PROTO-LANGUAGE PHONEMES

in IE and Blackfoot (Algonquian)

by Patrick C. Ryan

(8/29/97)

SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL CHANGES

FROM PL TO BLACKFOOT

Assumptions

Ojibway Designs

1. Blackfoot (Algonquian) shared early developments with languages which would also be derived from the Proto-Language:

A) F and F[H] became w and *w[h];

B) But, though NE and N[H]E became L^Y and L^HY in many PL-derived languages, in Blackfoot (as in Altaic, (Sino-)Tibetan, and Uralic) they presumably developed into n/*n[h] (we have no sure examples); Blackfoot has no l;

2. PL P[H], PF[H], T[H], TS[H], K[H], and KX[H] became early Blackfoot *ph, *pwh, *th, *tsh, *kh, and *kxh

3. PL P[?], P[?]F, T[?], TS[?], K[?], and K[?]X , became early Blackfoot *p?, *p?w, *t?, *t?s, *k?, and *k?x;

4. All affricates were de-affricated, and fell together with the corresponding stops: *p?f was simplified to *p?; *t?s was simplified to *t?; *k?x was simplified to *k?; *pfh was simplified to *ph; *tsh was simplified to *th *kxh was simplified to *kh;

5. Nasals remain;

A)M/M[H] -> m/*mh; N/N[H] -> n/*nh;

1) final avocalic -n from PL NA was nasalized to ⁿ and then disappeared (0) but re-appears as n when followed by a vowel;

B) except Q/Q[H] , which results in k/*kh and kk finally;

6. F and F[H] had become w/*wh;

A) w usually combines with a vowel to become o

B) S and S[H] become s/*sh;

C) the velar spirants, X and X[H], are de-spirantized to k/*kh;

7. The voiceless laryngal stop, ?, becomes (0) but occasionally I (#A2), which does not palatalize preceding stops;

8. The voiceless laryngal fricative, H (/h/), becomes 0.

9. The voiced pharyngal fricative, $, becomes y;

A) y usually combines with a vowel to become i;

1) under conditions which need to be clarified, avocalic i is devoiced to /ç/, which is then further modified to s (A5);

10. The voiceless pharyngal fricative HH (/hh/) becomes 0.

11. The trills, R and R[H], become 0.

12. Aspiration and glottalization of all phonemes was replaced by pre-aspiration and pre-glottalization: *p?, *ph, *wh, *mh became ?p, hp, hw, hm; *t?, *th, *sh, *nh became ?t, ht, hs, hn; *k?, *kh, became ?k, hk;

A) Under conditions which have yet to be determined, pre-aspiration and pre-glottalization were lost;

1) One condition is known: pre-aspiration and pre-glottalization never occur word initially.

13. Palatalization was lost everywhere as also was velarization if it ever existed in the Blackfoot stage of the language;

A) There is, however, a secondary "palatalization", which occurs whenever t or k are in immediate contact with i; the anticipated *^y-glide was devoiced to a ^ç-glide, which was further modified to an ^s-glide, which, however, is not normally indicated as a glide: *ti/*ki become tsi/ksi.

1) Though not recognized at present, it is like that *pi similarly resulted in *psi, at least in an earlier stage of development.

to investigate these phonological correspondences in detail, see the