Nēpoki

Nepokian
Nēpoki
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|neːpoki]]
Created by	–
Native speakers	- ()
Language family	Indo-European Nepokian
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 lead 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.

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

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

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	'o
	*o	o
*ə	*h₁	i
	*h₂	a
	*h₃	o
*-	*h₁-	'i
	*h₂-	'a
	*h₃-	'o
*ē	*ē, *eh₁	ē, i, 'ī
*ā	(*ā), *eh₂	ā
*ō	*ō, *eh₃	ō
*i	*i	i
*ī	*ih₁	ī
	*ih₂	a
	*ih₃	o
*ei	*ei, *h₁ei	ei, 'ī
*oi	*oi, *h₃ei	oi, 'oi
*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	o
*eu	*eu, *h₁eu	eu, 'iu
*ou	*ou,*h₃eu	ou, 'ou
*au	(*au), *h₂eu	au, 'au
*ēu	*ēu	ēu
*ōu	*ōu	ōu
*m̥	*m̥	am, -a
*m̥̅	*mh₁	mi
	*mh₂	ma
	*mh₃	mo
*m̥m	*m̥m	mam
*n̥	*n̥	an
*n̥̄	*nh₁	ni
	*nh₂	na
	*nh₃	no
*n̥n	*n̥n	nan
*l̥	*l̥	al
*l̥̄	*lh₁	li
	*lh₂	la
	*lh₃	lo
*l̥l	*l̥l	lal
*r̥	*r̥	al, -a
*r̥̄	*rh₁	li
	*rh₂	la
	*rh₃	lo
*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 to genders, animate and unanimate.

Nouns

Nouns belong to one of two genders: animate and unanimate (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	‘omopoi
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 unanimate 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’oi
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’ei		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.

Fifth 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

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 two millennia, Nepokians seemed to live rather seclusively. The next foreign influence started with the colonial period and European adventurers shortly before colonialism proper. As a coincidence, these adventurers were, like the colonialists afterwards, mostly German. Up to now, it is still the only European language whith a major impact on Nepokian. As it 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 (depending on whether Nostratic or Indo-Uralic words unattested in other IE languages are seen as inherited words) are genuinely inherited from Proto-Indo-European. Polynesian and German words make up around 5% each, and Chinese 1%.