Lakovic languages: Difference between revisions

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:''Not to be confused with the [[Lahob languages]].''
: {{distinguish|text= the [[Lahob languages]]}}
 
[[Lakovic languages/Swadesh list|Swadesh lists for the Lakovic languages]]


[[Lakovic languages/Lexicon|Lexicon of Proto-Lakovic roots]]<br/>
[[Lakovic languages/Swadesh list|Swadesh lists for the Lakovic languages]]<br/>
[[Lakovic languages/Sketchbook]]
[[Lakovic languages/Sketchbook]]
{{Infobox language family
{{Infobox language family
| setting    = [[Verse:Tricin|Tricin]]
| setting    = [[Verse:Hmøøh|Hmøøh]]
| region      = Originally Talma, Bjeheond and Txapoalli; today worldwide
| region      = Bjeheond, Talma, Etalocin, Txapoalli
| name        = Lakovic
| name        = Lakovic
| familycolor = lakovic
| familycolor = lakovic
| family      = One of Tricin's primary language families
| family      = One of Hmøøh's primary language families
| protoname  = Proto-Lakovic
| protoname  = Proto-Lakovic
| child1 = [[Ashanic languages|Ashanic]]
| child1 = [[Naengic languages|Naengic]]
| child2 = Western Bjeheondian
| child2 = Häskä
| child3 = Tumhanian
| child3 = Tseer
| child4 = Etalocian
| child4 = Tumhanic
| child5 = Txapoallian
| child5 = Txapoallian Lakovic
| child6 = Pfiunic
}}
}}


The '''Lakovic languages''' (/ləˈkoʊvɪk/ ''lə-KOH-vik''; [[Windermere]]: ''fi imbrits Lăcof'') are a major [[Verse:Tricin|Trician]] language family, originally native to [[Verse:Tricin/Talma|Talma]]. The family is inspired by Semitic, Mon-Khmer and Austronesian languages.
The '''Lakovic languages''' (/ləˈkoʊvɪk/ ''lə-KOH-vik''; [[Naeng]]: ''fi imbrits Lăcof'' <small>Bjeheondian:</small> [vɪ (ʔ)ɪmˈbrits ləˈkaov]) are a major [[Verse:Hmøøh|Hmøøhian]] language family, originally native to [[Verse:Hmøøh/Bjeheond|Bjeheond]]. The most populous members of the family are the Nakwax dialect continuum spoken in Txapoalli, the [[Æ]] language of northwest Taivíor, and the (usually mutually intelligible) vernaculars derived from Classical Tseer. The family is inspired by Semitic, Mon-Khmer and Austronesian languages.
 
The family is named after *lakof, the PLak reconstructed word for 'human'. *lakof is the etymon of [[Naeng]] ''Wen Lăchua'' '(poetic) [[Verse:Hmøøh/Wen Dămea|Wen Dămea]]', [[Tseer]] ''lakow'' 'free', and several other ethnonyms of Lakovic-speaking peoples such as [[Dak'ox]].
{{Windermere sidebar}}
 
==Todo==
==Todo==
Lakovic should be huge
Urheimat: Talma


Language with dissimilated reduplicated plurals/verbs
Language with dissimilated reduplicated plurals/verbs
Proto-Ashanic = vaguely Salish grammar


some confusion between derivational affixes and trigger/applicatives in Ashanic
some confusion between derivational affixes and trigger/applicatives in Ashanic
Line 34: Line 34:
a Txapoallian Lakovic language with a possessed classifier system
a Txapoallian Lakovic language with a possessed classifier system


A tricons Lakovic lang
A Dinka-like language
* the VN infix {{angbr|i}}~{{angbr|y}}
 
* umlaut with various suffixes that disappear
==Urheimat==
The Proto-Lakovic urheimat is thought to have been [[Verse:Hmøøh/Bjeheond|Bjeheond]], based on the distribution of the family and reconstructed Proto-Lakovic vocabulary for Bjeheondian fauna and flora and Mediterranean-climate rainy winters and dry summers.
 
