Proto-East Mirarian language
Proto-East Mirarian | |
---|---|
Reconstruction of | East Mirarian languages |
Region | East Miraria, likely in western Juhashka |
Era | 5000-2000 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) | *ŋ | |||||||||
Plosive and Affricate | *p | *b | *t | *d | (*ć) | *č | (*j) | *k | *g | *kʷ | *gʷ | *q1 | |
Fricative | *s | *z | *ś | *š | |||||||||
Glide | *y | *x 2 | *w | ||||||||||
Liquid | *r | *l |
- 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.
- 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.
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/ |
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: