Verse:Mwail/Bri: Difference between revisions

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|name = {{SUBPAGENAME}}

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|fam1=[[Verse:Mwail/Keric languages|Keric]]

'''{{SUBPAGENAME}}''' (Standard Bri: ''Bri^B2- dreabh^C0+'' /ʙʲi^B2- r̝aw^C0+/) was the classical language of Mwail British Isles, belonging to the Keric family. By the year 4000, Bri served exclusively as a religious, ceremonial, and poetic language rather than a spoken one; it was a monosyllabic tonal language, with 24 tones realized via 24 different cantillation melodies.

== Phonology of Standard Bri ==

=== Initials ===

Nuclei: /a e i o u ə/ '''a/ea ae/e aoi/i o/eo u/iu w/iw''' (The first member of each pair indicates a broad initial, the second a slender one)

=== Tones ===

The following lists the native names of the 24 tones/cantillation tropes:

{| class="wikitable"

|+Native names of tones

!|Proto-Keric initial phonation

!|Deuterechesis

!A (null or resonant coda)

!B (glottal stop coda)

!C (fricative coda)

!D (voiceless stop coda)

!rowspan=2|Glottalized (0)

!| Voiceless (-)

| ''dridh^A0-''

| ''bae^B0-''

| ''zhea^C0-''

| ''gogh^D0-''

!| Voiced (+)

| ''mbraoi^A0+''

| ''driwdh^B0+''

| ''ndreo^C0+''

| ''dwgh^D0+''

!rowspan=2|Modal (1)

!| Voiceless (-)

| ''eodh^A1-''

| ''aoidh^B1-''

| ''zhiu^C1-''

| ''grugh^D1-''

!| Voiced (+)

| ''mea^A1+''

| ''zhobh^B1+''

| ''nebh^C1+''

| ''gaedh^D1+''

!rowspan=2|Breathy (2)

!| Voiceless (-)

| ''gw^A2-''

| ''bragh^B2-''

| ''dre^C2-''

| ''dabh^D2-''

!| Voiced (+)

| ''ngeadh^A2+''

| ''begh^B2+''

| ''gaoibh^C2+''

| ''ndredh^D2+''

==== Notes on terminology ====

Standard Bri has undergone three tone splits (or tonogeneses if one would view it that way):

# The first tone split (no tone to 3 tones) was based on Proto-Bri initial phonation which was largely predictable from the Proto-Ker initial phonation.

# The second tone split (3 tones to 12 tones) was based on Proto-Ker final type.

# The third tone split (12 tones to 24 tones) was based on the initial phonation distinction that had arisen after prenasalized initials became voiced ones.

In English, we have chosen to term the initial phonation that conditioned the second initial phonation-based tone split (which caused Bri to double its number of tones from a 12-tone stage) as ''deuterechesis'' (from Greek δεύτερος 'second' + ἤχησις 'sounding', because the latter word uses the root Greek uses for 'voiced' and 'voiceless' as in voiced and voiceless stops). For deuterechesis, voiceless consonants are denoted - and voiced ones are denoted +.