===Proto-Lakovic culture===


==Phylogeny==
==Phylogeny==
Proto-Lakovic
Most scholars agree on the following major branches:
*[[Ashanic languages|Ashanic]]
*[[Naeng languages|Naengic]] (aka Ashanic)
**[[Windermere/Classical|Classical Windermere]]
**[[Naeng/Classical|Classical Naeng]]
***[[Windermere|Modern Windermere]]
***[[Naeng|Modern Naeng]]
***[[Sătmașian]]
***[[Sătmașian]]
***[[Trây]]
***[[Trây]]
***[[Pradiul]]
***[[Pradiul]]
**[[Ferlitian]]
*Tseeric
*Tseezhic
**Classical Tseer
**Classical [[Tseer]]
***Modern [[Tseer]]
***Modern [[Tseer]]
**[[Tsjωnz]]
*[[Häskä]]
*[[Häskä]]
*Pfiunic
* [[Shalaian]]
**[[Tsăloșian]]
*[[Pfiunian]] dialect continuum (Pseudo-Swiss German)
**[[Pfiunian]] (Pseudo-Swiss German)
*[[Tumhanic]]
**[[Schong]]
**[[Æ]]
**[[Wiebian]]
*Eta-Lakovic
**vaguely Indonesian/AN languages
*Txapoallian Lakovic
*Txapoallian Lakovic
**Ejective-y, tonal language
**[[Tsăloșian]] dialect continuum (near Sowaazhpi)
*[[Tsrovesh]]
**Lakwax/Dakwax/Nakwax (Ejective-y head-final language; influenced [[Naquian]])
*Zoomic
* Lakovic isolates:
**[[!Zoom]]
** [[!Zoom]]
** [[Æ]]


==Proto-Lakovic phonology==
==Phonology==
vaguely Proto-Semitic/Algonquian/Georgian
The reconstructed phonology of PLak
===Consonants===
===Consonants===
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! colspan=2 |
! colspan=2 |
! | Labial
! | Labial
! | Dental
! | Dental/Alveolar
! | Domed
! | Lateral
! | Palatal
! | Palatal
! | Velar
! | Velar
! | Uvular
! | Laryngeal
! | Laryngeal
|-align=center
|-align=center
! colspan="2" | Nasal
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''*m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
| '''*n''' /n{{den}}/
|
|
|  
|  
| '''ŋ''' /ŋ/
| '''*ŋ''' /ŋ/
|
|
|-align=center
! rowspan="3" | Plosive
! <small>voiceless</small>
| '''*p''' /p/
| '''*t''' /t{{den}}/
|
|
|
| '''*k''' /k/
| '''*ʔ''' /ʔ/
|-align=center
|-align=center
! rowspan="2" | Plosive
! <small>voiced</small>
! <small>voiced</small>
| '''b''' /b/
| '''*b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
| '''*d''' /d{{den}}/
|
|
|
| '''g''' /ɡ/
|
|
| '''*g''' /ɡ/
|
|
|-align=center
|-align=center
! <small>voiceless</small>
! <small>implosive</small>
| '''p''' /p/
| '''*ƀ''' /ɓ/
| '''t''' /t/
| '''*đ''' /ɗ/
|
|
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|  
|  
| '''ʔ'''  /ʔ/
|
|-align=center
|-align=center
! colspan="2" | Affricate
! colspan="2" | Affricate
|
|
| '''c''' /t͡s/
| '''*c''' /t͡{{den}}s{{den}}/
| '''ć''' /t͡ʂ/
| '''*ć''' /t͡ɬ/
| '''č''' /t͡ʃ/
|  
|
|
|
|
|
|-align=center
|-align=center
! colspan="2" | Fricative
! colspan="2" | Fricative
|  
| '''*f''' /ɸ/
| '''s''' /s/
| '''*s''' /s{{den}}/
| '''ś''' /ʂ/
| '''*ś''' /ɬ/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
| '''*š''' /ʃ/
| colspan="2" | '''x''' /x/
| '''*x''' /χ/
| '''H'''
| '''*h''' /ɦ/
|-align=center
|-align=center
|-
|-
|-align=center
|-align=center
! colspan="2" | Resonant
! colspan="2" | Resonant
| '''w''' /w/
| '''*w''' /w/
| '''l''' /l/
| '''*r''' /r/
| '''r''' /r/
| '''*l''' /l{{den}}/
| '''y''' /j/
| '''*y''' /j/
|  
|  
|
|
|
|}
|}
The voiceless stops '''p t k ts tś''' were weakly aspirated like Japanese voiceless stops.
'''m n l r''' could be syllabic in unstressed affixes.


