User blog:Fauxlosophe/Sphaera- A Geneology Part V

III. Similarities of Language

The matter of languages is difficult to describe as many groups have risen and fallen before the invention of writing by Garúl and then the creation of letters by the Húfhon, even then what may be found is limited to but small inscriptions. Even now the amongst the Wisemen there is dispute on the matter of letters where this very history has been mentioned as it is being written, so it must be understood that old tongues may only be known through their descendants and those who died without hier might be imagined only in what markings they have made upon our current tongues.

i. Western Languages

On this group, there is the most ressources for discussion, in particular a Démhóca has recently provided me with a rather substantial word list of the language of the Cébhaní in its native mode as well as in Éralí syllabry and Médhá glyphs which has been transliterated as clearly as possible into our letters by his hand. In it some interesting and critical similarities existed, the most remarkable of which, I shall transcribe here;

It is important to note that the Cébhaní have four important sounds related to the letter "C" which are either not used or treated as distinct in Cébhaní.
 * S is a slender C as in "Cím"
 * K is a broad C as in "Cún"
 * Z is a sound best compared to an extended to slender C.
 * C here represents a sound similar to Cúbha.

Basic Nouns-

Zacalir, Earth, seems to be a presered long form of ír

Zaclaon, Woman, seems to similarly represent a long form of Alon [Man] while their word for Alon seems to be a shortened form; Zacla.

"Zac" may be derivative of some earlier prefix which has been since dropped by the other Western languages or something which the Cébhaní developed in isolation.

Pronouns-

Da, I, has marked similarities to Di, showing they had a similar origin at one point and that D has remained more or less unchanged through out the history of the language while the same vowel became both "a" and "i".

Siz, We, was also remarkable for it's similarity to the Toryl word "Os" which in their tongues means Dí and Rí interchangably. This marks how recent the development of the modern pronouns are in Fén.

Relative Pronouns-

Ema, What, seems related to Éta or some other form [Át, the actual inquistive is not remarked on here]. An interesting consideration might be given with Tika and Tooka, This and That, which possess the "T" sound of Ít and Ítá. This implies a gramaticalization of both consonants and vowels at come point in Cébhaní with consonant form being older and more notable. This is mirrored in Ral, It, which was developed independantly of the Fén language or else lost in later Fén.

Depending on interpretation, this may mean a shift of "B" or "P" towards "M" [Zewani] and "T" [Fayn] respectively or else different development or emphasis of a grammatical nature leading to different etymological origins of the two words based off of similar languages.

Compound Sounds;

Galavic seems to have divided itself rather early as it began to soften consonant clutters. Tóríl seems to have more tolerance for sonorants but seems to have under gone a similar process of assimilation of consonant clutters between compound terms which is only recently redeveloping. If our current tongue is to be the judge, then it is the second consonant which is dominant but this seems to vary if certain older terms are to be considered and which of the dropped consonant was perhaps for a long time an interchangable matter. This has not occured in either Húfhon or Cébhaní and so may be considered the point of departure.