Sixth Linguifex Relay/Nankôre

Introduction

Nankôre, from the words nan, "man, human", and kôre, "speech", is spoken by the Nanhoshka people of Kôya Island. There are two main dialects, the Konishmak, located in the Northeastern Coastal Mountains, and the Sapshira, encompassing the western and southern parts of the country. The dialects differ chiefly in pronunciation and differences in certain lexical items, but are otherwise mutually intelligible.

For a little over a century the origins of the language and its people remain clouded in mystery. Physically, the Nanhoshka people look distinct from the Northwest Pacific Native Americans just 862 kilometers from the eastern shore, but their physical features bear a strikingly close resemblance to the Minhast people of the Republic of Minhay, who live much further away on the other side of the Pacific Ocean close to Japan and Ainushir. Because of these physical resemblances, both anthropologists and linguists started exploring a possible relationship between the two peoples. Recent genetic research uncovered that both the Nanhoshka and Minhast belong to the haplogroup C-M212, indicating a common ancestry. Linguists had a more difficult task in establishing a relationship. Finally Benson et. al. compiled an extensive Swadesh list and internally consistent sound correspondences between the two languages. Most importantly, a set of affixes that were quite conservative were revealed, notably the Causative affix, and a set of fossilized affixes which are prefixed to body parts to derive verbs. In addition, a third language, Nahónda, also previously classified as a language isolate, was discovered to contain common vocabulary and affixes which it shared with both Nankôre and Minhast. Therefore, both Nankôre and Minhast, along with Nahónda, are now recognized as belonging to the same language family, which has been named the Nahenic language family.

Like Minhast and Nahónda, Nankôre is an SOV language. However, unlike its relatives, Nankôre is not a polysynthetic language but is relatively sparse in terms of affixes for determining syntactic relations. Nouns do not receive case or number marking, nor are they marked for gender. Word order within the verb complex is rather strict, but core, patient, and obliques may occur in various orders. The verb complex consists minimally of a main verb, which possesses suffixes for marking evidentiality, and the copula, which contain a rich set of affixes to mark the core arguments for various syntactic features: number, tense, voice, agency, etc.

The language is neither an Ergative-Absolutive language, like Minhast, nor is it a Active-Stative language, like Nahónda. Instead, Nankôre is a Direct-Inverse language, where a nominal hierarchy determines the syntactic role of core arguments. The nominal hierarchy is complex; at least ten noun classes based on animacy can be identified, and within those classes sub-hierarchies are observed based on semantic features, although discourse processes (e.g. the introduction of new arguments that are roughly equal in animacy with previously established arguments) may affect how direct-inverse marking is expressed.

More information about the grammar can be found in the Nankôre wikiand the supplementary grammar notes on this page . Readers are directed to the sections dealing with the animacy hierarchy and familiarize themselves with the direct-inverse marking system of the copula, as well as the verb complex.

Nankôre Text

Yorai, rasneskoro, kantómašak yistá', sikoryak itá';
Sipaishi Tipāré hakór nitá',
Šaroc, šokankór intán šam rohpakór tānitá',
Pakornene, yuki kantó kaniskoro royuki itá',
Kaniskoro cercokor ita', ocerokór yorai ita', šoysak ita';
Nan yistá'.

Interlinear Gloss

Yorai, rasneskoro, kantómašak yistá', sikoryak itá';
jo'ɾaɪ ɾaʃ'neʃkoɾo kan'tomaʃak jiʃ'taʔ ʃɪ'koɾjak ɪ'taʔ;
yorai rasne=skoro kantó-mas=ak yistá-' si=kôre=ak itá-'
DIST.PST thing=DEM.PROX happy-ASSERT=1S INCH-DIR.PRS.COP-LS CONN=speak=1S DIR.PRS.COP-LS

Sipaishi Tipāré hakór nitá';
ʃipaɪʃi tɪpa:'ɾɛ ɦa'koɾ nɪ'taʔ
Si=Paishi Tipāré ha-kór n-itá-'
CONN=[PN] come-EVID.HEAR DIR.PST-COP-LS

Šaroc, šokankór intán šam rohpakór tānitá';
'ʃaɾotʃ ʃokan'koɾ ɪn'tan ʃam ɾoɦpa'koɾ ta:nɪ'taʔ
šaroc, šokam-kór intá-' si=yam rohpa-kór tā-n-itá-'
earth.HA thank-EVID.HEAR DIR.HP.PRS.COP-LS CONN=accompany form-EVID.HEAR INV.P-HP-PRS.COP-LS

Pakornene, yuki kantó kaniskoro royuki itá';
pakoɾ'nene, juki kan'to ka'nɪʃkoɾo ɾo'juki ɪ'taʔ
pakor-anene, yuki kantó kani=skoro ro-yuki itá-'
need-EVID.DUB, arm.HA happy.LA location=DEM.PROX remove-arm DIR.PRS.COP-LS

Kaniskoro cercokór ita', ocerokór yorai ita', šoysak ita';
ka'nɪʃkoɾo tʃeɾtʃo'koɾ ɪ'taʔ otʃeɾo'koɾ joɾaɪ ɪ'taʔ ʃoɪsak ɪ'taʔ
kani=skoro cerco-kór ita-' ocero-kór yorai ita-' si=oysak ita-'
location=DEM.PROX dwell-EVID.HEAR narrate-EVID.HEAR DIST.PST DIR.PRS..COP-LS CONN=rain.fall.down DIR.PRS.COP-LS

Nan yistá'.
nan jɪʃ'taʔ
Nan yis-itá-'.
man INCH-DIR.PRS.COP-LS

Additional Notes

1. In intransitive clauses, the copula marks the single core argument with the Direct forms only.
2. In transitive clauses, high animate core arguments are considered Agents by default. Low animate core arguments acting as Agents license the Inverse marker ta-; the Inverse marker cliticizes to the initial verb of the verb complex, and is also prefixed to the copula; the low animate argument is thus doubly marked by the Inverse marker.
3. The pronominal animacy hierarchy is: 1st >> 2nd >> 3rd. However, note that plural 3rd person arguments outrank all singular arguments.
4. The present tense, when used as a narrative tense, often refers to past events. Adverbial markers referring to the distal past, such as yorai, may thus appear with a present tense copula.
5. Rather than using cases or adpositions to indicate non-core thematic relations, Nankôre employs coverbs in verb serialization constructions.
6. The Connective si= is used to bind dependents to their heads. They may work at the phrasal level, such as in the noun phrase Koykare si=naho ras, "The boy's mother", or at the clausal level, e.g. Makse cire itá, si=rihat cire sip'itá' si=ekah, "lit: The mouse died, the hawk killed it was the reason."

More information about the grammar can be found in the Nankôre wiki. Readers are directed to the sections dealing with the animacy hierarchy and familiarize themselves with the direct-inverse marking system of the copula, as well as the verb complex.

Glossing Key

1S = First Person Singular
ASSERT = Assertive
CONN = Connective
COP = Copula
DEM.PROX = Proximal demonstrative
DIR = Direct Voice
DIST.PST = Distal Past
EVID.DUB = Dubitative evidential
EVID.HEAR = Hearsay evidential
HA = High Animate core argument
HP = High Animate Plural core argument
INCH = Inchoative
INV = Inverse Voice
LA = Low Animate core argument
LP = Low Animate Plural core argument
LS = Low Animate Singular core argument
P = Plural
PN = Proper Noun
PRS = Present tense
PST = Past tense
S = Singular