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Proto-Ketan: Difference between revisions
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===Stress=== | ===Stress=== | ||
It is not known precisely about the quality of stress in Proto-Ketan. It is generally believed that it possessed a simple initial stress that falled on the word stem with additional prefixes being unstressed. Meinqələr Kvetain had likely had a more complex pitch-accent system, but the data is not sufficient enough. In western dialects of Proto-Ketan stress was not fixed and certain suffixes could shift its position in the word, which affected the later vowel syncope in those languages: (from Tar Ejale) ''kenna'' "material", ''kittena'' "structure" both come from ''*keten'' "thing". | It is not known precisely about the quality of stress in Proto-Ketan. It is generally believed that it possessed a simple initial stress that falled on the word stem with additional prefixes being unstressed. Meinqələr Kvetain had likely had a more complex pitch-accent system, but the data is not sufficient enough. In western dialects of Proto-Ketan stress was not fixed and certain suffixes could shift its position in the word, which affected the later vowel syncope in those languages: (from Tar Ejale) ''kenna'' "material", ''kittena'' "structure" both come from ''*keten'' "thing". | ||
==Morphology | ==Morphology== | ||
The morphology of Proto-Ketan was much simpler than of Meinqələr Kvetain. The old noun case system disappeared almost completely, leaving only traces in modern languages. Various noun classes merged, as their declension patterns coincided, though most descendants later formed new noun cases. Three numbers (singular, dual and plural) were still distinct, although a new collective plural ''-tē'' was slowly replacing the original plural marker in many dialects. New adjectives could be formed from nouns and other adjectives, which was not allowed in Kvetain, and these adjectives could also be nominalized, a process still productive in most descendants (although in Phomˀald adjectives became a [[w:Part of speech#Open and closed classes|closed class]]). There is no concensus on whether adjectives were [[w:Comparison (grammar)|comparable]], but in various dialects of Proto-Ketan different particles were used to form comparatives and superlatives for both adjectives and verbs, for example (from Tar Ejalan): ''xȯi'' "big", ''a'vȯi'' "bigger" and ''na' vȯi'' "the biggest"; the last two must be followed by a word ''ha'' "than". Possessives were marked with prefixes, like in most descendants. | The morphology of Proto-Ketan was much simpler than of Meinqələr Kvetain. The old noun case system disappeared almost completely, leaving only traces in modern languages. Various noun classes merged, as their declension patterns coincided, though most descendants later formed new noun cases. Three numbers (singular, dual and plural) were still distinct, although a new collective plural ''-tē'' was slowly replacing the original plural marker in many dialects. New adjectives could be formed from nouns and other adjectives, which was not allowed in Kvetain, and these adjectives could also be nominalized, a process still productive in most descendants (although in Phomˀald adjectives became a [[w:Part of speech#Open and closed classes|closed class]]). There is no concensus on whether adjectives were [[w:Comparison (grammar)|comparable]], but in various dialects of Proto-Ketan different particles were used to form comparatives and superlatives for both adjectives and verbs, for example (from Tar Ejalan): ''xȯi'' "big", ''a'vȯi'' "bigger" and ''na' vȯi'' "the biggest"; the last two must be followed by a word ''ha'' "than". Possessives were marked with prefixes, like in most descendants. | ||
Verbs generally simplified in their morphology. Most irregularities were analogically levelled, as all verbs conjugated similarly. Most verbs no more had a full set of forms and certain verbs became replaced with corresponding verbal nouns and auxillaries. This contrasted greatly with a very complex and irregular conjugation system of Meinqələr Kvetain, for example: ''jǫnami'' "we | Verbs generally simplified in their morphology. Most irregularities were analogically levelled, as all verbs conjugated similarly. Most verbs no more had a full set of forms and certain verbs became replaced with corresponding verbal nouns and auxillaries. This contrasted greatly with a very complex and irregular conjugation system of Meinqələr Kvetain, for example: ''jǫnami'' "we eat" - ''bejǫnaim'' "we are eating" - ''mijǫnu'' "we have eaten" was simplified to ''jǫnmi'' - ''''jǫnemi'' - ''jǫnarmi'' already in Proto-Ketan and the latter three forms were attested in written texts from two thousand years ago. This indicates that Kvetain was already only a written language and wasn't commonly spoken. Certain commonly used verbs had still preserved remnants of the original ablaut though those remnants were levelled in later descendants too. Analytic construction became more common: Ejale ''on fearin'' "I feel" (lit. "on me is feeling", from ''fa edini'' "to feel" which itself comes from ''*edines'' "he/she perceives"). Participles also became more common and were often used in [[w:Converb|converb]] constructions instead of compound sentences, for example (from Virjales): ''Lāve, ixen '''terneda''', zaxone ir tevāpa alnar'' "Lāve likes going for a walk and he will go to the forest later", the word ''terneda'' is a participle and can be directly translated as "with liking". | ||
==Later development== | ==Later development== | ||
As mentioned before, proto-Ketan was not a unified language and in many centuries different dialects became more and more distinct. The ancestor of Phomˀald separated first (it is the only branch that preserves the initial /m/ and it's also the most divergent of all languages). For example below there are reflexes of words ''*īg'' "one" and ''*mece'' "two": | As mentioned before, proto-Ketan was not a unified language and in many centuries different dialects became more and more distinct. The ancestor of Phomˀald separated first (it is the only branch that preserves the initial /m/ and it's also the most divergent of all languages). For example below there are reflexes of words ''*īg'' "one" and ''*mece'' "two": | ||
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Then there was a western-eastern split: western dialects kept *q and *k separate, strengthen *j to *ś (probably a voiced [ʝ] at first, that later devoiced), while the eastern ones merged both as *k, elide *j word-medially and keep *b as /f/. Then some languages from both groups (most dialects of Old Virjales and Western Kventanes) had independently changed *kʷ to *p in all positions, while other dialects merged it with *k. Here are some reflexes of the word "neck" as an example (in Old | Then there was a western-eastern split: western dialects kept *q and *k separate, strengthen *j to *ś (probably a voiced [ʝ] at first, that later devoiced), while the eastern ones merged both as *k, elide *j word-medially and keep *b as /f/. Then some languages from both groups (most dialects of Old Virjales and Western Kventanes) had independently changed *kʷ to *p in all positions, while other dialects merged it with *k. Here are some reflexes of the word "neck" as an example (in Old Kventanes the stress shifted to the prefix, thus preserving the original vowel, in Phomˀald unstressed initial vowels are always preserved as [ə]): | ||
{|class="wikitable" border="1! width=100% align=center | {|class="wikitable" border="1! width=100% align=center | ||
|'''Proto-Ketan''' | |'''Proto-Ketan''' | ||
| | | | ||
|''' | |'''Virjales''' | ||
|'''Tar Ejale''' | |'''Tar Ejale''' | ||
|'''Pietane''' | |'''Pietane''' | ||
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|- | |- | ||
|} | |} | ||
Here is a sentence in which all words are cognates in all languages. English translation is listed below: | |||
*'''Proto-Ketan''' *megoram *målun *fes *kwepeses. | |||
*'''Virjales''': ''Mexō ålu fe pofes.'' | |||
*'''Tar Ejale''': ''Mejuo ȯlo fo-kofe.'' | |||
*'''Kei Ejale''': ''Mioja ōlo fo-hovah.'' | |||
*'''Kianne''': ''Aoram ual he kuaibe.'' | |||
*'''Phomˀald''': ''Guó me mold-pǒˀs''. | |||
*I drank water from a stream. | |||
[[Category:Languages]] | [[Category:Languages]] | ||
[[Category:Aiwanic languages]] | |||