Difference between revisions of "Proto-East Mirarian language"

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{{Infobox proto-language
| name        = Proto-East-Mirarian
| altname    =
| acceptance  =
| target      = [[East-Mirarian languages]]
| region      = [[East Miraria]], likely in western [[Juhashka]]
| era        = 5000-2000 BCE
| familycolor = pem
| ancestor    =
| child1      = [[Proto-Mahavic language|Proto-Mahavic]]
| child2      =
| child12    =
| listclass  = plainlist
| notes      =
}}
'''Proto-East-Mirarian''' ('''PEM''') is the hypothetical [[Wikipedia:Linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] ancestor to the [[East-Mirarian languages|East-Mirarian]] [[Wikipedia:Language family|language family]]. It is believed to have been spoken somewhere between 7000 to 4000 years ago (estimates vary). The precise location of their original homeland is not known, though most theories place it somewhere in the vicinity of the Sheisho mountains in western [[Juhashka]].
'''Proto-East-Mirarian''' ('''PEM''') is the hypothetical [[Wikipedia:Linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] ancestor to the [[East-Mirarian languages|East-Mirarian]] [[Wikipedia:Language family|language family]]. It is believed to have been spoken somewhere between 7000 to 4000 years ago (estimates vary). The precise location of their original homeland is not known, though most theories place it somewhere in the vicinity of the Sheisho mountains in western [[Juhashka]].



Revision as of 17:42, 8 January 2021

Proto-East-Mirarian
Reconstruction ofEast-Mirarian languages
RegionEast Miraria, likely in western Juhashka
Era5000-2000 BCE
Lower-order reconstructions

Proto-East-Mirarian (PEM) is the hypothetical reconstructed ancestor to the East-Mirarian language family. It is believed to have been spoken somewhere between 7000 to 4000 years ago (estimates vary). The precise location of their original homeland is not known, though most theories place it somewhere in the vicinity of the Sheisho mountains in western Juhashka.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant system had a two-way contrast of stop consonants (fortis vs. lenis).

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Laryngeal
central lateral plain labial
Nasal *m *n (*ñ)
Plosive and Affricate *p *b *t *d (*ć) (*j) *k *g *kʷ *gʷ *q1
Fricative *s *z
Glide *j *x 2 *w
Liquid *r *l

  1. While the segment *q was likely present, its status as a distinct phoneme has been challenged. It can usually only be reconstructed morpheme initially, which would make it in contemporary distribution with *x, which does not occur in that position. However, may have appeared intervocalically in some compound words.
  2. Although *x was phonetically most likely a velar fricative, it patterns with the glides *y *w.

*ñ, *j, *ć are considered dubious, with few satisfactory roots to back them up. While the affricate *ć is reconstructed readily, there is limited evidence to support it as a distinct phoneme it from the fricative *ś, which does not appear geminated or in consonant clusters. *ñ was often reconstructed historically but many of the roots involved have now been put down to inter-branch loanwords, with the vast majority of the remaining examples being constructed as the cluster /nj/.

Consonant length was contrastive, though there are limitations on which consonants it applied to. As a general rule, neither voiced obstruents nor the glides may be lengthened. In environments where geminates would otherwise be expected, the voiced obstruents *b *d *z (*j) *g instead appeared as nasal + stop clusters, i.e. *mb *nd *nz (*ñj) *ŋg. The glides *y *x *w were not affected by lengthening processes at all.

Vowels

It is generally accepted that Proto-East-Mirarian had 8 vowels, which were sorted into two harmony classes. These harmony classes are traditionally called "front" and "back", though their precise nature has been difficult to assess due to conflicting evidence from different branches. Rounded vowels only occurred in initial syllables (with the exception of some reduplicated stems and fossilized prefixes); unstressed syllables distinguish between height, with vowels harmonizing based on the class of the initial vowel.

The system of vowel harmony is commonly assumed to be palatal based on evidence from Mahavic and Hedretic, with the system of Tongue Root harmony in Ughmar and Elipan being a shared innovation. However, it has been suggested that vowel development in various languages point to the RTR harmony having been primary, which was retained in the central EM branches while being lost in the outliers. This theory has become more popular in recent years but it has yet to gain general acceptance.

Palatal
Front Back
unrounded rounded unrounded rounded
High *i /i/ *ü /y/ *ı /ɯ/ *u /u/
Low *ä /e ~ æ/ *ö /ø/ *a /ɑ/ *o /o/
Tongue Root
Advanced Retracted
unrounded rounded unrounded rounded
High *i /i/ *ü /u/ *ı /ɪ/ *u /ʊ/
Low *ä /ə/ *ö /o/ *a /a/ *o /ɔ/

Some stems and suffixes in Proto-East-Mirarian have been reconstructed with a final vowel that has no reflex in any known daughter language. While the exact nature of these final vowels cannot be reconstructed, the presence of such a vowel is marked with *V.

