Proto-Isthmus
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Proto-Isthmus was spoken perhaps a thousand years before Ndak Ta (ca. -3000 YP), in the isthmus region separating the main continent from the smaller northeastern one. The Isthmus languages descended from it form one of the two divisions of the Eigə-Isthmus family; the other division is the Eigə Valley languages, comprising Ngauro and the Miwan languages.
Only six Isthmus languages survived as of the year 100 YP; those that did fell into two branches. In Western Isthmus we find the closely related sister languages Feråjin and Faraghin[1], spoken in Huyfárah, and the more divergent Boesin (Fáralo exonym), spoken in Qedik territory north of the Northern Mountains. Two Eastern Isthmus languages survive on the northwest coast of the northeastern continent (Kietek and Ka'alikora) and a third remains on the Isthmus itself, known in Fáralo as Doroh. Of them all, only Doroh was spoken by a great number of people, perhaps half a million, and only Doroh and Feråjin (or rather, descendants of them) survived into the second millennium YP.
Contents |
Diachronics of Proto-Isthmus
NOTE: not all diachronic changes between Proto-Isthmus and its daughters are listed, only those that are known at this time.
Phonemes that have been reconstructed for Proto-Isthmus are /p t ʈ ts k b d ɖ dz g f s m n l j a e i o u/.
Prefixes for pronouns included:
- as- (genitive/accusative)
- dza- (dative)
We will be using the pronouns of Isthmus languages to illustrate their development. The reconstructed personal pronouns of Proto-Isthmus are as follows.
| NOM | GEN/ACC | DAT | |
| 1sg | da | asda | dzada |
| 1pl | guʈ | asguʈ | ? |
| 2sg | tujn | astujn | dzatujn |
| 2pl | fe | asfe | ? |
| 3sg-anim | njo | asnjo | dzanjo |
| 3sg-inan | mis | asmis | ? |
| 3pl | ludz | asludz | ? |
| int/rel-anim | kej | askej | ? |
| int/rel-inan | bej | asbej | ? |
Though we can posit the forms of the other dative pronouns, shown as "?" (e.g. **dzaguʈ), no reflexes of such forms can be identified in any Isthmus language. Indeed, Faraghin is the only Isthmus language to retain any of the dative pronouns, and their reconstruction - or if they were truly even datives - remains uncertain. The only corroboration comes from, firstly, certain locative adverbs in Doroh that appear to be reflexes of Proto-Isthmus nouns with the same morphology; and secondly, some adverbial noun forms that appear in archaic Boesin poetry, in which the meaning is directional (comparable to English -wards).
Western Isthmus
Pre-Western Isthmus
Developments leading to pre-Western Isthmus include the following.
- First, stress moved to the first syllable of each word that had an onset of at least one consonant. Then, any unstressed vowels before the onset were lost. At some point after this, some final vowels were also dropped, particularly from grammatical words.
- s became voiced when adjacent to a voiced consonant.
- j was lost as a phone in all environments. At the beginning of words and between vowels, it merged into dz. It was also lost outright when adjacent to i. After this, the sequences oj, ej, and aj merged into the diphthong ai, after which all remaining instances of j before or after a vowel merged into ɨ.
At this stage, the inventory of personal pronouns is reconstructed as follows.
| NOM | GEN/ACC | DAT | |
| 1sg | da | zda | dzad |
| 1pl | guʈ | zguʈ | |
| 2sg | tɨn | stɨn | dzatɨn |
| 2pl | fe | sfe | |
| 3sg-anim | nɨ | znɨ | dzan |
| 3sg-inan | mis | zmis | |
| 3pl | ludz | zludz | |
| int/rel-anim | kai | skai | |
| int/rel-inan | bai | zbai |
Western Isthmus
Further developments led to Western Isthmus, the last common ancestor of Boesin and the Ferogh languages.
- Before or after s, or z, all stops became their corresponding fricatives:
p t k b d g > ɸ θ x β ð ɣ / _s, _z, s_, z_ - This included the affricates ts and dz. Then, s and z were lost not only from clusters with the new fricatives but also from all other clusters, no matter their position in the cluster. This too included the former affricates.
- The fricative ɸ subsequently merged into the preexisting phoneme f, and the retroflex stops became postalveolar affricates.
