Nēpoki: Difference between revisions
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====Middle Nepokian==== | ====Middle Nepokian==== | ||
Around 800 B.C., Nepokians and Polynesians arrived at Samoa. This proximity was underlined by the big changes, primarily phonological, which happened in the transition from Old to Middle Nepokian. | Around 800 B.C., Nepokians and Polynesians arrived at Samoa. This proximity was underlined by the big changes, primarily phonological, which happened in the transition from Old to Middle Nepokian. Though they were deep and Nepokian sounded less and less Indo-European, under certain circumstances some consonant clusters (which are alien to Polynesian) into Late Middle Nepokian. This stage ceased to exist when all clusters were finally broken up and r, s and t gradually shifted to l, h and k. | ||
====New Nepokian==== | ====New Nepokian==== | ||
Revision as of 18:59, 29 September 2014
| Nepokian | |
|---|---|
| Nēpoki | |
| Pronunciation | [[Help:IPA|neːpoki]] |
| Created by | – |
| Native speakers | - () |
Indo-European
| |
Early form | Proto-Nepokian
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | npk |
Nepokian (natively written as nēpoki) is an Indo-European language. Linguists classify it as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. Nepokian shares some characteristics with the Anatolian languages, which led linguists to group them together. But as Nepokian has some unique features not known to any other Indo-European tongue so far, these similarities may be only due to the antiquity of both branches.
Background
External history
Internal history
The exact temporal origin of Nepokian is somewhat obscure, whether Nepokian is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European or a sister. Some characteristics, as the gender and case systems, the preservation of laryngeals, presumably genuine inherited vocabulary not found in PIE itself but in Uralic and Nostratic roots point to a very early split from Proto-Indo-European. Some linguists proposed Nepokian is a daughter of Proto-Indo-Uralic, placing it on the same level with Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Uralic.
Proto-Nepokian
Proto-Nepokian was probably spoken in the 3rd millenium B.C, when the people had started to migrate south-eastwards. Some think they may have migrated together with the Anatolians to Eastern Turkey, where Nepokians and Anatolians split into two branches. Linguists haven’t found any evidences in Sumerian or other ancient oriental texts concerning Nepokians migrating into deepest South-East Asia that’s why the exact way and time remains unclear. Mainstream research states that Nepokians were a homogene Indo-European people of some hundreds or a few thousands, who came in contact with Polynesian or, Malayo-Polynesian, peoples in Indonesia about 1800 B.C. For sure, it lacked Polynesian loan words and its phonology was still rather close to Proto-Indo-European.
Old Nepokian
Old Nepokian presumably begins to be spoken in Eastern Indonesia, when Nepokians mingle with (Proto-)Polynesian tribes and adopt words from their new neighbors. However, there are hardly any words from Nepokian in Polynesian tongues. But as Schmidt notes, more research has to be done here. As far as grammar and phonology are concerned, Old Nepokian remains close to Proto-Nepokian. They are grouped together as Earlier Nepokian.
Middle Nepokian
Around 800 B.C., Nepokians and Polynesians arrived at Samoa. This proximity was underlined by the big changes, primarily phonological, which happened in the transition from Old to Middle Nepokian. Though they were deep and Nepokian sounded less and less Indo-European, under certain circumstances some consonant clusters (which are alien to Polynesian) into Late Middle Nepokian. This stage ceased to exist when all clusters were finally broken up and r, s and t gradually shifted to l, h and k.
New Nepokian
In the 20th century, some people still pronounced the Nepokian l in certain circumstances as r. Though this was classified as arbitrary by Europeans, it was rather a late Middle Nepokian pronunciation. Therefore, the stage of New Nepokian must have begun quite recently. Contemporary dialects who use r instead of l do not differentiate between historical r and l, so they change all r and l either to r or l.
Phonology
The phonology of Nēpoki is a direct result of sound changes from Proto-Indo-European. Though the sound laws are overwhelmingly regular, the quality of the sound shifts are far away from being typical Indo-European. The phonology of Nepokian is very simple and obviously influenced by surrounding Polynesian tongues. Nepokian has one of the smallest consonant inventories and one of the smallest phoneme inventories. It is phonologically identical to Hawaiian. Though evidentially not directly influenced by it, the Polynesian impact led to the same sound shifts we know from Hawaiian.
