Introduction
Old Kurmian is inspired by Middle Chinese and Irish.
Sound changes
- short e > short i, short i > ə
- short a o u > short ä ö ü
- /au ai/ > /aː/, /oy/ > /waː/
- back vowels should break as in OC > MC
- final fricatives > breathy tone > low tone
- lexical mutation
- grammatical mutation
- standardize Irish-style orthography?
- slenderization and labialization yielding MC-style medials
- vowel length lost
Phonology
Consonants
Old Kurmian initials
|
|
Labial
|
Coronal
|
Lateral
|
Coarticulated
|
Velar
|
Glottal
|
| Nasal
|
voiceless
|
/m̊/
|
/n̊/
|
/n̊ˡ/
|
/ŋ̊!/
|
/ŋ̊/
|
|
| voiced
|
/m/
|
/n/
|
/nˡ/
|
/ŋ!/
|
/ŋ/
|
|
| Stop
|
tenuis
|
/p/
|
/t/
|
/tɬ/
|
/!/
|
/k/
|
/ʔ/
|
| aspirated
|
/pʰ/
|
/tʰ/
|
/tɬʰ/
|
/!ʰ/
|
/kʰ/
|
|
| voiced
|
/b/
|
/d/
|
/dɮ/
|
/g!/
|
/g/
|
|
| breathy voiced
|
/bʱ/
|
/dʱ/
|
/dɮʱ/
|
/g!ʱ/
|
/gʱ/
|
|
| Fricative
|
voiceless
|
/f/
|
/s/
|
/ɬ/
|
/ɧ/
|
/x/
|
/h/
|
| voiced
|
|
/z/
|
/ɮ/
|
/ɧ̬/
|
/ɣ/
|
|
| Trill
|
|
/r/
|
|
|
|
|
| Approximant
|
/w/, /ɥ/
|
|
/l/
|
|
/j/
|
|
Vowels
|
|
Front
|
Central
|
Back
|
| Close
|
/i/
|
/ɨ/
|
/u/
|
| Close-mid
|
/e/
|
/ə/
|
/o/
|
| Open-mid
|
/ɛ/
|
|
|
| Open
|
|
/a/
|
|
Tones