PROTO-DREM PHONOLOGY:

The phonology is Proto-Drem is an interesting look at some various areas of phonology. Overall, the Dremish sounds so slightly change depending on where they are in the syllable, yet the changes are not drastic enough to confuse listeners. First, the language has a very large amount of nasal sounds, a large amount of stops and very few fricatives. Nasals and stops with very few fricatives will confuse a lot of prospective students who are used to Indo-European languages or even some Far East Asian languages as well. Even languages common to the Americas will look at Proto-Drem phonology and wonder. The one area which will feel ‘right at home’ is the sub-saharan African region with its many Bantu languages. The phonology is strikingly Bantu-like with its particular consonant clusters, especially when they start a syllable. Another striking feature of the phonology is the very odd feature of sounds called implosives. Implosives, being found in 10% of the worlds languages, are rare in nearly every part of the world except Africa, where in Bantu languages; they are expected in some areas. The one particular oddity of these implosives is the pre-nasalized implosives, which is a feature of Maasai, a Nilo-Saharan language. In Proto-Drem, the sounds were originally regular implosives that had become pre-nasalized and so show up here. The lack of fricatives is not uncommon for most of the Dremish language families, as most of the stops generally stay put instead of slowly transforming into fricatives like in other languages.

Things to note about the language are few yet noticeable when one looks. First, the spread from Bilabial thru to glottals is fairly well spread, so the range of sounds is good all the way from the very front to the very back of the mouth. Next, with the importance of nasals, the general airflow seemingly would be free, but when one notices the sheer number of implosives and nasalized stops, one notices that the airflow is blocked on a consistent basis. One would have to look further at the general sound of the words and to hear the flow to tell if this is the case. Next, the sheer lack of fricatives will usually cause some consternation amongst non-Bantu speakers when one starts to learn the language. Lastly, looking below at the vowels, one notices the even spread of the standard set of five vowels, with a schwa as a center vowel. Further down will see farther in the section, why only the schwa is not nasalized like the others.

Further in this section deals with other areas of importance. First are the varied ways the phonology changes with allophones according to where the sound is located in the syllable. Allophones occur in all languages. Some have few, while others have a lot. For Proto-Drem, the language is one of those with few allophones, as the language mostly sees the allophones with liquids, fricatives and the vowels. Next is how vowels and consonants change, also known as mutate, depending on how they are placed. In Proto-Drem, vowel and consonant mutation are pretty rarely seen, except when compound words to arise, which is more common that one would think with this type of language. Consonant mutation is fairly easily seen, while vowel mutation is so rare as to be basically unseen. The mutation of consonants will be seen below and is fairly regular and easy to learn. A lot of languages across the world have mutation to some degree or another, so this process is quite expected. Some languages like Welsh have a very hard system of mutation, while others see an easy system. Proto-Drem is considered one of those easier languages with mutation as well.

The next section is an important section which is pretty important in linguistics, that of vowel harmony and how it works in Proto-Drem. In the world’s languages, vowel harmony is very important to most African, Asian and quite a few languages in the Americas. Even a few European languages regularly use vowel harmony, so this process is understood and expected as well. Vowel harmony has many styles, and needs as there is a consistent pull, either from top and bottom, or from right and left. Rarely is there a three way pull, but is is seen in languages. In Proto-Drem, the system and details of the vowel harmony are seen below, as they will need to be known since they can change a word slightly to make it look like a totally differing word and throw off a listener who is unfamiliar with the harmony system.

Lastly, is tone which is fairly important in Proto-Drem? Being a Bantu-like language, Proto-Drem has register tones, and is fairly consistent with the usage and rules; also know as tone sandhi that works thru it all. In the world, there are not many areas of register tone systems, except that it covers a large amount of languages in the African continent. Here on Drem, this language works in one main way, with several details that can really cause someone to be careful in how they understand what is being said. Due to the fact that many words are said the same way, and would be spelled the same way, the only way one can tell the difference is by use of tone. Since tone is so commonly used in Proto-Drem, this section is a fundamental to be understood.

Note: This section assumes knowledge of phonetic terminology and X-SAMPA. A simpler guide to the pronunciation of the Proto-Drem script and the transliterations used here can be found under the Writing and Transliteration section of this chapter. On both tables below, all allophones will be in brackets [].

Major Phones in Standard Proto-Drem:

	Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Post Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stops	b	d			J\	g, gb)	[?]
Aspirated	[b_h]	[d_h]			[J\_h]	[g_h]
Implosives	b_<	d_<			j_<	g_<
Ns Implosive	mb_<	nd_<			J\_<	N_<
Nasal	m, mb	nd	n		J, nc	Nk, N, Ngb), [Ng]
Taps/Trills			r, [4]
Fricatives		f, v	s, z	[S], [Z]			h
Laterals			l,[5],[K], [l_d],[l~]
Approximants	w				j

Vowels:

Due to the tonal qualities of the language, the vowels are not shortened or lengthened. The lengthening of the actual sounds are due to if the same sound is “doubled” or next to another sound of the same type. The vowels are also separated differently for tonal qualities than their length; the tonal qualities will be discussed in the chapter on Tone. In the table below, sounds within the brackets [] are considered allophones and those ae discussed in the section on allophones below.

