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