The original dialect of Standard Animal spoken on Rikytamyšydžoššy Beach had 16 consonants, m n ŋ p t k ʔ b d g s h l r w j, and three vowels, a i u. No consonant clusters or final consonants were allowed, although the vowel a could be silent allophonically.
1. An h before an accented vowel metathesized and created an aspirated consonant at the beginning of the word. Note that voiceless stops were always aspirated, so this shift did not change them.
2. An ʔ before an accented vowel disappeared, unless the previous syllable began with a voiceless stop, in which case it created a glottalized stop there.
3. All voiceless stops except the glottalized ones became aspirated.
4. Aspirated voiced stops became voiceless fricatives. Plain voiced stops became voiced fricatives.
5. All voiced fricatives merged as ɣ. All voiceless fricatives merged as h.
6. Aspiration disappeared on approximants, except for wʰ which became f.
7. Glottalized stops became voiced, except ḳ, which became the voiceless uvular stop q.
8. The alveolar flap r became the palatal approximant j in all positions.
9. In initial position or at the beginning of an accented syllable, the consonants mʰ nʰ ŋʰ changed to f s h.
10. The glottalized stops ṗ ṭ changed to b d unconditionally.
Thus Tapilula had the consonants m n ŋ p t k q ʔ b d f s h ɣ l w j and the vowels a i u All syllables were open and all consonants could occur in all positions. There was a variable stress accent.
Tapilula to Middle Andanese (7200 BC)
Tapilula inherited from Standard Animal the phonology p b m f w t d n s l j k ŋ ɣ h q ʔ a i u, where ʔ represents a glottal stop. All syllables were open and all consonants could occur in all positions. There was a variable stress accent.
0. In word-initial position before another vowel and medially between two other vowels, the bare vowels i u changed to j w.
1. The vowel sequences ai au changed to e o unconditionally.
2. The bilabial stop p became w except when it followed an accented vowel or occurred in a consonant cluster or a monosyllabic word.
3. The bilabial nasal m became the velar fricative ´h when it preceded a vowel followed by a labial consonant. This sound caused an allophonic rise in pitch in vowels it preceded. The old glottal h sound did not cause this high pitch, and was sometimes thus spelled `h.
4. The bilabial approximant w changed to l except when it preceded a vowel followed by a labial consonant, in which case it became the voiced velar fricative ɣ. This sound caused an allophonic rise in pitch in vowels it preceded. The old voiced pharyngeal fricative did not cause this high pitch, and was sometimes thus spelled x.
5. The bilabial fricative f changed to ´h in all positions.
6. The alveolar consonants t n became k ŋ except when they followed an accented vowel or occurred in a consonant cluster.
7. The alveolar fricative s became the voiced uvular fricative -x except when it was in a consonant cluster, in which case it was deleted.
8. All voiced stops became voiceless.
9. Consonants weakened into guttural fricatives when they preceded an accented vowel and followed another of the same vowel. k became `x, ŋ became `ŋ, ʔ became ´ŋ, and n became the voiceless uvular fricative -h. Meanwhile in this position l became ` and j became ´.
10. These new consonants came to affect the tone of vowels after them rather than those before them. This distinction became phonetic when the distinction between velars, uvulars, and glottals disappeared.
The Andanese alphabet at the end of Stage 2 thus consisted of 5 vowels, a i u e o; and 16 consonants: p m w t n j k l `ŋ ´ŋ `x x ´x `h ´h c. Besides these, there were two "silent" consonants, the high and low varieties of the null consonant, which were not pronounced but, like the other high and low consonants, affected the tone of vowels that came after them, where tone had otherwise already disappeared from the language. These had arisen from j and l, respectively, when they preceded an accented vowel and followed another of the same vowel. Meanwhile, k in this position by analogy merged with the `x sound, and ŋ in this position similarly merged with `ŋ, c in this position merged with ´ŋ, h in this position merged with ´h, and n in this position merged with h.
Middle Andanese to Late Andanese (6500 BC)
The distinction of tone in consonants did not last long, and it was soon transferred to the vowels.
1. The consonants j and w came to be considered as vowels, and would become syllabic in certain circumstances.
2. The velar nasal ŋ disappeared in all positions.
3. The vowels e and o changed to a unconditionally.
4. Tones were eliminated except in syllables with no consonants.
5. Tones were eliminated.