The reconstructed pronoun table for Western Isthmus follows.
| NOM | GEN/ACC | DAT | |
| 1sg | da | ða | ðad |
| 1pl | gutʃ | ɣutʃ | |
| 2sg | tɨn | θɨn | ðatɨn |
| 2pl | fe | fe | |
| 3sg-anim | nɨ | nɨ | ðan |
| 3sg-inan | mis | mis | |
| 3pl | luð | luð | |
| int/rel-anim | kai | xai | |
| int/rel-inan | bai | βai |
Ferogh Languages
It was a change in grammar rather than a change in sounds that most greatly marked the initial divergence of Western Isthmus into Boesin and the Ferogh languages. Many of the genitive/accusative personal pronouns had merged with the nominatives in Western Isthmus, leaving the pronoun system highly defective. In Proto-Boesin, the loss of many gen/acc forms was simply tolerated, while in pre-Proto-Ferogh, it was resolved by the suffixation of postpositions. The nominative forms were left alone, while new accusatives were formed by suffixing -iθ to the nominatives, and new genitives were formed by suffixing -um to the old genitive/accusatives. This resulted in:
| NOM | ACC | GEN | DAT | |
| 1sg | da | daiθ | ðaum | ðad |
| 1pl | gutʃ | gutʃiθ | ɣutʃum | |
| 2sg | tɨn | tɨniθ | θɨnum | ðatɨn |
| 2pl | fe | feiθ | feum | |
| 3sg-anim | nɨ | nɨiθ | nɨum | ðan |
| 3sg-inan | mis | misiθ | misum | |
| 3pl | luð | luðiθ | luðum | |
| int/rel-anim | kai | kaiiθ | xaium | |
| int/rel-inan | bai | baiiθ | βaium |
Sound developments that led to Proto-Ferogh include the following.
- s > ʃ
- θ > s
- ð > r
- a+i > ai
- ai+i > ai
- a+u > au
- ai+u > ai
- e > a / _i, _u
- ɨ > 0 / _V
- e > ɛ
- o > ɔ
- n > 0 / finally after unstressed vowels, except in certain suffixes
- Some pronouns and other grammatical forms were contracted to monosyllables, but not all.
- The remaining dative forms became used for both singular and plural, instead of being restricted to singular as in Western Isthmus.
- The dative forms also took on a locative function; and for 3sg-inanimate, 3-pl, and interrogative/relative, the genitive pronouns took on the additional functions of both dative and locative.
After these sound changes, the Proto-Ferogh pronouns were as follows:
| NOM | ACC | GEN | DAT | |
| 1sg | da | dais | raum | rad |
| 1pl | gutʃ | gutʃis | ɣutʃum | rad |
| 2sg | tɨn | tɨnis | sum | ratɨ |
| 2pl | fe | fais | faum | ratɨ |
| 3sg-anim | nɨ | nis | num | ran |
| 3sg-inan | miʃ | mis | miʃum | miʃum |
| 3pl | lur | luris | lum | lum |
| int/rel-anim | kai | kais | xaim | xaim |
| int/rel-inan | bai | bais | βaim | βaim |
Faraghin
The development of Faraghin from Proto-Ferogh included the following sound changes:
- ɛ, ɔ > a
- i > e
- ɨ > i
- ai > oi
- au > eu
- β > b
- t > tʃ / _i
- i > 0 / tʃ_#
- u > o / except before n or labials, or after the second syllable
Thus, the personal pronouns of Faraghin (in phonemic transcription) are:
| NOM | ACC | GEN | DAT | |
| 1sg | da | dois | reum | rad |
| 1pl | gotʃ | gotʃes | ɣotʃom | rad |
| 2sg | tʃin | tʃines | som | ratʃ |
| 2pl | fa | fois | feum | ratʃ |
| 3sg-anim | ni | nes | nom | ran |
| 3sg-inan | meʃ | mes | meʃom | meʃom |
| 3pl | lor | lores | lom | lom |
| int/rel-anim | koi | kois | xoim | xoim |
| int/rel-inan | boi | bois | boim | boim |
Feråjin
The Feråjin began as a tribal division of the Faraghin. Later their speech diverged. By the year 100 YP, the following developments had occurred, leaving Feråjin in the position of being neither clearly a dialect of Faraghin nor clearly a separate language.
