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Kirtumur: Difference between revisions
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Kirtumur speakers themselves used to call their language ''umunesal'' "the speech of Umu", but they changed its name to make it different from unstandardised varieties, spoken in that part of the continent. The southern alluvial plain where the Umunnak people lived is by itself hardly a hospitable region, but the climate is warmer and less windy, and together with plain terrain it made the are the centre of Umu with many relatively densely populated cities, which helped establishing Kirtumur as the new official language after the decline of Kērsalur. | Kirtumur speakers themselves used to call their language ''umunesal'' "the speech of Umu", but they changed its name to make it different from unstandardised varieties, spoken in that part of the continent. The southern alluvial plain where the Umunnak people lived is by itself hardly a hospitable region, but the climate is warmer and less windy, and together with plain terrain it made the are the centre of Umu with many relatively densely populated cities, which helped establishing Kirtumur as the new official language after the decline of Kērsalur. | ||
Kirtumur belongs to the eastern branch along with Kērsalur and a few spoken varieties (also called Kirtumur dialects). The most important neighbour outside its close genetic relatives is Cirdamur, which has been in contact with Kirtumur for almost all of its history and both languages influenced each other, this is the most noticeable in their lexical similarity, for example ''supōlum'' "ship", which is a loanword from Cirdamur and has the same root as | Kirtumur belongs to the eastern branch along with Kērsalur and a few spoken varieties (also called Kirtumur dialects). The most important neighbour outside its close genetic relatives is Cirdamur, which has been in contact with Kirtumur for almost all of its history and both languages influenced each other, this is the most noticeable in their lexical similarity, for example ''supōlum'' "ship", which is a loanword from Cirdamur and has the same root as Kirtumur ''paulim'' "gliding"; or ''cilin'' "healthy" (another Cirdamur loanword) which is a cognate to Kirtumur ''kilin'' "whole, unbroken". | ||
==Dialects== | ==Dialects== | ||
The two distinct varieties ('''Ilusal''' and '''Ruosal'''), usually called Kirtumur dialects, can be considered separate languages, since both are quite different from Kirtumur and are more similar to each other and extinct Kērsal dialects than to Kirtumur. There is yet another dialect, called ''kirtumur erepurnu'', which has more old loanwords from Kērsal and is more conservative, preserving a distinct [y(ː)] sound which became [i] in other dialects. In the north and northeast of Umu Kirtumur dialects merge [s] and [ʃ], leaving only the latter and also tend to pronounce [x] as [h]. They also use ''zela'' or ''hela'' instead of ''ŋala'' "to live" and ''mi'' instead of ''ma'' "not", which is also common in the west and is shared with Ruosal. | The two distinct varieties ('''Ilusal''' and '''Ruosal'''), usually called Kirtumur dialects, can be considered separate languages, since both are quite different from Kirtumur and are more similar to each other and extinct Kērsal dialects than to Kirtumur. There is yet another dialect, called ''kirtumur erepurnu'', which has more old loanwords from Kērsal and is more conservative, preserving a distinct [y(ː)] sound which became [i] in other dialects. In the north and northeast of Umu Kirtumur dialects merge [s] and [ʃ], leaving only the latter and also tend to pronounce [x] as [h]. They also use ''zela'' or ''hela'' instead of ''ŋala'' "to live" and ''mi'' instead of ''ma'' "not", which is also common in the west and is shared with Ruosal. | ||