Dialects of Dekavurian: Phonology

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Last update: 2 April 2007

Phonetic inventories and orthographies Samples of orthography Variants Phonological evolution

Phonetic inventories and orthography

The phonologies of the contemporary dialects have enough in common to justify treating them together rather than separately, but enough different to call for different transcription schemes.

Vowels

The eleven vowel phonemes listed below suffice to cover all of the dialects. No dialect has all eleven; the actual numbers vary from five in N to nine in E.

Vowel length is phonemic in W SW only. All vowels in these dialects may be phonemically short and long; W additionally has long /E: O:/.

The vowels are distributed as shown below with their usual transcriptions. Long vowels in W SW are transcribed with the acute accent, except for /E: O:/ in W; long /2: y:/ in SW have the Hungarian double acute..

VowelNWNWCECWSWSEE
ii
eê [1]e [2]
aa
oô [1]o
uuou [3]u
Ee [1] è [4]
{ä
Oo [1] ò [4]å
yu [3]ü üy
2eu [3]ö ö
@e [2]

  1. In NW, unaccented <e o> represent /e o/ when in final syllables and before another vowel; /E O/ do not occur in either position. <é ó>, with acute accents, represent final stressed /e o/.
  2. <e> in WC represents /@/ in final syllables, the only place where this phoneme is found, and /e/ otherwise; /e/ in final syllables is represented by <é>. Thus bie /bi@/ "bite", but bié /bje/ "boat".
  3. In WC, /y/ is spelt <u> to indicate its correspondence to NW N /u/, and the transcriptions <eu ou> for /2 u/ reflect their partial origins in /ew ow/.
  4. /E: O:/ in W are long vowels with no short counterparts.

Diphthongs

Diphthongs in /-j -w/ are found in NW WC SW SE, and in /-H/ in SW SE, as follows.

 -j-w-H
NWej aj oj a~j o~jew aw ow a~w
WCej aj oj yjew aw
SWej aj oj uj yj 2jaw oweH 2H
SEej {j aj oj uj yj 2jiw ew au ow{H 2H

The second elements of most of these are transcribed <i u> as appropriate. The exceptions are /ew/ <eau> in WC, since <eu> represents /2/ in this dialect, and the nasal diphthongs /a~j a~w o~j/ <ãe ão õe> in NW.

Vowel qualities

In general:

Allophonic vowel length

Stressed vowels are allophonically long in EC SE E in open syllables. In SE this includes syllables which were formerly open before the loss of final vowels; in practice, this means that SE stressed vowels are long before a single consonant or obstruent followed by /l r/ and short otherwise. Thus the stressed vowels of EC bata "boat", SE gölö "yellow", SE hab "grass", SE muthra and E mothru "mother" are all long, but those of EC E ringa "ring" and SE halb "half" are short.

Consonants

Combining the consonants of all eight dialects, and grouping affricates with stops, gives the following composite sound-system.

  LabialDentalAlveolarPalatalVelar
Voiceless stops pttstSk
Voiced stops bddzdZg
Voiceless fricatives fTsSx
Voiced fricatives vDzZG
Nasals mnJN
Liquids lrRL
Glides w j

/R/ and /r/ are both alveolar trills. /R/, which occurs only in NW N, is trilled more strongly than /r/, which is often reduced to a flap [4] in these dialects.

/p t k b d g f s m n l r/ are found in all dialects. The others are distributed as follows:

ConsonantsNWNWCECWSWSEE
ts tS dZ+ [1] +
dz++ +
S+ +[2]
z+[2]
T x[3][4] +
Z[1] +
v+[4] +[4] [5]
D G[4] + [4]
L J+
R+
N+
w j+ [5] + [5]

  1. /dZ/ has [Z] as a free variant in N.
  2. /S/ is marginally phonemic in E as a realisation of /sj/ and in Liotan loanwords.
  3. /x/ has disappeared from NW N WC, but leaves traces initially in the absence of elision.
  4. [B D G] are intervocalic allophones of /b d g/ in N and of /f T x/ in SW SE.
  5. /w/ is [H] in WC after a vowel and [v] in E between vowels.

