Lámeyi languages

Lámeyi
Created by	–
Geographic distribution	Lá
Linguistic classification	One of the primary language families
Proto-language	Proto-Lámeyi
Subdivisions	Khad Thad Las

The Lámeyi languages are the members of the Aiwanic language macrofamily, which are spoken throughout the planet Lá. Around 160 thousand people speak Lámeyi languages, around two thirds of whom speak the Khad languages, and less than a third of whom speak the Thad languages. The name derives from the word for land in most of the Khad languages – lá. These languages also have extensive literary traditions, dating from the 7th century AC (after colonisation). Most of the other languages are spoken by much smaller communities, and many of them have not been described in detail.

Several low-level subgroups have been securely reconstructed based on the earliest written records these languages, but reconstruction of a proto-language for the family as a whole is still at an early stage, the grammatical structure of Sino-Tibetan remains unclear. Although the family is traditionally presented as divided into Thad (Eastern) and Khad (Western) branches, the common origin of the latter has never been clearly demonstarated, with some scholars dividing the Khad branch into Western and Southern groups/

Introduction

The language family of the planet Lá is a part of a much larger macrofamily, though most of it is still not properly constructed. The first Lámeyi language ever created was Thadmé, the idea of which came into being in 2015. Since then, the family went through several changes. By 2022 only a few languages have been developed.

The Lámeyi language family belongs to the Core Aiwanic languages, meaning it is more closely related to Mtari, or the Ketan languages, than to the Kyrdan or Settameric families, and similarly to Mtari, its ancestor was a late dialect of the Kliru language, that once had been spoken throughout the Galactic Empire almost three billion year ago.

Proto-language

Concerning the general style of the primitive language, the vast majority of words had two or three syllables and ended in a thematic vowel, which defined its meaning and a grammatical function. In three-syllable words, the theme vowel was in the second syllable, while the last syllable had a vowel of an unknown quality, since none of the daughter languages preserved it. Vowels in hiatus probably did not occur in the proto-language; where they occur in daughter languages, an intervening consonant has been lost. Other features reconstructed for Proto-Lámeyi are the following:

• Most consonants had a “strong” and “weak” versions. Using the strong or weak version of various consonants in the root word defined the function of the word.
• The primary word order was likely SOV (subject – object – verb), although Khad languages typically have VSO or VOS word order instead.
• Such categories as verbs, nouns or adjectives were not clearly defined. Each word could show a nominal or verbal morphology, depending on the context.
• The alignment was likely ergative-absolutive, retained by almost all later languages. A marked nominative or active-stative alignments have been proposed.
• The pronominal system is generally complex. Pronouns was likely an open class of words.
• Affixes, such as the imperfective p-, the intransitive m-, intensive tʲʰ- the optative t- and k-, as well as, infixes -lʷ-, -tʰ-, and -nʷ- and a suffix -s, that pften resulted in the development of tone in most languages of the family.

Stages

Scholars distinguish two stages of Proto-Lámeyi, named Early and Late. The Early Proto-Lámeyi stage, was the ancestor of all languages ever spoken in the world. However, this stage is very poorly understood. Only a few of word forms are explicitly reconstructed for this stage (one of them being *ajawV – “sky”, common for most Core Aiwanic laguages). Most of the reconstructed root words belong to the Late Proto-Lámeyi (or Common Lámeyi) stage.

Phonology

A typical Proto-Lámeyi word has a structure of (C)CV^RC(C)V^T(CV), where “C“ is a consonant or a consonant cluster, and ”V^R” is a root vowel and “V^T” is a thematic vowel. Many thematic vowels later fused with the roots they had modified. Havˁen and Las are the only languages that still retain this contrast in some words, however they have both expanded their inventory of thematic vowels.

Proto-Lámeyi exhibits a large number of consonants. Most languages did not retain a contrast between plain, palatalised and labialised sounds. Most consonants formed “strong” and “weak” pairs.

		Labial		Alveolar			Velar			Uvular		Glottal
		plain	pal.	plain	lab.	pal.	plain	pal.	lab.	plain	lab.
Nasal	strong	mb	mbʲ	nd	ndʷ		ŋg	ŋgʲ	ŋgʷ	ɴɢ	ɴɢʷ
	weak	m	mʲ	n	nʷ		ŋ	ŋʲ	ŋʷ	(ɴ)	(ɴʷ)
Plosive	strong	pʰ		tʰ	tʷʰ	tʲʰ	kʰ	kʲʰ	kʷʰ	qʰ
	weak	p	pʲ	t	tʷ	tʲ	k	kʲ	kʷ	q	qʷ	(ʔ)
Fricative				s	sʷ	sʲ	x	xʲ	xʷ
Liquid	strong			ɾ̞̊	ɾ̞̊ʷ					ʁ	ʁʷ
	weak			ɺ	ɺʷ	ɺʲ	ʟ	j	w			ɦ

