Macaronian

Introduction (Internal History)
Macaronian (Macaronian: Lígve Macaronyane) is a Romance language spoken in Madeira Islands and Azores Islands (part of Macaronesia, hence the name), brought by immigrants from Iberia to Madeira in 2nd century AD, and to Azores by another wave in around 500-700 AD. It is usually classified as a Italo-Western language but some scholars placed it under a separate branch of Romance, or even grouped it with Sardinian as Southern Romance.

Due to the substrate languages spoken in both archipelagoes, sometimes under the term of "(the hypothetic) Atlantic family", Macaronian has some unique properties among Romance languages, such as ergative alignment, and its over-simplification of consonant clusters. Similar to Sardinian, G and C did not undergo palatalization before I and E, and voiceless consonants are voiced between vowels. Lexically, due to contacts with Iberia and North Africa, there are some features (including lexicon) shared by Ibero-Romance and words of Berber and Phoenician origin.

1.Classical Latin to Pre-Migration Vulgar Latin (100 - 300AD)
(1) /h/ is lost: HABĒRE, PREHENDERE > *aβere, *prendere

(2) Final nasals disappear i.e. M> ∅ /_# e.g. VĪTAM, SEPTEM > *βida, *septe

except in some monosyllables:QUEM, TAM > *kwen, *tan

(3) AE and OE aremonophthongized: ai, oi > e, e.g. CAELUM, GRAECUM, POENAM > *kelu, *greku, *pena

(4) Single plosives lenite intervocalically:p, t, k, b, d, g, pp, tt, kk > b, d, g, β, ð, ɣ, p, t, k,/V_V: BIBERE, NŪDUM > *biβere, *nuðu;

CAEPULLAM, RECIPERE, PRĀTUM, FOCUM > *kepulla, *rekibere, *ɸogu;

STUPPAM, GUTTAM, PECCĀTUM > * stuppa, *gutta, *pekkatu;

(plosives surrounded by a semivowel were somewhat preserved, but suffered other changes)

(5) Vowel length are levelled: LUPŌS, VĪTAM > *lubos, *βida

(6) F and V become /ɸ β/ respectively;

(7) Clusters of three consonants are simplified: ASSŪMPTUM, FUNCTIONEM > *assuntu, *ɸuntjoni

(8) pʰ tʰ kʰ > ɸ t k;

(9) e, i > j / V: FORTIAM, VĪNEAM > *ɸortja, *βinja;

2. From Vulgar Latin to Proto-Macaronian (300 - 700 AD)
(1) /ɸ/ becomes /h/ word-initially;

(2) Palatalization: (t)tj/(k)kj, (d)dj/(g)gj > tsj, dzj /_V e.g. ALTIĀRE, BRĀCHIUM, FACIEM, LINTEOLUM, INVIDIAM, RADIUM  > *altjare, *brakkju, *ɸakkje, *lintjolu, *inβidja, *radju > *altsjare, *bratsju, *hatsje, *lintsjolu, *inβidzja, *radzju

stj, skj > ʃ, e.g. FASCIAM, QUAESITIONEM, SCIENTIAM > *ɸaskja, *kʷesitjoni, *skjentja > *haʃa, *kʷeʃoni, *ʃentsja

sj, ssj > ʃ, ʃʃ, e.g. MANSIONEM, PASSIONEM, RUSSEUM >*mansjoni, *passjoni, *russju > *manʃoni, *paʃʃoni, *ruʃʃu;

BĀSIUM, ECCLĒSIAM,  LAESIONEM > *basju, *eklesja, *lesjoni >*baʃu, *etɬeʃa, *leʃoni

gn, mn > (ɲ >) ŋ, e.ɡ. AUTUMNUM, DOMINAM, PUGNUM > *autumnu, * dómina, *pugnu > *autuŋu, *doŋja (<**doɲɲa), *puŋu;

j > dʒ / #_, e.g. IAM, IEIŪNUM, IŪSTUM, MĀIOREM > *ja, *jejunu, *justu, *majori > *dʒa, *dʒejunu, *dʒutθu, *majori

(3) C+/s/ clusters are simplified intervocalically: bs, ps, ks >s, s, ts, e.g. ABSOLŪTUM, PSALMUM > *absoludu, *psalmu> *asoludu, *salmu;

COXAM, FLUXUM, TOXICUM, VEXĀMEN > *koksa, *ɸluksu, *toksiku, *βeksamen > *kotsa, *ɬutsu, *totsiku, *βetsamen;

Pretonically ks > dz: EXHAURĪRE, EXŌTICUM, EXSULTĀTIONEM > *egsaurire, *egsotiku, *egsultatjoni > *edzaurire, * edzotiku, *edzultatjoni

ks > s/_C, e.g. DEXTERUM, EXPRESSIONEM, EXTENSUM > *déksteru, *ekspresjone, *ekstensu > *désteru, * espjeʃʃoni, *estensu

(4) bt, pt > ɸt, e.g.  OBTENĒRE, SEPTEM, OPTIONEM > *optenere, *septe, *optjoni > *oɸtenere, *seɸte, *oɸtsjoni

(5) Frication of /s/+C clusters within morpheme boundary: sp, st, sk, skw > ɸ, tθ, x, xw, e.g. SCĀLAM, SPATIUM, STĀRE > *xala, *ɸatsu, *tθare;

(6) Loss of /r/ in Cr clusters: r > j / C_, C={p,t,k,b,d,g} e.g. GRATIA > *grattja> *gjatsja;

(7) Loss of /l/ in Cl clusters: pl, kl > tɬ; bl, gl > dɮ; hl > ɬ; ɸl > ɬw, e.g. CLĀMĀRE, FLŪMEN, PLŌRĀRE > *klamare, *hlumen, *plorare > *tɬamare, *ɬumen, *tɬorare

l > j/{p,f,k}_, e.g. CLĒMENTIA, FLUXUM, PLATEAM> *klementja, *ɸluksu, *plattja > *kjementsja, *hjutsu, *pjatsja

(8) Syncope of Vp(V)l, Vt(V)l, Vk(V)l > tɬ, pw, tɬ: ARTICULUM, POPULUM, ROTULUM > *artiklu, *poplu, *rotlu > *artitɬu, *popwu, *rotɬu