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'''Old Gaju''' (English: /'gɑːd͡ʒuː/, Old Gaju: ['gaɟu], [[Rttirri]]: [ˈkɑcu]) was an old form of the Gaju language, spoken by the Gaju people in eastern [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]] around the 14th century CE. It was spoken over a much larger area than modern Gaju is: over most of eastern Rttirria. It is a member of the Rttirrian language family, descended from the Proto-South-Rttirrian langauge that is also the ancestor of modern [[Rttirri]], the nation's official language.
'''Old Gaju''' (English: /'gɑːd͡ʒuː/, Old Gaju: ['gaɟu], [[Rttirri]]: [ˈkɑcu]) was an old form of the Gaju language, spoken by the Gaju people in eastern [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]] around the 14th century CE. It was spoken over a much larger area than modern Gaju is: over most of eastern Rttirria. It is a member of the Rttirrian language family, descended from the Proto-South-Rttirrian langauge that is also the ancestor of modern [[Rttirri]], the nation's official language.
The old language is known in a very complete state, through comparison of modern Gaju dialects and several vintage inscriptions by Rttirri academics that described the Gaju people's speech and transcribed some of their utterances. It was an unwritten language at the time, but is variously written in the [[w:Latin script|Latin]] alphabet and (like the modern Gaju language) the Rttirri abugida, which is a Brahmic script.
Old Gaju is classified as a nominative-accusative, agglutinative language. It had a moderate-sized inventory of six vowels and 22 consonants, and also distinguished two [[w:tone (linguistics)|tones]]. As part of the [[w:Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area|Southeast Asian sprachbund]], it would continue to become more analytic and develop a more elaborate tonal system as it evolved into modern Gaju.


==Phonology==
==Phonology==
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|-
|-
! Approximant
! Approximant
|  
| '''w''' /w/
| '''l''' /l/
| '''l''' /l/
|  
|  
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|}
|}


In addition, the following consonants were allowed in loanwords: '''ng''' /ŋ/, '''z''' /z/, '''hh''' /ʔ/, '''w''' /w/, '''y''' /j/.
In addition, the following consonants were allowed in loanwords: '''ng''' /ŋ/, '''z''' /z/, '''hh''' /ʔ/, '''y''' /j/.


===Vowels===
===Vowels===
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===Tones===
===Tones===
Old Gaju distinguished two tones: high and low. In addition, two contour tones were allowed in loanwords: rising and falling. The high tone was by far the most common, so low tones are distinguished in the Latin script with a [[w:grave accent|grave accent]]: '''à àà è ì ò ù'''. Rising and falling tones are distinguished as follows: '''â ââ ê î ô û ǎ ǎǎ ě ǐ ǒ ǔ'''.
Old Gaju distinguished two [[w:tone (linguistics)|tones]]: high and low. In addition, two contour tones were allowed in loanwords: rising and falling. The high tone was by far the most common, so low tones are distinguished in the Latin script with a [[w:grave accent|grave accent]]: '''à àà è ì ò ù'''. Rising and falling tones are distinguished as follows: '''â ââ ê î ô û ǎ ǎǎ ě ǐ ǒ ǔ'''.
 
==Vocabulary==
Old Gaju featured very few of the [[w:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]] and [[w:Arabic language|Arabic]] loanwords that abound in [[Rttirri]]. However, the Gaju community's close proximity to [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]] gave their language numerous loanwords from local languages, such as [[w:Old Burmese|Old Burmese]], [[w:Old Thai|Old Thai]], and the [[w:Karen languages|Karen]] languages.


==Grammar==
==Grammar==
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Genitive pronouns take the low tone to distinguish themselves from the nominative pronouns. Like other noun-modifying particles, they follow the noun.
Genitive pronouns took the low tone to distinguish themselves from the nominative pronouns. Like other noun-modifying particles, they followed the noun.


{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
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| how
| how
| ''dìtug''
| ''dìtug''
|}
===Derivation===
Words could be derived into other parts of speech with the following suffixes:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|
! colspan="4"|From...
|-
! Noun
! Verb
! Adjective<br>or Determiner
! Adverb
|-
! rowspan="4"|To...
! Noun
| -
| ''-buvu''
| ''-dovu''
| ''-dovu''
|-
! Verb
| ''-sytaa'' (to be X, temporarily)<br>''-syto'' (to do an X-like thing)
| -
| ''-dosyaa''<br>''-dosyo'' (to become X)
| ''-dosyto''
|-
! Adjective<br>or Determiner
| ''-we''
| ''-bi''
| -
| ''-biwe''
|-
! Adverb
| ''-khev''
| ''-bev''
| ''-dev''
| -
|}
|}


==Syntax==
==Syntax==
Word order was subject-object-verb (SOV), although nouns in one of the cases other than nominative or accusative could be positioned anywhere before the verb. All adjectives came after their pertinent nouns. The question particle was ''tyi''.
Word order was subject-object-verb (SOV), although nouns in one of the cases other than nominative or accusative could be positioned anywhere before the verb. All adjectives came after their pertinent nouns. The question particle was ''tyi'', and the general negative particle was ''aa''.


==Sample text==
==Sample text==
'''Old Gaju''':
'''Old Gaju:'''
:Na shnevnu-daa nà Dòpa Chalà-li tyùtsu.
:Na shnevnu-daa nà Dòpa Chalà-li tyùtsu.
:1SG family-COM 1SG.GEN Rtuha kingdom-LOC live
:1SG family-COM 1SG.GEN Rtuha kingdom-LOC live
:I live in the kingdom of Rtuha with my family.
:I live in the kingdom of Rtuha with my family.


'''Modern Rttirri''':
'''Modern Rttirri:'''
:Ni-syutu-nu Rtuha Tesapu na-snenu-rta.
:Ni-syutu-nu Rtuha Tesapu na-snenu-rta.
:1SG.ABS-live-DRPAC Rtuha kingdom-LOC 1SG.GEN-family-COM
:1SG.ABS-live-DRPAC Rtuha kingdom-LOC 1SG.GEN-family-COM
Frrurtu
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