Middle Cẹhir

Middle Cẹhir Period This period covers the changes between Late Old Cẹhir and Middle Cẹhir up until the 6th Century MA. /z/ rhotasises to /r/: LOC oínazu [òínɑzu] "stupid" → MC oínaru [òínɑru] "innocent" Loss of /l/ after fricatives: LOC síraðlás [sírɑ̀ðlɑ́s] "shreik" → MC sárðas [sɑ́rðɑ̀s] Long /oː/ becomes /uː/ word finally: LOC nlṓ [ǹ̩lóː] "nose" → MC nulū́ [nùlúː] Syllabic consonants become consonental: By insterting a vowel between them and the nearby consonant, syllabic consonants are no longer syllabic. The epenthetic vowel is the same as whatever vowel is in the syllable after the syllabic consonant, although the epenthetic vowel will always be short and carry the pitch that its syllabic predecer had: LOC nlṓ [ǹ̩lóː] "nose" → MC nulū́ [nùlúː], LOC þnásu [θǹ̩ɑ́su] "happy" → MC þanásu [θɑ̀nɑ́su]. Loss of vowels after fricatives, /r/ and before /ð/ and /θ/: Tone reform: Another tone reform although much tamer than the last tone reform. In this reform the structure bases itself on the tone of the first syllable, such that if the first syllable has a high tone then the second syllable will gain a low tone and any syllables after will lose all tone and vice versa, thus creatng a system with two possible patterns and where tones only occur on the first two syllables: LOC síraðlás [sírɑ̀ðlɑ́s] "shreik" → MC sárðas [sɑ́rðɑ̀s]. This also fixes the tone patterns in place removing all traces of Old Sumrë's fossilsed mobile pitch. Despite how it is fixed it retains it's phonemic status due to there being two pitch patterns which are "soaring pitch" (where a word's first syllable has a high tone) and "swooping pitch" (where a word's first syllable has a low pitch). Vowels before /rC/ become the same vowel as the vowel after /rC/: LOC izáðö [izáðø̀] "reigns" → MEC írðö → ọrðö [ǿrðø̀].

Summary of Middle Cẹhir sound changes: z→r

l→∅/F_

oː→uː

R[+syllabic]...V1→RV1...V1

V→∅/{F,r}_{ð,θ}


 * 1) $V[+high]$[any tone]→#$[+high]$[+low]


 * 1) $V[+low]$[any tone]→#$[+low]$[+high]

V1rCV2→V2rCV2