Vowels
	Front	Center	Back
Close	i, [i~], [i:], [I], [e_r]	[i_-], [u_+]	u, [u~], [u:], [U], [o_r]
Close-Mid	e, [e~], [e:]		o, [o~], [o:]
Mid	[e_o]	[@], [a_r]	[o_o]
Open		a, [a~], [a:]

The Transliteration System: Reading Transliterated Proto-Drem:

Notes on the Transliteration System

In transliterating words I have tried to use a system both easy for English speakers/readers to understand and one that gives some idea of the spelling in the original script. I therefore use a standard letter/digraph (combination of two letters, e.g. sh) for each letter of the written alphabet.

Phoneme	Major Allophones	Transcription	Sound (American English)
/b/	[b], [b_h], [B]	B, b	B of bat
A voiced bilabial stop, as in "bell". Examples: buba n. wall, cliff; Bubanj’o v. (to be) tied/suspended from above
/b_</		B’
A voiced bilabial implosive, not found in English Examples: b’agu v. to warn; b’ama n. mouth
/d/	[d], [d_h], [4], [d_d]	D, d	D of dog
A voiced dental stop, as in "dental", but pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching the upper front teeth. Between vowels, pronounced as “bladder”. Examples: Damu INTJ. Expressing introduction of a remark
/d_</		D’
A voiced dental implosive, not found in English Examples: d’óbà n. lake; d’aro n. cover
/g/	[g], [g_h], [G]	G, g	g of goat
A voiced velar stop, as in "glass". Between vowels, pronounced as Spanish "lago", Arabic "lugha"; no English equivalent. Examples: ganja v. (to be) stupid; guwa QUANT. Some, to some extent
/g_</		G’
A voiced velar implosive, not found in English Examples: g’ishә n. rain; v. to rain; g’obu v. to collide
/gb)/	[gb]	Gb
A voiced labial-velar, not found in English Examples: gbanjab’enj’ә n. guts (fish) (From guts + fish)
/Ngb)/	[Ngb]	Ŋgb, ŋgb
A nasally assimilated voiced labial-velar Example:
/m/	[m]	M, m	M of mug
A voiced bilabial nasal, as in "mark". Examples: mond v. to wash; man v. (to be) quiet
/mb/	[mb]	Mb
A bilabial nasal & stop cluster, not found in English Examples: Mbal adv. More, increasingly; mbar adv. Not lose to
/mb_</		Mb’
A Bilabial nasal stop cluster implosive, not found in English Examples: mb’omo n. Servant; mbuŋu n. arm
/n/	[n], [J], [N]	N, n	N of not
A voiced alveolar nasal, as in "nice". Examples: Nu QUAFF. to what extent (used like ‘how?’)
/nd_</		Nd’
A velar nasal and bilabial voiced stop cluster implosive, not found in English Examples: Ndontema v. to read (from v. to see + v. to think)
/nd/	[nd]	Nd, nd
A velar nasal and voiced stop cluster, not found in English Examples: Nd’iintemambәnja v (to be) lost in thought (from v. lost/void + v to think + CNVA + LOC)
/J\/	[J\]	C, c
A voiced palatal stop Examples: cima
/J/	[J]	Ny	Ni of onion
A palatal nasal as in onion Examples: njiwa QUANT - only
/J_</		Ny’
A Nasal Palatal implosive, not found in English Examples: Nj’aŋkegu v. (to be) boring, nj’eb v. to permit
/j/	[j], [i]	Y	J of hallelujah
A voiced palatal appoximant, as in "Yo-Yo". Examples: ndej v. to pierce, prick, jam INTJ – Expressing enquiry
/J_</		Y’
A Nasalized Palatal implosive which English does not have Examples: Nj’àambánt v. (to be) frightening
/nc/	[nc], [Nc]	Nc
A velar nasal and a palatal stop cluster, not found in English Examples: nciwu v. to keep, bear by oneself
/Nk/	[Nk], [Ng]	Nk, nk
A velar nasal and voiceless velar stop cluster, not found in English Examples: Ŋkendi adv. daily
/N_</		Ng’
A Velar Nasal implosive which English does not have Examples: Ŋ’aaŋkaga n. tree (evergreen) (From tree + green)
/N/	[N], [Ng]	Ng, ng	Ng of sing
A Velar Nasal as in sing Examples: Ŋәwa n. tide, strong; Ŋәbu n. whirlpool
/f/	[f], [v], [h]	F, f	F as in far
A voiceless Bilabial fricative, as in funnel. Example:
/v/	[v], [w]	V, v	V as in video
A voiced Bilabial fricative, as in view. Examples:
/s/	[s], [S], [z]	S, s	S of so
A voiceless alveolar fricative, as in "sack". Examples: ndosa n. animal, sema v. (to be) high
/z/	[z], [Z]	Z, z	Z as in zoo
A voiced Alveolar Fricative, as in “zoo”. Examples:
/h/	[h], [?]	H, h	H of harry
A glottal fricative as in house. It is only found between vowels. Examples:
/l/	[l], [K], [5], [l_d], [l~]	L, l	l of lime
A voiced alveolar lateral approximant, as "leaf". Examples: losa INTJ – Expressing disgust towards and object or person
/r/	[r], [4], [hr]	R, r	R of burro, perro
An alveolar trill, as in "burro". Examples: romi v. (to be) drunk, ntoro n. box
/w/	[w], [?]	W, w	W is water
A Bilabial Approximant as in was Examples: wè v. To eat; wèd’ulisa v. Cause to eat honey (to feed somebody honey)
Proto-Drem vowels
/i/	[i], [i~], [i:], [i_-], [I]	I, i	ee of deed, seed, need
A high front vowel as in deed Examples: gbile TIMEAFF - in…time, ncima n. snake
/e/	[e], [e~], [e:], [e_o], [e_r]	E, e	A in mate, hate
A low-mid back unrounded vowel as in mate Examples: Ndeba adj. Spicy, Ŋkegu v. (to be) bored
/u/	[u], [u~], [u:], [u_+], [U]	U, u	oo of boot, coot, hoot
A high back unrounded vowel as in boot Examples: buwa adj. Hot, buba v. to ask
/a/	[a], [a:] [a~], [a_r], [@]	A, a	A in father
An Open Cental vowel as in father Examples: damu INTJ. Introducing a remark, naba v. To like, enjoy
/o/	[o], [o~], [o:], [o_o], [o_r]	O, o	O in note, hose
A Close-mid back vowel as in hose. Examples: Gawo n. wood, nobu v. to happen