Proto-Lámeyi vowels can be split into primary and secondary sets. Later Lámeyi languages had anywhere from five vowels (Classical Khad) to dozens of monophthongs and diphthongs. Languages which have greatly simplified consonant clusters tend to have more vowels. The open unrounded vowel *a is by far the most common and stable vowel in Lámeyi languages. The primary set was most likely stressed, they are also called the root vowels, because they were a stable part of word roots, unlike secondary or thematic vowels. Some scholars also define the third set for words with three syllables, which was later lost by all descendants of Proto-Lámeyi. Later reconstructions of Proto-Lámeyi tend to view its long vowels as diphthongs:

Primary Vowels

Height	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	əɪ	ə	əʊ
Open	aɪ	a	aʊ

Secondary Vowels

Height	Front	Back
Close	i	ɯ
Mid	ə	ɤ
Open		ɐ

Several consonant clusters can be reconstructed for Proto-Lámeyi, mostly based on the Las language initial clusters:

Clusters

Initial and Final						Medial
fp	st	ʂɺ	xk	m̥sk	sn̥	mz	ɺz	nz	stk	stq	kʂ

Sounds, such as [f] or [ʂ], were allophones of /s/ at that stage, occuring only in consonant clusters. These clusters typically received the coarticulation of the neighbouring consonants, for example – *msk+*kʷeutVs → *mskʷeutas [ˈm̥skʷəʊ.tɐs] (“cliff”), where the whole initial cluster becomes labialised.

Morphology

Most Proto-Lámeyi stems typically have the following structure:

(P) — C_i — (G) — V_R — C_f — (s)

• P: prefixes - optional
• C_i: initial consonant
• G: glide - optional
• V_R: root vowel (optionally lengthened)
• C_f: final consonant
• s: nominalising suffix - optional

The simplest root was thus C_iV_RC_f. This resembles most Mtari stems, which is one of the features inherited from their common ancestor. The -s suffix most likely was an animacy marker, the same suffix was present in most Core Aiwanic languages, where it usually developed into ergative or locative cases. In Common Lámeyi it likely became a singulative marker instead, while the plural remained unmarked. Unlike many Core Aiwanic languages Proto-Lámeyi nouns likely did not decline for number, or the number was marked by final vowels, which were later lost. Nouns did not decline for case either, whatever case system its Klesuic ancestor had possessed, Proto-Lámeyi lost it during its early stage of development.

Nouns declined for possession, the possessed form of three-syllable nouns causes syncope (the word *milʲate – “cloud” – isused as an example:

√MILʲT	Free	Possessed
		1st	2nd	3rd Agent	3rd Patient
Marked	*milʲates	*umiltʲes	*samiltʲes	*amiltʲes	*jamiltʲe
Unmarked	*milʲate	*umiltʲe	*samiltʲe	*amiltʲe

The marked form was likely used in a similar manner to a definite article, or a marked nominative case (if the proto-language had a marked nominative or active-stative alignment).

A system of verbal agreement is reconstructed for Proto-Lámeyi. Verbal agreement has disappeared in most Khad branches, as they innovated a different system, but was preserved in the Las language in particular. This is a topic of scholarly debate, however, and the existence of a complex verbal agreement system is disputed. All verbs only had non-finite forms (or participles) and required a preceding (or following in case of optative) auxiliary verb with a meaning “to exist”. This was likely not the only finite verb, but all other finite forms have been completely lost, most likely because of their irregularity.

		Singular				Plural
		1st Obj.	2nd Obj.	3rd Obj.	4th Obj.	1st Obj.	2nd Obj.	3rd Obj.
Sg.
	1st Subj.	—	*qik	*qalʷ	*qilʷ	*qasʷa	*qapʰa	*qaldʷa
	2nd Subj.	*kʲik	—	*kalʷ	*kʲilʷ	*kasʷa	*kapʰa	*kaldʷa
	3rd Subj.	*haxʲik	*ʔajikʰ	—	*haxʲilʷ	*haxsʷa	*ʔaspa	*haḷtʷa
	4th Subj.	*jik	*jikʰ	*jilʷ	—	*jisʷa	*jipʰa	*jildʷa
Pl.
	1st Subj.	—	*huʟikʰ	*ʔuʟalʷ	*ʔuʟilʷ	—	*huxpʰa	*huxtʷa
	2nd Subj.	*piʟik	—	*piʟalʷ	*piʟilʷ	*piʟasʷa	—	*piʟaldʷa
	3rd Subj.	*ʔalVlik	*ʔalVlikʰ	—	*ʔalVlilʷ	*haḷsʷa	*haḷpʰa	*haldʷa

The participles themselves only conjugated for aspect:

	√KINDL	“to do”	√NDAH	“to see”
Imperfect	*kaindulni	“while doing”	*ndahVni	“while seeing”
Aorist	*kaindulu *-waj	“did”	*ndahu *-waj	“saw”
Perfect	*qekindlu *-ʔan	“having done”	*qendahu *-ʔan	“having seen”
Irrealis	*kainduldai	“will do”	*ndaʔtai	“will see”
Optative	*kaindulpa *mu-	“ought to do”	*ndahVpa *mu-	“ought to see”

The dental infixes, *-n-, *-tʰ-, and *-lʲ-, are widespread, but their semantics are difficult to reconstruct. These infixes were often incorporated into the roots they had once modified and later became non-productive.

