Proto-Adzo-Neviric language
| Proto-Adzo-Neviric | |
|---|---|
| PAN | |
| Reconstruction of | Adzo-Neviric languages |
| Region | Lower Ekuosia |
| Era | 3500 BCE |
Reconstructed ancestor | |
| Lower-order reconstructions | |
Proto-Adzo-Neviric (PAN) is the reconstructed parent language of the Adzo-Neviric languages, which include Neviran, Dzimraic, Adzamasi, Povan, and many minority languages spoken principally throughout Lower Ekuosia.
Classification
PAN is the latest common ancestor of the modern Adzamic and Neviric languages, which form a major branch of the Ekuo-Lahiri language family. Although its daughters are found much geographically closer to the Yona and Halarian branches of Ekuo-Lahiri, spoken in western Puzimm and Upper Ekuosia respectively, it shows more similarity to the rather geographically distant Lahiri languages spoken on Lahan and in far eastern Puzimm; as such, it is categorized with the Lahiri languages in the Adzo-Lahiri sub-branch.
History
The language diverged from Adzo-Lahiri by BCE 4000 at the latest. It probably originated around the Neviran Delta, radiating back inland by following the Ekuos upriver. It is considered to have formally broken into its two main respective branches by BCE 2000 at the latest.
Phonology
Phonemes
The following inventory is reconstructed for PAN:
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | *m | *n | |||||
| Plosive | voiceless | *p | *t | *k | *kʷ | *ʔ | |
| voiced | *b | *d | *ɡ | ||||
| glottalic | *pˀ | *tˀ | *kˀ | *kʷˀ | |||
| Fricative | *β | *s | *ç | *x | *xʷ | *h | |
| Approximant | *l | *j | *ɰ | *w | |||
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | *i | *i: | *u | *u: | ||
| Mid | *ə | *ə: | *o | |||
| Open | *a | *a: | ||||
Phonotactics and Prosody
The language featured lexical stress, which is indicated in orthography with acute accents on the vowel nucleus of the stressed syllable.
Morphology and syntax
As per most Ekuo-Lahiri languages, PAN employed a complex animacy hierarchy. All of its nouns were clearly marked for animacy and number in a fused suffix or postclitic (except for the "locational" nouns, which use an infix). Classical reconstructions give it nine animacy tiers — halfway between the ten-tier PEKL reconstruction, and the eight tiers reconstructed each for Proto-Adzamic and Proto-Neviric. There are understood to have been three numbers, most likely singular, plural, and collective; however, some authors prefer the singular, paucal, plural system.
| Singular | Plural | Collective | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sentient | -d | -ən | -θi |
| Sacred | -hən | -βaɣ | -ibaɣ |
| Animals | -sə: | -su | -dji |
| Moderate | -aakʷ | -kʷˀi | -igu |
| Implements | -islo | -do | -idu |
| Natural | -ədbə | -da | -ida |
| Location | Ø | <ənə> | <ini> |
| Inanimate | -jəəg | -gji | -ɣi |
| Degenerate | -ʔə | -ʔəhi | -iʔəə |