PHONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT FROM COMMON SLAVIC

As other North Slavic languages in the world of Ill Bethisad, also Vozgian has its common ground in Early Common Slavonic (ECSL), because it had separated from it sometimes during 3rd – 5th century A.C. Opposite to Nasika, Vozgian was far more influences by new trends in Common Slavonic, thus the Early Ancient Vozgian resembles respectively more the Classic Common Slavonic than Nasika.

This page describes the entire process of Vozgian's development from Common Slavic. It is precisely what has become known in conlang circles as a "Grand Master Plan". It is supported by another page, the GMP Machine. If you want to know what a Common Slavic word would look like in Vozgian, it applies all the sound changes described here and generates the outcome automatically.

STAGE 1

Remain basically the way they are, with the following exceptions. The common ground is the situation in ECSL, the next step is the situation in early ancient Vozgian, if not noticed else.

Metathesis of liquids, present in all West, South and East Slavic languages, does not occur in Vozgian (or, for that matter, in any other North Slavic language). Therefore, the Common Slavic combinations of vowel + liquid remain basically intact, the vowel being mostly affected by own changes.

As for the consonants, it should be noted that unvoiced consonants become voiced before the stressed syllable of a word, when this syllable is non-initial and contains the vowel a, o, ǫ, u, ъ or y. Under the same condition, voiced consonants become fricativised: p > b, s > z, b > v [β], d > ð, etc. This change occurs to intervocal consonants and consonants followed by a liquid or a nasal. All other consonant clusters keep their initial value. Example: CSL četyre > AV čedəjr "four"

Word-initial j disappears, for example: jezero > ezeru "lake".

Another characteristic of Vozgian is the appearance of new diphthongs. When preceded by a vowel and followed by a consonant, v turns into a glide (aŭ, oŭ, etc.). Common Slavic y becomes əj.

Vowels

ECSL	CCSL	Condition	Ancient Vozgian
á	a		a
å	o	Normally	o
		Final	u
é ái, åi	ě	Normally	ä
		Final	e
e	e		e
í éi, ei	i	Normally	ji
		Final	je
i	ь	Normally	jə
		Final	jØ
u	ъ	Normally	ŭ
		Final	Ø
ú	y		əj
áu, au, óu, ó	u		u
éu, eu	ju		ju

Nasal vowels

ECSL	CCSL	Condition	Ancient Vozgian
em, en im, in	ę	Before a bilabial consonant	em
		Before any other consonant	en
		Final	e
åm, ån um, un	ǫ	Before a bilabial consonant	om
		Before any other consonant	on
		Final	o

Vowel + liquid combinations

ECSL	CCSL	Condition	Ancient Vozgian
árC, álC	arC, alC		arC, alC
årC, ålC	orC, olC		orC, olC
érC, élC	erC, elC		erC, elC
erC, elC
írC, ílC	irC, ilC		jirC, jilC
irC, ilC	ьrC, ьlC rьC, lьC		jərC, jəlC
úrC, úlC	urC, ulC		urC, ulC
urC, ulC	ъrC, ъlC rъC, lъC		ŭrC, ŭlC

Consonants

ECSL	CCSL	Condition	Ancient Vozgian
b	b	Normally	b
		Before a stressed syllable	β
p	p	Normally	p
		Before a stressed syllable	b
v	v	Before o, ъ, y, ǫ	ŭ
		Before a, e, ě, ę, i, ь	v
		After a vowel, before a consonant	ŭ
d	d	Normally	d
		Before a stressed syllable	ð
t	t	Normally	t
		Before a stressed syllable	d
z	z		z
s	s	Normally	s
		Before a stressed syllable	z
	ch [x]	Normally	ch [x]
ch		Before a stressed syllable	h [ɣ]
g	g	Normally	g
		Before a stressed syllable	h [ɣ]
	dž		dž
k	k	Normally	k
		Before a stressed syllable	g
	č		č
ž, zj	ž		ž
š, sj	š	Normally	š
		After a stressed syllable	ž
m	m		m
n	n		n
r	r		r
l	l		l
j	j	Normally	j
		Initial	Ø
kv-, gv-	kv-, gv-	Before o, ъ, y, ǫ	kŭ-, gŭ-
		Before a, e, ě, ę, i, ь	kv-, gv-
-tl-, -dl-	-tl-, -dl-		-l-

STAGE 2

The second stage is the development of Modern Vozgian from Ancient Vozgian. The table below gives the sound changes for all five major Vozgian dialects:

1. Podozerian, spoken in the Northwest of the republic;
2. Meshanian, also known as Vologodian, the highly russified dialect spoken in and around the republic's capital, Vuolokta;
3. Tothmian, also known as Central Vozgian, the dialect on which the standard language is based;
4. Motyak, spoken in the Northeast of the republic;
5. Slovodian, spoken in the Southeast.