Phonotactics

The maximal possible syllable in Proto-East-Mirarian is of the form C₁VxC₂. These categories consist of:

  • C₁ — Any consonant.
  • V — Any vowel.
  • x — /x/.
  • C₂ — Any consonant besides /q č ć ś x kʷ gʷ/.

/p r x ŋ ć/ cannot occur word initially. /b/ and /d/ may not occur as the first consonant in a cluster. /x/ cannot occur as the second consonant in a cluster. Voiced obstruents and glides cannot occur as geminates. Illegal clusters are broken up with the addition of an epenthetic |i|. Consonant clusters involving three consonants are rare; all begin with /x/, resulting from apocope of /i ı/.

Grammar

Proto-East-Mirarian was mostly head final and used SOV word order. Given the richness of verbs, as well as some archaic constructions, many recent theories have been offered that Pre-Proto-East-Mirarian was more predominantly head-initial.

Nouns

Proto-East-Mirarian was an agglutinating, almost entirely suffixing nominative-accusative language. Nouns did not have grammatical gender nor did they mark definitiveness.

Case

Proto-East-Mirarian had a large case system, with 12 cases marked by adding a suffix to the relevant noun. All suffixes harmonized with the stem. They were added after any derivational suffixes as well as the plural suffixes.

Case Ending Meaning
Nominative *-Ø Subject
Accusative *-t, *-da Direct object
Genitive *-kin Possession, association
Dative *-(i)ŋ Indirect object
Locative *-sit Location
Ablative *-sin Movement away/off
Lative *-(l)la Movement to/into
Instrumental *-sak Used as an instrument/tool
Essive *-cira Definite period of time, temporary location, state of being
Perlative/Translative *-zimV Movement through/across, transformation
Directive *-pizV Proximity
Terminitive/Comitative/Equative *-gam Limit in time or target of action, accompaniment, similarity

Number

Nouns are typically reconstructed as having been marked for four numbers. Number was marked using suffixes attached to the noun.

Number Ending Meaning
Singular *-Ø One thing
Dual *-y Two things
Plural *-t More than two things
Collective *-mar All things, groups of things, multiple things seen as a whole

The number system is quite controversial in East-Mirarian linguistics, as no daughter language preserves the four way distinction; critics have frequently derided it as an ad hoc explanation to explain the discrepancies between daughter languages, and argue that different languages simply innovated separate plural systems.

Verbs

Tense

Proto-East-Mirarian had a simple tense system, with only two basic tenses.

Tense Ending Meaning
Past *-(i)xi Before present
Nonpast *-Ø Present or future

Aspect

Seven aspects have been reconstructed for Proto-East-Mirarian.

Aspect Ending Meaning
Simple *-Ø (past, indicative)
*-(a)t (nonpast or non-indicative)
Default
Continuous *-(a)n Ongoing
Habitual *-dak Regular occurrence
Retrospective *-car Completed event
Momentante *-gil Sudden and short-lived
Inchoative *-caxi Beginning
Cessative *-laxi Ending

Mood

Proto-East-Mirarian has seven moods, each marked with a verbal suffix.

Mood Ending Meaning
Indicative *-Ø Factual statements
Imperative *-(i)s Commands
Indicative *-śa Questions
Subjunctive *-kam Desires, possibilities, hypotheticals
Inferential *-tixt Nonwitnessed/unconfirmed
Presumptive *-(a)nab Presupposition, hypothesis, doubt
Necessitative *-šiŋ Self-encouragement, intent, desire

Voice

Proto-East-Mirarian marked for three voices: the standard active and passive voices, as well as a causative voice.

Voice Ending Meaning
Active *-Ø Subject is agent
Passive *-(i)tal Subject is patient
Causative *-ta (after voiceless consonant)
*-da (all other cases)
Subject causes indirect object to perform an action

Adjectives

Proto-East-Mirarian has no true adjectives; rather, the role is filled by a combination of stative verbs and nouns.

Verbs

Adjectival verbs are marked for tense, aspect, and mood, just like other verbs. When a verb is used as a predicative adjective, the verb is treated normally. When used as an attributive, the suffix *-yaŋ is attached before of the normal tense, aspect, and mood markers.

Nouns

Nouns could be used in adjectival constructions using the genitive case. For example:

gʷasa-kin üŋgiŋ-iy
green-GEN eye-DU
"Green eyes"