Lakovic languages

Not to be confused with the Lahob languages.

Swadesh lists for the Lakovic languages

Lakovic languages/Sketchbook

Lakovic
Created by	–
Geographic distribution	Originally Talma, Bjeheond and Txapoalli; today worldwide
Linguistic classification	One of Tricin's primary language families
Proto-language	Proto-Lakovic
Subdivisions	Ashanic Western Bjeheondian Tumhanian Etalocian Txapoallian

The Lakovic languages (/ləˈkoʊvɪk/ lə-KOH-vik; Windermere: fi imbrits Lăcof) are a major Trician language family, originally native to Talma. The family is inspired by Semitic, Mon-Khmer and Austronesian languages.

Todo

Lakovic should be huge

Urheimat: Talma

Language with dissimilated reduplicated plurals/verbs

Proto-Ashanic = vaguely Salish grammar

some confusion between derivational affixes and trigger/applicatives in Ashanic

an ergative Lakovic language

a Txapoallian Lakovic language with a possessed classifier system

Phylogeny

Proto-Lakovic

• Ashanic
  • Classical Windermere
    • Modern Windermere
    • Sătmașian
    • Trây
    • Pradiul
  • Ferlitian
• Tseezhic
  • Classical Tseer
    • Modern Tseer
  • Tsjωnz
• Häskä
• Pfiunic
  • Tsăloșian
  • Pfiunian (Pseudo-Swiss German)
• Tumhanic
  • Schong
  • Æ
  • Wiebian
• Eta-Lakovic
  • vaguely Indonesian/AN languages
• Txapoallian Lakovic
  • Ejective-y, tonal language
• Tsrovesh
• Zoomic
  • !Zoom

Proto-Lakovic phonology

vaguely Proto-Semitic/Algonquian/Georgian

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Domed	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Laryngeal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/			ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive	voiced	b /b/	d /d/			g /ɡ/
	voiceless	p /p/	t /t/			k /k/		ʔ /ʔ/
Affricate			c /t͡s/	ć /t͡ʂ/	č /t͡ʃ/
Fricative			s /s/	ś /ʂ/	š /ʃ/	x /x/		H
Resonant		w /w/	l /l/	r /r/	y /j/

Vowels

i u e o ä a

Syllabic ṃ ṇ ŋ ḷ ṛ

There is some disagreement about the vowel ä - it may have been /æ/ or /ə/.

Phonotactics

Proto-Lakovic had some long and unanalyzable roots

Words always ended in a vowel, unlike in Proto-Ashanic. (?)

Proto-Lakovic morphology

Root structure

Roots consisted of a sequence of consonants plus an inherent vowel. Schwebeablaut was used, so the vowel could change places. 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'

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

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

• Verbal grade: CCVC
• Nominal grade: CVCC
• Long 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)

Nouns

Nouns were pluralized by total reduplication:

• lakof 'person' > lakof-lakof 'people'
• ptek 'body' > ptek-ptek 'bodies'

There was a feminine suffix -is.

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

Ashanic developed a new associative plural suffix -am, from npäm 'group; fellow'.

Pronouns

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

• *riH = I
• *bäŋ = we (dual inclusive)
• *śen = thou (m)
• *śens = thou (f)
• *ʔin = he
• *ʔins = she

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.

• wa- = feminine

Triggers

Triggers (giving the noun in the direct case specific semantic roles) were marked by adding infixes to the verbal grade of the root.

• ⟨əp⟩ = patient trigger
• ⟨əŋ⟩ = destination trigger
• ⟨it⟩ = locative trigger
• ⟨əm/nəm⟩ = ablative trigger
• ⟨əw⟩ = instrument trigger

Derivational morphology

• ⟨-s⟩: feminine
  • Source of breathy voice ablaut in Wdm.
• ⟨ṛ⟩ prefix or infix: non-volitional or passive verbs
  • Ashanic *⟨àr⟩, Wdm. ⟨ră⟩, ⟨năr/măr⟩
• ⟨ay⟩ = deverbal noun
• ⟨an⟩ = deverbal noun
• ⟨aH⟩ = agentive
• b- = agentive
  • Wdm. pă- (not productive)
  • Tseer ba-
• ha- = resultative (passive in Windermere)
• t- = causative
  • Wdm. th- (not productive)
• lä- = denominals
• ʔu- = intensive
  • Wdm. th-u-
• ya- = adjectivizer; from ya 'with'
  • Wdm. yă-, Tseezh xi-, Häskä yə-
• ⟨ʔ⟩ = negative; the opposite or undoing of X
  • not productive in Wdm

Proto-Lakovic syntax

Proto-Lakovic had flexible word order, but the most common word order was VSO.

Vocabulary

• *ʔpor~*ʔopr 'high'
  • Wdm. ăfur 'noble'
  • Tseer ofør 'high'
• *mont ~ *mnot 'to produce, to grow, to give birth'
  • *mont-is
    • Wdm muad
• *petk ~ *ptek 'to inhabit, to occupy, to be at'
  • *p⟨aH⟩tek
    • Wdm fteach 'body'
• PLak dmäy 'to drop, to grant'
  • PAsh dàrmày 'rain'
    • Wdm. trămäy
• *putsn ~ *ptsun 'to live'
• *ləkof = human, person
• PAsh mdäŋ 'to struggle, to fight'
  • Wdm. mătäng 'war'
• *ṛ-: nonvolitional
  • Wdm -ră-, -năr-
• *täk~*tkä' 'to go'
  • Proto-Ashanic àrtka < *ṛ-tkä
    • Windermere răchta 'to die'
    • Tseer adhka 'to go'
    • Tsjoen tjo
• PAsh *ksìʔ > Wdm. csie 'star'
• PAsh *śkey > Wdm. scey 'bark'
• PAsh *ʔmä 'mother'
  • Wdm. ăma
• PAsh *ʔeb 'father'
  • Wdm. ep
• PLak *ḷban 'water'
  • PAsh àlbon
    • Wdm. blon
    • Tseer olban, Modern nban
  • Häskä əlfon
• PLak žän 'to say'
  • PAsh šan 'to utter, to say'; šàn 'word'
    • Proto-Tumhanic hjàn 'word'
      • Schong jahn
      • Æ jov?
    • Wdm. șän
• PLak lgän~lägn 'straight, upright'
  • PAsh àlgan
    • Wdm. glan 'straight'
    • Tseer ookhan

Numbers

aHdan, aHrät, atsiw, amsHäk, amsHut

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