ALLOPHONES:

Allophones in Proto-Drem are common and often seen, as they are in all languages. Proto-Drem has as most languages do several allophones per main sound. What are allophones you might ask? Well, an allophone is a sound that is not part of the main phonology of the language, yet is spoken and heard often enough to make a difference. A sound like the [a] in hate, or the [a] in about, these sounds are all understood, yet not ‘official’. The sounds below area list of the sounds of Proto-Drem that have allophones. Some sounds, especially the implosives don’t have allophones, and that is understood, while here in this section, we see the allophones and how changes can and do occur in Proto-Drem.

One term to remind us of allophones is called ‘complimentary distribution’ which deals with how sounds are used in a word. For instance, if the /a/ sound and the /@/ occurred in separate places, one could conclude that the sounds are just allophones of each other, yet we see that the schwa /@/ and /a/ sounds are seen normally in the middle of a syllable, while the /a/ sound usually is only found in the beginning of a syllable, and the /@/ sound is usually seen at the end of a syllable, so there are distinct differences, yet similarities. So these two sounds are shown as separate sounds on the chart, yet, each one also treats the other as an allophone depending on the root itself.

Consonants:

[B, b] /b/: found everywhere except

Bobon v. to change

Ŋkobu v. to complete

g’abu v. to hold

/b_h/: Found as an word initial

Buwa adj. Hot

Boŋ ready

Bon change

/B/: Found medially and is common in fast speech compared to slow speech

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[D, d] /d/: Found everywhere except.

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/d_h/: Found on syllable initial only.

Dage n. grass, hay

Damu Interjection – Expressing introduction of a remark

Dag v. to plant

/d_d/: Found _i, _u

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/4/: Found intervocalic (V_V)

Lida shame
bade item, sort, kind (used in ordinal numbers)
wodo numerator (used in fractions)

[C, c] /J\/:

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/J\_h/: Found syllable initially.

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[G, g] /g/: found everywhere except

ndogu v. to stand

ndigu v. to choose

mbaga v. (to be) mated / married

/g_h/: found when [g] is initial

Ge v. to add (usually seen in math)

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/G/: Found medially and is heard in fast speech compared to slow speech

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[Gb, gb]: /gb/: Found syllable initially only.

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[F, f] /f/: is a voiceless labio-dental fricative.

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/h/: Found medially when spoken in fast speech compared to slow speech

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[V, v] /v/: is a voiced labio-dental fricative. Found everywhere except

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/w/: Found medially when spoken in fast speech compared to slow speech

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[S, s] /s/: is a voiceless, alveolar fricative. Found everywhere except

Sema v. (to be) high

Se Because, since

Sa Auxiliary Verb – almost, nearly

/S/: Found medially when spoken in fast speech compared to slow speech

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[Z, z] /z/: is a voiced, alveolar fricative. Found everywhere except

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/Z/: Found medially when spoken in fast speech compared to slow speech

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[H, h] /h/: Found only between vowels: V_V

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[L,l] /l/: The lateral approximant. Found everywhere except.

Ŋkomb’ola v. (to be) delighted, exultant

b’ala v. to suffice

solu v. to arrange

/l~/: found following a nasal vowel, as the nasalization of the vowel spreads. Seen in /m,nVlV/ and /V~lV/ clusters.

Ŋelo v. to progress; 3 (the number three)

j’unamolobo n. bandit (from v. to steal + ‘person who does’ affix)

/l_d/: Occurs before front vowels.

Lida shame

/5/: Found following high-front vowels

Ndila because

nd’ilu v. to feel
gbile TimeAffix - in…time

/K/: Found on word initial only. This is usually seen on root prefixes.

Lola v. (to be) full

Lan v. (to be) enough
laaŋkom v. (to be) worried, anxious

[R, r] /r/: Found everywhere except.

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/hr/: Found as a pre-aspirated trill when found initially.

