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| ==Reasons== | | ==Reasons== |
| | | Prefixes as done officially are subtle and hard to teach, especially in terms of pronunciation: |
| #Prefixes currently act weird.
| | * They interact with vowel length in non-obvious ways: {{t|bộtao}} [bŏʔŏ] vs. {{t|bô'otao}} [boːʔo]. |
| ##They are unable to interact with {{Done|3}}. This proposal would allow prefixes to go on words with {{done|3}}.
| | * They’re not computer-friendly to spell. Some combinations, especially ones involving {{t|ı̣}} (that’s a dotless i with an underdot diacritic!), take a lot of effort to input (and Unicode normalizes that character to ị, which is not the same) and display poorly on many people’s systems. |
| ##It is unclear how exactly they affect vocalic length. Plus, those interactions are often quite subtle and easily missed – consider {{t|bộtao}} vs. {{t|bô'otao}}. This makes prefixes hard to teach and possibly discouraging to a new learner trying to produce them in speech.
| | * There's a gotcha involving vowel-initial stems: {{t|e-}} + {{t|ano}} is not {{t|ẹano}} [ˈʔĕʔĕano] but {{t|ẹ'ano}} [ˈʔɛ̆ʔɛ̆ʔaːno]. The latter decomposes as {{t|ea-}} + {{t|no}}! Looking at the IPA transcriptions, we may conclude that the language is actually sensitive to three vowel lengths, [ɛ̆~ĕ ɛ eː]. |
| #The current spelling of prefixes is not computer-friendly. They are difficult (if not impossible) to type for many and some characters, like {{T|ı̣}} often do not display correctly in many fonts. This proposal would allow for easier input and guarantee compatibility with most good fonts.
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| #*There's a gotcha where {{t|e-}} (any prefix) + {{t|ano}} (any vowel-initial stem) is not {{t|ẹano}} [ˈʔĕʔĕano] but {{t|ẹ'ano}} [ˈʔɛ̆ʔɛ̆ʔaːno]. The latter is actually {{t|ea-}} + {{t|no}}! – but this subtlety is not explained or taught to people, and it's likewise unintuitive. Worse yet, the glottal interposition (which turns /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ into [ɛ̆ʔɛ̆]) effectively splinters vowel length into three instead of two!
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| ==Spelling changes== | | ==Spelling changes== |
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| ==Pronunciation changes== | | ==Pronunciation changes== |
| :<b>TL;DR:</b> You always stress the first syllable of the stem. Prefixes should be quieter, shorter, and use mid tone.
| | * Stress the first syllable of the stem rather than the prefix. For instance, in {{t|puchumgòıchuq}} ‘was taking medicine’, stress the {{t|-goı-}}, no different than {{t|bugòıchuq}} ‘doesn’t/isn’t taking medicine’ or even just {{t|goıchuq}} ‘take medicine’. |
| | * This stressed syllable should be louder and/or longer and/or more extreme in terms of the tone contour. |
| | * The unstressed prefix syllables should be shortened with regards to regular vowel length: {{t|bunúq}} ‘the non-snake’ could be [bŭnʊq]. (◌̆, the breve, is used to signal “extra-short” vowel length in the IPA.) At any rate, they should sound shorter than the stressed syllable of the stem (so [bunuː] for {{t|bunú}} is fine). |
| | * The unstressed prefix syllables should use the weak forms of their core vowels: /u/ goes to [ʊ], /i/ goes to [ɪ], /o/ goes to [ɔ]. These contextual allophones are already used elsewhere in the language – namely, [ɔ] appears in {{t|oı}} /ɔj/, and the three are also triggered before {{t|q}}, e.g., {{t|bıq}} [bɪŋ] and not [biŋ]. Now imagine this is yet another context for them to be weakened. This leads to spicy phonoaesthetics not seen anywhere else in the language: {{t|jıa-}} [dʑɪa]! |
| | * In terms of tone: always pronounce all prefixes with the mid level tone, [˧]. Extra care should be taken not to allow the tone to slide upwards or downwards as it’s pronounced – in other words, avoid *[˧˦] or *[˧˨]. |
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| *Stress the first syllable of the stem rather than the prefix. For instance, in {{t|puchumgòıchuq}} ‘was taking medicine’, stress the {{t|-goı-}}, no different than {{t|bugòıchuq}} ‘doesn’t/isn’t taking medicine’ or even just {{t|goıchuq}} ‘take medicine’.
| | Illustrative examples: |
| *This stressed syllable should be louder and/or longer and/or more extreme in terms of the tone contour.
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| *The unstressed prefix syllables should be shortened with regards to regular vowel length: {{t|bunúq}} ‘the non-snake’ could be [bŭnʊq]. (◌̆, the breve, is used to signal “extra-short” vowel length in the IPA.) At any rate, they should sound shorter than the stressed syllable of the stem (so [bunuː] for {{t|bunú}} is fine).
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| *Optionally, the unstressed prefix syllables may use the weak forms of their core vowel: /u/ goes to [ʊ], /i/ goes to [ɪ], /o/ goes to [ɔ]. These contextual allophones are already used elsewhere in the language – namely, [ɔ] appears in {{t|oı}} /ɔj/, and the three are also triggered before {{t|q}}, e.g., {{t|bıq}} [bɪŋ] and not [biŋ]. Now imagine this is yet another context for them to be weakened. This leads to spicy phonoaesthetics not seen anywhere else in the language: {{t|jıa-}} [dʑɪa]!!!
