Garonnian/Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | /m/ | /n/ | /ɲ/ | /ŋ/ | ||||||
| Plosive | /p/ | /b/ | /t/ | /d/ | /k/ | /ɡ/ | ||||
| Affricate | /ts/ | /dz/ | /tʃ/ | /dʒ/ | ||||||
| Fricative | /f/ | /v/ | /s/ | /z/ | /ʃ/ | /ʒ/ | /h/ | |||
| Trill | /r/ | |||||||||
| Approximants | /l/ | /ʎ/ | ||||||||
Unlike many Gallo-Romance languages (French technically lacked this), Garonnian lacks final obstruent devoicing. Unusually among Romance languages, Garonnian exhibits initial consonant mutations and contain somewhat unusual phoneme /ŋ/ which can occur in any positions.
Orthography
| Spelling | Pronunciation value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major | Examples | Minor | Examples | ||
| b | /b/ | bull | |||
| c | Before a, o, u | /k/ | cur | ||
| Before e, i | /tʃ/ | ciul | |||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short | Long | Short | Long | Short | Long | |
| Close | /i/ | /iː/ | /u/ | /uː/ | ||
| Mid | /ɛ/ | /ɛː/ | /ɔ/ | /ɔː/ | ||
| Open | /a/ | /aː/ | ||||
In unstressed positions, only the vowels /a, i, u/ are allowed. Vowel length are phonemicized as a result of losses of certain consonants (these are, */β, ð, ɣ/), but also as a result of simplification of certain vowel hiatuses (teir */ti.ˈir/ → /ˈtiːr/ "to hold", aad /ˈaːd/ "(s)he had").
Consonant structure
The maximal consonant structure in Garonnian is C¹C²S¹VS²C¹C².
Stress
Like French, Garonnian words are always stressed in the last syllable. However, words containing vowel hiatuses are stressed in the second-to-last (penultimate) syllable (bua /ˈbu.a/ "good (fem. sg.)"). As previously I, Willett said, only /a, i, u/ are allowed in unstressed syllables.
Phonological changes
Vulgar Latin to Proto-Gallo-Sicilian
- Deletion of vowels in contact with the liquids (/l/ or /r/): speculum → /isˈpɛkʲu/ → /isˈpjɔdʒu/ → pesçoģ /pisˈtʃɔdʒ/ "mirror"
- Palatalization of /l/ following a consonant to /j/ (note cluster /kl/ → /kʲ → /tʃ/ → /dʒ/, an unusual development in standards of Romance languages, e.g. Latin oculus → Garonnian ueģ "eye").
- Palatalization of /k(ɛ,i,j)/, /ɡ(ɛ,i,j)/ to /tʃ/ and /j/, respectively. The following original /j/ sounds (resulted from /e(ː)/ and /i(ː)/ preceding vowels) are deleted.
- Notice also additional palatalizations that only occur before /j/: /lʲ/ → /ʎ/, /nʲ/ → /ɲ/, /sʲ/ → /ʃ/, and /tʲ/ → /ts/. Others were still denoted by plain palatalization: /mʲ/, /pʲ/, and /rʲ/. Note that original /bʲ/ in early Proto-Gallo-Sicilian times transformed into /j/: habeō → ai "I have".
- Vowel shifts: ten vowels in Classical Latin are reduced to only five vowels in Proto-Gallo-Sicilian:
| Classical Latin | a | aː | e | eː | i | iː | o | oː | u | uː |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proto-Gallo-Sicilian | a | ɛ | i | ɔ | u | |||||
- Chain shift involving lenitions occured when the Proto-Gallo-Sicilians migrate to Padania, occuring intervocalically, word-finally, or before liquids (/l/ or /r/):