Romi v. (to be) drunk

Roga n. hair

Rowa Interjection – Expressing Surprise, slight confusion

/4/: Occurs medially and V_V only. It is more noticeable in fast speech compared to slow speech

Ndara adv. Normally, usually

mәromi v. (to be) alcoholic

maroga n. comb (from v. to part + n. hair)

[M, m] /m/: Found everywhere.

Moh TimeAdverb - nowadays, these days, currently…

Mala v. (to be) difficult

Mada n. bean

[Mb, mb] /mb/:

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[Mb’, mb’] /m=b_</:

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[N, n] /n/: Found everywhere except

Ŋ’ona…na TimeAffix - no sooner…than…

b’ana v. To talk, tell, speak, say

nab’ana v. (to be) silent

/n_d/: Occurs before front vowels

Nima n. spirit

Ni way

Nimabo n. shaman (from n. spirit + v. to do)

[Nd, nd] /nd/:

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[Nd’, nd’] /n=d_</

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[Nj, nj] /J/

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[Nj’, nj’] /J_</

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[J’, j’] /j_</

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[Ŋ, ŋ] /N/:

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[Ŋ’, ŋ’] /N_</

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[Ŋk, ŋk] /Nk/

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[Ŋgb, ŋgb] /Ngb)/

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Semi-Vowels:

[J, j] /j/: is a voiced palatal approximant. Found only as a syllable initial.

Ja n. person

ja…bu… The fact/because…so…

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[W, w] /w/: is a voiced labial-velar approximant. It is always pronounced as [w] and occurs only in syllable-initial position.

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Vowels:

[I, i] /i/: is a high, front, unrounded vowel, which can form the nucleus of any syllable. It is pronounced [i].

Ncil v. to break

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/i~/: Found before or after a nasal

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ncimәntema v. (to be) given to thinking (used for teachers, scholars, poets, ect)

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/i:/: Found due consonant dropping & lengthening the vowel

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/I/: Found _# not following or preceding a nasal.

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/i_-/: Found ‘backed’ due to vowel harmony. Only seen word medial

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[E, e] /e/: is a mid-high, front, unrounded vowel, which can form the nucleus of any syllable. It is pronounced as [e]. In the practical orthography, /e/ is rendered as

<e>. In word-initial low-tone syllables, /e/ is reduced to [E].

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/e~/: Found before or after a nasal

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/e:/: Found due consonant dropping & lengthening the vowel

Ndeendo n. many hut/village
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/i/: Found _# not following or preceding a nasal.

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/e_r/: Found medially when high-toned and raised via VH

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/e_o/: Found medially when Low-toned before stops

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[A, a] /a/: is a low, central vowel, which can form the nucleus of any syllable. It is pronounced as [a]. Some older speakers collapse the sequence /an/ into a

nasalized [a~]. In unaccented syllables, /a/ is reduced to [@], in word-initial low-tone /Ca/ syllables even to [@].

Ma Conjunction – or

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/a~/: Found before or after a nasal

Uŋkani v. to lose your way (from 2P + v. to lose + n. way)

Jando many person/people

B’ujna Negative Quantifier – there are no/not

/@/: Found as a word final vowel not following or preceding a nasal.

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Mbula n. door (from v. to open + n. thing)

Ŋkambaŋka v. (to be) very beautiful

/a_r/: Found when raised via vowel harmony. Only seen word medial

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/a:/: Found due consonant dropping & lengthening the vowel

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[U, u] /u/: is a high, back, rounded vowel, which can form the nucleus of any syllable. It is pronounced as [u]. In word-initial low-tone syllables, /u/ is laxed to [U].

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bog’u v. to work (from v. to do + n. work)

/u~/: Found before or after a nasal

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/u:/: Found due consonant dropping & lengthening the vowel

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Huuncide v. (to be) clever

/U/: Found _# not following or preceding a nasal.

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/u_+/: Found ‘fronted’ due to vowel harmony. Only seen word medial

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[O, o] /o/: is a mid-high, back, rounded vowel, which can form the nucleus of any syllable. It is pronounced as [o]. Some speakers collapse the sequence /on/ into

a nasalized [o~]. In word-initial low-tone syllables and in any closed syllable with a voiceless stop or the velar nasal /ŋ/, /o/ is laxed to [O].

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/o~/: Found before or after a nasal

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/o:/: Found due consonant dropping & lengthening the vowel

Nandoona v. (to be) very poor
Ŋkoondag v. (to be) gullible
Ŋkoomala v. (to be) hard-hearted

/o_r/: Found medially when high-toned and raised via VH

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/o_o/: Found medially when Low-toned before stops

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CONSONANTS IN PROTO-DREM:

Pre-nasalized consonants

Phonological units or consonant sequences?

Pre-nasalized consonants are phonological units only in word initial position. The main reason as some scholars show is the scenario called LTR (Low-Tone –Rising) which causes a low-tone to rise except when followed by a voiced stop. Pre-nasalized consonants as a unit or a single sound is still debated to this day, as some consider them a cluster instead of a single sound.