===Vowels===
===Vowels===
''i u e o ä a''
''i u e o ă a''


Syllabic ''ṃ ṇ ŋ ḷ ṛ''
''ă'' is thought to have been short /a/ or /ɐ/ while ''a'' was long /aː/. ''a'' could not occur unstressed and regularly reduced to ''ă''.
 
There is some disagreement about the vowel ''ä'' - it may have been /æ/ or /ə/.


===Phonotactics===
===Phonotactics===
Proto-Lakovic had some long and unanalyzable roots
Proto-Lakovic was dominated by CV or CVC syllables. Some prefixes and infixes resulted in CC- initials.
 
Words always ended in a vowel, unlike in Proto-Ashanic. (?)


==Proto-Lakovic morphology==
==Proto-Lakovic morphology==
===Root structure===
===Root structure===
Roots consisted of 1 or 2 syllables, and were stressed on the final syllable.
Roots consisted of a sequence of consonants plus an inherent vowel.  There was schwebeablaut: the vowel could change position within the root. The roots could be of the form
#biconsonantal roots alternating between CVC and CCV. Example: sep ~ spe 'to walk'
#triconsonantal roots alternating between CCVC, CVCC, and CVCVC. Example: ptsun ~ putsn ~ putsun 'to live'
#4-consonant roots like cpalg ~ cplag 'to cry out' (Wdm. ''tspong'' 'to demand' and ''tsloc'' 'to cry out')
 
Statistically, biconsonantal roots in Lakovic are somewhat more common than in Semitic; triconsonantal roots are derived from biconsonantals via root extensions. One example is *Hedn "being" and *Hdek "to inhabit", both derived from the root *Hed "to exist".
 
Various prefixes, infixes and suffixes were added to derive words. Some infixes had 2 allomorphs, either as an infix or as a prefix: C<əC>CVC or C-CVC/C-CVCC.
 
Three-consonant roots had 3 ablaut grades, traditionally called:
*'''Verbal grade''': CCVC
*'''Nominal grade''': CVCC
*'''Long nominal grade''': CVCVC
 
The CVCC grade had some reflexes with either the first C assimilating into V or the second C (explain some words like muad, yar or -b, -d finals)
 
The long nominal grade first arose in Late Proto-Lakovic: the nominal grade CVCC turned to CVCVC when doing so epenthesized less "nice" consonant clusters. Then CVCVC became analyzed as a new ablaut grade.
====Weak roots====
''Weak roots'' such as *yriš 'to think' and *săpQ 'to pull' have irregularities in their allomorphs, like weak roots in Semitic. The weak consonants are y, w, H, and Q.
 
With week roots, either the verbal stem (e.g. ''yriš'' > ''riš'') or the nominal stem (''sap''' > ''sap'' 'to pull, to drag') or both are shortened, and either drops or assimilates the weak consonant. This leads to apparent irregularities like nominal yirš ~ verbal riš.


===Nouns===
===Nouns===
Nouns were pluralized by reduplication, as in the Salish languages. e.g.
Nouns were pluralized by total reduplication:


*''lakof'' 'person' > ''*laklakof'' 'people'
*''lăkof'' 'person' > ''lăkof-lăkof'' 'people'
*''ptek'' 'body' > ''pteptek'' 'bodies' (Simplification of clusters in the reduplicant: *teptek occurs in some dialects.)
*''lban'' 'water > ''lban-lban'' 'a lot of water'
 
There was a feminine clitic ''=is''.


Nouns had no morphological case; genitive noun phrases were formed by concatenation.
Nouns had no morphological case; genitive noun phrases were formed by concatenation.


Ashanic developed a new associative plural suffix ''-am''.
Naengic developed a new associative plural suffix ''-am'', from PLak ''păm'' 'that; those (distal demonstrative)' (the ''-am'' in Modern Windermere plural pronouns ''łănam'', ''ănam'').


