Old Shax/Sound Change

Sound Changes
Some words will not follow this exact pattern. V = vowels; C = consonants; P = plosives; F = fricative; G = glide; O = open syllable; Ɵ = closed syllable; N = nasal; U = vowels and liquids

acutes = stressed; graves = unstressed

Geminates are written twice. All changes affect nasal vowels too unless otherwise stated

Classic Latin > Vulgar Latin

Here, the language was still very close to Classic Latin. These sound changes occured from the ≈2nd-4th centuries yː, ʏ > iː, ɪ pʰ > f; tʰ > t; kʰ > x h > ∅ (w, b) > β/V_V; w > v/#_, _# V(n, m) > Ṽ!V_V ɪ, ʊ > e, o dz > ð Vː > V oi > u; ai > ɛ; au > ɔ (i, e) > j/_V (u, o) > w/_V C > ∅/_#!CF, G Syncope - Applies to unstressed vowels only. Syncope can only happen once per two syllables. lV̀(P, F) > j(P, F) VPV̀PV > VPPV FV̀P, PV̀F > FP, PF (voicing matches the fricative) (F, P)V̀G > (F, P)G!#_ Vulgar Latin > Maghrebi Romance

Here, the language was growing apart from Latin. Influence from the Western Romance languages and general semantic shifts changed the language to where Latin speakers would only get the gist of what was being said. Note that the language was still nearly identical to its Latin preceder grammatically. Arabic loans also came into the language. These sound changes take place from the 4th to the early 7th centuries. é > ɛ; è > i!(_r, Ɵ) > ɛ ó > u; ò > u!(_r, Ɵ) > ɔ kt > jd/V_V!_U > jt; kt > ʃ/_# tk > kː pt > pː lj, gl, kl > ʎ ŋn > jn (p, t, k) > (b, d, g)/V_U; pl > bl/V_V (p, t, k) > (f, θ, x)/#_V sk, sj > ʃ st, ts > θ rs > z tr > tːʃ; tr > θ/_# s > z/V_U; θ > ð/V_V t, d > tʃ, dʒ/_i; tj, dj > tʃ, dʒ j > dʒ/#_ r, l > ∅/V_V VnV > ṼṼ •[u] began occasionally palatalizing the previous consonants (ex. [kɔzu] > [kɔʒu]) Arabic to Shax q > kː ɫɑ > ʎɔ ā, ī, ū > a, i, u ħ, h, χ > x; ʁ > ɣ ʕ, ʔ > ∅ (represented orthographically with a comma) note that sometimes [ʔ] can become [k] V(n, m) > Ṽ!V_V tˤ, dˤ, sˤ, zˤ~ðˤ > tː, dː, sː, zː

Semitic Romance > Shax

During this time, influence came and is coming from French, English, Spanish. These sound changes took place from the 7th century to the present.

Stress fell on primarily on the closed syllable or a pre-rhotic syllable; if there isn't one of those conditions, the stress falls on the penultimate. Note that the stress in never on the ultimate syllable (disregarding the closed syllable preference) unless it is a open syllable followed by a closed syllable in a two syllable word where stress would always fall of the ultimate. β > ∅/V_V kʷ(ɔ, u) > k d͡ʒ, t͡ʃ > ʒ, ʃ (b, d, g) > β, ð, ɣ/V_V θr > θ Cː > C ɔ > u/C_# i, u > j, w/_V β > v ɣ > ∅/V_V Shax > Modern Shax

Modern Shax consists of fewer sound changes due to the growth of public education and monitering of the Shax language and therefore Shax gains only various levels of vowel sandhi and vowel reduction/simplification.