Sound Changes in Imperial Languages (Empire-in-the-West)

Archaic Imperial

Initial Phonemic Inventory

Consonants

POA	Labials	Dentals	Emphatics	Velars	Uvulars	Glottals
Tenuis stops	p /p/	t /t/	ṭ /tˤ/	k /k/	q /q/	? /ʔ/
Lenis stops	b /b/	d /d/	ḍ /dˤ/	g /g/	ǵ /ɢ/
Fricatives	f /f/	s /s/	ṣ /sˤ/	x /x/	ḥ /χ/	h /h/
Voiced fricatives	v /v/	z /z/	ẓ /zˤ/	ɣ /ɣ/	ǧ /ʀ/
Nasals	m /m/	n /n/
Liquids		l /l/, r /r/
Glides			y /j/	w /w/

Vowels

• Short: /i a u/ i a u
• Long: /iː aː uː/ ī ā ū
• Diphthong: /ai au/ ai au

Developments

Symbols:

• E= ṭ, q, ḍ, ḡ, ṭh, qh
• V=any vowel
• C=any consonant

To Classical

1. Monophthongizationa) ai → ɛː b) au → ɔː
2. Emphasis spreadinga) i → e b)a → ɑ c) u → o d) iː → eː e)aː → ɑː f) uː → oː/when E in same word
3. De-emphasisa) tˤ → t b) dˤ → d c) sˤ → s d) zˤ → z
4. Stop assimilation[stop] → [α Place]/_[α Place stop]
5. Voiced fricative elision{v z ɣ} → ː/V_C
6. /r/ allophonya)r → ɹ/V_ b)r → ɾ/elsewhere c) rr → r
7. Intervocalic fricative lentitiona)z → ɹ/V_V[-stress], V_C b)ɣ → j/V_V[-stress], V_C c)v → ʊ/V_V[-stress], V_C
8. Coronal assimilation[Coronal] → α/_[α Coronal]
9. Trisyllabic elision a)'CVCVCV → 'CVCV:
10. Atonic reductiona) u, o → ʊ/[-stress]# b)e, a → ə/[-stress]# c)i → ɨ/[-stress]