the process of vowel elision is somewhat variable and some dialects may have different forms, but most commonly, vowels are removed from syllables closest to the primary stress first where possible - e.g. /ˈatapakala/ becomes /ˈadəbəgələ/ without elision; the form /ˈadbəgəl/ is more common than /ˈadəbgəl/, however \*/ˈadbəglə/ never appears as word-final vowels are always preferentially elided.

Reduction of vowels is as follows:

/o/
rotoi /roˈtoi/
 /e/
ceˈläwi /ceˈlæwi/
 /i/

Unstressed long vowels are never elided, but are shortened and reduced instead. Long /oː/ shortens to /u/ and doesn't reduce.

## Phonology

### Consonant Inventory

Allophonic consonants (esp for consonant lenition) listed here are in brackets.

Consonants with multiple graphemes generally use the simpler one when unambiguous:

* palatalised digraphs don't write the <j> when before <i>
	+ palatalisation is always present before <i> (\*[gi] doesn't exist)
	+ eñgjé /eɲˈɟé/ vs eñgi /eɲˈɟi/
* uvularised digraphs don't write the <q> when before <o>, <ò>, <ö> or <u>
	+ uvularisation is always present before variants of <o> (\*[go] doesn't exist)
	+ tádagq /ˈtadəɢ/, vowel reduced form of \*tádago /ˈtadaɢo/

### Vowel Inventory

 Mid
 Open

**Unstressed vowels**: a [ə], e [e], y [ɨ], u [u]

Stressed versions of unstressed vowels are written with an acute accent (or doubled for long vowels), meaning all words have marked stress.

All vowels may also be nasalised.  This is written with a 'h' following the vowel (e.g. 'áh' /ˈã/, 'iihjy' /ˈĩːjɨ/, 'kádah' /ˈkadə̃/).

## Examples

* My nose is red with blood.
	+ Mavrhäähj böön yso ahvavrhää.
	+ /məβˈr̥æ̃ːj ˈbɵːn ɨˈso ə̃βəβˈr̥æː/
	+ Ta-Rai: Maorái-nya moin i-só o-maorái
	+ Taquu: Mavrhää-hj böön y-so a-hvavrhää
	+ Gloss: blood-be.colour nose GEN-1s INS-blood

* You should try not to keep eating fruit from the tree behind that house of his.
	+ *Ksaan lhaash xöö ceshál dá cál ngatsää qong kva ngakaa yrhá.*
	+ /ˈksaːn ˈɬaːɕ ˈχɵː ceˈɕal ˈda ˈcal ŋəˈtsæː ˈqoŋ kβə ŋəˈkaː ɨr̥ˈr̥a/
	+ Ta-Rai: Ksaan laajs ghoj tia-jal na kjal anga-chai kong kwa anga-kaa i-ra
	+ Taquu: Ksaan lhaash xöö ce-shál dá cál nga-tsää qong kva nga-kaa y-rhá
	+ Gloss: should try NEG HAB-eat 2s fruit ABL-tree back DST ABL-house GEN-3s.Hu
* That big, long river goes from east to west across the wide plains.
	+ *Ceseel kñi shymbòò kààd chiinda ngartöö ghartòò qòò ghagujshédaj tájad.*
	+ /ceˈseːl ˈkɲi ɕɨmˈbɔː ˈkɑːd ˈtɕiːndə ŋəɾˈtɵː ɣəɾˈtɔː ˈqɔː ɣəɢujˈɕedəj ˈtajəd/
	+ Ta-Rai: Tia-sia-la kni ashi.móa kao-ta tsiin-ta anga-ro.toi gha-ro.toa koa gha-kooghi.litaj taja-ta
	+ Taquu: Ce-see-l kñi shymbòò kàà-d chiinda nga-rtöö gha-rtòò qòò gha-gujshédaj tája-d
	+ Gloss: HAB-go-IND that river big-PT long-PT ABL-east DAT-west across DAT-plain wide-PT