True Volpanian Language History
The protofelinic language emerged in 320 bE, during the bronze age, in what we call southwestern yakutia in our world.
Between 300 and 200 aE, it splitted into its most recognizable families: Catus, spoken across the siberian coast, and Volpanian, spoken in central yakutia. The Volpanian family later split into Central (also known as Western, the standard dialect of Volpanian), and Shterp'ii (Eastern).
Between 200 and 100 aE the felinic peoples formed the Kingdom of All Kat, also known as the First Kingdom of Kat, in which the Volpanian language was phonologically and grammatically influenced by Catus (and vice versa), as well as recieving loanwords from extensive contact with Mongolian, Kipchak Turkic.
By 67 bE, the fall of the Kat Kingdom, the language was in a stage known as true volpanian, from which all modern volpanian dialects derive.
phonology and romanization
| Vowels | Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ù | u |
| Mid | ö | ò | |
| Openmid | e oe | o | |
| Open | a |
| - | bilabial | labiodental | alveolar | palatal | velar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nasal | m | n | n' | ||
| stop | p b | t t' | k g | ||
| Sib. Affricate | ts | ||||
| Sib. Fricative | s | s' | x | ||
| Non. Affricate | f v | ||||
| Approximant | w | j | |||
| Tap/Flap | r' | ||||
| Trill | p' | r |
l is a velarized dental/alveolar lateral approximant
tapped and trilled r are phonemically distinct
labiovelar approximant w is pronounced between v and w
n is velarized before k, g, l
e and o are openmid, pronounced like bEd and nOt in RP english, ò is mid, pronounced like dOOr or rOar
Front-Back(+central) Vowel Harmony, which corresponds to gender: (i/ö/e/oe) (ù/u/ò/o/a)
The harmony is derived from the gender of the root word, then all affixes are shifted. If it refers to people, the root word can be shifted immediately to the preferred gender.