KISS
OK, so just the basics, with enough to build weird stuff on: p, b, m, t, d, n, k, g, s, r, l and the five vowels.
/m/ is marginal, only occurring in roots with /p, b/. But it remains even when these are removed somewhat, and /n/ can be infixed without changing.
Accent: rising, falling tone, and level (with automatic adjustment from word to word). Maybe rising on first syllable, falling on third.
Vowels depend, in part on accent, but also enter autonomously with affixes. Only /i, e/ occur with rising tones, only /u, o/ with falling. If an affix with a different vowel comes to have a moving tone, the vowel moves to the nearest acceptable one: /i/ and /u/ exchange, /e/ and /o/ also. /a/ goes to /e/ or /o/ as the case may be.
Roots are three consonant (I said I didn't have a lot of imagination), although there are a few that involve only two or even one. There will be some restrictions (like the one on /m/), but I haven't worked out what will be most useful at this point (that may depend on how many roots I end up needing)
All of this will get progessively more complicated as this protolanguage is moved toward the modern form I am sneaking up on. Having some idea of what that is will guide many choices along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment