Early Classical Lizardman language

Early Classical Lizardman was the language of the Ancient Lizardman Empire between around 15 000 BEKE and 9 000 BEKE. Many of the changes that shaped the language's evolution took palce in this period of time.

Evolution from Archaic Lizardman

 * /wa ja jo ju we wi/ -> /wɒ jɛ ɥy ɥø ɥy ɥø/
 * The initial clusters /nr tʰr tr dr t͡sʰr t͡sr d͡zr sr zr/ became a new retroflex series /ɳ ʈʰ ʈ ɖ ʈ͡ʂʰ ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ ʂ ʐ/
 * The initial clusters /nj tʰj tj dj t͡sʰj t͡sj d͡zj sj zj/ became a new palatal series /ɲ t͡ɕʰ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ ɕ ʑ/. /ŋj/ too became /ɲ/.
 * /ɥ/ too triggers palatalization, just like /j/
 * /g/ is consistently lenited to /ɣ/
 * The /kr/ cluster becomes /x/, merging with previous /h/ which also shifts to /x/
 * The /r/ initial develops into either /ɻ/ or /ʁ/ depending on the context.
 * /r/ before front vowels and /j/ becomes retroflex /ɻ/
 * /r/ before back vowels and /w/ becomes uvular /ʁ/
 * medial /r/ is dropped
 * final /r/ becomes a retroflex approximant /ɻ/
 * Final /s/ is dropped, replaced by a falling tone /˥˩/
 * Final /ʔ/ is dropped, replacing by a rising tone /˩˥/
 * /u o/ break into /w/ + /i e/ when followed by /j n ɻ t/
 * /əj/ developed into various differently depending on the initial
 * /əj/ became /ɛj/ after /ɻ/
 * /əj/ became /ej/ after other dental, retroflex and palatal consonants
 * /əj/ became /oj/ after velar consonants
 * /əj/ became /woj/ after labial consonants
 * Open-syllable /e o/ became /ei̯ ou̯/

Phonotactics

 * An optional initial
 * An optional glide /j/, /w/ or /ɥ/
 * A mandatory vowel
 * An optional coda-position consonant or tone

Initials
Classical Lizardman was notable for having two rhotic phonemes: a coronal /ɻ/ and a dorsal /ʁ/.

Finals

 * Open-syllable /e o/ no longer existed, as they were replaced by became /ei̯ ou̯/
 * The schwa /ə/ never existed in open syllables