The consonants of W SW SE E are transcribed with a single consistent representation for each phoneme. For NW N WC EC, in which the velar consonants developed differently before front and back vowels, a transcription which emphasises morphological consistency is preferred. The more tricky transcriptions are summarised below; phonemes which are not listed may be assumed to be transcribed as expected, thus <t> for /t/.

PhonemeNW N WCECW SW SEE
ss ss [1]s
zs [1]z
Sxsci sc [2]sh(sj)
Z zh
tsç c [2]tzts
dzzdz
tSchci c [2]sh
dZj g [2]gi g [2]j
kc qu [2]c ch [2]k
gg gu [2]g gh [2]g
wu [4]wv
ji y [3] [4]yj

  1. /s/ and /z/ contrast only between vowels, where they are transcribed <ss s> respectively.
  2. The second transcription of each pair is used before <e i>, the first otherwise.
  3. <y> between vowels, <i> otherwise.
  4. <í ú> in NW N, with acute accents, represent the full vowels /i u/, not the glides /j w/.

Of the other phonemes:

Most consonants may be geminated (doubled) in EC SE E. Such consonants are transcribed with the consonant letter, or first letter of the digraph, doubled, as with EC acca /ak.ka/ "hawk", SE voll /foll/ "full", E ittu /it.tu/ "ant". This does not apply to intervocalic /JJ LL tts SS/ in EC, which are still transcribed <ny ly tz sc(i)> (bascio /baS.So/ "berry"), or to SE /tS: dZ:/, which are <tch dj>.

Stress and intonation

The initial stress of Germanic was continued into CD, but in the contemporary dialects survives only in SE E.

The rules for stress in SW W are the same as in Genistien and Astarien: the primary stress is usually penultimate, but is attracted to antipenults with long vowels or diphthongs, or to heavy ultimates, if the penult contains a short vowel. For example, W boka "book" and óse "ox" are stressed /"bo.ka/ and /"o:.se/, but their genitives bokes óses are stressed /bo."kes/ and /"o:.ses/.

The stress in NW N WC EC may fall on either the penultimate, its original location after a Mossian-influenced shift sometime around 650, or the ultimate. Ultimate stress arose principally in WC, due to the frequent subsequent loss of final /a/, and in NW, following the loss of medial /n l d g/. It also developed in NW N EC in words where two vowels coalesced after the loss of /x/, the results of which are most noticeable in adjectives derived with the CD suffix -aha: aisaha "coppery" > NW N esá and EC esó.

In NW N EC, then, the following represent stressed vowels:

while in WC, all final syllables are stressed except those containing schwa <e>.

Syllable division, liaison, and elision

In all dialects of Dekavurian, syllables start with a consonant if possible; a single consonant, or a cluster consisting of a single obstruent followed by /l r/, thus belongs to the following syllable. This principle has two consqeuences in speech for words which begin with vowels; these consequences are referred to here as liaison and elision.

Liaison is much the commoner of the two and takes place when a word ending in a consonant is followed by one starting with a vowel; the final consonant of the first word is transferred to the start of the second, and is indicated here in phonetic and phonemic transcriptions by an underscore. For example, N langos armos "long arms" is pronounced /lan.go_sar.mos/. Liaison is less common in EC W SW, where the majority of words end in vowels, than in the other dialects.

Elision occurs when a vocalic hiatus arises between two closely related words; it is indicated here by an apostrophe. The rules governing the outcomes vary considerably across the dialects, but it is generally safe to assume that the vowels merge if they are identical; for example langa arma "long arm" becomes /lan.g'ar.ma/ or, with a long vowel, /lan.g'a:r.ma/ in W SW.

