Phonology of Ancient Gelveasar (reconstructed from written records of the late Ancient period as well as by the comparison of other languages descended from Ancient Gelveasar)
p t c k
b d gj g
f s ch kh
v z jh gh
w l j r
hw lh hj hr
m n nj ng
standard 5 plus y (rounded high front) long and short
a e i o u y
aa ee ii oo uu yy
several diphthongs are known to have existed, including:
ae aj oe oj aaj ooj
ao aw aaw ew
sound changes
palatals other than j, hj, nj disappear when initial
c, gj, ch, -> k, g, kh
jh -> j
hj -> kh
nj -> n+j
f -> th
v -> dh
lh -> th
hw ->f
f->h when not final
w->v when final
hr->khr
long ee->je
aa->ee
aaj->eej
uu->central high rounded
short a-> � (schwa if final, but the difference is allophonic)
e->short i
u->old long u (high back rounded tense)
o->low back rounded
y->�
j vowel shift: j inserted after vowel in a syllable preceding an ii unless there is already a j there, or a diphthong ending in e. The ii is lost unless it ends the word, or it's deletion would result in an invalid cluster.
auj-uj
aj->e
ej->ii
ij->ii
oj->y
uj->y
eej->ii
jej->ii
je->ej
iij->aj
ooj->yy
uuj->yy
yj->yy
yyj->yy
ae->aj
oe->oj
other shifts: eew/ew->iiw (this happened after the final w to v shift, which did not affect ew or eew). All other diphthongs ending in w were affected.
ao->au
iiw before consonant -> yy
Modern Phonology
p t k
b d g
th s ch f
dh z gh
m n ng
v l j r
v is old w, f is old hw.
f, v are h, w when initial or medial, f, v when final
vowel orthography (for web, so I don't need diacritics)
long ae ee ie oo ou y
short a e/i o u oe
before this post romanization of vowels was not standardized in type. (but was in handwriting, using accents)
there are two umlauts affecting vowels: i and u
i umlaut. The i umlaut originates from the j vowel shift.
a->e ae/ee/e/i->ie ie->aj (orthographic ai) o->oe oo->y u->oe ou->y oe->y y->y au->uj (ortho ui)
u umlaut. The origin of the u umlaut is unknown, and it only appears in the first person subjunctive of the verb. The umlaut did not exist in Ancient Gelveasar, and no other Gelveasil languages have it either. The first person subjunctive was identical to the indicative.
a->o ae/ee->oo ie/e/i/oe->y o->oo oo->ou u->ou ou->jou (ortho iu) ai/aj->aoe (ortho au) au->oo
i-umlauts in handwriting are written as vowel w/ umlaut diacritic. u-umlauts are written as resulting vowel. i-umlauts in *type* are written as resulting vowel.
stress falls on the 2nd to last syllable unless 3rd to last has long vowel or ends in 2 consonants.
appostrophe indicates a dropped sound (as in English), often a former initial palatal