K'tlê – A Constructed Language

---

gqe/ Morpheme Modifications

1. Changes Due to Adjacency
   1. Interaction Between Adjacent Consonants
   2. Interaction Between Adjacent Vowels
   3. Consonant and Vowel Interactions
2. Vowel Deletion
   1. Vowel Deletion in General
   2. Vowel Deletion in Modified Stems
3. Stem Grades
   1. C-Grade
   2. W-Grade
   3. Y-Grade
   4. V-Grade
   5. L-Grade
   6. G-Grade
4. Prefixing
5. Reduplication

Interaction Between Adjacent Consonants

Morphological processes may cause two consonants to become adjacent, either because one is at the end of a morpheme and the other is at the start of the next, or because the intervening vowel has been deleted. When two consonants become adjacent, one or both may change. Here are some rules:

• Two of the same consonant produce a geminate. An exception to this is that when initial, the first of two plain stops becomes the corresponding ejective.
• A glottal stop plus a plain stop produces a geminate of the plain stop.
• Either a glottal stop or |t| plus either |c| or |z| produces a geminate affricate.
• A plain stop followed by a nasal or a different plain stop becomes the corresponding ejective.
• A plain stop plus a glottal stop produces the corresponding ejective.
• A single glottal stop between two non-deletable vowels disappears.
• A |t| plus an |l| produces the lateral affricate |£|.
• A |p| or |k| plus an |l| count as single consonants; however, there must be a following vowel.
• An |n| becomes |m| before |p|, |p'|, or |m|.
• An |m| becomes |n| before |c|, |t|, |t'|, |k|, |k'|, or |n|.

Phonetic changes that are reflected in the orthography include:

• Geminate |l| becomes |r|.
• Geminate |h| becomes |f|.

Interaction Between Adjacent Vowels

Except for certain suffixes, every morpheme begins with a consonant (a glottal stop if nothing else), so that prior to glottal stop deletion, two vowels can become adjacent only when the latter begins one of those suffixes. In this case, the changes that can occur are:

• The high-tone vowels |i̅|, |e̅|, and |o̅| usually become the corresponding low-tone vowels before any vowel; |a̅| isn't affected.

Consonant and Vowel Interactions

• A |k| becomes |c| before |i| or |e|. It may become |c| before a high-tone vowel.

Vowel Deletion in General

• A high-tone vowel can't be deleted. A low-tone |a| can't be deleted either. The other low-tone vowels may be deleted under appropriate circumstances.
• A vowel immediately preceding or following another vowel can't be deleted.
• Deletion can't occur if an impossible cluster would result. These include:
  • any word-final cluster,
  • a three-consonant cluster, except those ending in |pl| or |kl|,
  • a cluster of four or more consonants,
  • an initial cluster beginning with a plain stop, a glottal stop, a nasal, or |l|,
  • two ejectives together,
  • a few other combinations.
  Note that a geminate is counted as two consonants here, even when written with a single letter.

Vowel Deletion in Modified Stems

If the vowel immediately preceding the final consonant of one of the stems is |i|, |e|, or |o|, it will be deleted, providing that no impermissible consonant cluster appears. However, with some suffixes, the suffix vowel may be deleted (where possible) instead and the stem vowel kept.

Each verb-stem that can take suffixes can have up to 6 grades (the 6th one being used only in derivations): C-grade, W-grade, Y-grade, V-grade, L-grade, and G-grade.

Both stems and affixes may have multiple forms.

There are a number of different stem-classes.

Note that stem-final |i|, |e|, or |o| may not always be apparent, due to vowel deletion.

C-Grade

This is the grade used when the stem is either word-final or followed by a suffix beginning with a consonant (other than |l| or |'|) and is often the same as the citation form, barring the usual assimilatory changes. The main difference is that an |i|, |o|, or |e| following the initial consonant is deleted under the appropriate conditions for most stems.

• A stem-final |i|, |o|, or |e| is deleted unless immediately preceded by |i|, |o|, or |e|.

W-Grade

This is the grade used when the stem is followed by a suffix beginning with a vowel preceded by w (originally *w).

