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Lámeyi languages: Difference between revisions
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*The alignment was likely '''ergative-absolutive''', retained by almost all later languages. A marked nominative or active-stative alignments have been proposed. | *The alignment was likely '''ergative-absolutive''', retained by almost all later languages. A marked nominative or active-stative alignments have been proposed. | ||
*The pronominal system is generally complex. Pronouns was likely an open class of words. | *The pronominal system is generally complex. Pronouns was likely an open class of words. | ||
*Affixes, such as the imperfective '' | *Affixes, such as the imperfective ''p-'', the intransitive ''m-'', intensive ''tʲʰ-'' the optative ''t-'' and ''k-'', as well as, infixes ''-lʷ-'', ''-tʰ-'', and ''-nʷ-'' and a suffix ''-s'', that pften resulted in the development of tone in most languages of the family. | ||
===Stages=== | ===Stages=== | ||
Scholars distinguish two stages of Proto-Lámeyi, named Early and Late. The Early Proto-Lámeyi stage, was the ancestor of all languages ever spoken in the world. However, this stage is very poorly understood. Only a few of word forms are explicitly reconstructed for this stage (one of them being '''''*ajawV''''' – “sky”, common for most Core Aiwanic laguages). Most of the reconstructed root words belong to the Late Proto-Lámeyi (or Common Lámeyi) stage. | Scholars distinguish two stages of Proto-Lámeyi, named Early and Late. The Early Proto-Lámeyi stage, was the ancestor of all languages ever spoken in the world. However, this stage is very poorly understood. Only a few of word forms are explicitly reconstructed for this stage (one of them being '''''*ajawV''''' – “sky”, common for most Core Aiwanic laguages). Most of the reconstructed root words belong to the Late Proto-Lámeyi (or Common Lámeyi) stage. | ||
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| ə | | ə | ||
| ɤ | | ɤ | ||
|- align="center" | |||
! '''[[w:Open vowel|Open]]''' | |||
| | |||
| ɐ | |||
|} | |} | ||
Several consonant clusters can be reconstructed for Proto-Lámeyi, mostly based on the Las language initial clusters: | Several consonant clusters can be reconstructed for Proto-Lámeyi, mostly based on the Las language initial clusters: | ||
| Line 206: | Line 210: | ||
| kʂ | | kʂ | ||
|} | |} | ||
Sounds, such as [f] or [ʂ], were allophones of /s/ at that stage, occuring only in consonant clusters. These clusters typically received the coarticulation of the neighbouring consonants, for example – ''*msk+*kʷeutVs → *mskʷeutas'' [ˈm̥skʷəʊ.tɐs] (“cliff”), where the whole initial cluster becomes labialised. | |||
===Morphology=== | |||
Most Proto-Lámeyi stems typically have the following structure: | |||
== | :{| | ||
(P) — C<sub>i</sub> — (G) — V<sub>R</sub> — C<sub>f</sub> — (s) | |||
| | |||
|} | |||
*P: prefixes - optional | |||
*C<sub>i</sub>: initial consonant | |||
*G: glide - optional | |||
*V<sub>R</sub>: root vowel (optionally lengthened) | |||
*C<sub>f</sub>: final consonant | |||
*s: nominalising suffix - optional | |||
The simplest root was thus C<sub>i</sub>V<sub>R</sub>C<sub>f</sub>. This resembles most Mtari stems, which is one of the features inherited from their common ancestor. The ''-s'' suffix most likely was an [[w:Animacy|animacy]] marker, the same suffix was present in most Core Aiwanic languages, where it usually developed into [[w:Ergative case|ergative]] or [[w:Locative case|locative]] cases. In Common Lámeyi it likely became a singulative marker instead, while the plural remained unmarked. Unlike many Core Aiwanic languages Proto-Lámeyi nouns likely did not decline for [[w:Grammatical number|number]], or the number was marked by final vowels, which were later lost. Nouns did not decline for case either, whatever case system its Klesuic ancestor had possessed, Proto-Lámeyi lost it during its early stage of development. | |||
Nouns declined for possession, the possessed form of three-syllable nouns causes syncope (the word ''*milate'' – “cloud” – isused as an example: | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
! rowspan=2| √<sub>MILʲ-T</sub> | |||
! rowspan=2| Free | |||
! colspan=4| Possessed | |||
|- | |||
! {{small|1st}} | |||
! {{small|2nd}} | |||
! {{small|3rd Agent}} | |||
! {{small|3rd Patient}} | |||
|- | |||
! Marked | |||
| *milates | |||
| *umiltes | |||
| *samiltes | |||
| *amiltes | |||
|- | |||
! Unmarked | |||
| *milate | |||
| *umilte | |||
| *samilte | |||
| *amilte | |||
|- | |||
|} | |||
The marked form was likely used in a similar manner to a definite article, or a marked nominative case (if the proto-language had a marked nominative or active-stative alignment). | |||
A system of verbal agreement is reconstructed for Proto-Lámeyi. Verbal agreement has disappeared in most Khad branches, as they innovated a different system, but was preserved in the Las language in particular. This is a topic of scholarly debate, however, and the existence of a complex verbal agreement system is disputed. | |||
<!-- Here are some example subcategories: | <!-- Here are some example subcategories: | ||
Derivational morphology | Derivational morphology | ||