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Nentan languages: Difference between revisions
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Ideally, Proto-Nenta should be the ancestor of Classical Nenta and both families of Kanafan. However, given the Kanafan subfamilies only have contemporaneous attestation from late Classical Nentan/early Middle Nenta sources, the weight to place on Low and High Kanafan languages varies among different analyses. Some linguists even propose that Proto-Nenta and Proto-Nenta—Caligan are the same language. | Ideally, Proto-Nenta should be the ancestor of Classical Nenta and both families of Kanafan. However, given the Kanafan subfamilies only have contemporaneous attestation from late Classical Nentan/early Middle Nenta sources, the weight to place on Low and High Kanafan languages varies among different analyses. Some linguists even propose that Proto-Nenta and Proto-Nenta—Caligan are the same language. | ||
==Phonology== | ===Phonology=== | ||
{{main|Proto-Nenta phonology}} | {{main|Proto-Nenta phonology}} | ||
===Consonants=== | ====Consonants==== | ||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" | {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" | ||
|+ Consonant phonemes | |+ Consonant phonemes | ||
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* The two rhotic consonants here are present because while evidence from Old Rokadong, modern Kairitelan, New Karanesa, and even some Caligan languages show two rhotic phonemes - with Old Rokadong in particular having /r ʀ/ as its two rhotics - the exact values they correspond to further back in the timeline is uncertain. In the case of Proto-Nenta, one of the rhotics, typically notated r₁ or just r, is said to be derived from a Proto-Nenta—Caligan r, typically characterized as an alveolar trill, as it corresponds to Old Rokadong /r/. The second rhotic, r₂, is the reconstruction given for Old Rokadong /ʀ/, but its value in Proto-Nenta is unclear. Proto-Nencali is usually reconstructed with two uvular fricatives, /χ ʁ/, the former of which is said to correspond to Proto-Nenta /x/. However, where /ʁ/ ended up is uncertain. It is a candidate for r₂, but then, it could also have become a voiced velar fricative, as seen in Karane-Puram. Or, seeing as no Nentan language is known to have both /ɣ/ and two rhotics except New Karanesa, it could be that /ɣ/ is instead descended from a uvular r₂. In acknowledgement of this issue, some Proto-Nentan reconstructions have, either instead of or in addition to r₁ and r₂, a second velar fricative, corresponding to a Proto-Nenta /ɣ/, is added. Usually the two velar fricatives are represented as <h x>. | * The two rhotic consonants here are present because while evidence from Old Rokadong, modern Kairitelan, New Karanesa, and even some Caligan languages show two rhotic phonemes - with Old Rokadong in particular having /r ʀ/ as its two rhotics - the exact values they correspond to further back in the timeline is uncertain. In the case of Proto-Nenta, one of the rhotics, typically notated r₁ or just r, is said to be derived from a Proto-Nenta—Caligan r, typically characterized as an alveolar trill, as it corresponds to Old Rokadong /r/. The second rhotic, r₂, is the reconstruction given for Old Rokadong /ʀ/, but its value in Proto-Nenta is unclear. Proto-Nencali is usually reconstructed with two uvular fricatives, /χ ʁ/, the former of which is said to correspond to Proto-Nenta /x/. However, where /ʁ/ ended up is uncertain. It is a candidate for r₂, but then, it could also have become a voiced velar fricative, as seen in Karane-Puram. Or, seeing as no Nentan language is known to have both /ɣ/ and two rhotics except New Karanesa, it could be that /ɣ/ is instead descended from a uvular r₂. In acknowledgement of this issue, some Proto-Nentan reconstructions have, either instead of or in addition to r₁ and r₂, a second velar fricative, corresponding to a Proto-Nenta /ɣ/, is added. Usually the two velar fricatives are represented as <h x>. | ||
===Vowels=== | ====Vowels==== | ||
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" | {|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" | ||
|+ Vowel phonemes | |+ Vowel phonemes | ||