Proto-Ash-Ish: Difference between revisions

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'''Proto-Ash-Ish''' is the reconstructed protolanguage linking the [[Ash]] and [[Ish]] languages through their own respective protolanguages, [[Proto-Ash]] and [[Proto-Ish]].
'''Proto-Ash-Ish''' (henceforth referred to as PAI) is the reconstructed protolanguage linking the [[Ash]] and [[Ish]] languages through their own respective protolanguages, [[Proto-Ash]] and [[Proto-Ish]].
 
==Phonology==
 
Ish appears to be much more conservative than Ash or even Proto-Ash when it comes to the inventory of phonemes as the reconstruction of PAI is quite similar.
 
===Vowels===
 
The following vowels (with conventional romanisation rather than IPA) are posited:
 
{| class="wikitable"
!
! Front
! Back
|-
! Short
| {{ash|*e}}
| {{ash|*a}}
|}
 
PAI appears to have had neither the nasal vowels of Ish nor the long vowels of Proto-Ash, but otherwise the same two-way contrast as Ish.
 
===Consonants===
 
These are the basic consonants:
 
{| class="wikitable"
!
! Coronal
! Dorsal
! Laryngeal
|-
! Oral
| {{ash|*t}}
| {{ash|*k}}
| {{ash|*q}}
|-
! Nasal
| colspan="3" | {{ash|*n}}
|-
! Approximant
| {{ash|*r}}
| {{ash|*w}}
|
|}
 
Here a big difference from modern Ish is the presence of a nasal consonant whereas Ish has transferred nasality as a feature onto its vowels, losing the consonant in the process.
 
* As in Proto-Ash, it is unclear exactly what {{ash|*q}} was. It disappeared in Ish so may have been a glottal stop as in Ash.
* The nasal {{ash|*n}} likely assimilated the point of articulation of any other consonant in a cluster.
* The approximant {{ash|*w}} was probably {{IPA|*/ɰ/}} as in Ish.
* The approximant {{ash|*r}} might have been {{IPA|*/ɹ/}}. It became {{IPA|/l~ɾ/}} in Ish and disappeared in Ash.
 
Additionally there were important clusters that developed into new consonants in the descendants and may have been single phonemes already in PAI:
 
{| class="wikitable"
!
! Coronal
! Dorsal
! Laryngeal
|-
! Prenasalised
| {{ash|*nt~*ⁿt}}
| {{ash|*nk~*ⁿk}}
| {{ash|*nq~*ⁿq}}
|-
! Velarised
| {{ash|*tw~*tʷ~*tᶭ}}
| {{ash|*kw~*kʷ~*kᶭ}}
| {{ash|*qw~*qʷ~*qᶭ}}
|}
 
The velarised consonants may have been labiovelarised already in PAI. The convention is still to write these combinations as clusters. Consonants could also be both prenasalised and (labio)velarised at the same time.
 
==Features==
 
===Syntactic roles===
 
PAI appears to have had adpositions that became postpositions and eventually suffixes in Proto-Ash whereas they became prepositions in Ish.
 
{| class="wikitable"
! PAI
! Proto-Ash
! Ish
|-
| {{ash|*awa ant}},<br />{{ash|*ant awa}}
| → {{ash|*(a)wa-(a)n(t)}} → {{ash|*wa-n}}
| → {{ash|*a(n)t-(a)ɰa}} → {{ash|/at-ɰa/}}
|}
 
This adposition in Proto-Ash became the relational or locative case ending while in Ish it became the indirect object marker. Both reflexes are combined with the distal determiner ("that one") above.
 
===Deixis===
 
The aforementioned distal determiner is another example of common inheritance from PAI shared between the daughter branches alongside its proximal counterpart.
 
{| class="wikitable"
! PAI
! Proto-Ash
! Ish
|-
| {{ash|*ewe}}
| → {{ash|*i(j), *(i)ja-}} → {{ash|*i, *ja-}}
| → {{ash|/(e)ɰe/}}
|-
| {{ash|*awa}}
| → {{ash|*u(w), *(u)wa-}} → {{ash|*u, *wa-}}
| → {{ash|/(a)ɰa/}}
|}

Revision as of 16:59, 3 August 2023

Proto-Ash-Ish (henceforth referred to as PAI) is the reconstructed protolanguage linking the Ash and Ish languages through their own respective protolanguages, Proto-Ash and Proto-Ish.

Phonology

Ish appears to be much more conservative than Ash or even Proto-Ash when it comes to the inventory of phonemes as the reconstruction of PAI is quite similar.

Vowels

The following vowels (with conventional romanisation rather than IPA) are posited:

Front Back
Short *e *a

PAI appears to have had neither the nasal vowels of Ish nor the long vowels of Proto-Ash, but otherwise the same two-way contrast as Ish.

Consonants

These are the basic consonants:

Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal
Oral *t *k *q
Nasal *n
Approximant *r *w

Here a big difference from modern Ish is the presence of a nasal consonant whereas Ish has transferred nasality as a feature onto its vowels, losing the consonant in the process.

  • As in Proto-Ash, it is unclear exactly what *q was. It disappeared in Ish so may have been a glottal stop as in Ash.
  • The nasal *n likely assimilated the point of articulation of any other consonant in a cluster.
  • The approximant *w was probably */ɰ/ as in Ish.
  • The approximant *r might have been */ɹ/. It became /l~ɾ/ in Ish and disappeared in Ash.

Additionally there were important clusters that developed into new consonants in the descendants and may have been single phonemes already in PAI:

Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal
Prenasalised *nt~*ⁿt *nk~*ⁿk *nq~*ⁿq
Velarised *tw~*tʷ~*tᶭ *kw~*kʷ~*kᶭ *qw~*qʷ~*qᶭ

The velarised consonants may have been labiovelarised already in PAI. The convention is still to write these combinations as clusters. Consonants could also be both prenasalised and (labio)velarised at the same time.

Features

Syntactic roles

PAI appears to have had adpositions that became postpositions and eventually suffixes in Proto-Ash whereas they became prepositions in Ish.

PAI Proto-Ash Ish
*awa ant,
*ant awa 		→ *(a)wa-(a)n(t) → *wa-n → *a(n)t-(a)ɰa → /at-ɰa/

This adposition in Proto-Ash became the relational or locative case ending while in Ish it became the indirect object marker. Both reflexes are combined with the distal determiner ("that one") above.

Deixis

The aforementioned distal determiner is another example of common inheritance from PAI shared between the daughter branches alongside its proximal counterpart.

PAI Proto-Ash Ish
*ewe → *i(j), *(i)ja- → *i, *ja- → /(e)ɰe/
*awa → *u(w), *(u)wa- → *u, *wa- → /(a)ɰa/
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