Elision in NW N WC is blocked when the vocalic hiatus formerly contained /x/, represented by initial <h>.

Variants

Many urban areas have distinctive popular accents whose phonological systems differ from those described above. This section describes the most important or interesting.

Rouça (NW)

/e o/ merge with /ej ow/ when stressed and with /E O/ otherwise, reducing the number of vowel heights from four to three; thus reita "right" and hêde "hot" both have /ej/, while seve "sea" is /seve/.

Caldura (NW)

The speech of Caldura is distinctive in many respects, some of which show influence from WC:

Socha (N)

Socha and its environs consistently had [Z] for /dZ/. /z dz Z/ have subsequently been devoiced to /s ts S/; hejan "to heal" /edZan/ > /eSan/ thus has the same /S/ as laxan "to laugh". In the city itself /ts/ is then usually deaffricated to [s_d], which to differentiate itself more easily from /s/ is fronted to /T/; thus çusan "to choose" /tsuzan/ > /Tuzan/, with /T/ as in anzan "to end" /andzan/ > /antsan/ > /anTan/.

Surabruge (WC)

Characteristic of this variety of WC are the following:

The diphthongs in /-j/ are not lost before /j/ from /L/, thus sailye "sallow tree" is [sa.j@], not *[se.j@].

Hannalorra (WC)

The falling diphthongs have been lost as in Surabruge, and /ts tS dZ/ are deaffricated to /s S Z/ as in Caldura. Vowels are nasalised before nasal consonants at the ends of syllables, and /i~ u~ y~/ are often lowered to merge with /e~ o~ 2~/; hindre "behind" is thus [e~.dr@].

Athuncia (EC)

A non-standard change in the Athuntcia variety is the rounding of pre-stressed /e i/ to /o u/ before the labial consonants /p b f m v/, thus /dZuboma/ for giboma "we give".

The spelling <th> in the name of the city and province represents the older /T/, which is still represented as such in the native script and in SE pronunciations; inhabitants of the city pronounce the name /a.tun.tSa/.

Other EC

The characteristic developments of stressed open /E a O o u/ to /a o 2 u y/ in and around the city of Athuncia has undoubtedly been influenced by SE. This development is not found in the other varieties of EC, in which /E O/ followed the more typical N WC development to /je wo/ and /a o u/ remained:

word city meaning others
gialo dZaloyellow dZelo
ghiosagjosaglass gjasa
köla k2la coal kwola
grune grunegrean grone
sciütaSyta to shootSuta

SW and W

Western varieties of SW and the neighbouring varieties of W are more like Chastuvien than Astarien, with rising instead of falling diphthongs and no rounded vowels or vowel harmony. For example, using phonological transcriptions:

Older formmeaning eastern SWwestern SWW
bejta bright bejte bje:ta be:ta
ajre plough ajra e:re E:re
dojtro daughterdojtro dw:etro dE:tro
blewva blue bleHve bljo:va blO:va
mawve seagull mawva mo:ve mO:ve
rawx a rough rowxa rwo:xa rO:xa
swera oath s2re swera swera
swina pig syne swina swina

The varieties of SW spoken nearest to EC SE often have eight vowels rather than the usual seven, with CD /E/ becoming /{/ rather than merging with /e/. In these varieties, this /{/ alternates with /a/ in vowel harmony instead of /e/, as in SE.

Valdaborga (SE)

/x/ is characteristically weakened to [h], often disappearing between vowels in casual speech; thus luhus "lakes" and lehis "you lie down" are often pronounced /lu.us le.is/. Sometimes epenthetic /v/ (before back vowels) or /Z/ are inserted to remove the vocalic hiatus, giving /luvus leZis/ in these examples.

