Peshpeg

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Introduction

The Peshpeg language, or Kirmon Peshpega, is a seriously endangered language in the valleys of the Kilmay Rī Mountains and the prefectures of south-central Minhay. The language is considered moribund: according to the last census, only about ninety fluent speakers remain, all older than sixty years. Younger generations speak only Minhast, from either the Wolf Speaker, Stone Speaker, or City Speaker dialects. Efforts to revitalize the language have been largely unsuccessful; with the exception of the City Speakers, most Minhast are either apathetic or even actively hostile to revitalization efforts. Social and economic discrimination towards the Peshpegs has only accelerated the decline of the language.

Peshpeg is classified as a language isolate. Any similarities to the Minhast language are due to language contact, with most of the influences being unidirectional; only a handful of Peshpeg words, most of them related to the fauna and flora of their original homeland, have been adopted by the Wolf Speaker and Stone Speaker dialects. However, Minhast has had an enormous impact on the Peshpeg language; close to 70% of the Peshpeg lexicon come from Minhast, the original base-10 numerical system has been supplanted by the vegisimal system of the dominant language, and the loss of certain phonemes and adoption of new ones are due to Minhast pressure on the Peshpeg language. Even the root kirm- (language) in Kirmon Peshpega is of Minhast origin. Some linguists have explored the possibility of a relationship with Golahat, another endangered, non-Minhast language, but plausible evidence for such a relationship has not been demonstrated.


Phonology

Orthography

Consonants

Vowels

Prosody

Stress

Intonation

Phonotactics

Morphophonology

Morphology

Nouns

Peshpeg nouns fall into one of four declensions, based on the shape and/or behaviour of the nominal root. Six cases are recognized, although some declensions may lack one or more cases due to phonological mergers and other factors. Irregularities are common.

Noun Classes
Case Declension
First Declension Second Declension Third Declension Fourth Declension
Direct peshpeg nafon paefne kirim
Construct peshpegan nafnen pefen kirmon
Benefactive peshpegna (n/a) pefla (n/a)
Ablative peshpegka nafnik pifnik kirmok
Comitative peshpegat nafen pefen kirmot
Locative (n/a) nafnae pefni (n/a)
Meaning man, human being bone tree speech

The first declension is reserved for highly animate nouns, namely humans and vertebrates. For this reason, this declension typically lacks a locative, which are reserved for inanimate nouns.

Ablaut is a feature of third declension nouns. Generally the root vowel of the noun changes to an /e/ or /ɪ,i/ if the root vowel is /a, /æ/; nevertheless, in the majority of cases the ablaut patterns must be memorized.

The fourth declension is associated with abstract nouns. The comitative form is used only with verbal nouns in purposive clauses.

Articles

Peshpeg has only definite articles; indefiniteness is expressed by lack of an article. There are four forms of the definite article, each which must agree with the declension of the noun they modify. In the modern language, articles appear before the noun they modify, in contrast with older forms of the language. The change in word order is a result of Minhast influence, where modifiers precede precede their heads. With the exception of the direct case, the stem for the definite article of first declension nouns is do-. Note that the none definite articles have a construct form.

Noun Classes
Case Declension
First Declension Second Declension Third Declension Fourth Declension
Direct tal talo tali talim
Benefactive dorhi tador tanok (n/a)
Ablative dorhat tadon tadon tadon
Comitative doat taden taien taiot
Locative (n/a) tadni tadu (n/a)

Postpositions

Peshpeg has borrowed all of its postpositions from Minhast. These postpositions may be combined with different nominal inflections to modify spatial or locative relations, or to supplement areas not covered by the native case system. For example, the first declension lacks a locative case, but the suffix -ki, a locative clitic borrowed directly from Minhast, may be employed for first declension nouns if need be. Moreover, they may be combined with native positional nouns that are joined to their dependents in the construct case to add further distinctions, e.g. Taros enta napanki unat sarbakol "Taros pulled out the gall inside the boy('s chest)" taros enta nap-an-ki unat sarbakol -> PN gall heart-CONSTR-LOC boy pull.out.

Postpositional Clitics
Case Postposition
Dative-Allative =āran
=(a)ran
Benefactive =nī
=ni
Ablative =yār
=yar
Locative =kī
=ki
Inessive ** =kīr
=kir
Instrumental =pār
=par
Commitative =kān
=kan
Malefactive =daħ
=dāħš
=dāš



Syntax

Constituent order

Old and Middle Peshpeg exhibited VSO order, but the modern language is now an SOV language due to Minhast influence. Because the nominative and accusative cases have merged into the direct case, word order is strict.

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

Dependent clauses

Example texts

Other resources