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| *In terms of tone, there are two options, the hard option and the easy option:
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| *;The hard option: Make the prefix or prefixes’ contour “anticipate” the stem’s contour. For example, if the stem starts high, the prefixes should be high. If the stem starts lower, the prefixes should be there as well. This option has turned out hard in practice because it’s not as easy to control the tone contour of a weak unstressed syllable.
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| *;The easy option: Always pronounce all prefixes with the mid level tone, [˧]. Extra care should be taken not to allow the tone to slide upwards or downwards as it’s pronounced – in other words, avoid *[˧˦] or *[˧˨].
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| Illustrative examples (using the easy option): | |
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| {| class="wikitable" | | {| class="wikitable" |
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| The value of this proposal, apart from more flexibility and less ambiguity, is that stems no longer alternate between stressed and unstressed depending on whether they have prefixes attached to them (think {{t|<u>juı</u>taq}} vs. {{t|bụ<u>juı</u>}}). As another pleasant side effect, poly[[raku]]<nowiki/>ic words in {{done|3}} are now possible (like {{t|äımu}}, which before was ambiguous with the mid-falling allotonal forms of {{t|ạımu}} and {{t|ạ́ımu}}). | | The value of this proposal, apart from more flexibility and less ambiguity, is that stems no longer alternate between stressed and unstressed depending on whether they have prefixes attached to them (think {{t|<u>juı</u>taq}} vs. {{t|bụ<u>juı</u>}}). As another pleasant side effect, poly[[raku]]<nowiki/>ic words in {{done|3}} are now possible (like {{t|äımu}}, which before was ambiguous with the mid-falling allotonal forms of {{t|ạımu}} and {{t|ạ́ımu}}). |
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| ==Thinking clitically – a fifth tone==
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| Let us think about clitics – little segments of words that attach to other words rather than forming full units. For instance, in English, the possessive marker <i>’s</i> can attach to words like <i>California’s reputation</i> or entire phrases like <i>my most beloved partner’s necklace</i> or <i>that one guy we saw in the street’s student card</i>. But then there’s nothing stopping us from spelling it as a separate word: <i>California ’s reputation</i>, for instance. More on clitics [[wikipedia:Clitic|over on Wikipedia]] if you’re interested.
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| Similarly in Toaq, but let’s for a moment assume that the clitical “prefix toneme” is spelled like {{tone|1}} (as a macron). Its pronunciation is outlined above, but we could summarize it as a mid-flat tone that also nullifies vowel length: {{t|jıa}} /dʑiːa˥˩/ but {{t|jīa}} /dʑia˧/. Putting this together into a new table:
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| {| class="wikitable"
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| !Official
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| |{{t|puchụmtao}}
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| |{{t|jı̣achia}}
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| |{{t|lạ́maı bẹ́ıroı}}
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| | style="background:#ccc" |N/A
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| |{{t|jụ̂aqjuaı}}
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| |-
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| !“Halfway”<ref group=note>[[Lynn]]’s idea: https://discord.com/channels/311223912044167168/334810940392341514/1174698020579856434</ref>
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| |{{t|puchụmtao}}
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| |{{t|jı̣achıa}}
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| |{{t|lạmáı bẹıróı}}
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| |{{t|tọꝡä}}
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| |{{t|jụaqjûaı}}
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| |-
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| !Main proposal
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| |{{t|puchumtào}}
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| |{{t|jıachìa}}
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| |{{t|lamáı beıróı}}
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| |{{t|toꝡä}}
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| |{{t|juaqjûaı}}
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| |-
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| !This idea
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| !{{t|pū chūm tao}}
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| !{{t|jīa chıa}}
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| !{{t|lā máı bēı róı}}
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| !{{t|tō ꝡä}}
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| !{{t|jūaq jûaı}}
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| |-
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| !A respelling<ref group=note>As a ludicrous flight of fancy, imagining the prefix tone is spelled the “lightest”, without any tone marks, {{done|1}} taking a new obligate tone mark, ◌̀, in its place.</ref>
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| |{{t|pu chum tào}}
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| |{{t|jıa chìa}}
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| |{{t|la máı beı róı}}
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| |{{t|to ꝡä}}
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| |{{t|juaq jûaı}}
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| |}
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| <small><references group=note /></small>
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| With this in mind, we may look at the neat symmetry in which [[focus marker]]s behave when alternated between their inherent {{done|2}} and this new {{tone|1}}:
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| {|
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| | {{t|luı}} || {{t|do}} || {{t|jí}} || {{t|súq}} || {{green|{{t|kú}}}} || {{green|{{t|tú}}}} || {{green|{{t|maoja}}}}
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| |-
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| | colspan=7 | ‘I have given you {{green|''all the apples''}}.’
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| |-
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| | {{t|luı}} || {{t|do}} || {{t|jí}} || {{t|súq}} || {{orange|{{t|kū}}}} || {{orange|{{t|tú}}}} || {{t|maoja}}
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| |-
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| | colspan=7 | ‘I have given you {{orange|''all''}} the apples.’
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| |}
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| ==See also== | | ==See also== |
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| * [https://discord.com/channels/311223912044167168/889589074011230230/1113157808934883469 uakci’s original message] | | * [https://discord.com/channels/311223912044167168/889589074011230230/1113157808934883469 uakci’s original message] |
| | * A “logical conclusion” of the proposal posits that prefixes could be treated as separate words carrying a special [[prefix toneme]]. |