Mackla (E)

The vowels of the speech of the city of Mackla, like those of Athuncia, have been shifted under the influence of SE; thus stressed /u/ is fronted to [}] and /O o/ are raised to [o u]. The non-low short vowels are noticeably laxer than their long counterparts; corresponding to long [i: e: o: u: }: y: 2:] are short [I E O U 8 Y 9], orthographic <i e å o u y ö>:

Samples of orthography

denkom wigo ana auþe ina kaula winda taglame miname ina
warma kolitsos stankwi lufto þairha rasa
fairra faura mis skimrenda ljauhta sahwa
habda mina kauru waurþa ja saihta mina dimba waurþa
faur at sklepan andjan skaulda

This verse in CD is translated into each of the eight dialects below, and is shown in both an orthographical and a broad phonetic transcription. Underscores and apostrophes indicate where liaison and elision, respectively, take place.

NW (Caldura)
an denca vía in otes coa vinda in minyave teilyave
varmon estanquen colices tera ludos rasa
ferra avora me eximbrenda lyoita safa
minya oudan cora a minya sita dimba vorton
for at exeban anjan escouda 		  a~ de~k6 bi6 i_nOtIS koa vi~d6 i~ mIJaBI tIJaBI
barmo_nISta~ke~j kUlitsIS tEr6 luDUS raz6
fER'6BOr6 mI ISi~bre~d6 Lojt6 saf6
miJ'oDa~w kor6 6 miJ6 sit6 di~b6 bortu~
fo_r6_tISeB6n_a~dZ6_nISkoD6
N (Souça)
an denca viga in uetes cuela vinda in minoste tejoste
varmon estanquen colices tiera ludos rasa
ferra avora me echimbrenda juecha safa
mina oda cuera a mina sicha dima vuerton
for at echeban anzan esquelda 		  an denka biGa in wetes kwela binda in minoste teSoste
barmo_nestanken koliTes tjera luDos rasa
feR'aBora me etSimbrenda SuetSa safa
min'oDa kwera a mina sitSa dima bwerton
fo_ra_teTSeBa_nanTa_neskelda
WC (Hannalorra)
an denc vi in eutes queul vind in minene telene
varme estanquen colices ter lutes res
fer bivor me echimbrinde lyuit saif
min aud queur a min sit dimb vorton
for at escloiven anjen escoud 		  a~ de~k vi i_n2t@s k2l vi~d i~ minen@ telen@
varme estanke~ kolis@s ter lyt@s res
fer bivor me eSimbri~d@ LHit sef
mi_nod k2r a mi~ sit di~b vorto~
fo_r@_tesklweve_nanZe_nescud
EC (Athuncia)
an dinca viga in to öte cöla vinda in mine tagghie
varmo stanche colitzi terra to lutto rosa
ferra bivora mi scimbrenda lyotta saffa
mina adda cöra a mina sitta dimba vortun
for at schiepa anza scolda 		  an dinka viga in to 2te k2la vinda in mine taggje
varmo stanke colitsi terra to lutto roza
ferra bivora mi Simbrenda Lotta saffa
min'adda k2ra a mina sitta dimba vortun
fo_rat skjepa andza skolda
W (Tullerin)
denkáta wiga an thóta othe in kola winda minéta taglas
tho warvo stònke kolitses thóta lúto therha raza
féra for méta skivrenda lèta sòha
hóda mina kor a síta mina dimba worthon
for at sklepan ènzan skolda 		  denka:ta wiGa an To:t'O:T'e:n kola winda mine:ta taGlas
To warvo stO:nke kolitses To:ta lu:to Terxa raza
fe:ra for me:ta skivrenda lE:ta sO:xa
xo:Da mina kor a si:ta mina dimba worTon
fo_rat sklepa_nE:nzan skolda XXX
SW (Synicte)
denkéne ügéne thoina othaina kola ünde taglainamis
tho ormo staunka kolitsis thohra lűtóhra raza
féra for míta skimbrende loita sauha
haudam kora a sítam dimba urthun
for at sklepen ainzan skolda 		  denke:n_eHge:ne Tojn'awTajna kol_aynde taglajnamis
T'o:rmo stawnka kolitsis Toxra ly:to:xra raza
fe:ra for mi:ta skimbrende lojta sawxa
xawdam kora a si:tam dimb'awrTun
fo_rat sklepe_najnzan skolda
SE (Valdaborgo)
denköne äugöne thoina oudeina koul ünd taglamainam
tho orma stonk kolitsis thohre läutähre radza
färr for mita skibrenda loit sug
hudam kour a saitam dimb urthun
for at skleiba eddza skold 		  denk2n'{Hg2ne Tojn'owdejna kow_lynd ta:glamajnam
T'orma stonk ko:litsis To:xre l{Ht{xre ra:dza
f{rr for mi:ta ski:brenda lojt su:g
hu:dam kowr a sajtam dimb urTun
fo_rat sklejb'ajddza skold
E (Mackla)
dekku vigu ana thi åthi ina kåla vinna minan taglan ina
tho varmu stökkve kolitsis thi lufti thära rasa
färra får mis skimrenda ljätta såva
mina hadda kåra a mina sitta dimma årthun
for at sklepa änna skålda 		  dEkkU vi:g'wana Ti o:T'ina ko:la vInna mi:nan ta:glan ina
To varm8 stOkkwE kU:lItsIs TI l8ftI T{:ra ra:sa
f{rra fOr mis ski:brEnda lj{tta so:va
mi:na hadda ko:ra a mi:na sItta dImma OrT8n
fo_rat skle:p'{nna skOlda