===Pronouns===
===Pronouns===
Most branches of Lakovic show evidence for the following PLak pronouns:
*''*riH'' = I
*''*riH'' = I
*''*baŋ'' = we (dual inclusive)
*''*băŋ'' = we (dual inclusive)
*''*śen'' = thou (m)
*''*śen'' = thou
*''*śens'' = thou (f)
*''*śens'' = thou (hon)
*''*'in'' = he
*''*ʔin'' = s/he
*''*'ins'' = she
*''*ʔins'' = s/he (hon)


Plural pronouns cannot be reconstructed in PLak.
PLak had no plural pronouns; it made do with associative plurals or demonstratives instead.


===Verbs and adjectives===
===Verbs and adjectives===
Verbs inflected for triggers, TAM, pluractionality, and evidentiality. Present-day Lakovic languages preserve these inflections to varying levels.
Proto-Lakovic was a verb-heavy language: verbs contained enough information that a sentence could consist of just a verb, and context made sense of the meaning.


There was a feminine prefix, ''wa-''.
Verbs inflected for triggers, TAM, pluractionality, evidentiality, and gender agreement. Present-day Lakovic languages preserve these inflections to varying levels.
====TAM====
The following verb affixes marked lexical aspect and voice/transitivity/denominality.
*unmarked or li- = imperfective
*-H = perfective
*hem- = change of state for statives?
*various reduplifixes for other TAMs:
**F(M)ă- = iterative
**FaL- = intensive
**{{angbr|iL}}, qol-{{angbr|iL}}- almost X, X a little
**săL- = inceptive
**HenFă- = frequentative
**tăFi- = graduative
**ongFă- = X for oneself, X in advance


*{{angbr|''paŋ''}} = destination trigger
* {{angbr|ăp}}
*PLak: {{angbr|''iHt''}} = locative trigger
* {{angbr|ăŋ}}
* {{angbr|it}}
* {{angbr|ăm/năm}}
* {{angbr|ăg}}
* {{angbr|kăm}}
* {{angbr|lis}}
 
====Nominalization====
The most common ways to form deverbal nouns were:
*Using the nominal grade CVCC of the root
*The {{angbr|ăy}} infix
*using instrument, place and agent affixes.


===Derivational morphology===
===Derivational morphology===
*{{angbr|''-s''}}: feminine
====Schwebeablaut====
Three-consonant roots had 3 ablaut grades, traditionally called:
*'''Verbal grade''': CCVC
*'''Nominal grade''': CVCC
*'''Long nominal grade''': CVCVC
The distinction is best preserved in non-Talman Lakovic languages, and to an extent Naeng; the Talman ones went fast and loose with ablaut grades just like most branches of IE did.
 
====Root extensions====
There is much evidence that the truly basic roots were CVC~CCV roots, and CVCC~CCVC roots were derived from CVC~CCV via suffixing a third root consonant.
*ngit = to happen
**ngitw~ngtiw = new
 
====Affixes====
*{{angbr|-s}}: honorific, nominalization
**Source of breathy voice ablaut in Wdm.
**Source of breathy voice ablaut in Wdm.
*{{angbr|''ṛ''}} prefix or infix: non-volitional or passive verbs
*{{angbr|r}} prefix or infix: non-volitional or passive verbs
**Ashanic *{{angbr|àr}}, Wdm. {{angbr|ră}}, {{angbr|năr/măr}}
**Ashanic *{{angbr|àr}}, Wdm. {{angbr|ră}}, {{angbr|ngăr/măr}}
*{{angbr|ay}} = nominalization
*{{angbr|ăy}} = deverbal noun
*''b-'' = agentive  
*{{angbr|ong}} = place noun
**Wdm. ''pă-'' (not productive)
*{{angbr|X}} = agentive or instrument
**Wdm root vowel breathiness
*{{angbr|ăf}} = verb forming prefix or infix
**Wdm initial voicing, sometimes also breathy root vowel
*bif- = agentive  
**Wdm. ''pă-'' + voicing (not productive)
**Tseer ''ba-''
**Tseer ''ba-''
*''ha-'' = resultative (passive in Windermere)
*xă- = resultative (passive in Windermere)
*''t-'' = denominal verbs, causative
*t- = intensive, denominals
**Wdm. ''th-'' (not productive)
**Wdm. ''th-'' or ''t-'' (not productive)
*''lä-'' = verbalizer
*Qu- = intensive
*''ʔu-'' = intensive
**Wdm. ''th-u-''
**Wdm. ''th-u-''
*''ya-'' = adjectivizer; from ''ya'' 'with'
*yă- = adjectivizer; from ''yă'' 'with'
**Wdm. ''yă-'', Tseezh ''xi-'', Häskä ''yə-''
**Wdm. ''yă-'', Tseer ''xi-'', Häskä ''yə-''
*{{angbr|''ʔ''}} = negative; the opposite or undoing of X
* ''f-'' = negative; the opposite or undoing of X
**not productive in Wdm
**not productive in Wdm
** Tseer ''ø-''