Future

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Subjunctive

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In the subjunctive, there are some cases of using an allophonic vowel, particularly a long vowel /_:/. And so in certain circumstances, a long vowel shows. But here with the nasal clusters, long vowels when they do show are shortened by a process called ‘Long vowel shortening’: V: > V /___NCV

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Variation involving initial pre-nasalized sounds:

There is dialect and/or individual variation of the following types involving initial pre-nasalized sounds:

/mb/ varies with /m/

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/J/ varies with /z/ and /j/

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Most words beginning with mb- usually have m’ as a variant, while hardly any also have b- as an initial. Why, is still debate, but words with a mb- or nd- or Ng – seem to stay with the nasals as their variants across the dialects.

Palatal and non-palatal coronal consonants:

In dialects, the process of sound change is a constant. Dialects are in every language and those dialects have dialects as changes in sounds are a consistent thing. In Proto-Drem, most of the profound changes are in the Eastern Forest dialect group where the /s/ > /S/ > /tS/ and /z/ > /z/ looks to be a certain thing in the near future for the area. Determining the contrastive status of alveolar vs. alveo-palatal fricatives is problematic. Many words containing these sounds show essentially free variation such as the following: The words, especially the Forest dialect shows some palatal harmony with a jVjV structure and even a jijV structure, the changes have almost led to a sound change of /z/ > /j/

s ~ sh ~ tS

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z ~ j

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[s] only, initial [s] only, medial

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[sh] only, initial [sh] only, medial

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[z] only, initial [z] only, medial

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[j] only, initial [j] only, medial

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Disallowing phonologically conditioned alternation between alveolars and alveo-palatals:

Proto-Drem is known to (indeed, many languages in the world) undergo conditioned change of an alveolar to an alveo-palatal before a front vowel,

Non-front vowel environment Front vowel environment Invariable /s/

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Invariable /sh/ Invariable /z/ Invariable /j/

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“Palatal Harmony”:

Words with two palatals consistently have “palatal harmony”, i.e. the V₁ and V₂ sounds are both palatal.

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Alveolar/Alveolar-Palatal co-occurrence:

Not only does Proto-Drem restrict the co-occurrence of alveolar and alveo-palatal fricatives in the same word. The language does possess a few exceptions, and the 3 root exceptions to the rule are presented here.

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Syllable structure and possible consonant sequences

Proto-Drem allows only the following syllable types V, CV, CV: NCV, NCV: NCVCV, NCV:CV and NCV:CV: where C = any consonant, V = a short vowel, and V: = a long vowel. All consonants other than /h/ can appear syllable initial. Only a restricted range of consonants may occur in the C₂ position

The below examples will show how vowels and even consonants can be tweaked when a speakers talks fast compared to a careful speech.

Careful Fast

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Careful Fast

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Careful Fast

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Careful Fast

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Careful Fast

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Careful Fast

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The above shows how some standard phonological rules can be twisted as allophones show up with regularity. And with some speech, a geminate has been sometimes heard, although this is still debated by some scholars.

Consonant alternations

Nasal assimilations

Proto-Drem has shown assimilations involving nasals as well as a fairly regular complete assimilation of fi to a following consonant under limited morphological circumstances. /n/ and /N/ complete assimilation to following consonant. Note that /m/ does NOT assimilate to a following consonant. The alterations only hit NC clusters, where a syllabic /n=/ or /m=/ attach to a following consonant. What happens a lot is that the nasal over-powers the following consonant, and causes a slight germination of the nasal. Note that in some cases, the nasal is just an obligatory nasal, and so depending on the following consonant, then the nasal is known.

N + bembe > mmembe
ko + N + rema > koo-nema
i + N + bansa > imansa

Nasal assimilation takes place across both affix and word boundaries and affects the final nasal of all word categories. Note that when the word initial is a vowel, the retained nasal is a single nasal, while when the word initial is the nasal, the geminate forms. Note in the second example, how the initial prefix lengthened the vowel with the change, compared to the third example which did not lengthen.

Subject + Verb

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*Note that when assimilation is to a non-nasal, some nasalization remains on the vowel, at least in moderate speech. Therefore the vowel acquires a /_~/ addition and becomes a nasalized vowel.

Verb + Object Noun

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Preposition + Noun

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Alternations affecting /w/

In the Eastern Forest dialect, words beginning with /wu-/ or /wo-/ can drop the /w/. If this takes place, then, like all vowel initial words, the word begins in a phonetic glottal stop. This process though specific does show a rare allophone in Proto-Drem.

wuma > ‘uma
wobe > ‘obe

A high-front vowel following /w/ causing the /w/ to become a fricative, almost to the point of becoming /w/ > /v/. This is the other and even rarer allophone for /w/. The first example shows how /i/ affects /w/ and the second example shows how the affect doesn’t take affect.

wima > vima
wema > wema

Non-productive consonant alternations:

In Proto-Drem, there are 3 major consonantal alternations, first alveolar vs. palatal variation, second morphemes with certain intervocalic consonants which are realized as geminates of a following consonant, and third, nasal assimilation. Proto-Drem also has a number of lexically specific alternations, all of the below are basically small exceptions of the three major processes seen above.

Labial obstruent alternating with w or Ø with a long vowel

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Velar obstruent alternating with w or Ø with a long vowel

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Velar obstruent alternating with a palatal

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Alveolar alternating with a palatal

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m alternating with assimilated nasal

These are very rare and only have a few examples to show. Of the entire lexicon, the 2 examples below are the only known exceptions to the above nasal assimilation process.

