Peshpeg: Difference between revisions
Line 28: | Line 28: | ||
===Characteristics=== | ===Characteristics=== | ||
Peshpeg is classified as an SOV language, with an ergative-absolutive morphosyntactic alignment. The language apparently had an extensive vowel harmony system, which has been preserved to some extent in its present-day form. | Peshpeg is classified as an SOV language, with an ergative-absolutive morphosyntactic alignment. The language apparently had an extensive vowel harmony system, which has been preserved to some extent in its present-day form. Aggluginative and fusional features appear in various areas of the grammar. | ||
The verb system distinguishes tense, aspect, number, and person. Interestingly two verbal subsystems co-exist, one reflecting an older nominative-accusative system, and the other reflecting an ergative-absolutive system. Although most ergative-absolutive languages are split, rarely does the split occur based on source language; splits in ergative languages typically occur based on tense/aspect (as in various Iranian languages, notably Kurdish), free versus bound pronominal forms (as in the Minhast dialects of the Salmonic Branch, and certain Australian languages like Murinypata), and clause types (e.g. Yup'ik, Inuktitut, and other Eskimoan languages). The nominative-accusative subsystem is limited to a handful of verbs, mostly auxiliary verbs such as ''rui'' "to do" and ''joa/jora'' "to go" (used to express the future tense), as well as one perceptual verb, ''bu'' "to see". But even within this system some inflections, such as all of the plural forms of the non-present tenses, person-number forms of the ergative-absolutive subsystem appear. The newer ergative-absolutive system employs an auxiliary verb plus a verbal noun. The older subsystem has agreement markers for only the subject, whereas the newer subsystem bears obligatory polypersonal marking on the auxiliary. | |||
The language is head initial: modifiers such as adjectives usually follow their head noun; prepositions are used in appositional phrases, and relative clauses follow the NP they modify, attributes associated with head-initial languages. Once again, however, the influence of Minhast has introduced a certain level of fluidity, such as numerical modifiers precede their noun heads; this was probably facilitated by the replacement of the original decimal system with Minhast's vegisimal system. | |||
<!-- ***Phonology*** --> | <!-- ***Phonology*** --> |
Revision as of 22:29, 14 March 2020
Introduction
The Peshpeg language, or Peshpeg humbi todak inlak "true humans speak this way", is a highly endangered language in the valleys of the Kilmay Rī Mountains and the prefectures of south-central Minhay. The language is considered moribund: according to the last census, only about ninety fluent speakers remain, all older than sixty years. Younger generations speak only Minhast, from either the Wolf Speaker, Stone Speaker, or City Speaker dialects. Efforts to revitalize the language have been largely unsuccessful; with the exception of the City Speakers, most Minhast are either apathetic or even actively hostile to revitalization efforts. Social and economic discrimination towards the Peshpegs has only accelerated the decline of the language.
Peshpeg is classified as a language isolate. Any similarities to the Minhast language are due to language contact, with most of the influences being unidirectional; only a handful of Peshpeg words, most of them related to the fauna and flora of their original homeland, have been adopted by the Wolf Speaker and Stone Speaker dialects. However, Minhast has had an enormous impact on the Peshpeg language; close to 70% of the Peshpeg lexicon comes from Minhast, the original base-10 numerical system has been supplanted by the vegisimal system of the dominant language, and most noticeably the original morphosyntactic alignment has shifted from a nominative-accusative type to an ergative-absolutive one. Some linguists have explored the possibility of a relationship with Ín Duári, another endangered, non-Minhast language, but plausible evidence for such a relationship has not been demonstrated.
Characteristics
Peshpeg is classified as an SOV language, with an ergative-absolutive morphosyntactic alignment. The language apparently had an extensive vowel harmony system, which has been preserved to some extent in its present-day form. Aggluginative and fusional features appear in various areas of the grammar.