Phonological evolution

This section describes the most important sound-changes in the dialects in approximate chronological order. Considerations of space prevent going into too much detail, and so some minor changes have been omitted.

CD phonology

The starting-point is the Classical Dekavurian sound-system, which is recapitulated below.

CD words are given in SMALL CAPITALS below.

Glides (all)

Commonly (but not always) in W SW SE, a glide at the end of a cluster was duplicated at the start:

/w/ subsequently became /v/ in the following environments:

Correspondingly, /xw/ became /f/ in NW N WC EC:

In W SW, the glide element is retained, an obvious Liotan influence; thus RAIWA > /rEwva/. Similarly, intervocalic /j/ became /jZ/ in these dialects: TAUJO "I do" > /tOjZo/.

Initial epenthesis (NW N WC)

Before initial /s/ + stop, an epenthetic /e/ was inserted:

First palatalisation (NW N WC EC)

The velar consonants /k g sk/ fronted before /E e i/ to give alveolar or palatal-alveolar affricates:

Consonantal assimilations and vocalisations (all)

This heading is a cover term for various dialect-specific changes too diverse to treat separately. Some illustrative examples follow.

Umlaut (NW N and E)

Umlaut, the change of a vowel under the influence of a following vowel or glide, operated in two distinct ways.

In NW and N, /E e O o/ were often raised to /e i o u/ before /j/ (and in NW only, /i/) in the following syllable:

In E, a following /i/ or /j/ fronted a back vowel and raised a front vowel, and a following /u/ or /w/ rounded a front vowel and raised a back vowel:

Second palatalisation (all except E)

The most important and far-reaching consonant changes were those caused by a following /j/. The results were broadly similar across all relevant dialects, except for W. In EC, the resulting consonants were geminated between vowels as previously mentioned.

The velars /k g x sk/ were affected in all relevant dialects. /kj gj/ became /ts j/ in N WC, /ts dZ/ in NW, /hj j/ initially and /Sk Zg/ otherwise in W, and /tS dZ/ in SW EC SE. /xj/ consistently became /S/; /skj/ became /sts/ in NW N, /S/ in WC, and otherwise developed the same as /kj/, becoming /Sk/ in W SW:

The dentals /t d st/ were similarly affected. /tj dj/ merged with /kj gj/ in NW N WC, developed to /St Zd/ in W, and became /ts dz/ in SW EC SE. /stj/ became /St/ in W SW and /ss/ otherwise; /sj/ palatalised to /S/ in W SW EC SE only:

The labials /p b/ palatalised in WC only after a consonant, and in SE only after /l r/, giving /tS dZ/ in both dialects; /mj/ became /ndZ/ in WC only:

/n l/ palatalised to /J L/ in NW N WC EC; /L/ later became /dZ/ in N:

/r/ characteristically palatalised to /j/ in the city of Athuntca, and to a strong trill /R/ in NW N: ARJO "I plough" > EC /aio/, NW N /ajRo/; compare WC /ajro/.

