Dictionary:About Middle Airananwe - Revision history

Thiorosan: Amend the acute note: the vowel is still long in the modern language; this stage is where the length is first written

2026-08-26T13:27:49Z

Amend the acute note: the vowel is still long in the modern language; this stage is where the length is first written

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:27, 26 August 2026
Line 54:		Line 54:
	\|}		\|}

	Middle contrasts a '''short''' noun ''-e'', weakened to [ə], against a '''long''' verb ''-ee''. Every one of the 82 Gaillean verbs in ''-ei'' is written ''-ee'' here, and 81 of them appear in the modern language with ''-é''. The modern acute therefore marks a vowel that '''~~used to be~~ long''' — ~~a fact~~ that ~~can only be read off this stage~~.		Middle contrasts a '''short''' noun ''-e'', weakened to [ə], against a '''long''' verb ''-ee''. Every one of the 82 Gaillean verbs in ''-ei'' is written ''-ee'' here, and 81 of them appear in the modern language with ''-é''. The modern acute therefore marks a vowel that has been '''long since this stage''' — ''á'' and ''é'' are long in the modern language too, and it is here that the length is first written.

	'''Adpositions are still free words''' here. Their attachment to the noun, and the prothetic vowel that comes with it, belong to the modern language: Gaillean ''petc'' gives Middle ''pec'' and only then modern ''-epech''.		'''Adpositions are still free words''' here. Their attachment to the noun, and the prothetic vowel that comes with it, belong to the modern language: Gaillean ''petc'' gives Middle ''pec'' and only then modern ''-epech''.

Thiorosan: Record the native name: Hayraanye (operator, 2026-08-26), replacing the note that none was recorded

2026-08-26T13:17:04Z

Record the native name: Hayraanye (operator, 2026-08-26), replacing the note that none was recorded

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:17, 26 August 2026
Line 1:		Line 1:
	This page documents the dictionary's practice for '''Middle Airananwe''' (code ''YAR-AI''), the medieval stage of [[Airananwe language\|Airananwe]], descended from [[Gaillean language\|Gaillean]]. No native name is ~~recorded for it~~.		This page documents the dictionary's practice for '''Middle Airananwe''' (code ''YAR-AI''), the medieval stage of [[Airananwe language\|Airananwe]], descended from [[Gaillean language\|Gaillean]]. Its native name is ''Hayraanye''.

	Middle Airananwe is not a halfway point between the two attested stages. It has a phonology of its own, and departs from both: a phonemic palatal series, three prenasalised stops, vowel length written by doubling, and final devoicing with a live alternation.		Middle Airananwe is not a halfway point between the two attested stages. It has a phonology of its own, and departs from both: a phonemic palatal series, three prenasalised stops, vowel length written by doubling, and final devoicing with a live alternation.

Thiorosan: Rewrite to the derived system: diphthongs to long vowels, sibilants to palatals, -ee verbs, -is from -uz, free adpositions, retired sh and j

2026-08-21T09:43:37Z

Rewrite to the derived system: diphthongs to long vowels, sibilants to palatals, -ee verbs, -is from -uz, free adpositions, retired sh and j

Show changes

Thiorosan: Rewrite for the ratified design: own phonology (palatal series, prenasalised set, written length, final devoicing), one declension, four cases

2026-08-20T08:18:30Z

Rewrite for the ratified design: own phonology (palatal series, prenasalised set, written length, final devoicing), one declension, four cases

Show changes

Thiorosan: Practice page for Middle Airananwe: sound laws, orthography, the gender reduction (operator-ratified)

2026-08-18T12:45:38Z

Practice page for Middle Airananwe: sound laws, orthography, the gender reduction (operator-ratified)

New page

This page documents the dictionary's practice for '''Middle Airananwe''' (code ''YAR-AI''), the medieval stage of [[Airananwe language|Airananwe]], descended from [[Gaillean language|Gaillean]]. It is the bridge between the ancient language and the modern trade language: its forms are reconstructed from the two attested stages, and carry no asterisk.

Middle Airananwe has no recorded native name.

== Development from Gaillean ==
The medieval stage carries the regular half of the distance to the modern language: the vowels and the endings. The consonants remain conservative — ''bh'', ''gh'', ''th'', ''zh'' all survive, as they do into the modern language.

# '''Monophthongisation.''' The diphthongs became long vowels, written with a circumflex: ''ae'' > ''ê'', ''oe'' > ''ô'', ''ao'', ''au'' > ''â'', ''oi'' > ''o'' (''ghaelleas'' > ''ghêleas''; ''kubhoewne'' > ''kubhôune'').
# '''The verb ending''' ''-ei'' is respelt ''-ê'' — a spelling change rather than a sound change, as Gaillean ''-ei'' was already /eː/ word-finally (''zumei'' > ''zumê'').
# '''Depalatalisation.''' Gaillean ''ll'' /ʎ/ became plain ''l'' (''illa'' > ''ila'', ''ghalla'' > ''ghala''). The modern language's ''lh'' is a separate, later development.
# '''Degemination.''' The true geminates ''mm'', ''pp'', ''tt'' reduced; ''nn'', ''ss'', ''ff'' and ''rr'' held, and still stand today (''emmora'' > ''emora'', ''peramme'' > ''perame'').
# '''The glide vocalised''': ''w'' > ''u'' (''awbhientuz'' > ''aubhientus''). The digraph ''zw'' is untouched.
# '''Loss of initial prenasalisation''': ''mb-'', ''mp-'' > ''b-'', ''p-'' (''mbila'' > ''bila'', ''mporonat'' > ''poronat'').
# ''r'' was lost before the velar fricative: ''rgh'' > ''gh''.
# '''The ending''' ''-uz'' devoiced to ''-us''; its loss belongs to the modern stage (''artuz'' > ''artus'' > modern ''art'').
# '''Adpositions cliticised.''' Gaillean's free adpositions began to univerbate with their nouns; all 27 that survive are bound forms in the modern language.

Of 512 Gaillean entries, 288 change shape at this stage.

== Orthography ==
Middle Airananwe keeps Gaillean's consonant digraphs (''bh gh ph th zh zw'') and adds the circumflex vowels ''ê ô â''. It has '''no acute accents''': those mark the modern language's eroded endings and belong to the stage after this one.

== Gender ==
Gaillean's classes are stem-classes — ''F'' in ''-a'', ''M1'' in ''-e'', ''M2'' in ''-t'', ''N1'' in ''-z'', ''N2'' in ''-u'', with the ''X'' classes being those words that fit no pattern. Middle Airananwe reduces three genders to two and nine classes to four:

{| class="wikitable"
! Gaillean !! Middle !! stem
|-
| F, FX || F1 || ''-a''
|-
| N2 || F2 || ''-u''
|-
| M1, MX, NX || M1 || ''-e''
|-
| M2, N1 || M2 || ''-t'', ''-us''
|}

The neuter split by stem, as Latin's did: consonant-stem neuters joined the masculine, vowel-stem neuters went feminine. The modern language has since lost gender altogether.

== See also ==
* [[Dictionary:About Besoh]] — the same practice, for the Andusian family
* [[Gaillean language]], [[Airananwe language]]