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||
| Stop | p | t ~ k | ʔ | |||||
| Fricative | h | |||||||
| Sonorant | w ~ v | l ~ ɾ ~ ɹ | ||||||
There is basic free variation of [t] and [k]. However, since Nepokian has no affricates, no fricative besides /h/, and no other stops besides /p/ and /ʔ/, any non-labial and non-glottal stop, fricative, or affricate, can function as a /k/. In essence, [d], [s], [z], [ts], [dz], [c], [ɟ], [ʃ], [ʒ], [tʃ], [dʒ], [ɡ], [x], [ɣ] can all "work" as an allophone of /k/. Nevertheless, the main allophones noted by the missionaries in the 18th century, and by linguists, are [t] and [k]. Scheidl pointed out some instances of a [ʔ] allophone. Schütz conjectured that a t-dialect existed in the northwestern islands, and a k-dialect in the southeastern islands. Vom Felde documented a sound between 'th' [θ] and 'k' in free variation with 'k' among elders from remote jungle villages. There is some evidence for instances of free variation between [n] and [ŋ].
There is also free variation between [l] (lateral), [ɾ] (tap), and [ɹ] (approximant). Scheidl pointed out some instances of [n] and [ʔ] as allophones. Schütz conjectured that [ɾ] is prevalent in northwestern remote villages.
There is free variation of [w] and [v]. Scheidl stated that there is conditioned variation of [w] and [v], though Schütz meant that there was neither [w] nor [v], but rather "something between the two". This is most likely [ʋ], a labiodental approximant.
Glottal stop
In Nepokian, a phonemic glottal stop historically derives from an earlier consonant.
| PIE | Proto-Nepokian | Old Nepokian; | New Nepokian; |
|---|---|---|---|
| *ḱ | *k | *k | ‘ |
| *k | *k | *k | ‘ |
| *kʷ | *k | *k | ‘ |
| *ǵ | *g | *k | ‘ |
| *g | *g | *k | ‘ |
| *gʷ | *g | *k | ‘ |
| *ǵʰ | *g | *k | ‘ |
| *gʰ | *g | *k | ‘ |
| *gʷʰ | *g | *k | ‘ |
| *h₁ | *x | *x | ‘ |
| *h₂ | *x | *x | ‘ |
| *h₃ | *x | *x | ‘ |
| *h₄ | *x | *x | ‘ |
| *y | *y | *x | ‘ |
Vowels
The number of vowels depends on the analysis of the inventory. The minimum figure of 5 is reached by counting only /u/, /i/, /o/, /e/, and /a/ as phonemes. Diphthongs and long vowels are analyzed as being sequences of two vowels. For example, the written form 〈au〉 is phonemically /au/, and the written form 〈ā〉 is phonemically /aa/.
Monophthongs
| Short | Long | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | Front | Back | |
| Close | i | u | iː | uː | |
| Close-Mid | ɛ~e/i | ||||
| Mid | æ/a/ɐ~ə | o | eː | oː | |
| Open | aː | ||||
Phonotactics
Nepokian syllables may contain one consonant in the onset, or there is no onset. Syllables with no onset contrast with syllables beginning with the glottal stop contrasts with those with glottal stop. Codas and consonant clusters are prohibited in the phonotactics of Nepokian. In foreign words they are split up: ‘ēlekepēle (strawberry) from German Erdbeere.
The syllable has a minimum of one vowel, and a maximum of three.
The structure of the Nepokian syllable can be represented as being (C)V(V), where the round brackets around C and second V mean that the syllable-initial consonant is optional and the syllable may have a long vowel or diphthong. Every theoretically possible V and CV syllables occur in Nepokian.
Stress
Nepokian does not have a fixed stress but it is movable. The original stress of Proto-Indo-European is well preserved. Stress is usually unmarked in normal writing but it can be indicated to avoid confusion or to explicitly show it. On short vowels it is marked by placing an acute above the letter (á, é, í, ó, ú), on long vowels it can either be an acute above the macron (ā́, ḗ, ī́, ṓ, ū́) or a circumflex above the letter (â, ê, î, ô, û).
