700 years after the fall of Rome ~500ad, the Carthaginian languages descended from Qartədšatim have split into three main dialect continua, Qartim, the varieties of Africa (and Cadiz); Barqim the varieties of Iberia; and Itlim the varieties of Italy, Illyria, and Gaul
These varieties are perceived as having a primary split between Qartim and Barqim (the latter including the Itlim dialect group). Itlim is perceived as having secondary splits between Itlim proper (the dialect group of Italy, Corsica, and Illyria); Yeyim (the dialect group of the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Malta, and Sicily); and Gillim (the dialect group of Gaul and Britain
There are a few main isoglosses relevant for distinguishing between these varieties
The voiceless labial p:
p: the Eastern varieties generally retain the plosive /p/
f: the Southern and Western Iberian varieties have a fricative pronunciation /f/
fh: Eastern Iberia have /hφ/ for earlier p ~ f
The voiced labial b:
b: Central North Africa, Italy, Gaul, and Illyria retain the plosive pronunciation /b/
v: Iberia, Western Mauretania, and Eastern Libya have a fricative pronunciation /v/
The labial glide w:
w: in Africa, Illyria, and Gaul, the original glide /w/ is retained
v: in Iberia, and Italy the fricative is pronounced /v/, merging with original b in Iberia
Geminates:
CC: in the East, geminates are preserved as geminates
NC: in the Southwest, geminates prenasalise and lose gemination
Emphatic spreading:
C_C̣_C: in the North, emphaticness doesn’t spread
C̣_C̣_C̣: in the South, emphaticness spreads
The guttural h:
h: in the South and East, h is generally preserved
x: in the North, h is pronounced /x/
Ø: in the West h is lost
The hushing fricative š:
š: in the Southwest, the pronunciation of š as /ʃ/ is preserved
s: in the Northeast, š merges into s
Voicing of emphatics:
ṭ: in the South, emphaticness is retained
t: in the East emphatic consonants merge into voiceless consonants
d: in the West emphatic consonants merge into voiced consonants
just learned the absolutely shocking information that the word letterbox does not exist in every dialect of English. if you're a native English speaker and you don't use the word letterbox please tell me what the fuck you call the place where you receive letters
and if you're about to say postbox then please also tell me what you call a paid letterbox that is found at a central post office, because to me postbox refers explicitly to a delivery box located at a central post office, most often used by businesses
Elyŝiskää is a complex dialect continuum, with most varieties lying on one of five groups of dialects, together with two isolated dialects. This grouping is based on relatively significant concentrations in isoglosses
There are 10 main isoglosses:
The umlauted vowels:
The pronunciation of the vowels ä, ö, y varies
æ ø y: the umlauted vowels are always /æ/ /ø/ /y/
e e iu: ä and ö are /e/, y is /i/ except in a few anharmonic words where it harmonises to /u/
(e e iu): in unstressed syllables behaves as e e iu, otherwise they take their standard values
((e e iu)): in unstressed syllables, short umlauted vowels behave as e e iu, otherwise vowels take their standard values
(((e e iu))): in syllables without primary stress behaves as e e iu, otherwise vowels take their standard values
Consonantal j:
The glides are phonemically divided between vocalic (where it appears after a consonant in the same syllable) and consonantal (all other occurrences)
j: there is no difference in pronunciation between consonantal and vocalic j
š: consonantal j is pronounced /ʃ/
h: consonantal j merges into h
g: consonantal j is pronounced /g/
Ø; consonantal j is dropped completely
Consonantal w:
The glides are phonemically divided between vocalic j (where it appears after a consonant in the same syllable) and consonantal j (all other occurrences)
w: there is no difference between consonantal and vocalic w
f: consonantal w is pronounced /f/
h: consonantal w merges into h
b: consonantal w is pronounced /b/
g: consonantal w is pronounced /g/