• If the stem ends in |k|, the form is the same as the V-grade form.
• If the stem ends in |t|, the form is the same as the V-grade form, but with the |t| replaced by |z|.

For stems ending in other consonants:

• An |i| or |o| preceding it becomes |i̅|.
• An |e| or |a| preceding it becomes |o̅|.
• If the final consonant is already preceded by |i̅|, |o̅|, |e̅|, or |a̅|, an |h| is appended.

For stems ending in vowels:

• Stems ending in |i̅|, |o̅|, |e̅|, or |a̅| also append |h|.
• Stems ending in |i|, |e|, or |a| replace this with |o|.
• Stems ending in |o| are unchanged.

Y-Grade

This is the grade used when the stem is followed by a suffix beginning with a vowel preceded by y (originally *y).

• If the stem ends in |k|, the form is the same as the V-grade form, but with the |k| replaced by |c|.
• If the stem ends in |t|, the form is the same as the V-grade form, but with the |t| replaced by |z|.

For stems ending in other consonants:

• An |i| or |o| preceding it becomes |i̅|.
• An |e| or |a| preceding it becomes |e̅|.
• If the final consonant is already preceded by |i̅|, |o̅|, |e̅|, or |a̅|, a |c| is appended.

For stems ending in vowels:

• Stems ending in |i̅|, |o̅|, |e̅|, or |a̅|, also append |c|.
• Stems ending in |o| replace it with |i|.
• Stems ending in |a| replace it with |e|.
• Stems ending in |i| or |e| are unchanged.

V-Grade

This is the grade used when the stem is followed by a suffix originally beginning with a vowel.

For stems ending in consonants:

• An |i|, |o|, or |e| preceding it is deleted if possible.
• Some derivational suffixes may change stem-final |k| to |c|.
• A stem-final |'| is deleted if neither adjacent vowel is deleted.

For stems ending in vowels:

• Stems ending in |o̅| replace it with |o|.
• Stems ending in |e̅| replace it with |e|.
• Stems ending in |i̅| replace it with |i| or |o|.
• Any stem ending in |i|, |o|, |e|, or |a| may be considered irregular here.

L-Grade

This is the grade used when the stem is followed by a suffix originally beginning with |l|.

• A deletable stem-final |i|, |e|, or |o| is deleted, with the preceding consonant treated as stem-final.
• A stem-final |t| is replaced by |£|, with the stem then acting like a V-grade stem.
  -- Note that an original stem can't end in |£|.
• A stem-final |p| or |k| is replaced by |pl| or |kl|, respectively, with the stem then acting like a V-grade stem.
• Otherwise, |l| is appended (in other words, like a C-grade stem where the suffix begins with |l|). Note that stem-final |l| plus suffix-initial |l| becomes |r|.

G-Grade

This is the grade used when the stem is followed by a suffix originally beginning with |'|; it appears only in derivations.

• A deletable stem-final |i|, |e|, or |o| is deleted, with the preceding consonant treated as stem-final.
• A stem-final |p|, |t|, or |k| is replaced by the corresponding ejective, with the stem then acting like a V-grade stem.
• Otherwise, |'| is appended (in other words, like a C-grade stem where the suffix begins with |'|).

This section covers the modifications to both stems and prefixes when combined.

This section covers stems which are derived by modifying the start of a root or base-stem specifically through reduplication.

The basic idea is that a duplicate of the initial CV of a root or base-stem is prefixed to that root or base-stem. If the duplicated vowel is |i|, |e|, or |o|, the original vowel or the copy (but not both) may be deleted in some forms. There are some complications:

• The changes due to vowel deletion and adjacency previously mentioned apply.
• Initial |h| may represent w (historical *w) rather than historical *f. In this case, only the copy will have become |h|; the original acts like a W-grade modifier.
• Likewise, initial |c| may represent y (historical *y) rather than historical *k; the copy will have become |c| but the original acts like a Y-grade modifier.
• Historical glottal stops are retained as a geminates where the duplicate (1st) vowel is deleted. Where the original vowel is deleted, the first glottal stop is retained after a consonant and the second before one, but otherwise, both glottal stops are deleted.

page started: 2009.Feb.25 Wed
last modified: 2009.Oct.20 Tue
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

Table of Contents