- ɔ > ɒ
- u > o
- ɨ > u (stressed)
- ɨ > i (unstressed)
- ɛ > e
- ai > e:
- au > a:
- a(:) > æ(:)
- β > w
- ɣ > j
- tʃ > ʃ
- Vr, Vl > V: / _C, _#
- Vm > V: / _#
- Separate dative forms were lost. The functions of dative and locative were taken on, as in some of Faraghin's pronouns, by the genitive form.
After these changes, the table of Feråjin pronouns was as follows:
| NOM | ACC | GEN | |
| 1sg | dæ | de:s | ræ: |
| 1pl | goʃ | gos | joʃo: |
| 2sg | tin | tins | so: |
| 2pl | fe | fe:s | fæ: |
| 3sg-anim | ni | nis | no: |
| 3sg-inan | miʃ | mis | miʃo: |
| 3pl | lo: | lo:s | lo: |
| int/rel-anim | ke: | ke:s | xe: |
| int/rel-inan | be: | be:s | we: |
Boesin
Eastern Isthmus
NOTE: This section is intended as a starting point for anyone willing to describe Doroh or another of the Eastern Isthmus languages.
Developments between Proto-Isthmus and Eastern Isthmus, the last common ancestor of Doroh, Kietek, and Ka'alikora, include the following:
- b d ɖ dz g > p t ʈ ts k / [-voice]_, _[-voice], _#
- l > ɬ / [-voice]_ (swallowing up the fricative component of f s ts)
- V > 0 / (m,n,l,j)_C when unstressed
- f > w / except (p,m,n,l,j)_
- n l s > ɳ ɭ ʂ / [+rflex]_, _[+rflex]
- n > ŋ / _[-coronal]
- epenthetic stops were introduced between nasal consonants and fricatives:
mf ms ns > mpf mps nts - a > o / _C+(o,u) when unstressed
- aw ow uw > ow u u / _C, _#
- (s)Cj > (sʲ)Cʲ / exceptions: ɬ was not palatalised, and the sequence Cwj became Cuj
- jC > Cʲ / _# except that ɬ was not palatalised, and the sequence jw# became ju#
- ij uj > ej oj
- kw gw ŋw sw > kʷ gʷ ŋʷ sʷ
- w > 0 / C_
- s > h / _#
| NOM | GEN/ACC | DAT | |
| 1sg | da | asta | dzada |
| 1pl | guʈ | oskuʈ | ? |
| 2sg | tonʲ | ostonʲ | dzotonʲ |
| 2pl | we | asʷe | ? |
| 3sg-anim | nʲo | osʲnʲo | dzonʲo |
| 3sg-inan | mih | asmih | ? |
| 3pl | luts | oɬuts | ? |
| int/rel-anim | kej | askej | ? |
| int/rel-inan | bej | aspej | ? |
Doroh
Early Doroh
Phonetic developments leading to Early Doroh most notably include lenition of intervocalic plosives on the one hand and the appearance of rounded vowels on the other. The latter appears to have been an areal development that Doroh has in common with its neighbour Lotoka, a language of the Peninsular family.
