Sound changes

Sound change rules (also known as phonological rules) can be applied to all words using the Sound Change field. This notation can also in affix rules, Custom Spelling, and Illegal combinations field.

A basic rule like a > o means change every a to o. Try it yourself:

Input	Rule	Output
alabama	a > o	olobomo

You can also specify if the change should only happen in a particular environment: a > o / _b means change every a to o if it comes before a b. The / means in the environment of and _ signifies where the a is.

Input	Rule	Output
alabama	a > o / _b	alobama

Be aware that letters with diaciritcs are treated as different phonemes to letters without. Therefore, t > p does not change an aspirated tʰ:

Input	Rule	Output
utah tʰexas	t > p	upah tʰexas

Word boundaries

# signifies a word boundary. Notice how the following pattern only changes the first a.

Input	Rule	Output
alabama	a > o / #_	olabama

You must use ## for rules that go across word boundaries:

Input	Rule	Output
alaska iowa ohio	a > u / _##i	alasku iowa ohio

Similarly, a > ## changes every a to a space.

Classes and sets

C matches any consonant and V matches any vowel:

Input	Rule	Output
alabama	V > o / C_	alobomo

Additionally, X matches any phoneme at all, with or without diacritics on it; D macthes any IPA letter (does not capture diacritics); and ᴰ (superscript D) captures any diacritic symbol.

Capture a custom set of phonemes inside curly brackets: {b,m} matches b or m.

Input	Rule	Output
alabama	{b,m} > p	alapapa
alabama	a > o / _{b,m}	aloboma

To capture other classes of phonemes with common features, such as stops, nasals, etc., you should use distinctive feature notation.

Note: Curly brackets cannot be used in the replacement side of the > symbol. Instead, bar symbol | creates a random choice between replacement options: b > m | n | b changes b to m or n or b. All three options are equally probable, but can be weighted with the * symbol: b > m*3 | n*2 | b is the same as b > m | m | m | n | n | b.

Optional patterns

Round brackets makes a pattern optional:

Input	Rule	Output
alaksa kansas	a > o / _(C)#	alakso kansos

Adding a star * after the brackets means zero or more instances of the pattern. Brackets can be ommited when the pattern is a single symbol: C* and (C)* both mean any number of consonants in a row, however (VC)* is needed to match a succession of VC patterns in a row.

Input	Rule	Output
alaksa maryland	a > o / _C*#	alakso marylond

One or more of a pattern can be achieved by making the star optional C(*), or simply writing the pattern twice like CC*.

Deletion

To delete something, simply change to literally nothing:

Input	Rule	Output
alabama	C >	aaaa

You can also write a null symbol, C > ∅. Note that the null symbol (U+2205) should not be confused the Scandinavian letter Ø (U+00D8).

Insertion (infixing)

Similar to deletion, changing from nothing (or null symbol ∅) will insert a phoneme in the environment you specify:

Input	Rule	Output
mtana vermt	> on / m_	montana vermont

Note that this effectively how you do infxes in Vulgarlang. In linguistic writing, the convention is to write infixes with hyphens either side of it, e.g. -on-. However this does not tell us exactly where in the word the infix goes. A linguistic paper would given examples or describe where the infix goes, however in Vulgarlang we instead must insert it as a sound change at a particular environment.

Syllables

$ signifies a syllable boundary, and sigma σ matches a whole syllable. The difference between the two is that syllable boundary also includes word boundaries. So a rule such as i > e / _$ would match i at the end of word, where as i > e / _σ wouldn't, because it's looking for a whole syllable after it.

Input	Rule	Output
hawaii	i > e / _$	hawaee

Be wary of syllable boundaries because Vulgarlang may split the syllables where you don't agree they should be split! Since there's generally no agreement where syllables should be split. Is "syllable" si-la-bəl or sil-a-bəl? You can test exactly how the app splits syllables on this page by changing the syllable boundary to something like a full stop $ > .

Affix boundaries

+ signifies an affix boundary, a > e / _+ changes a before an affix boundary only. When an affix is added to a word in the Vulgarlang app, it adds a zero-width character at the affix boundary, which tells the sound change where the boundary is. In the below example, a zero-width character has been manually added bewteen california + n:

Input	Rule	Output
california⁠n	a > e / _+	californie⁠n

As noted in the Insertion (infixing) section, infixes in Vulgarlang have to be added with sound changes. By default, an insertion sound change does not add these affix boundaries either side of the insertion. If you want to make other sound changes that are sensitive to this infix boundary, you must add the + symbols into the insertion rule itself: > +on+ / m_

Exceptions to rules

The ! symbol signifies an exception to a rule. The following changes every a to o except before m:

Input	Rule	Output
alabama	a > o / !_m	olobamo

Exceptions can also be added to the end of a normal rule, eg: a > o / _C !_m means a changes o before any consonant, except m.

Distinctive features

Square brackets are used to specify the presence (+) or absence (-) of distinctive features of a phoneme. The following rule nasalizes a vowel before another nasal:

Input	Rule	Output
kansas	V > [+nasal] / _[+nasal]	kãnsas

[+nasal] matches both nasal vowels and nasal consonants. But you could specify that you only want it to affect nasal consonants with [C +nasal]:

Input	Rule	Output
kãnsas	[C +nasal] > b	kãbsas

Various features can be used to narrow down the match. The following rule deletes voiceless stops, which in this case is only k:

Input	Rule	Output
nebraska	[+stop -voice] > [+alveolar]	nebrasta

Here is a complete list:

Feature	Meaning
[+affricate]	affricate consonants
[+alveolar]	alveolar consonants
[+approx]	approximants
[+aspirated]	aspirated consonants
[+back]	back vowels
[+click]	click consonants
C or [+consonant]	consonants
[+cons]	consonantals (different to consonants - see Wikipedia)
[+cont]	continuants
[+dorsal]	dorsals
[+fricative]	fricative consonants
[+front]	front vowels
[+glottal]	glottal consonants
[+high]	high vowels
[+implosive]	implosive consonants
[+labial]	labial consonants and round vowels
[+labialized]	labialized consonants
[+laryngeal]	laryngeal consonants
[+lat]	lateral consonants
[+liquid]	liquid consonants
[+long]	long vowels or long (geminate) consonants
[+low]	low vowels
[+nasal]	nasal consonants or nasal vowels
[C +nasal]	nasal consonants
[V +nasal]	nasal vowels
[+palatal]	palatal consonants
[+palatalized]	palatalized consonants
[+pharyngealized]	pharyngealized phonemes
[+retroflex]	retroflex consonants
[+round]	round vowels
[+son]	sonorants
[+stop]	stop consonants (a.k.a. plosives)
[V +stress]	stressed vowels
[+tap]	tap consonants
[+trill]	trill consonants
[+uvular]	uvular consonants
[±+velar]	velar consonants
[±+velarized]	velarized consonants
[+voice]	voiced consonant or vowel (unless specifically a voiceless vowel)
[C +voice]	voiced consonant
[V +voice]	voiced vowels
V or [+vowel]	vowels

Assimilation

Assimilation is the process where a phoneme takes on a distinctive feature of another phoneme. An example of this in English can be seen in the prefix in- which makes the opposite meaning of a word, eg: tolerant becomes intolerant. However if the word begins with m or p notice how the prefix becomes im- as in immovable and impossible. This is because the nasal consonant n assimilates to the "place of articulation" of the following phoneme; m and p are labial (pronounced with a closure of the lips) so n (alveolar nasal) becomes m (labial nasal). Meanwhile the place of articulation of n and t are both alveolar. And although it is not reflected in the spelling, the word incomplete is actually pronoucned with a ŋ [iŋkomplit]; n assimilates to the velar place of k.

It would be possible to capture this process with two separate rules: n > [+labial] / _[+labial] and n > [+velar] / _[+velar]. However we can write this as a single rule n > [@place] / _[@place]:

Input	Rule	Output
helsinki istanbul	n > [@place] / _[@place]	helsiŋki istambul

This is currently an experimental feature, and works for @place, @manner and @voice for consonants, and @height and @backness for vowels.

Stress

You can use the feature [V ±stress]. For example [V -stress] > ə mimics English's tendency to turn unstressed vowels into ə. You can also target an individual vowel: [ɪ +stress] > i

To change the stress location of a word, you must target the location of the vowel, eg V > [+stress] / _C*# stresses the last vowel in a word: C*# meaning before any number of consonants before the word boundary.

Additionally, [V ±stress] does not work for spelling rules. (The generator can't tell where syllables begin and end once it's dealing with your unique spelling system, and not pure IPA.) Instead you must check Make spelling rules sensitive to stress symbol option and make rules that account for the ˈ stress symbol. The following rule looks for the stress mark and any optional consonants before the vowel. A separate rule will be needed to remove the stress symbols:

Input	Rule	Output
ˈkansas neˈbraska	a > á / ˈC*_	ˈkánsas neˈbráska

Same phoneme in a set

There may be scenarios where you want to match two of the same phonemes from a class. To do this, use the a matching subscript number (₁₂₃₄₅₆₇₈₉) after the uppercase class. For example, C₁C₁ means two of the same consonants in a row:

Input	Rule	Output
massachusetts	V > o / _C₁C₁	mossachusotts

Different numbers can signify that they are different phonemes. The following pattern matches two consonants in a row and swaps them:

Input	Rule	Output
nebraska	C₁C₂ > C₂C₁	nerbaksa

For ease of typing, regular numbers also work: C1C2 > C2C1. If subscripts are left out, the program will make certain assumptions about what the rule means:

Input	Rule	Output
ohio	VV > VxV	ohixo

Subscripts can also be used after distinctive features: [C +nasal]₁; or sets: {n,m}₁. Multi-patterns can be captured inside curly brackets too:

Input	Rule	Output
ahut	{VC}₁{VC}₂ > {VC}₂{VC}₁	utah

Reduplication

Reduplication is a process in some languages where the whole word, or part of the word, is repeated exactly (or with a slight change). Although it often plays more of a grammatical function (such as forming the plural of a word) rather than being a global sound change.

A pattern can be reduplicated by changing the match to a double underscore __. For example, the Pangasinan language (Philippines) reduplicates the first CV pattern to express the plural form:

Input	Rule	Output
nevada	CV > __ / #_	nenevada

Full word reduplication can be achieved by matching the whole word X* (where X matches any phoneme and * matches any number of X) and replacing itself with double underscore:

Input	Rule	Output
newyork	X* > __	newyorknewyork

Changing to a single underscore replaces the match with itself, which is not very useful unless it's combined with something else. For example in Pangasinan, if the noun starts with a CCV pattern, it reduplicates the first consonant only and first vowel. One way to achieve this would be to use subscript numbers on the CCV pattern like C₁C₂V₁ and replace it with C₁V₁_:

Input	Rule	Output
florida	C₁C₂V₁ > C₁V₁_ / #_	foflorida

First and last match

In same cases, you may want to only change the first or last match in the word. Use << for first match and >> for last match:

Input	Rule	Output
mississippi	s >> x	missisxippi

Input	Rule	Output
mississippi	s << x	mixsissippi

Coniditional statements

There may be scenarios where you want to create sound changes based on whether a pattern exist in a word, and apply a different change if the pattern doesn't exist. Use the key words IF this pattern is found THEN apply this sound change ELSE apply a different sound change. The following rules tests if the word starts with a. If it doesn't, it applies a totally different sound change:

Input	Rule	Output
alabama	IF #a THEN a > o ELSE a > e	olobomo

The ELSE condition is optional and can be omitted. Multiple IF statements are permitted:

Input	Rule	Output
alabama	IF #s THEN #s > z IF a# THEN a > e	elebeme

Non-Latin alphabets

Custom spelling supports all Unicode alphabets and scripts, such as Japanese, Chinese, Cyrillic and even Unicode Emojis.

Order of rules

The order of rules matter. Vulgar will find-and-replace the first rule to a word, then apply the next rule over the top of what it just did. This can be a problem if a IPA symbol appears in multiple patterns. For instance, the following ordering is problematic:

ʊ > u
aʊ > ow

The intent here is for the diphthong aʊ (as in the word "cow") to change to ow. However, a previous rule has already changed any ʊ (as in the word "put") to u, which means aʊ has already changed to au. The easiest solution is to reverse the order of the rules:

aʊ > ow
ʊ > u

Another solution is to use the exception ! symbol: ʊ > u / !a_.

Comments

Double forward slahes // create a comment line that is ignored by the generator. This allows you to make notes to yourself in the Sound Change options:

// a turns to o before b
a > o / _b

Comments can be used in all input boxes in Vulgarlang, as well as inside grammar tables in the Grammar Editor.