N + tinde > nninde > mminde
i + N + zimbu > inimbu > imimbu

VOWELS IN PROTO-DREM:

Vowel Inventory and Contrasts

Proto-Drem has a set of five vowels like many languages, as it also has a contrast between long and short vowels. Two are called front vowels, two are back vowels, and the last would be the central vowel, therefore an even spread for vowel harmony. Proto-Drem has contrast between long and short vowels medially and word final as well. Proto-Drem also have a long vowel contrast, but note that the number of long vowels is minimal and only caused by certain processes. Since the number of long vowels is so rare, they are considered allophones of the regular short vowels.

Inventory of vocalic nuclei

i, ii

e, ee

a, aa

o, oo

u, uu

Vowel Contrasts

Proto-Drem is like some languages, yet unlike others in having contrasts for all its’ vowels in open syllables like CV and CVCV

Word medial contrasts

Contrasts in length

i, ii b’il n. hearth Ŋiindosaroga n. Dart fur

e, ee ŋe v. to challenge ndèendó n. many hut/village

a, aa la v. To sit nd’aaŋo n. acorn

o, oo g’o n. respect Ŋkoonda v. (to be) gullible

u, uu hu n. head Mbuuge n. cloudy

ə, əə b’uŋka v. (to be) too tight aa v. (to be) very/utterly vast

Contrasts in short vowels

i, e gbile TIMEAFF - in…time

i, a mb’ida TIMEAFF - last

i, u nd’ilu v. to feel

i, o mobi denominator

i, ə Ncima v. (to be) good at something, skilled, experienced

u, o G’obu v. to collide violently

u, a buwa adj. Hot

u, e ndeŋu v. to listen

u, ə b’uŋka v. (to be) too tight

e, o nonje v. (to be) sticky, to adhere

e, a naj’ero v. (to be) awake, (to be) alive, to live

e, ə wèga adj. edible

o, a gbosa apart from

o, ə ndoga adj. visible

a, ə njana adv. Quickly

Because contrasts in vowels is uncommon in the languages of the area, the main sources some look at are borrowings and one source may be a reconfiguration of labialized and palatalized consonants + a. The main language used on the eastern side of the mountains, known as Proto-Anorian uses both labialized and palatalized vowels and borrowings thru trade could easily occur. Proto-Drem realizes the Proto-Anorian Cwa as [Co] and Cya as [Ce].

sema v. (to be) high
shise v. to pleasure, please
robu v. to lie, deceive

Categories:

Words ending in long vowels fall into the following categories:

• Ideophonic adjectives:

nab’anaaŋ v. to stay silent
naŋkagoŋ v. (to be) completely vertical
hoŋ v. to exit like a whirlwind

• Interjections:

damu INTJ – Expressing introduction of a remark
rela INTJ – Expressing hesitation, doubt, disagreement

• Modal particles:

-(ә)s- MODAFF - Makes a sentence less abrupt, harsh by seeking agreement, compromise, and approval

-(ә)l MODAFF - Most commonly used in commands.<

-mә MODAFF - Another polite request particle. Like ((just this once…) also used to minimize imposition on the listener.

• Demonstratives and related words:

b’ә DEMOPRO. This

mb’ә DEMOPRO. That

• Stative verbal noun affix

b’idezә fishing

ndoguzә standing

ntarezә Knowing

• Independent pronouns;

U You
Gu It
Ŋi I

• Monosyllabic nouns:

nde n. Parent
Ŋ’ә n. Root, Tuber
mbu n. water

• Miscellaneous nouns and adjective compounds:

Ndob’indeh n. Window
Ndob’indo n. eye
Ndeed’aroŋ’ab n. Support Post

Vowel Coalescence in Proto-Drem:

Vowel coalescence is a phonological process in which two consecutive vowels fuse into one - often long - vowel. In typical cases, the resulting vowel does not coincide with any of the original vowels (e.g. /ai/-->[e:] ). Vowels in Proto-Drem do not change generally when in isolation, but given the fact that a bi-syllabic root (CVCV) then can compress and becomes a CV: then we have some strange cases of vowels changing.

Also the main question when looking at the examples is why does it affect certain combinations and not all of them? Since Proto-Drem has vowel harmony, and generally front vowels work well with others, and back vowels work well together, certain combinations are smooth and natural. The seemingly un-natural, stretched combinations that Proto-Drem seems to allow also that still have Scholars scratching their collective heads. But one thing is realized, with this strong aversion to diphthongs, even today’s languages stick with simple vowels and a length distinction.

Combinations for vowel coalescence:

aa > a:

ao > o:

au > o:

ai > e:

ae > e:

oo > o:

ou > o:

oi > e:

oe > e:

oa > o:

uu > u:

ui > wi

ue > we

ua > wa

uo > wo

ii > i:

ie > ye

ia > ya

io > yo

iu > yu

ee > e:

ea > e:

eo > o:

eu > o:

ei > e:

The standard process affects only stems that will have a short vowel preceding the changed syllable and a homorganic nasal cluster following it. So the full syllable sequence will look like CV.CV:.NC, where the stress elements keep the initial syllable vowel short and the process allowing the long vowel followed by the nasal cluster. Since the process can affect any bi-syllabic “root”, it pretty leaves out nearly all affixes, while the ones that will be changed usually are roots or most likely compound roots which are usually seen as CVCV-CVCV and can shrink to CV.CV:NCV if the penult of the compound is a nasal cluster.