- s > h / V_C
- b d ɖ dz g > β ɾ ɻ z ɣ / V_(ʲ,ʷ)V
- p t ʈ k > b d ɖ g / V_V
- n ŋ l > ɲ ɲ ʎ / _ʲ (but not if preceded by sʲ zʲ)
- s z > ʃ ʒ / _(i,ʲ)
- ʂ > ʂʷ
- Cʲo Cʷe > Cø
- Cʲu Cʷi > Cy
- ew iw > ø y / except _V
- sʷ > ʂʷ
- ʈʲ ɖʲ kʲ gʲ > ʈʂ ɖɻ tʃ dʒ
- ɣʲ ɣʷ > j w
- ʲ ʷ > 0
- dz dʒ > z ʒ / #_, [+voice]_
| NOM | GEN/ACC | DAT | |
| 1sg | da | ahta | zaɾa |
| 1pl | guʈ | ohkuʈ | ? |
| 2sg | toɲ | ohtoɲ | zodoɲ |
| 2pl | we | aʂø | ? |
| 3sg-anim | ɲø | oʃnø | zoɲø |
| 3sg-inan | mih | ahmih | ? |
| 3pl | luts | oɬuts | ? |
| int/rel-anim | kej | ahkej | ? |
| int/rel-inan | bej | ahpej | ? |
Late Doroh
As testified by Doroh borrowings in the eastern dialects of Fáralo, preaspiration on consonants simplified over the course of the centuries by first developing into homoorganic fricatives or glides, and later forming geminates. This was accompanied by the loss of single word-final plosives and by an extension of the vowel system. The sound changes between Early and Late Doroh can be summarized as follows:
- ɾ ɣ > ʀ
- j > 0 / (e,i,ø,y)_(C,#)
- w > 0 / (o,u,ø,y)_(C,#)
- e ø o > ɛ œ ɔ / _C($,#)
- i y u > e ø o / _(h,ʀ,ɬ)
- hp ht hʈ hk > fp st ʂʈ xk
- hC > CC
- ps ks > pf kx / except #_, _[+stress]
- ɬ > tɬ / (V,N)_
- p t ʈ k > ʔ / V_#
- fp st ʂʈ xk > pp tt ʈʈ kk / V_
- mb nd ɳɖ ŋg > mm nn ɳɳ ŋŋ / V_V, V_#
| NOM | GEN/ACC | DAT | |
| 1sg | da | atta | zaʀa |
| 1pl | goʔ | ɔkkoʔ | ? |
| 2sg | tɔɲ | ɔttɔɲ | zodɔɲ |
| 2pl | we | aʂø | ? |
| 3sg-anim | ɲø | ɔʃnø | zoɲø |
| 3sg-inan | meh | ammeh | ? |
| 3pl | lots | ɔtɬots | ? |
| int/rel-anim | ke | akke | ? |
| int/rel-inan | be | appe | ? |
Lexicon
I present the next step in the development of a PROTO-ISTHMUS LEXICON, reconstructed from the Faraghin wordlist (plus Radius' work on pronouns).
I haven't attempted any semantic shifting at all, so the meanings of many of the roots and affixes are subject to change. Some of the affixes and derivations you can see here may originate from later than PI, and some of the roots may be spurious (e.g. if the Faraghin word is actually a loan).
Since many Faraghin phonemes come from multiple PI sources that have merged, I've decided to represent the multiple possible reconstructions with variables, represented by capitals (don't mistake them for SAMPA!). This way we can put off deciding the exact form of many words, which should make it slightly easier to retcon in some cognates with Miwan and Ngauro.
The variable definitions are:
- A = *a, *e, *o
- B = *b, *bs, *sb
- F = *f, *ps, *sp
- DZ = *d_z, *ds, *sd, *ɖ
- GZ = *gs, *sg
- I = *i, *ij, *ji
- JV = *ja, *je, *jo, *ju, *uj
- KS = *ks, *sk
- L = *l, *d_z, *ds, *sd, *ɖ
- TS = *t_s, *ts, *st
- V = *a, *e, *o, *u
(I assumed that *ɖ eventually merged with *dz in all positions, and that *l is a possible source for Faraghin /r/ in clusters.)
Also, initial vowels were deleted very early, so any vowel might pop up initially; some final vowels were deleted too, which could help explain scary-looking roots like *s-gJVTSk "knife" (Faraghin ghisk). In general PI seems quite clustery nonetheless.
NOTE: many of these reconstructions may need to be revised, in light of Radius' current thinking about the diachronics.