The verb system distinguishes tense, aspect, number, and person. Interestingly two verbal subsystems co-exist, one reflecting an older nominative-accusative system, and the other reflecting an ergative-absolutive system. Although most ergative-absolutive languages are split, rarely does the split occur based on source language; splits in ergative languages typically occur based on tense/aspect (as in various Iranian languages, notably Kurdish), free versus bound pronominal forms (as in the Minhast dialects of the Salmonic Branch, and certain Australian languages like Murinypata), and clause types (e.g. Yup'ik, Inuktitut, and other Eskimoan languages). The nominative-accusative subsystem is limited to a handful of verbs, mostly auxiliary verbs such as rui "to do" and joa/jora "to go" (used to express the future tense), as well as one perceptual verb, bu "to see". But even within this system some inflections, such as all of the plural forms of the non-present tenses, person-number forms of the ergative-absolutive subsystem appear. The newer ergative-absolutive system employs an auxiliary verb plus a verbal noun. The older subsystem has agreement markers for only the subject, whereas the newer subsystem bears obligatory polypersonal marking on the auxiliary.
The language is head initial: modifiers such as adjectives usually follow their head noun; prepositions are used in appositional phrases, and relative clauses follow the NP they modify, attributes associated with head-initial languages. Once again, however, the influence of Minhast has introduced a certain level of fluidity, such as numerical modifiers precede their noun heads; this was probably facilitated by the replacement of the original decimal system with Minhast's vegisimal system.
Phonology
Orthography
Consonants
Vowels
Prosody
Stress
Intonation
Phonotactics
Morphophonology
Morphology
Nouns
Pronouns
Independent Pronouns
The independent pronouns show a consistent ergative-absolutive pattern, identifiable by the suffix -du attached to the absolutive form of the pronoun. The suffix is derived from the Minhast ergative clitic =de, incorporated into the language sometime during the Wolf Speaker invasions of the mid 1800's. This coincided with the rearrangement of the verbal system and shift from its original nominative-accusative alignment to its present-day ergative-absolutive morphosyntactic alignment.
First Person | Second Person | Class I | Class II | Class III | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | |
Ergative | sudu | vedu | undu | jordu | indu | hudu | gudu | girdu | gudu | gordu |
Absolutive | su | ve | umu | jor | ne | hu | gu | gir | gu | gar |
Determiners
There are three types of determiners in Peshpeg that occur either as suffixes, such as the definite and demonstrative suffixes, or as quantifiers, independent words that precede their noun heads to which they are joined with the linker mon, e.g. Vadzini mon Golahách mon nodorzhi uzanio pepak "Many of the Ín Duári slaves revolted that day".
The definite marker refers not only to specific or highly referential nouns, but may also refer to an abstract noun class that would normally be considered concrete e.g. gazhda < *gal-gda "the (class of animals known as) horse". The definite marker is also used to nominalize verbs, e.g. lozha < loz-sha "singing". The definite marker, which occurs as a suffix, has different forms that agree in number and gender with their noun heads; however, it does not mark for case. The forms for the definite marker are as follows:
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
Masculine | -g- | -gda- |
Neuter I | -n- | -vda- |
Feminine Neuter II Collective |
-sh- |
The definite marker suffixes directly to the noun root before case markers are applied. In the following example, the masculine plural form of the definite marker -vda- is attached to the noun root gal ("horse") before the comitative case suffix is applied
- galvdanda
/gav'dandʌ/
gal-vda-nda
horse-DEF.MP-COM
with the horses
Cases
Masculine | Neuter I | Feminine Neuter II Collective | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | |
Nominative | -∅ | -za | -da | -nda | ri | |
Accusative | -ri | -tari | ||||
Dative | -ska | -task | -ka | -nka | ||
Ablative | -vi | -mva | ||||
Allative | -rini | -drina | ||||
Comitive | -dan | -nda | ||||
Locative | -mi | -ma | ||||
Genitive | -za | -zada | ||||
Oblique | -∅ | -za |
Postpositions
Numbers
Verbs
Peshpeg verbs mark for tense and aspect. Verbs fall in three broad classes, based on how they mark the past vs. the non-past tenses: the zu-/vu- class, the etymologically related z-/v- class, and the u-/u- class. Another feature of the verb is that plural verb stems get truncated, e.g.zeganuadzh "I spoke", from the stem -egan-; vs. zegzua "We spoke", from the stem -eg-.
Syntax
Constituent order
Old and Middle Peshpeg exhibited VSO order, but the modern language is now an SOV language due to Minhast influence. Because the nominative and accusative cases have merged into the direct case, word order is strict.
Noun phrase
Verb phrase
Sentence phrase
Dependent clauses
Example texts
- Orun mon golách mon nodorji uzanio pepak
/oɾun mon go'latʃ mon nodoɾd͡ʒi u'zanjo 'pepak/
Many of the Ín Duári slaves revolted that day