An important phenomenon distinguishing Modern Vozgian from Ancient Vozgian is vowel harmonisation: when the stressed syllable of a word is i, the preceding syllable is umlauted: a > ä, o > ö, etc. On the other hand, when the stressed syllable of the word is u or y, the opposite happens to the preceding syllable: e > ä, i > y. Vowel harmony is present in all Vozgian dialects except Slovodian.

Another characteristic feature of Vozgian is the fricativision of plosives before j: tj > tþ > þ [θ], dj > dð > ð [ð], bj > bβ > v [β], etc. For xample: svetja > sveþa "candle".

After the stressed syllable of a word, voiced consonants and consonant clusters tend to devoice. This happens mostly in the case of longer words.

Vowels

Ancient Vozgian	Condition	Modern Vozgian
		Po.	Ms.	To.	Mo.	Sl.
a	Normally	a [a]	a [ɑ]	a [a]	a [a]	a [ɑ]
	Before stressed i	ä [æ]	ä [æ]	ä [æ]	ä [æ]	a [ɑ]
o	Normally	o [o]	o [o]	o [ɔ]	o [ɔ]	o [ɔ]
	Before stressed i	ö [ø]	ö [œ]	ö [ɵ]	ö [ɘ]	o [ɔ]
ä	Stressed	ä [æ]	ä [æ]	ä [æ]	ä [æ]	a [ɑ]
	Unstressed	ä [æ]	e [e]	e [ɛ]	e [ɛ]	a [ɑ]
e	Normally	e [e]	e [e]	e [ɛ]	e [ɛ]	e [ɛ]
	Before stressed i	i	i	i	ej [e]	e [ɛ]
	Before stressed u/y	e [e]	ä [æ]	ä [æ]	ä [æ]	a [ɑ]
i	Normally	i	i	i	i	i
	Before stressed u/y	i	y [ɨ]	y [ɪ]	ej [e]	e [ɛ]
ə	Normally	e [e]	e [e]	e [ɛ]	e [ɛ]	a [ɑ]
	Before stressed i	i	i	i	i	e [ɛ]
ŭ	Stressed	u	u	u	u	u
	Before a stressed syllable	e [e]	u	u	e [ɛ]	u
	After a stressed syllable	e [e], Ø	o [o], Ø	y [ɪ], Ø	y [ɪ], Ø	u, Ø
əj (y)	Normally	i	y [ɨ]	ai	öj [ɘj]	uj
	Before r	i	y [ɨ]	y [ɪ]	ej [e]	ai
	Before l	e [e]	y [ɨ]	ä [æ]	ej [e]	ai
	Before stressed i	i	i	i	i	uj
u	Normally	u	u	u	u	u
	Before stressed i	ü [y]	ü [y]	ü [y]	ü [ʉ]	u

Vowel + liquid combinations

Ancient Vozgian	Condition	Modern Vozgian
		Po.	Ms.	To.	Mo.	Sl.
arC alC	Normally	arC, alC	arC, alC	arC, alC	arC, alC	arC, alC
	Before stressed i	ärC, älC	ärC, älC	ärC, älC	ärC, älC	arC, alC
orC olC	Normally	orC, olC	oroC, oloC	orC, olC	orC, olC	oruC, oluC
	Before stressed i	örC, ölC	öröC, ölöC	örC, ölC	örC, ölC	oruC, oluC
erC elC	Normally	erC, elC	ereC, eleC	erC, elC	erC, elC	ereC, eleC
	Before stressed i	irC, ilC	iriC, iliC	irC, ilC	irC, ilC	ereC, eleC
	Before stressed u/y	erC, elC	äräC, äläC	ärC, älC	ärC, älC	araC, alaC
jirC jilC	Normally	irC, ilC	irC, ilC	irC, ilC	irC, ilC	irC, ilC
	Before stressed u/y	irC, ilC	yrC, ylC	yrC, ylC	ejrC, ejlC	erC, elC
jərC jəlC	Normally	erC, elC	erC, elC	örC, ölC	örC, ölC	urC, ulC
	Before stressed i	irC, ilC	irC, ilC	örC, ölC	örC, ölC	urC, ulC
urC ulC	Normally	urC, ulC	urC, ulC	urC, ulC	urC, ulC	urC, ulC
	Before stressed i	ürC, ülC	ürC, ülC	ürC, ülC	ürC, ülC	urC, ulC
ŭrC ŭlC	Normally	urC, ulC	urC, ulC	urC, ulC	urC, ulC	urC, ulC
	Before stressed i	ürC, ülC	ürC, ülC	ürC, ülC	ürC, ülC	urC, ulC