==Proto-Lakovic syntax==
==Proto-Lakovic syntax==
Proto-Lakovic had unmarked word order VSO.
===Triggers===
*''spe-f fit Qopr-is ŋă rif'' (walk-PFV IND height-FEM DIR 1SG) = I walked up high (neutral)
*''s<əŋ>pe-f fit rif ŋă Qopris'' (<DEST>walk-PFV IND 1SG DIR high) = I walked up high (emphasis on "up high")
===Copular sentences===
Proto-Lakovic was zero-copula (different descendants use different etymologies for the copula).
This caused some triggers to be reinterpreted as noun-deriving affixes in some daughter languages. Demonstration by contrived example, with the instrument trigger:
:'''''p{{angbr|ăk}}tuś fit rif fit Qin ŋă măXokis.'''''
:{{angbr|INST}}stab IND 1SG IND 3SG.M DIR stone-F
:''I stabbed him with the stone.''
was reinterpreted as something like "The stone was my stabbing-instrument [for piercing] him".
Copular sentences are zero-copula and do not use case markers except ''Hit'': ''biHdaŋ Hit lakoF.'' = 'The person is a soldier/warrior.'
Some "adjectives" are actually prepositional phrases instead of verbs:
''*Xu Qopr fit fedn Xtăr.'' (PRED high.NOM DIR creature black) 'The black one is up high.'
== Sample text ==
=== The Round Table ===
<!--x = some laryngeal idk what
Pre-Wdm homorganic nasals cause urú in Wdm while heteroganic nasals become homorganic nasals?
Pre-Naengic word for word "reconstruction", not guaranteed to be grammatical in PLak
<poem>
Ngiiθ dur mogor se taχ χaaθ. "Măra łĭnam?" tăbits φin Pĭda Brăwid.
ŋiHt Vntor måŋgår se dak kaHt. "meH ra śenam?" dambic pin bindaq PN.
Mi-ăngnuung căχθaaθ năθa emrĭtsal sen doon: "Șrüχ te-stiiw: taχ mognas, θaφ te-müts θraaφ, liw stăliiw, θaφ te-müts mălsaaχ, taχ mălüüts, doon tălaχ."
"mi ngXnuung katkHat nåtaX hemrecal sen Hdån: "šruk day ătsHiw: dak månknas, tap day amHuc tramp, liw atsalHiw, tak malHuc, n-dHon talak." (implying mp > bh > φ?)
"Ǎna mee ra, srü hĭdeen croθ năθa?" tăbits φin Pĭda Brăwid.
"Ha-na meH ra, sru xeHden gråt nåtaX?" dambic pin bindaq PN. (PLak -aq > -a while -a > *-ā > -o)
"Op cănga, φin Pĭda: tsor pădiχ φnărtaang, te ămsaχ păχwădiχ năθa ya φin croθ φi!" eφθooc φin χaaθ.
Åb gaŋaq, pin Binta: cår bindik panradHaŋ, day Famsak (Fanpsak?) pinkawandik nåtaX yaq pin gråt pi! emp-tHåk(?) pin kaHt.