Another use is for a pronoun or noun class to be attached to a noun that is a compound root. Since the pronouns and noun classes are all short vowels, they could very easily be used as an initial syllable for a compound. An example could be CV-CV-CVNCV to easily combine into the canon CV.CV:NCV structure for these constructions. Therefore, one could use Prefixes, most typically noun classes, pronouns, concords and even negation. So a variety of noun prefixes can be used to be the initial syllable, but for all usage, the main part of the process will require a compound root. Note in the example below how the noun class and root essential fuse and are extremely hard to distinguish, making this process a fusional one. Normally, Proto-Drem is very agglutinative, yet as scholars note that Proto-Drem is slowly becoming more fusional as the affixes slowly fuse together.

An example of the [PRO+NC+ROOT] style of coalescence can be seen as:

mimìŋ’ándò > mimyàándò > mimyǎndò {my forests}.

The example shows the original setup. The second one shows the next step with the long vowel, yet the differing tones, and finally the final word with the tones coalescing as a [LH] rising tone sequence.

One might ask if this can also affect reduplicated roots as well. A lengthy reduplicated root would be CVNC.VNC.V and so the reduplication (VC) is a copy of the last VC of the “root” and the epenthetic FV is added on to give the TAM upon the reduplicated root. In this case, a coalescence of the final vowel (FV) cannot be done, and so the process would have to depend on the two vowels of the reduplicated root, CVC-V and therefore create a CV:C-FV. The problem is that the first NC would be elided off to form the vowel cluster which cannot be done, and so this proves to be a block to the use of reduplicated roots in vowel coalescence.

In Proto-Drem we will go thru the order of vowels that can use vowel coalescence and see how they change. Note that with this vowel coalescence the language has inadvertently created a length distinction. This length distinction is found in only several languages in the region. Also note that due to separate tones combining, rising and falling tone allophones are easily created, that in this case do NOT go thru WFC (see the section on repair strategies in the tones section). Note for a few of the cases, vowel harmony is already assumed to have changed the vowels to their “proper” sounds for these combinations to occur (see the section on VH). Note that when a vowel has a null-tone [Ø], then it will be considered a low-tone for the coalescence process.

Rule:

CVCV -> CV: / CV_NCV

Summary:

• Primary use on bi-syllabic compounds with the final syllable of the compound being a nasal cluster.
• Secondary use is to use prefixes as initial syllable and combine it with a compound root.

/a/

Ca_LCa_H > Ca:_LH

Ca_HCa_L > Ca:_HL

Ca_LCO_H > Co:_LH

Ca_HCO_L > Co: _HL

Ca_LCU_H > Co:_LH

Ca_HCU_L > Co_HL

Ca_LCI_H > Ce:_LH

Ca_HCI_L > Ce _HL

Ca_LCE_H > Ce:_LH

Ca_HCE_L > Ce:_HL

/o/

Co_LCo_H > Co:_LH

Co_HCo_L > Co:_HL

Co_LCu_H > Cu:_LH

Co_HCu_L > Cu:_HL

Co_LCə_H > Co:_LH

Co_HCə_L > Co:_HL

/u/

Cu_LCu_H > Cu:_LH

Cu_HCu_L > Cu:_HL

Cu_LCi_H > Cu:_LH

Cu_HCi_L > Cu _HL

Cu_LCe_H > Ci_LH

Cu_HCe_L > Ci:_HL

Cu_LCə_H > Co: _LH

Cu_HCə_L > Co:_HL

Cu_LCo_H > Co:_LH

Cu_HCo_L > Co:_HL

/i/

Ci_LCi_H > Ci:_LH

Ci_HCi_L > Ci:_HL

Ci_LCe_H > Ce:_LH

Ci_HCe_L > Ce:_HL

Ci_LCə_H > Ce:_LH

Ci_HCə_L > Ce:_HL

/e/

Ce_LCe_H > Ce:_LH

Ce_HCe_L > Ce:_HL

Ce_LCə_H > Ce:_LH

Ce_HCə_L > Ce:_HL

Ce_LCu_H > Ci:_LH

Ce_HCu_L > Ci:_HL

Ce_LCi_H > Ce:_LH

Ce_HCi_L > Ce:_HL

Below are the 4 ways tones can be shown with vowel coalescence. Since the two processes are so intertwined, this small little section will show a tiny bit before we get into the main part of tone coalescence below. In the examples you will see how the C represents any ‘normal’ consonant, while the vowels generally represent any vowel and the suffix, in this case –mbo shows the nasal cluster that causes the coalescence to occur.

Root compression shown with tones:

CàCámbo > Càámbo > Cǎmbo

CáCàmbo > Cáàmbo > Câmbo

CáCámbo > Cáámbo > Cámbo

CàCàmbo > Cààmbo > Càmbo

Tone Coalescing in Proto-Drem:

In Proto-Drem, due to vowel coalescence, tones, also are affected by that process and coalesce as well. Below are the obvious tone sequences and what happens to them as they go thru the process. Note that the long vowels are considered two morphemes and so the tone-sequence is still a sequence of tones instead of a unit like a falling/rising tone as some scholars assert. Also below is an interesting process whereby the high and low tones simplify and spread instead of just stay as two separate morphemes. Why this occurs is still under debate, but scholars think it is a fossilized WFC (repair strategy) used in the early stages of the language that is no longer used.

