Aswiye language

Sound Change

1. Initial Deletion: All initial consonants are deleted.
2. Tonogenesis: High tone is assigned to vowels following voiced consonants, and low tone is assigned to vowels following voiceless consonants.
3. Rhotacism: /z/ > /r/ between vowels.
4. Fricative Voicing: Voiceless fricatives /f/, /s/, /š/, /ṣ/ become voiced /v/, /z/, /ž/, /ẓ/ between voiced sounds.
5. Vowel Nasalization: Vowels become nasalized before nasal consonants.
6. Loss of Final Vowels: All final vowels are dropped, except when word-final.
7. Vowel Lengthening: Short vowels are lengthened in stressed syllables.
8. Diphthong Simplification: /au/ > /o/, /ai/ > /e/.
9. Debuccalization: /p/, /t/, /k/ become /ʔ/ before /a/.
10. Epenthesis: A schwa is inserted between unsyllabifiable consonant clusters.
11. Assimilation: Voiced obstruents assimilate the voicing of the following obstruent.
12. Emphatic Deemphatization: Emphatic consonants /ṭ/, /ṣ/, /ḍ/, /ẓ/ become their non-emphatic counterparts /t/, /s/, /d/, /z/.
13. Laryngealization: Consonants become laryngealized (voiced) when preceded by a voiced consonant.
14. Vowel Lowering: /i/, /u/ lower to /e/, /o/ in closed syllables.
15. Gemination: Consonants are geminated (doubled) following a short, stressed vowel.

Root Languages

• Proto-Zākh language

Spoken by

• Aswiye people