Consonants

Ancient Vozgian	Condition	Modern Vozgian
		Po.	Ms.	To.	Mo.	Sl.
p		p	p	p	p	p
pj	Normally	p	pʲ	f [ɸ]	f [ɸ]	f [ɸ]
	Initial	p	pʲ	p	f [ɸ]	p
b	Normally	b	b	b	b	b
	After a stressed syllable	p	b	p	p	p
bj	Normally	b	bʲ	v [β]	v [β]	v [β]
	Initial	b	bʲ	b	v [β]	b
	After a stressed syllable	p	bʲ	f [ɸ]	f [ɸ]	f [ɸ]
v, β	Normally	v [v]	v [v]	v [β]	v [β]	v [β]
	After a stressed syllable	f [f]	v [v]	f [ɸ]	f [ɸ]	f [ɸ]
vj	Normally	v [v]	vʲ	v [β]	j	v [β]
	Initial	v [v]	vʲ	v [β]	j	v [β]
	After a stressed syllable	f [f]	vʲ	f [ɸ]	j	f [ɸ]
ŭ	Normally	ŭ [w]	v [v]	ŭ [w]	ŭ [w]	ŭ [w]
	Word- or syllable-initial	vŭ [vw]	v [v]	vŭ [βw]	ŭ [w]	ŭ [w]
	Before u	v [v]	v [v]	h [ɣ]	h [ɣ]	ŭ [w]
t		t	t	t	t	t
tj		t	tʲ	þ [θ]	þ [θ]	c [ts]
d	Normally	d	d	d	d	d
	After a stressed syllable	t	d	t	t	t
dj	Normally	d	dʲ	ð	ð	z
	After a stressed syllable	t	dʲ	þ [θ]	þ [θ]	c [ts]
ð		h [h]	ð	ð	ð	z
k		k	k	k	k	k
g	Normally	g	g	g	g	g
	After a stressed syllable	k	g	k	k	k
ch		ch [x]	ch [x]	ch [x]	ch [x]	ch [x]
h		h [h]	v [v]	h [ɣ]	h [ɣ]	h [ɣ]
č		c [ts]	č [tʃ]	č [tʃ]	č [tʃ]	č [tʃ]
dž	Normally	dz	dž [dʒ]	dž [dʒ]	dž [dʒ]	dž [dʒ]
	After a stressed syllable	c [ts]	dž [dʒ]	č [tʃ]	č [tʃ]	č [tʃ]
s		s	s	s	s	s
sj, š		s	š [ʃ]	š [ʃ]	š [ʃ]	š [ʃ]
z	Normally	z	z	z	z	z
	After a stressed syllable	s	z	s	s	s
zj, ž	Normally	z	ž [ʒ]	ž [ʒ]	ž [ʒ]	ž [ʒ]
	After a stressed syllable	s	ž [ʒ]	š [ʃ]	š [ʃ]	š [ʃ]
m		m	m	m	m	m
mj	Normally	m	mʲ	mj	mj	mj
	Initial	m	mʲ	m	mj	m
n		n	n	n	n	n
nj	Normally	n	nʲ	nj	nj	nj
	Initial	n	nʲ	n	nj	n
r		r	r	r	r	r
rj	Normally	r	rʲ	rj	rj	rj
	Initial	r	rʲ	r	rj	r
l		l	l	l	l	l
lj	Normally	l	lʲ	lj	lj	lj
	Initial	l	lʲ	l	lj	l

Other combinations

Ancient Vozgian	Condition	Modern Vozgian
		Po.	Ms.	To.	Mo.	Sl.
sk	Before u, ai, y	sk	šk	šch [ʃx]	šj [ʃj]	š [ʃ]
šč		st	šč	šch [ʃx]	šj [ʃj]	š [ʃ]
stj		st	šč	þ [θ]	þ [θ]	c [ts]
ktj		kt	ktʲ	chþ [xθ]	chþ [xθ]	chc [kts]
jä	After a vowel	je	je	je	je	ja
	After a consonant	e	e	e	je	ja
jo	After a vowel	jö	jö	jö	jö	jo
	After a consonant	ö	ö	ö	jö	jo
ju	After a vowel	jü	jü	jü	jü	ju
	After a consonant	ü	ü	ü	jü	ju
aj, yj, ŭj	Final or before a consonant	ai	ai	ai	öj	uj
oj, uj	Final or before a consonant	oj	oj	uj	uj	uj
ej, äj, əj	Final or before a consonant	e	ej	ej	ej	ai
evA, əvA ovA uvA, ŭvA	A = accented vowel, not being i	evA ovA uvA	evA ovA uvA	ŭA	ŭA	ŭA
aŭ, äŭ	Before a consonant	o	av	aŭ	aŭ	af
eŭ, əŭ, iŭ	Before a consonant	iŭ	ev	eŭ	eŭ	ef
oŭ, uŭ, ŭŭ	Before a consonant	u	ov, uv	ŭo, u	oŭ, u	uf
om	Before a (labial) stop, normally	om	om	um	um	um
	Before a (labial) stop, before stressed i	öm	öm	üm	üm	um