Summary

Conversion of words

General conversion

The process of converting words from English to Atucoh is as follows:

  1. Delete the final letter of the original word. This introduces a lot of ambiguity, so word choice is important.
  2. Pass the word through a substitution cipher, swapping the following pairs of letters (intended to be vowel-vowel and consonant-consonant pairs of similar frequencies of usage):
    EA OI UY
    TN SH RD LC MW FG PB VK JX QZ
  3. Eliminate certain rare letters, replacing them with more common letters:
    • [v] → [w]
    • [k/q] → [c]
    • [j] → [y]
    • [x] → [s]
    • [z] → [r]
  4. Apply various other changes, detailed in the following sections, to improve phonotactics.

Vowel sequences

First, [w y] → [u i], then [u i] → [w y] before a vowel. This continues to apply as a surface filter.

  • "good" → *fii → fyi
  • "make" → *ueu → *wyû → uyû

The above changes eliminate all vowel sequences with [i/u] as the first vowel. All remaining vowel sequences, with [a/e/o] as the first vowel, coalesce into long vowels (marked with circumflexes).

  • [aa ea oa] → [â yâ wâ]: "street" → *hndaa → andâ
  • [ae ee oe] → [ê ê wê]: "beard" → *paed → pêd
  • [ao eo oo] → [ô yô ô]: "weight" → *maofs → môfi
  • [ai ei oi] → [ê î wî]: "sauce" → *heil → hîl
  • [au eu ou] → [ô yû û]: "library" → *copded → *couded → cûded

Sequences of three or more vowels are resolved from right to left. Additionally, [ee oo ei ou] exceptionally resolve as [yê yî wô wû] after another vowel.

  • "lieutenant" → *coainatet → *coênatet → cwênatet
  • BUT "beauty" → *paein → payîn (not **paîn → *pên)

Vocalisation of obstruents

Obstruents may be vocalised in any of the following environments:

  • Word-initially, before an obstruent or nasal (#CC)
  • Before a voiced obstruent
  • Between obstruents and/or nasals (CCC)
  • Word-finally, after an obstruent or nasal (CC#)

The labials [p b f] vocalise to [u], the coronals [t d s] vocalise to [i], and the dorsals [c g h] vocalise to [a]. The resulting vowel may form a sequence with the preceding vowel, which is eliminated as usual.

  • "ground" → *fdiit → udyit
  • "confirm" → *litgod → *liigod → lyigod
  • "monster" → *uithna → witana
  • "sense" → *hath → hata

Changes to syllabic resonants

If one of [m n l r] occurs between two other consonants, or between a consonant and a word boundary, an epenthetic [u] is added.

If what follows is another resonant or the end of the word, the epenthetic [u] precedes the resonant (CRR → CuRR, CR# → CuR#).

  • "sentence" → *hatnatl → hannatul
  • "function" → *gitlnoi → gitulnwî

If what follows is an obstruent, the epenthetic [u] follows the resonant (CRT → CRuT).

  • "thing" → *nsot → nusot
  • "anchor" → *etlsi → etlusi

Changes to obstruent clusters

Changes involving two obstruents

  • All obstruent clusters are assimilated in voicing: "hypnosis" → *subtiho → suptiho
  • The stop [t] becomes the fricative [s] before an obstruent: "harbour" → *sedpii → sespyi
  • Conversely, [f h] become [p c] before [t s]: "toughen" → *niifsa → nyipsa
  • [sf sh] similarly develop into [sp sc]: "person" → *badhi → basci
  • But clusters of any two of [p/f/c/h] are totally assimilated: "capsule" → *lebhic → lehhic

Changes involving an obstruent and a nasal

  • Nasals assimilate in position before an obstruent or [m]: "owner" → *imta → inta
  • Before a nasal, labial obstruents become [m] and coronal obstruents become [n]: "option" → *ibnoi → imnwî
  • But dorsals before a nasal become [g]: "ultimate" → *icnouen → ignowen

Grammar

WIP!