The Conlang FAQ

More on Tech -- relationship with PIE and consonant mutation

adapted from a 21 Jun 1997 post by Danny Wier

I am going to try to update my Tech phonology page soon. Here is a rough description of a couple of features.

First of all, even though Tech is not an Indo-European language, there is a close relationship with several IE langs (especially Hittite, Greek, and Persian) that came about through intermingling. The early IE connection could be seen in a lot of cases in a pattern of shifts in reconstructed PIE stops, traditionally rendered as labial-dental-velar-labiovelar and voiceless-voiced-voiced aspirate.

This is the most common shift:

PIE Tech
Voiceless stop (p t k kw) Voiceless aspirate stop (ph th kh qh)
Voiced stop (b d g gw) Voiceless glottalized (ejective) stop (p' t' k' q')
Voiced aspirate stop (bh dh gh gwh) Voiceless plain stop (p t k q)
 
Labial (p b bh) Labial (ph p' p)
Dental (t d dh) Dental (th t' t)
Velar (k g gh) Velar (kh k' k)
Labiovelar (kw gw gwh) Uvular (qh q' q)

One might ask: how do you get voiced stops in Tech?

The answer can be found in a phonomenon characteristic of the modern Celtic languages: mutation. In Irish and Scots Gaelic, for example, there are two types of mutation, lenition (or aspiration) and nasalization (or eclipsis). In the former, stops become fricatives (p > ph, c > ch, g > gh); in the latter, voiceless stops become voiced (p > bp = b, t > dt = d) and voiced stops become nasals (b > mb = m, g > ng).

In Tech, mutation, which is caused by internal changes and group inflections, takes on three basic forms: aspiration (or fricativization), lenition (or vocalization), and gemination. One, two, or all three forms can occur; thus there are eight possible levels or mutation. In the first instance, radical (unmutated) stops shift as such:

Radical Aspirate
Voiceless aspirate stop (ph th kh qh) Fricative (p > f, etc.)
Voiceless glottalized stop (p' t' k' q') Ejective fricative (p' > f', etc.)
Voiceless plain stop (p t k q) Voiceless
tap/trill/approximant (p > hw, t > hr*)
 
For lenition, voiceless stops become vocalized:
 
Radical Lenis
Voiceless aspirate stop (ph th kh qh) Breathy-voiced stop (bh dh gh Gh)
Voiceless glottalized stop (p' t' k' q') Implosive stop (b' d' g' G')
Voiceless plain stop (p t k q) Voiced plain stop (b d g G)
 
When there is aspiration AND lenition:
 
Radical Aspirate-Lenis
Voiceless aspirate stop (ph th kh qh) Voiced fricative (ph > v, etc.)
Voiceless glottalized stop (p' t' k' q') Voiced ingressive fricative (weird!)
Voiceless plain stop (p t k q) Voiced tap/trill/approximant (p > w, t > r non-rhot)
 
Gemination is simply doubling (lengthening) of a consonant.

So twelve PIE stops become forty-eight in Tech. That doesn't count the reflexes that cause alveolar and palatal affricates, retroflex stops, laterally-released dental affricates, and clicks.

The rules of mutation are different for nasals, liquids, and semivowels. More on them another time.

As I said, work will go really slow; I have no idea when I'll be able to get around to basic grammar and syntax. Right now this is more an experiment in phonetics more than anything else. And I am bound to change my mind on a lot of this.


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Copyright © 1997, Don Blaheta
Last updated: 2 Dec 1997