HL sequence / F-tone

As was seen above, several sounds formed and combined into a long vowel with a tone-sequence, here a HL sequence that cannot be repaired by WFC. Since the sequences is technically a falling-tone /_F/, some scholars use falling-tone, while most stay with the HL sequencing

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LH Sequence / R-Tone

As was seen above, several sounds formed and combined into a long vowel with a tone-sequence, here a LH sequence that cannot be repaired by WFC. Since the sequences is technically a rising-tone /_R/, some scholars use rising-tone, while most stay with the LH sequencing

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HH > H Sequences

A combination of a HH just simplifies and coalesces into a simple High-tone that is spread over two morphemes as the high-tone spreads regressively over both morphemes.

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LL > L Sequences

A combination of a LL just simplifies and coalesces into a simple Low-tone that is spread over both morphemes. Once again, some scholars point to Proto-Drem using an LTS process.

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Vowel Rising in Proto-Drem:

Vowel rising is an uncommon form of vowel harmony where a non-open vowel (i.e. any vowel other than /ɑ/) is raised in position by a following vowel (in the same phonological word) at a higher position. The first variety — in which the open-mid vowels become close-mid — The commonly heard 5 vowel set contains of course allophones, and these allophones allude to the earlier 9 vowel set which included /I/, /U/, /E/ and /O/ which don’t technically exist in Proto-Drem except as allophones. These allophones are seen very rarely and only under certain circumstances. Those circumstances when modified by the processes below can and do go back to being the ‘normal’ Proto-Drem vowels heard.

Mid vowel rising

These two vowels are very rare and actually just allophones of /e/ and /o/. These two vowels are only found rarely and under certain circumstances. Mid vowel rising is a process where /E/ > /e/ and /O/ > /o/ under the influence of close vowels or consonants that contain "hidden" close vowels.

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Rising due to Left-tone spread

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Rising due to Right-Tone spread.

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Close Vowel rising

The vowels of /I/ and /U/ and actually allophones of /i/ and /u/, and so are only found in certain circumstances. Close vowel rising is a process which occurs under much less common circumstances. /I/ > /i/ and /U/ > /u/ when immediately followed by a syllable containing the close vowels /i/ or /u/. Unlike the mid vowel raising this process is not iterative and is only caused directly by the close vowels (it cannot be caused by any hidden vowels or by other raised vowels).

/I/ > /i/

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/U/ > /u/

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Loanword sequencing

In borrowed words, there is a general rule for the borrowed roots to have their vowels changed to dremish tastes. What is commonly seen is a V → V rule that affects VCV and VC(C)V groups. Note that the second vowel in the borrowed root stays; it is the initial vowel that is changed. Since the borrowed words sometimes have consonant clusters, the clusters are dropped or mutated into a cluster that is acceptable to Dremish grammar. The standard root is CVCV and so all borrowed words with geminates are shortened.

Like geminate shortening and consonant mutation, vowels are also often changed thru raising or lowering depending on how vowel harmony affects the borrowed root. Most of the time, an Alorian root such as /@l.Or/ would be changed to /a.lor/ whereby the new root is a very rare vowel initial root, and in this case is a proper name for the tribe on the eastern side of the grey mountains.

The last area where we see changes seen are tones. The tones of other languages, particularly the eastern ones contain many tones and even contour tones. The contour tones are usually simplified to the start of the initial tone, so we see a /_HLH/ [falling-rising] and change it into a high tone /_H/ for Proto-Drem. This can bring issues as borrowed words with the same changed tone can be confusing, but Proto-Drem is usually good about context and correct meanings with minimal information.

Commonly seen assimilation:

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Uncommonly seen assimilation:

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Neutralization of long vowels before glides

In Proto-Drem, the almost semi-vowel like glides normally would keep a /u:/, but these actually shorten the lengthened vowel and turn it into a short vowel. Beware that this can cause ambiguity, so care must be taken with context. One thing to note is the shortened vowel does take on a higher tone, which can add to the ambiguity. A low-tone becomes a mid-tone (unmarked) and a Mid-tone (downshifted) goes back to being a high-tone, while a high-tone stays as is (instead of becoming an expected allo-tone known as extra-high /_E/.)

Expected heard

ju:mbe jùmbe
kuwu: kuwù
ju:wu: jùwù

Morphologically conditioned vowel lengthening

In Proto-Drem with the tones and rules therein, there is a small tonal rule with applies to glide affixes that is an exception less rule [H → LH↓__+ affix]. This affects our example below by showing that the glide syllable has a Lo Tone, and the attached affix has a Hi Tone, which cause automatic Downshift and causes the Hi Tone to become a Mid Tone. In the first example, the Hi tone keeps the vowel as a short vowel, while the second example conditions vowel lengthening. There is still ongoing debate if the affix causes a sudden left tone shift or the downshifted tone stops spread and cause the original underlying tone (low-tone) to come forth.

Unmodified Modified

ná-gò nààgo

ná-gu nágu

Genitive pronouns with certain nouns:

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