Phonetic changes
The following two tables sum up (most of) the regular changes from Proto-Indo-European to Nepokian.
| Consonants | |
|---|---|
| Proto-Indo-European | (New) Nepoki |
| *p | p |
| *t | k |
| *ḱ | ‘ |
| *k | ‘ |
| *kʷ | ‘ |
| *b | p |
| *d | k |
| *ǵ | ‘ |
| *g | ‘ |
| *gʷ | ‘ |
| *bʰ | p |
| *dʰ | k |
| *ǵʰ | ‘ |
| *gʰ | ‘ |
| *gʷʰ | ‘ |
| *s | h |
| *m | m |
| *-m | Ø |
| *n | n |
| *l | l |
| *r | l |
| *i̯ (y) | ‘ |
| *u̯ (w) | w |
| Vowels | ||
|---|---|---|
| Trad. PIE | Laryngeal PIE | (New) Nepoki |
| *e | *e, *h₁e | e, 'i |
| *a | (*a), *h₂e | a, 'a |
| *o | *h₃e | 'u |
| *o | o | |
| *ə | *h₁ | i |
| *h₂ | a | |
| *h₃ | u | |
| *- | *h₁- | 'i |
| *h₂- | 'a | |
| *h₃- | 'u | |
| *ē | *ē, *eh₁ | ē, i, 'ī |
| *ā | (*ā), *eh₂ | ā |
| *ō | *ō, *eh₃ | ō, ū |
| *i | *i | i |
| *ī | *ih₁ | ī |
| *ih₂ | a | |
| *ih₃ | u | |
| *ei | *ei, *h₁ei | ei, 'ī |
| *oi | *oi, *h₃ei | oi, 'ui |
| *ai | (*ai), *h₂ei | ai, 'ai |
| *ēi | *ēi | ēi |
| *ōi | *ōi (*oei) | ōi |
| *āi | *eh₂ei | āi, a'ai |
| *u | *u | u |
| *ū | *uh₁ | ū, i |
| *uh₂ | a | |
| *uh₃ | u | |
| *eu | *eu, *h₁eu | eu, 'iu |
| *ou | *ou,*h₃eu | ou, 'ū |
| *au | (*au), *h₂eu | au, 'au |
| *ēu | *ēu | ēu |
| *ōu | *ōu | ōu |
| *m̥ | *m̥ | am, -a |
| *m̥̅ | *mh₁ | mi |
| *mh₂ | ma | |
| *mh₃ | mu | |
| *m̥m | *m̥m | mam |
| *n̥ | *n̥ | an |
| *n̥̄ | *nh₁ | ni |
| *nh₂ | na | |
| *nh₃ | nu | |
| *n̥n | *n̥n | nan |
| *l̥ | *l̥ | al |
| *l̥̄ | *lh₁ | li |
| *lh₂ | la | |
| *lh₃ | lu | |
| *l̥l | *l̥l | lal |
| *r̥ | *r̥ | al, -a |
| *r̥̄ | *rh₁ | li |
| *rh₂ | la | |
| *rh₃ | lu | |
| *r̥r | *r̥r | lal |
Orthography
Since the ‘discovery’ of Nepokian by European, mostly German, adventurers and colonialists, a Latin-based alphabet is used for Nepoki. There is some evidence for hieroglyphoid writing in secondary sources. The letter-to-sound ratio of the modern alphabet is virtually 1:1: Aa, Ee, Hh, Ii, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Uu, Ww, ‘. In older literature, either Qq was used for the glottal stop, or it was dropped altogether as there was hardly no awareness that the glottal stop may be a separate phoneme.
Grammar
The grammar of Nepoki is essentially a ‘reflex’ of Proto-Indo-European. It's an inflectional language with declensional and conjugational patterns, sometimes seeming more conservative than Proto-Indo-European itself. Several striking similarities with Anatolian languages have been found. The presence of allative and elative besides the eight ‘classical’ PIE cases even led to the assumption that Nepoki is a ‘para-proto-indo-european’ language and not a descendent of PIE proper. However, Nepokian allative –a has the same origin as Hittite allative –a (< *- eh₂) and Nepokian elative –e seems to go back to PIE *-er. Nepokian might therefore preserve a very old stage of Proto-Indo-European. As Hittite, Nepokian has two genders, animate and inanimate.
Nouns
Nouns belong to one of two genders: animate and inanimate (neuter). Apart from that, nouns are inflected for three numbers: singular, dual and plural; as well as for ten cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, locative, allative and elative. All declensions can be traced back to PIE ones, though some simplifications happened.