• *-s- – Sometimes this infix can be used with verbs as a marker of middle voice – a feature, preserved in Las. It can also appear in nouns, usually being a part of the *-ns- cluster.
• *-n- – This infix has a variety of functions, such as nominalising, detransitivising, and being a durative marker. The detransitivising form is rare, and has only been attested in Las.
• *-tʰ- – This suffix is used as a perfect marker in verbs. Other functions include verbalising noun roots and turning stative verbs into causative ones (the function it later lost completely in the Khad branch). In some cases, *-tʰ- appears to have no obvious function, such as in *lʷʰi-t-na “gemstone” (where the infix becomes “weak” because of the presence of a “strong” /lʷʰ/.
• *-k-/-ŋg- – The semantic function of the velar infix is unknown. It most likely had a distributive sense. It became incorporated into several pronominal forms in the Thad branch.
• ʔajV – This proto-morpheme indicates motion or duration and can be attached to various roots to signify this meaning. This morpheme likely had the meaning “to go”, it became reduced to palatal late Lámeyi languages.
• *kʲV/ *sV – Its purpose is mainly diminutive.
• wajV – It likely was a copula or an auxiliary verb (being similar to Proto-Mtari *be, which became the optative marker; or to the copula wei in Meinqələr Kvetain), but later it was reduced to a suffix that occurs in roots carrying abstract grammatical meanings, such as pronouns. In Thad languages it became a part of the thematic verb paradigm (or the “é-verbs”).

Later development

Thad languages

Proto-Thad underwent a dissimilatory phonological process, which states that if an weak consonant is followed by another weak consonant in the next syllable, the first one becomes voiced (and later turns into a voiced fricative). This law was later generalised, so that such alternations rarely occur in Thad languages. On the other hand, the Thadpalmé often has a reverse change, turning many initial fricatives back into plosives . Here are some examples of the effects of this law in Thadpalmé:

• *tekalʷ- > *dekaran “shining”;
• *peikani > *bikayin “to swim”;
• But *kʲaitnV- > *kyénáhe “light”.

The Eastern languages lost their consonant clusters in all positions, though new medial clusters later formed due to syncope: *spautʰanVs (P-L)>phodnes [ˈpʰoð.nes] “electricity” (Thadpalmé). Other sound changes that define the Eastern branch are:

• *lʷ, *ḷʷ *ḷs> *r /r/, *rh /r̥/, *rh /r̥/;
• *lʲ, l, *ḷ > *ly /ʎ/, *l /l/ *lh /ɬ/;
• *ŋʲ is distinct from *ŋ (shared with Las);
• *h *ʔ> ∅
• *q, *ɴq > h
• *tʲ, *tʲʰ > *c /t͡s/, *ch /t͡sʰ/, while *kʲ, *kʲʰ > ky [c], khy [cʰ],
• *mb, *nd, *ŋg and their variants > *m, *n, *ŋ.

Thad languages innovate a different verb conjugation paradigm, levelling out the ablaut patterns and irregularities, caused by later sound changes.

Here are some consonant changes that differentiate the two Thad languages: Thadpalmé and Havˁen. Thadpalmé consists of two distinct dialects, based on the development of *d in them (L-palmé, in which *d>/l/, and D-palmé, in which *d>/ð/. Thus, Havˁen is often viewed as H- or HT-palmé based on its outcome of *d).

Phonological development

Proto-Thad	*ŋʲ	*ṗ	*ṭ	*ḳ	*d	*l	*h	*x	*ʟ	*s	*sʲ	*xʲ	*ɬ
L-palmé	ny	ph	th	kh	l	d	h	∅		y		s
D-palmé	∅	ph	th	kh	d	d	h	∅		s			l
Havˁen (H-palmé)	n	b	d	g	h, _t#	l	h	ħ	ʕ	s		š

While Havˁen has a simple stress and vowel reduction of the unstressed syllables, both Thadpalmé varieties have pitch accent. There are three pitches: "high" or "rising", "low" or "neutral" and "falling". THadpalmé later lost the lfalling tone as a distinct phonemic unit. An example of the pitch accent system is hókya [hóː.ꜜcɑ̀] “spring”, hokya [ꜜhò.cɑ] “flat land” and mikháyes [mi.kʰɑ́ː.ꜜjès] “sun”. The high pitch lengthen the syllable, where it reaches its peak, the long vowels are thus marked with the acute accent.