Intonation

One of the most noticeable differences between the dialects is in the location of the primary stress. In SE E, as in CD and Germanic generally, it remains on the initial syllable, while in SW W it follows the same rules as in Genistien and Astarien. By contrast, in NW N WC EC, under the influence of Mossian, it shifted to the penultimate syllable.

Stressed vowel changes (all except W)

Stressed vowels underwent noticable changes in many dialects, especially WC EC SE, giving the dialects some of their most characteristic features.

In N, and in open syllables WC, stressed /E O/ broke to /je wo/, with /wo/ later becoming /we/. Stressed open /O/ also became /we/, later /2/, in EC:

/u/ fronted to /y/ in SW EC SE when stressed and in WC always. In SW WC SE, this had the knock-on effect of raising stressed /o/ to /u/, and in SW SE /O/ to /o/:

These changes had further effects in WC EC. Stressed open /a e o/ in WC became /e ei ou/, and stressed open /E a/ became /a o/ in EC.

In SW SE, a stressed vowel was rounded by a preceding /w/:

/E/ characteristically lowered to [{] in SE and E.

Lenition (NW N W WC)

Lenition in NW N WC consisted mainly in the mergers of intervocalic voiceless obstruents with the fricative allophones of their voiced counterparts. Thus /p t k/ merged with /b d g/ (actually pronounced [B D G]), /s/ became /z/, and, in N NW, /ts/ became /dz/ when resulting from the first palatalisation. /B/ merged with the reflex of intervocalic /w/; the resulting phoneme is represented by /v/ in NW WC and /b/ in N. /D G/ in WC, and original /d g/ (not the new /d g/ from /t k/) in NW, disappeared, in WC often leaving behind a diphthong:

Intervocalic /s sj/ voiced also to /z Z/ in SW W EC SE, but remained voiceless in E:

In NW, intervocalic /l n x/ as well as /d g/ were dropped, creating a range of nasal vowels and vowel hiatuses:

In SW EC SE the reverse change took place: intervocalic /b d g/ were hardened to [b d g]. SW also hardened final /f T x/ to /p t k/:

Lenition in W consisted in the nasals /m n N/ becoming [v D G] next to liquids, creating new phonemes /v D G/ when these merged with the results of intervocalic /b d g/:

Clusters with /l/

/l/ after an initial consonant became /L/ in N NW. The preceding consonant subsequently dropped out in N, while the entire cluster became /tS/ in NW:

/l/ after an obstruent became /j/ in EC:

/l/ before a consonant, which occurred only after /E a O/, became /w/ in NW WC, adding the diphthongs /Ew aw Ow/ to both dialects. In NW these soon became /ew aw ow/; in WC, /Ew Ow/ which remained distinct from /ew ow/:

Minor consonant changes

In SW, the affricates were rephonemicised as sequences of stop and sibilant; the stop components were subsequently lost except after a vowel:

Epenthesis (NW N WC EC SW SE)

Homorganic epenthetic consonants were inserted into clusters of nasal + liquid:

Consonant reduction (SE)

Although restricted to SE, this group of sound-changes is nonetheless visible enough to deserve detailed treatment.