First declension
The o-declension comprises PIE *-os- and *-ós- declensions, the latter being the basis of the Nepokian first declension. Animate nouns which are often masculine in other PIE tongues, belong here.
| First declension: ‘omopo (tooth) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Nominative | ‘omopo | ‘omopi | ‘omopoe |
| Vocative | ‘omope | ‘omopi | ‘omopoe |
| Accusative | ‘omopo | ‘omopi | ‘omopo |
| Instrumental | ‘omopi | ‘omopopo | ‘omopōi |
| Dative | ‘omopoei | ‘omopoipo | ‘omopoimo |
| Ablative | ‘omopea | ‘omopopo | ‘omopomo |
| Genitive | ‘omopohio | ‘omopo | ‘omopo’o |
| Locative | ‘omopei | ‘omopo | ‘omopoihu |
| Allative | ‘omopa | ‘omopa’i | ‘omopa |
| Elative | ‘omope | ‘omopeli | ‘omope |
Second declension
This declension, being recently established as a separate one, stems from neuter nouns of PIE o-declension (*-óm). All inanimate nouns ending in o belong here. The singular is identical to the first declension.
| Second declension: ‘u’o (rack) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Nominative | ‘u’o | ‘u’oi | ‘u’a |
| Vocative | ‘u’o | ‘u’oi | ‘u’a |
| Accusative | ‘u’o | ‘u’oi | ‘u’a |
| Instrumental | ‘u’i | ‘u’ōi | |
| Dative | ‘u’oei | ‘u’oimo | |
| Ablative | ‘u’ea | ‘u’oimo | |
| Genitive | ‘u’ohio | ‘u’o’o | |
| Locative | ‘u’ei | ‘u’oihu | |
| Allative | ‘u’a | ‘u’a | |
| Elative | ‘u’e | ‘u’e | |
Third declension
This declension corresponds to the second declension of most other Indo-European languages.
| Third declension: kona (piece) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Nominative | kona | kona’a | |
| Vocative | kona | kona’a | |
| Accusative | kona’a | kona’a | |
| Instrumental | kona’i | konapi | |
| Dative | kona’ai | konamo | |
| Ablative | kona | konamo | |
| Genitive | kona | kona’a | |
| Locative | kona’i | konahu | |
| Allative | kona’a | kona’a | |
| Elative | kona’a | kona’a | |
Fourth declension
The fourth declension goes back to PIE *-is-declension.
| Fourth declension: ali’i (priest) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Nominative | ali’i | ali’i | ali’eie |
| Vocative | ali’i | ali’i | ali’eie |
| Accusative | ali’i | ali’i | ali’i |
| Instrumental | ali’i | ali’ipi | |
| Dative | ali’eiei | ali’imo | |
| Ablative | ali’ei | ali’imo | |
| Genitive | ali’ei | ali’ei’o | |
| Locative | ali’ēi | ali’ihu | |
| Allative | |||
| Elative | ali’e | ||
Fifth declension
The fifth declension goes back to PIE *-u-declension. Nouns of the u-declension which have a dark colored vowel in their stem change it to e in all oblique cases (all but nominative, vocative and accusative). For instance, the dative singular of kolu (tree) is kelewei.
| Fifth declension: ‘ihu (possession) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Nominative | ‘ihu | ‘ihowi | ‘iha |
| Vocative | ‘ihu | ‘ihowi | ‘iha |
| Accusative | ‘ihu | ‘ihowi | ‘iha |
| Instrumental | ‘ihi | ‘ihupi | |
| Dative | ‘ihewei | ‘ihumo | |
| Ablative | ‘iheu | ‘ihumo | |
| Genitive | ‘iheu | ‘ihewo’o | |
| Locative | ‘ihewi | ‘ihuhu | |
| Allative | |||
| Elative | |||
Sixth declension
The sixth or l-n-declension preserved the peculiarities of PIE r/n-heteroclitic declension. Nouns which have an o in the stem change it to e in oblique cases, that is, all but nominative, vocative and accusative. woka (water) belongs here, but it is highly irregular, as it changes o to e in nominative, vocative and accusative plural (wekō) and has the stem uk- instead of wek- in all other plural cases. This goes back to the proterokinetic oblique stem *udén-. Nepokian is the only contemporary Indo-European tongue which has preserved totally this original declension of *wódr̥.
| Sixth declension: ‘iha (blood) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Nominative | ‘iha | ‘ihali | ‘ihō |
| Vocative | ‘iha | ‘ihali | ‘ihō |
| Accusative | ‘iha | ‘ihali | ‘ihō |
| Instrumental | ‘ihani | ‘ihini | |
| Dative | ‘ihanei | ‘ihinei | |
| Ablative | ‘ihana | ‘ihine | |
| Genitive | ‘ihana | ‘ihine | |
| Locative | ‘ihani | ‘iheni | |
| Allative | ‘ihana | ‘ihana | |
| Elative | ‘ihane | ‘ihene | |
Seventh declension
The seventh, or e-declension, mostly comprises words of non-inherited origin. (Native words rather end in ē, which goes back to PIE -ḗr.)