Khad languages

By far the largest group within the Lámeyi family are the Khad languages. Since most of them are spoken in the western part of Lá, they are also called Western, opposed to Thad, which are Eastern. Languages of the Lámeyi family used to be classified as either Khad or Thad languages according to how the velar and uvular consonants (mainly *kʷ, *kʷʰ, *kʲ, *kʲʰ, xʷ, *q and *qʷ) developed. In Thad languages labialisation is lost, while palatalised velars become true palatals, while Khad languages typically retain labialisation (at least in their early stage of development), while palatalised velars become palato-alveolar affricates /t͡ɕ/ and /t͡ɕʰ/. However, some Khad languages preserve original palatalised velars (as Thad languages), while also keeping uvular plosives and residual labialisation (as Khad languages), and one language, called Las, only changes its palatalised velars to affricates, while keeping *tʲ, and *tʲʰ which become affricates in both Thad and Khad groups. Later a new classification was developed, which makes a distinction between Central (or True) Khad (Kyem-Khad) and Peripheral Khad (Meblam Khad) languages. The latter is a paraphyletic group, unlike the former, which shares common innovations and sound changes. Many of the smallest Khad languages (having very few native speakers) are poorly documented. The Las language is viewed as separate from both Khad and Thad, as it had likely diverged from Common Lámeyi before the Khad-Thad split formed. Many Central Khad languages lost almost all inflectional morphology inherited from Common Lámeyi, becoming fairly analytic, while a branch, called Kryalpomg ([ʂɑʊ.ˈpôɣ]), exhibits a templatic verbal morphology with noun incorporation and a rich enclitic case system and coronal harmony.

Proto-Khad	*ŋʲ	*pʰ	*tʰ	*kʰ	*t	*tʲ	*l	*lʲ	*h	∅	*ʟ	*s	*sʲs	*xʲ	*ɬ
Khelin	∅	*v/f	*ṭ	*ḳ	*ɕ	*t͡ɕ	*t͡ɕʰ	*w	*l	*h	∅	*w	*s		*š
Imunklém	*ŋ	*pʰ	*ṭ	*t͡s	*t	*t͡ɕ	*l	*lʲ	*h	*x	*ʟ	*s	*ɕ		*s

Las language

The smallest group, consisting of a single languages – Las – is the most conservative branch, preserving many old feature. It used to be classified as a distant Peripheral Khad language, because it palatalises both *kʲ and *tʲ, which it shares with the Khad languages. It merges both sounds into a single phoneme /c/ (which some Peripheral Khad languages do). A unique feature of Las is lack of a phoneme /p/ and word-initial fortition and a simple pitch-accent system not unlike the pitch accent in the Thadpalmé language. There are two pitches: "high" or "marked" and "low" or "unmarked". For example: kwhó [kʷʰɒ́ː] “fire”, akwho [ɑkʷʰɒ̀] “find it”. There are two dialects of Las that are mutually intelligible with one another, typically called the R-dialect and the L-dialect, since the reflex of *l (and its coarticulated variations) in Proto-Lámeyi is used for their classification (the L-dialect only has [l], while the R-dialect only has [ɾ]). Transitional dialects tend to have [ɺ] instead. For instance: the word for “land” is qala in the L-dialect, qara in the R-dialect and in the transitional areas it is [ˈqɑ.ɺɑ] or [ˈqɔɺɔ].

Most Las nouns are simple mono- or disyllabic, longer nouns are usually deverbal. In verbs, only stems may carry a marked tone. Prefixes are mostly single consonants and thus do not carry tone. There are some exceptions to this, however, most other tone-bearing units are incorporated nouns or clitics. In addition, the compound verbs take personal agreement prefixes similar to those found on nouns. This entire word may then take proclitics, which may also carry tone:

clitics=	agreement–	–prefixes–	ROOT	–suffixes–	–agrement
donor	recipient		donor	donor

As can be seen from the table above, any high tones on clitics or stems spread to the next syllable of the word only if it is located immediately before or after the verbal stem. The person agreement suffixes typically receive a high tone, if two consecutive syllables have it. This can be seen in the examples below:

qow=ki-łin-t

qokʷiłinut

“I am swimming”

and

qow=é-ki-łin-t

qówékíłinat

“I can swim”

where the prefix é- spreads its high tone on the following short pre-stem syllable; but in other cases it does not.

é-yilʷ-ki-yút-ail

éyihkʷiyútáil

“s/he will carry it along”

mú=cik=noł-lʷo

múciktohłʷo

“you should let us through”