The basic principle of consonant reduction consists in the weakening of a consonant or a cluster at the start of a final open syllable when the syllable is closed. The changes are similar to those caused by lenition in other dialects: double stops are reduced to single, voiceless stops become voiced, and voiced stops become fricatives:

while a dental stop assimilates to a preceding sibilant or liquid:

When consonant reduction had become established as a live morphophonological process, many consonants and clusters were regarded as the outcomes of reduction even if historically they were not. For example, CD FAHAN "to catch" and BJUGAN "to bend" had by this stage become /faxan/ and /byxan/, where the /g/ of the latter had been reduced to /x/. By analogy with the first person singular /bygo/, the first person singular of /faxan/ changed from /faxo/ to /fago/.

The various stages of consonant reduction may be grouped together into chains, of which the full theoretical set is as follows:

Not all of these actually occur in practice, however. In general, the likelihood of a given cluster undergoing reduction is greatest in Valdaborgo.

Consonant reduction is most commonly triggered by adding a suffix which consists, or formerly consisted, of a single consonant, or which begins with a consonant cluster. Reducting suffixes are shown prefixed with a plus sign, thus the genitive plural nominal suffix is /+o +2/ according to vowel harmony (see below), from older /-on/.

Later vowel changes (NW N WC W SW SE)

The vowel systems of these dialects underwent considerable restructuring.

The changes were simplest in N, in which /aw ow/ became /o/, /aj ej/ became /e/, and /oi/ became /we/:

In NW, many vocalic hiatuses were eliminated by conversion to a diphthong or, if both vowels were the same, to a simple vowel:

W underwent the same changes as Genistien; thus /ij ej aj oj uj/ > /i: e: E: E: wi/ and /iw ew aw ow uw/ > /ju O: O: o: u:/:

Double consonants were reduced to single in W SW, lengthening the preceding vowel and introducing phonemic long vowels into both dialects:

In WC, /ej/ became /aj/ and later /oj/, while /Ej/ became /ej/. /ew ow/ merged in /2w/ and /wo/ became /w2/; these later merged into another front vowel /2/, which became /y/ before /j/. All remaining /E O/ merged with /e o/, and /Ew Ow/ became /ew u/.

The changes in SE are the most drastic. The first step consisted of the diphthongs /aj {j aw {w/ becoming simple monophthongs /E E O 9/. These new /E O 9/ raised to /e o 2/, pushing the older /e o 2/ higher to /i u y/ which in turn caused /i u y/ to break to /ej ow 2H/:

In Valdaborgo, these shifts happened a second time, triggered by the raising of stressed /a {/ before /i u/ to /e o 2/, and culminating in the first elements of the new diphthongs /ej ow 2H/ opening further to give /{j aw {H/; /{j/ became /aj/ before back vowels:

Vowel harmony (SW SE)

A consequence of the development of front rounded vowels was the development of vowel harmony, as in Astarien and Lemyzon, by which a non-compound word could not contain both front and back vowels. In SW the back vowels /a o u/ alternate with /e 2 y/, with /i/ neutral; in SE the front variants are /{ 2 y/, with neutral /e i/. In both dialects, the backness was dictated by the first vowel:

Unstressed vowels in final syllables

CD allowed five vowels /i e a o u/ in final syllables; these have been transformed in various ways in the dialects.

SW is the simplest: following the development of vowel harmony, all seven short vowels /i e a o u y 2/ are permitted in final syllables.

In NW N W WC, /i u/ have merged with /e o/ in final syllables, reducing the permitted final vowels to /e a o/:

In WC, final /a/ has been lost after a vowel, a single non-palatal consonant, or certain clusters, and all other final vowels have become /@/:

EC lost all final consonants in polysyllables, while final /u/ became /o/. Final /s/ became /j/, with final /ij ej aj oj uj/ soon becoming /i i e e i/; four vowels /i e a o/ are thus found finally:

In SE, final /a { e/ were lost except after certain clusters, and final /i o u y 2/ lowered to /e a o 2 {/; the final vowel repertoire thus contains /e { a o 2/.

And in E, /e o/ in final syllables were raised to /i u/; final vowels are thus restricted to /i a u/: