Old Veyata - Phonology

Profile

• Vowels: /a e i o u/
• Productive diphthongs: /ey ai au/
• Consonants: /p b t d k g kh m n f v s z sh zh h th l r w y/
• Syllable structure: usually (C)(C)V(C), in marked forms also (C)(C)V(C)(C)
• Typical codae: r, l, n, s, th
• Stress: conservative on the root syllable, in the Koine often already on the penultimate full syllable
• Sound character: denser and older than Veyrathi, but less blocky and mineral than Ur-Veyatic

Inventory count

• Core vowels: 5
• Productive diphthongs: 3
• Core consonants: 19
• Overall impression: medium consonant density with clearly visible smoothing compared to the original language

Main development from Proto-Veyatic

• Old full forms on -ar often tip into more open forms on -a:
• veyar -> veyra
• seyar -> seyra
• navar -> nava
• Deictic forms with ae/au are often leveled to more open forms in the Koine:
• aer -> ara
• aur -> ora
• Heavy clusters are reduced but not fully resolved.
• kh still remains, often disappearing later in eastern lines.

Phonotactic tendencies

• Initial clusters remain limited and close to the family:
• thr, shr, dr, vr, khl in conservative locations
• In the everyday register, cluster-rich forms tend to be smoothed:
• thr- -> th- or tr- in quick speech
• Sonorous sequences such as -yor-, -var-, -lor-, -than- remain frequent and contribute to the speech rhythm.
• Word final r is still regular, but weak enough in fast speech to prepare for later smoothing.

Differences to the daughter languages

• Compared to Veyrathi, Old Veyata preserves more heavy word edges and more full final syllables.
• Compared to Veytharian, Old Veyata reduces less and often keeps the middle part of the words more open.
• The hereditary diphthong ey remains central; Veyrathi largely keeps him, Veytharisch often moves him to ei.

Prosody

• Conservative melody works with broader bars than the later Veyrathi.
• The Koine already accelerates in common sentence patterns, especially with particle chains.
• Non-verbal predicates have a very compact prosodical effect:
• ara thalor zeya
• nu=ren naar draz
• Marked forms with fera carry their own predication clock.

Typical phonetic rules

• ey remains stable and is one of the clearest heritage characters in the language family.
• au survives primarily in distal forms, full forms and elevated speech.
• kh fluctuates between a rough fricative sound and a hard breathy sound; Western subsequent forms are more likely to preserve it than eastern ones.
• h often becomes soft between vowels; in quick Koine it can almost be eliminated.

Exemplary minimal oppositions

• veyra = speak
• vera = choose, determine
• thalor = Advice
• thelor = open, open-minded
• zeya = new
• seya = neutral full form of the person