| Seventh declension: kokolake (chocolate) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Nominative | kokolake | kokolaki | kokolakē |
| Vocative | kokolake | kokolaki | kokolakē |
| Accusative | kokolake | kokolaki | kokolakeoi |
| Instrumental | kokolaki | kokolakepo | kokolakeimo |
| Dative | kokolakei | kokolakeipo | kokolakemo |
| Ablative | kokolakē | kokolakepo | kokolakemo |
| Genitive | kokolake | kokolake | kokolake'o |
| Locative | kokolakei | kokolake | kokolakeihu |
| Allative | kokolaka | kokolaka'i | kokolaka |
| Elative | kokolake | kokolakeli | kokolake |
Pronouns
| Personal pronouns | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | First person | Second Person | Third person | Reflexive | ||||||
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
| Nominative | 'e'a | wi | wei | ki | 'i | 'e'i | hoan, kounan | an, unan | koian, kaunan | - |
| Accusative | 'ime | ana'iwe | anahime | kue | i'iwe | uhime | ko | ko, ka | ||
| Instrumental | 'imoi | ana'iwipi | anahimipi | koi | i'iwipi | uhimipi | koi | koipi | ||
| Dative | 'ime'i | ana'iwei | anahimei | kepi | i'iwei | uhimei | kohomoi | koimu | ||
| Ablative | 'ime | ana'iwe | anahime | kue | i'iwe | uhime | kohomo | koio | ||
| Genitive | 'imene | ana'o | anaho | kewe | i'o | uho | kohio | keho | ||
| Locative | 'imoi | ana'iwi | anahimi | koi | i'iwi | uhimi | kohomi | koihu | ||
| Allative | ||||||||||
| Elative | ||||||||||
Vocabulary
Unlike one may expect, the influence of foreign tongues on Nepokian is rather small. In course of time, only three languages have had impact on Nepokian. The oldest one of these is Polynesian, presumably Proto-Polynesian itself in the 2nd millennium B.C., as there is no indication that one special Polynesian language acted as intermediary. The borrowed words belong to various fields, mostly flora (ahihi - sandalwood), fauna (awa - milkfish), toponyms (Hanaloa - Fagaloa) and hitherto unknown cultural things (wa'a - canoe). But even here, Nepokians sometimes coined their own words: Often by changing the meaning of old Indo-European words, as the original meaning became useless in Polynesia. For instance, the seahorse got the horse's Old Nepokian xikus (nowadays 'i'u), as there were no horses in Polynesia.
The reason why around 1000 B.C., Nepokian borrowed from Old Chinese, however, is still unavowed. During the Old Chinese period, Chinese culture expanded no more southern than to Yangtze river. Thus the distance between Chinese and Nepokian peoples remained high. There seemed to be a great cultural impact, as Old Nepokan Trunksnqers (nowadays Kulunahanele) and Mrankstsei (nowadays Malanahakahei) clearly go back to the Old Chinese words for Confucius and Mencius. Silk too came to Nepokians this way.
The next big foreign influence started with the upcoming European adventurers and colonialism in the Southern Pacific. As a coincidence, these adventurers were, like the colonialists afterwards, mostly German. Up to now, it is still the only European language with a major impact on Nepokian. As Nepokian lacked vocabulary for things of the modern industrialized world, European institutions and products, German was used to fill this gap: Kaika - emperor, keke - cheese or helekoko - duke, and so on.
The oddest words however, making up roughly 1% of the vocabulary, are those for which there is no canonical etymology. Almost all of them belong to everyday life and basic vocabulary, which leads researchers to believe that they are inherited rather than borrowed. Though some think these words are vestiges of an unknown extinct tongue, more and more linguists argue they are indeed remnants of Indo-European vocabulary only preserved in Nepokian: hikaio - lightning, puna - bosom or 'aluwi - together, and so on. Moreover, Indo-Uralists and Nostraticists ascribe this part of vocabulary successfully to Indo-Uralic and Nostratic roots, respectively. They see these Nepokian words and Nepokian in general as a missing link between Proto-Indo-European and its antecedent(s).
Overall, the percentage of inherited vocabulary is very high. Roughly 80 to 90 percent of all known words are directly inherited from Proto-Indo-European. The percentage depends on 1. whether Nostratic or Indo-Uralic words unattested in other IE languages are seen as inherited words and 2. which proper nouns are counted as Nepokian. Polynesian and German words make up around 5% each, and Chinese 1%.