Wugu Diachronica

For Wụūgụ, I am trying out a new system of Diachronica (the historical aspect of the language, showing how the language has changed over time).

Previously, I've only used non-historic methods, because I've found when I try to use the standard mechanisms in the conlang community for diachronica, I hate the results. The standard method is to define a proto-lang's phonology, then a series of sound changes. Then you coin terms in the proto-lang, and mutate them to get the modern lang.

I find (for me) the method is too tedious and rigid, the phonology I get feels more generic and pulled-out-of-thin-air than if I had just invented one from scratch. But I think I've found the solution I need to make the historic method work for me.

The Method
The key to this method is that it is not simply starting with a proto-lang, making a list of sound changes, and then getting the modern lang from those sound changes. Rather, it has 7 phases: snapshots of a period of linguistic stability, followed by a sequence of sound changes to get to the next phase. Then, rather than having words be defined in the proto-lang, words are actually coined in one of the middle phases, and the sound changes are applied both forwards (to get the modern word) and backwards (to get the reconstructed proto-word, which might then be used for coining other terms).

These phases also give me an easy pathway for defining etymology/changes in a word's meaning over time.

I have never tried this method before, so the results could be disastrous, but let's find out together!

Phase 1 - Proto Wugu (approx. 4,000 ya)
This phase is a very long time ago - so all information regarding it is reconstruction. This means there may be missing or contradictory information, or aspects of Proto Wugu which are not understood.

Reconstructed phonology tbc

Phase 2 - Ancient Wugu (approx. 2,000 ya)
Knowledge of Ancient Wugu is very patchy and inconsistent.

Phase 4 - Middle Wugu (approx. 700 ya)
Middle Wugu is where much of the language is initially defined, before being pulled forward and stretched back. This is also where the Mountain dialect diverges.