Ø: consonantal w is dropped completely
Voicing:
Differing varieties condition voicing in different environments, this is usually only directly represented in the fricatives and the affricate č
1: voicing occurs between vowels (or between a vowel and a vocalic glide), or adjacent to a nasal or voiced stop
V: voicing occurs between vowels (or between a vowel and a vocalic glide)
N: voicing occurs between vowels (or between a vowel and a vocalic glide), or adjacent to a nasal
D: voicing occurs between vowels (or between a vowel and a vocalic glide), or adjacent to a voiced stop
Velar Nasal ň:
The velar nasal ň has many variant pronunciations
ŋ: ň is always pronounced /ŋ/
m: in clusters with a labial, ň merges into m
n: ň merges into n in all positions
(n): in clusters with a dental, alveolar, or postalveolar, ň merges into n, otherwise it is pronounced /ŋ/
nm: in clusters with a labial, ň merges into m, in clusters with a dental, alveolar, or postalveolar it merges into n, otherwise it is pronounced ŋ
j: ň is always pronounced /j/
(j): ň is pronounced /j/ in voiced positions, and /ŋ/ in all other positions
The Postalveolars š and č:
The postalveolars š and č have several different pronunciations
ʃ tʃ: the postalveolars are pronounced /ʃ/ & /tʃ/ when voiceless and /ʒ/ & /dʒ/ when voiced
s ts: the postalveolars are pronounced /s/ & /ts/ when voiceless and /z/ & /dz/ when voiced
z g: the postalveolars are pronounced /z/ and /g/ in all positions
h th: the postalveolars merge into h and ŝ
j j: the postalveolars merge into j in all positions
(j j): the postalveolars merge into j when voiced and /ʃ/ & /tʃ/ when voiceless
The clusters sj and tj:
In different dialects the clusters sj and tj are pronounced differently
sj tj: sj, tj, & dj are pronounced as the clusters /sj/, /tj/, & /dj/
š č: sj & tj merge into š & č, dj is pronounced /dʒ/
ž dž: sj, tj, & dj are pronounced as /ʒ/, /dʒ/, & /dʒ/
j š: sj merges into j; tj & dj are pronounced /ʃ/ & /ʒ/
j j: sj, tj, & dj merge into j
Voiced h:
The pronunciation of h in voiced positions varies between dialects
h: h is pronounced as h in voiced positions
ɣ: h is pronounced as /ɣ/ in voiced positions
Ø: h is dropped in voiced positions
Voiceless h:
The pronunciation of h in voiceless positions varies between dialects
h: h is pronounced h in voiceless positions in voiceless positions
k: in clusters voiceless h merges into k, otherwise it is /h/
2: in clusters voiceless h leads to gemination of the other consonant, otherwise it is /h/
(2): in clusters voiceless h leads to gemination of a preceding consonant, in all other positions it is /h/
L: voiceless h is lost with lengthening of any preceding vowel, even with intervening consonants
(L): voiceless h is lost with compensatory lengthening if immediately following a vowel, otherwise it is /h/
L2: in clusters, voiceless h is lost with compensatory lengthening of the preceding segment, leaving gemination of a preceding consonant, or lengthening of a preceding vowel; otherwise it is /h/
The dental ŝ:
The dental fricative has varying pronunciations in different dialects
θ: ŝ is pronounced /θ/ when voiceless and /ð/ in voiced positions
s: ŝ merges into s
f: ŝ merges into f
t: ŝ merges into t
h: ŝ merges into h
r: ŝ merges into r
(r): ŝ merges into r in voiced positions, is /θ/ otherwise
l: ŝ merges into l
(l): ŝ merges into l in voiced positions, is /θ/ otherwise
You know what’s fun to listen to back home (Philadelphia area)? The “inserted L”. In a few dialects (or maybe just the New York and subsequent Philly accents) after a final /ɔ/, an L is inserted. For instance, the word “draw” which is normally /drɔ/, what I hear (and usually say) is /drɔl/, much like the pronunciation of drawl in “southern drawl.”
What had me fascinated today about it though was when I was watching the Army/Navy game with my step dad and mom. A former Navy player, Roger Staubach was talking and my mom was saying his name. It wasn’t until his name popped up on the screen that I realized his name didn’t have an L in it like my mother was pronouncing it (/stɔbak/ vs. /stɔlbak/).
