Nēpoki: Difference between revisions

Unlike one may expect, the influence of foreign tongues on Nepokian is rather small. In course of time, only three languages have had impact on Nepokian. The oldest one of these is Polynesian, presumably Proto-Polynesian itself in the 2nd millennium B.C., as there is no indication that one special Polynesian language acted as intermediary. The borrowed words belong to various fields, mostly flora (ahihi - sandalwood), fauna (awa - milkfish), toponyms (Hanaloa - Fagaloa) and hitherto unknown cultural things (wa'a - canoe). But even here, Nepokians sometimes coined their own words: Often by changing the meaning of old Indo-European words, as the original meaning became useless in Polynesia. For instance, the seahorse got the horse's Old Nepokian xikus (nowadays 'i'u), as there were no horses in Polynesia.  

The next two millennia, Nepokians seemed to live rather seclusively. The next foreign influence started with the colonial period and European adventurers shortly before colonialism proper. As a coincidence, these adventurers were, like the colonialists afterwards, mostly German. Up to now, it is still the only European language whith a major impact on Nepokian. As it lacked vocabulary for things of the modern industrialized world, European institutions and products, German was used to fill this gap: Kaika - emperor, keke - cheese or helekoko - duke, and so on.  

The oddest words however, making up roughly 1% of the vocabulary, are those for which there is no canonical etymology. Almost all of them belong to everyday life and basic vocabulary, which leads researchers to believe that they are inherited rather than borrowed. Though some think these words are vestiges of an unknown extinct tongue, more and more linguists argue they are indeed remnants of Indo-European vocabulary only preserved in Nepokian: hikaio - lightning, puna - bosom or 'aluwi - together, and so on. Moreover, Indo-Uralists and Nostraticists ascribe this part of vocabulary successfully to Indo-Uralic and Nostratic roots, respectively. They see these Nepokian words and Nepokian in general as a missing link between Proto-Indo-European and its antecedent(s).