Proto-Lakovic had flexible word order, but the most common word order was VSO.
"Ăruy șa-χaaθ ses tsărüng te sen θăpal φănaw φănaw." esngim șa φin χaaθ φin Pĭda Brăwid.  
==Vocabulary==
qaroy šaX-kaHt se se caruŋ sen tapal panaw panaw." empsxngim šaX pin kaHt pin bindaq PN.
*''ptek'' 'body'
</poem>
*''lakof'' = human, person
*''ṛ-'': nonvolitional
**Wdm ''-ră-'', ''-năr-''
*''tkä'' 'to go'
**Proto-Ashanic àrtka < ṛ-tkä
***Windermere răchta 'to die'
***Tseezh ''thaka'' 'to go'
***Tsjoen ''tjo''
*PAsh ''ksìʔ'' > Wdm. ''csie'' 'star'
*PAsh ''śkey'' > Wdm. ''scey'' 'bark'
*PAsh ''ʔmä''
**Wdm. ''ăma''
*PAsh ''ʔeb''
**Wdm. ''ep''
*PLak ''ḷban''
**PAsh ''àlbon'' 'water'
***Wdm. ''blon''
*** Tseezh ooban, Modern nban
**Häskä əlfon
*PLak ''dṛmäzh'' 'rain'
**Tsrovesh ''dvmazh''
**PAsh ''dàrmày''
***Wdm. ''trămäy''
*PAsh ''madaŋs'' 'struggle, war'
**Wdm.''mătäng'' 'war'
*PLak ''žän''
**PAsh ''šan'' 'to utter, to say'; ''šàn'' 'word'
***Proto-Tumhanic ''hjàn'' 'word'
****Schong ''jahn''
****Æ ''jov''?
***Wdm. ''șän''
*PLak ''ḷgän'' 'straight, upright'
**PAsh ''àlgan''
***Wdm. ''glan'' 'straight'
***Tseezh ''ookhan''


====Numbers====
(todo: double check, account for Grassmann. This also omits gender affixes.)
aHdan, aHrät, atsiw, amsHäk, amsHut
-->
''**ŋift ntor mangār se dak kaft. "mef raq śen ʔam?" dambic pin bindaq PN. mi qangfnung katkfat nataX qemrecal sen Hdān: "šruk day qatsHiw: dak manknas, tap day amfuc ftom, liw qatsalfiw, tak malfuc, n-dHon talak." "fna mef raq, sru fenfden grāt nataX? dambic pin bindaq PN. "gaŋaX, pin bindaq: cār bindik panratfaŋ, day fanpsak binkawantik nataX ya pin grāt pi!" "qaruy šaX-kaft se caruŋ sen tapal panaw panaw." empsfŋim šaX pin kaft pin bindaq PN.''


some reflexes of 1, 2 based on *Hadna and *Härta
=== Another one ===

Latest revision as of 01:57, 23 April 2023

Not to be confused with the Lahob languages.

Lexicon of Proto-Lakovic roots
Swadesh lists for the Lakovic languages
Lakovic languages/Sketchbook

Lakovic
Created by–
Geographic
distribution		Bjeheond, Talma, Etalocin, Txapoalli
Linguistic classificationOne of Hmøøh's primary language families
Proto-languageProto-Lakovic
Subdivisions
  • Naengic
  • Häskä
  • Tseer
  • Tumhanic
  • Txapoallian Lakovic
  • Pfiunic

The Lakovic languages (/ləˈkoʊvɪk/ lə-KOH-vik; Naeng: fi imbrits Lăcof Bjeheondian: [vɪ (ʔ)ɪmˈbrits ləˈkaov]) are a major Hmøøhian language family, originally native to Bjeheond. The most populous members of the family are the Nakwax dialect continuum spoken in Txapoalli, the Æ language of northwest Taivíor, and the (usually mutually intelligible) vernaculars derived from Classical Tseer. The family is inspired by Semitic, Mon-Khmer and Austronesian languages.

The family is named after *lakof, the PLak reconstructed word for 'human'. *lakof is the etymon of Naeng Wen Lăchua '(poetic) Wen Dămea', Tseer lakow 'free', and several other ethnonyms of Lakovic-speaking peoples such as Dak'ox. Template:Windermere sidebar

Todo

Language with dissimilated reduplicated plurals/verbs

some confusion between derivational affixes and trigger/applicatives in Ashanic

an ergative Lakovic language

a Txapoallian Lakovic language with a possessed classifier system

A Dinka-like language

Urheimat

The Proto-Lakovic urheimat is thought to have been Bjeheond, based on the distribution of the family and reconstructed Proto-Lakovic vocabulary for Bjeheondian fauna and flora and Mediterranean-climate rainy winters and dry summers.