Affixes & Adpositions
| *-A | plural suffix |
| *-Ajn | causative suffix |
| *-en | very common verbal/verbalizing suffix |
| *as- | genitive/accusative prefix |
| *-A(tJV/ʈ) | action nominalizing suffix |
| *dza- | dative prefix |
| *FJVTS- | negative prefix |
| *ITS | accusative postposition (becomes a suffix in Pre-Proto-Ferogh) |
| *-JVn | adjectivizing suffix |
| *-nAk | outside (case suffix) |
| *-nI | place suffix |
| *-sITS | "possessor, user" suffix |
| *-ʈan | "do repeatedly" suffix |
| *-TS | "quality" suffix: originally seems to have been a more general nominalizer |
| *-ud | past participle suffix |
| *um | genitive postposition (becomes a suffix in Pre-Proto-Ferogh) |
Roots
| *BAdAu | father | ||
| *BADZ | master | ||
| *BAlAn | iron | ||
| *BAs | flat, even | ||
| *bej | what (inanimate interrogative/relative pronoun) | ||
| *BIn | nothing | ||
| *BLAn | face, front | ||
| *BLAus | fate, a goddess | ||
| *da | I (1SG personal pronoun) | ||
| *dA(DZ/j)Ad-en | dance | ||
| *dAGZ-en | stay, camp | ||
| *dAsJVm | hemp | ||
| *dAu | girl, daughter | ||
| *dIm-en, *dem-en | give - Faraghin demen rather than **deman or **daman: ?from Feråjin or another dialect that didn't shift *e > /a/ | ||
| *dLuDZj-en | awaken | ||
| *dLum-en | denounce to the king (?) | ||
| *dumAGZ | glass | ||
| *DZAnt-en | test (by experience), prove, try | ||
| *DZJVF-en | scare | ||
| *DZut-en | own, possess | ||
| *DZusn-en | paint, color - Faraghin rušnen rather than **rušnan: ?from Feråjin or another dialect that didn't shift *e > /a/ | ||
| *Fe(DZ/j)oGZ | Ferogh or Faragh (tribal name) | ||
| *fe | ye (2PL personal pronoun) | ||
| *FuGZ-en | make, craft | ||
| *gAdJVn | (younger) brother | ||
| *gA(DZ/jV)-TS | boat | ||
| *gud-en | descend (from an ancestor) | ||
| *guʈ | we (1PL personal pronoun) | ||
| *s-gAF-en | steal | ||
| *s-gAnt-A(tJV/ʈ) | dragon | ||
| *s-gI(tJV/ʈ) | mighty, powerful | ||
| *s-gJVTSk(-en) | knife (v. cut) | ||
| *s-gun | old(er) | ||
| *kAt-en | amuse | ||
| *kej | who (animate interrogative/relative pronoun) | ||
| *kIL-t | anger | ||
| *kItLIm | honor | ||
| *kLIL-t-en | seize, capture | ||
| *s-kA(DZ/jV) | good | ||
| *s-kAj(DZ/jV) | goat - borrowed into Ndak Ta as kwir, probably from Proto-Ferogh *xoir | ||
| *s-kJVTSIl | bequeath | ||
| *s-kLAn, *(V)ksdAn | guts, boldness | ||
| *s-kLIt-TS, *(V)ksdIt-TS | longsword | ||
| *lAuTS | free | ||
| *luDZ | they (3PL personal pronoun) | ||
| *lup-en | lie, deceive | ||
| *mAGZA(tJV/ʈ) | loot, take as booty | ||
| *mAs (-t added later) | house | ||
| *mIn | son | ||
| *mIs | it (3SG inanimate personal pronoun) | ||
| *muDZ | blood | ||
| *mun-TS | soft, weak | ||
| *nAgAt | lord, chief | ||
| *nAGZu | bear (the animal) | ||
| *nAk-TS | outdoors | ||
| *nApAl-en | be bored | ||
| *nIDZ | bad, weak | ||
| *njo | he, she (3SG animate personal pronoun) | ||
| *njadsga, *njadzga, *njalsga | war | ||
| *pAt | one | ||
| *pLAGZ-en | get or be used to | ||
| *pLunj-en | stab, slash | ||
| *pu(DZ/j)At | clean, pure | ||
| *sAn | fire | ||
| *sAj | woman | ||
| *sITS | holy | ||
| *suDZ | year | ||
| *tAt | law | ||
| *tAʈA | sister | ||
| *tIKS | sword | ||
| *tLJVB-en | marry | ||
| *tujn | thou (2SG personal pronoun) | ||
| *tJVnt | left hand | ||
| *tund-en | watch over, take care of | ||
| *ʈALk(a) | king | ||
| *ʈITSk-en | hide | ||
| *ʈuKS | fist | ||
| *TSAt | gold | ||
| *TSI(DZ/jV) | great, mighty | ||
| *TSIKS | name | ||
| *TSImp-en | twist, stunt | ||
| *TSJVF | sea, ocean | ||
| *TSun | two |