Proto-Lakovic culture

Phylogeny

Most scholars agree on the following major branches:

Phonology

The reconstructed phonology of PLak

Consonants

Labial Dental/Alveolar Lateral Palatal Velar Laryngeal
Nasal *m /m/ *n /n̪/ *ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive voiceless *p /p/ *t /t̪/ *k /k/ *ʔ /ʔ/
voiced *b /b/ *d /d̪/ *g /ɡ/
implosive *ƀ /ɓ/ *đ /ɗ/
Affricate *c /t̪͡s̪/ *ć /t͡ɬ/
Fricative *f /ɸ/ *s /s̪/ *ś /ɬ/ *š /ʃ/ *x /χ/ *h /ɦ/
Resonant *w /w/ *r /r/ *l /l̪/ *y /j/

The voiceless stops p t k ts tś were weakly aspirated like Japanese voiceless stops.

m n l r could be syllabic in unstressed affixes.

Vowels

i u e o ă a

ă is thought to have been short /a/ or /ɐ/ while a was long /aː/. a could not occur unstressed and regularly reduced to ă.

Phonotactics

Proto-Lakovic was dominated by CV or CVC syllables. Some prefixes and infixes resulted in CC- initials.

Proto-Lakovic morphology

Root structure

Roots consisted of a sequence of consonants plus an inherent vowel. There was schwebeablaut: the vowel could change position within the root. The roots could be of the form

  1. biconsonantal roots alternating between CVC and CCV. Example: sep ~ spe 'to walk'
  2. triconsonantal roots alternating between CCVC, CVCC, and CVCVC. Example: ptsun ~ putsn ~ putsun 'to live'
  3. 4-consonant roots like cpalg ~ cplag 'to cry out' (Wdm. tspong 'to demand' and tsloc 'to cry out')

Statistically, biconsonantal roots in Lakovic are somewhat more common than in Semitic; triconsonantal roots are derived from biconsonantals via root extensions. One example is *Hedn "being" and *Hdek "to inhabit", both derived from the root *Hed "to exist".

Various prefixes, infixes and suffixes were added to derive words. Some infixes had 2 allomorphs, either as an infix or as a prefix: C<əC>CVC or C-CVC/C-CVCC.

Three-consonant roots had 3 ablaut grades, traditionally called:

  • Verbal grade: CCVC
  • Nominal grade: CVCC
  • Long nominal grade: CVCVC

The CVCC grade had some reflexes with either the first C assimilating into V or the second C (explain some words like muad, yar or -b, -d finals)

The long nominal grade first arose in Late Proto-Lakovic: the nominal grade CVCC turned to CVCVC when doing so epenthesized less "nice" consonant clusters. Then CVCVC became analyzed as a new ablaut grade.

Weak roots

Weak roots such as *yriš 'to think' and *săpQ 'to pull' have irregularities in their allomorphs, like weak roots in Semitic. The weak consonants are y, w, H, and Q.

With week roots, either the verbal stem (e.g. yriš > riš) or the nominal stem (sap' > sap 'to pull, to drag') or both are shortened, and either drops or assimilates the weak consonant. This leads to apparent irregularities like nominal yirš ~ verbal riš.

Nouns

Nouns were pluralized by total reduplication:

  • lăkof 'person' > lăkof-lăkof 'people'
  • lban 'water > lban-lban 'a lot of water'

Nouns had no morphological case; genitive noun phrases were formed by concatenation.

Naengic developed a new associative plural suffix -am, from PLak păm 'that; those (distal demonstrative)' (the -am in Modern Windermere plural pronouns łănam, ănam).

Pronouns

Most branches of Lakovic show evidence for the following PLak pronouns:

  • *riH = I
  • *băŋ = we (dual inclusive)
  • *śen = thou
  • *śens = thou (hon)
  • *ʔin = s/he
  • *ʔins = s/he (hon)

PLak had no plural pronouns; it made do with associative plurals or demonstratives instead.

Verbs and adjectives

Proto-Lakovic was a verb-heavy language: verbs contained enough information that a sentence could consist of just a verb, and context made sense of the meaning.

Verbs inflected for triggers, TAM, pluractionality, evidentiality, and gender agreement. Present-day Lakovic languages preserve these inflections to varying levels.

TAM

The following verb affixes marked lexical aspect and voice/transitivity/denominality.

  • unmarked or li- = imperfective
  • -H = perfective
  • hem- = change of state for statives?
  • various reduplifixes for other TAMs:
    • F(M)ă- = iterative
    • FaL- = intensive
    • ⟨iL⟩, qol-⟨iL⟩- almost X, X a little
    • săL- = inceptive
    • HenFă- = frequentative
    • tăFi- = graduative
    • ongFă- = X for oneself, X in advance
  • ⟨ăp⟩
  • ⟨ăŋ⟩
  • ⟨it⟩
  • ⟨ăm/năm⟩
  • ⟨ăg⟩
  • ⟨kăm⟩
  • ⟨lis⟩

Nominalization

The most common ways to form deverbal nouns were:

  • Using the nominal grade CVCC of the root
  • The ⟨ăy⟩ infix
  • using instrument, place and agent affixes.

Derivational morphology

Schwebeablaut

Three-consonant roots had 3 ablaut grades, traditionally called:

  • Verbal grade: CCVC
  • Nominal grade: CVCC
  • Long nominal grade: CVCVC

The distinction is best preserved in non-Talman Lakovic languages, and to an extent Naeng; the Talman ones went fast and loose with ablaut grades just like most branches of IE did.

Root extensions

There is much evidence that the truly basic roots were CVC~CCV roots, and CVCC~CCVC roots were derived from CVC~CCV via suffixing a third root consonant.

  • ngit = to happen
    • ngitw~ngtiw = new

Affixes

  • ⟨-s⟩: honorific, nominalization
    • Source of breathy voice ablaut in Wdm.
  • ⟨r⟩ prefix or infix: non-volitional or passive verbs
    • Ashanic *⟨àr⟩, Wdm. ⟨ră⟩, ⟨ngăr/măr⟩
  • ⟨ăy⟩ = deverbal noun
  • ⟨ong⟩ = place noun
  • ⟨X⟩ = agentive or instrument
    • Wdm root vowel breathiness
  • ⟨ăf⟩ = verb forming prefix or infix
    • Wdm initial voicing, sometimes also breathy root vowel
  • bif- = agentive
    • Wdm. pă- + voicing (not productive)
    • Tseer ba-
  • xă- = resultative (passive in Windermere)
  • t- = intensive, denominals
    • Wdm. th- or t- (not productive)
  • Qu- = intensive
    • Wdm. th-u-
  • yă- = adjectivizer; from yă 'with'
    • Wdm. yă-, Tseer xi-, Häskä yə-
  • f- = negative; the opposite or undoing of X
    • not productive in Wdm
    • Tseer ø-

Proto-Lakovic syntax

Proto-Lakovic had unmarked word order VSO.

Triggers

  • spe-f fit Qopr-is ŋă rif (walk-PFV IND height-FEM DIR 1SG) = I walked up high (neutral)
  • s<əŋ>pe-f fit rif ŋă Qopris (<DEST>walk-PFV IND 1SG DIR high) = I walked up high (emphasis on "up high")

Copular sentences

Proto-Lakovic was zero-copula (different descendants use different etymologies for the copula).

This caused some triggers to be reinterpreted as noun-deriving affixes in some daughter languages. Demonstration by contrived example, with the instrument trigger:

p⟨ăk⟩tuś fit rif fit Qin ŋă măXokis.
⟨INST⟩stab IND 1SG IND 3SG.M DIR stone-F
I stabbed him with the stone.

was reinterpreted as something like "The stone was my stabbing-instrument [for piercing] him".

Copular sentences are zero-copula and do not use case markers except Hit: biHdaŋ Hit lakoF. = 'The person is a soldier/warrior.'

Some "adjectives" are actually prepositional phrases instead of verbs:

*Xu Qopr fit fedn Xtăr. (PRED high.NOM DIR creature black) 'The black one is up high.'

Sample text

The Round Table

**ŋift ntor mangār se dak kaft. "mef raq śen ʔam?" dambic pin bindaq PN. mi qangfnung katkfat nataX qemrecal sen Hdān: "šruk day qatsHiw: dak manknas, tap day amfuc ftom, liw qatsalfiw, tak malfuc, n-dHon talak." "fna mef raq, sru fenfden grāt nataX? dambic pin bindaq PN. "gaŋaX, pin bindaq: cār bindik panratfaŋ, day fanpsak binkawantik nataX ya pin grāt pi!" "qaruy šaX-kaft se caruŋ sen tapal panaw panaw." empsfŋim šaX pin kaft pin bindaq PN.

Another one

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