Proto-Carpathian: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox proto-language
| name        = Proto-Carpathian
| creator    = User:Raistas
| target      = Carpathian
| familycolor = oronaic
| ancestor    = [[Proto-Oronaic]]
| ancestor2  = Proto-Alpathian
| child1      = [[West Carpathian]]
| child2      = [[East Carpathian]]
| child3      = [[South Carpathian]]
}}
'''Proto-Carpathian''' is the common ancestor of the [[Carpathian languages]]. Proto-Carpathian is not attested in any texts, but has been reconstructed by linguists. It is itself descended ultimately from [[Proto-Oronaic]] or possibly from an intermediate stage, called Proto-Alpathian.
'''Proto-Carpathian''' is the common ancestor of the [[Carpathian languages]]. Proto-Carpathian is not attested in any texts, but has been reconstructed by linguists. It is itself descended ultimately from [[Proto-Oronaic]] or possibly from an intermediate stage, called Proto-Alpathian.
==Stages==
==Stages==
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Vowel *a /ɑ/ resulted from a secondary development and can give irregular results in daughter languages, for example: ''*tálu-nə'' > ''*talun'' ("high") became ''tālu'' in West Carpathian and ''tallo'' in East Carpathian, but ''tolu'' in South Carpathian (*a merged with *o into *a in Early Proto-Carpathian and shifted into *o later). Vowel *ä, unlike its back counterpart, failed to shift into *e before some consonant clusters and remained distinct from *e.
Vowel *a /ɑ/ resulted from a secondary development and can give irregular results in daughter languages, for example: ''*tálu-nə'' > ''*talun'' ("high") became ''tālu'' in West Carpathian and ''tallo'' in East Carpathian, but ''tolu'' in South Carpathian (*a merged with *o into *a in Early Proto-Carpathian and shifted into *o later). Vowel *ä, unlike its back counterpart, failed to shift into *e before some consonant clusters and remained distinct from *e.


Like in Proto-Oronaic, four reduced vowels were present, marked as *ə<sub>1</sub>, *ə<sub>2</sub>, *ə<sub>3</sub> and *ə<sub>4</sub>, which probably still remained an allophone of *ə<sub>3</sub> The actual realization of them is a question of not known precisely: vowel harmony also applied to those reduced vowels with *ə<sub>1</sub>-*ə<sub>2</sub>, *ë-*ə<sub>4</sub> and *ə<sub>3</sub>-*ə<sub>4</sub> contrasts. Most scholars analize them as following:
Like in Proto-Oronaic, four reduced vowels were present, marked as *ə<sub>1</sub>, *ə<sub>2</sub>, *ə<sub>3</sub> and *ə<sub>4</sub>, which probably still remained an allophone of *ə<sub>3</sub> The actual realization of them is a question of debate: vowel harmony also applied to those reduced vowels with *ə<sub>1</sub>-*ə<sub>2</sub>, *ë-*ə<sub>4</sub> and *ə<sub>3</sub>-*ə<sub>4</sub> contrasts. Most scholars analize them as following:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Middle Proto-Carpathian
|+Middle Proto-Carpathian
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| a /ɑ/
| a /ɑː/
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| a /ɒ/
| a /ɒː/
|}
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All inflectional and derivational endings had front- and back-vowel variants with, which matched the vowels in the word stem according to the vowel harmony. Endings which closed the final syllable of a word triggered a consonant gradation on that syllable. If that syllable contained a long vowel, that vowel shortened. Many irregularities had appeared in Late Proto-Carpathian before it splitted into different dialects. Vowel alterations had been leveled by Late Proto-Carpathian and remained mostly in endings and suffixes, while in the early stage many alterations still remained and were productive. One of such alterations is a singular oblique suffix which had three varieties: ''*-cid'', ''*-jid'' and ''*-sid''. There is no clear explanation to the origin of these alterations, but they might have appeared already in Proto-Oronaic.
All inflectional and derivational endings had front- and back-vowel variants with, which matched the vowels in the word stem according to the vowel harmony. Endings which closed the final syllable of a word triggered a consonant gradation on that syllable. If that syllable contained a long vowel, that vowel shortened. Many irregularities had appeared in Late Proto-Carpathian before it splitted into different dialects. Vowel alterations had been leveled by Late Proto-Carpathian and remained mostly in endings and suffixes, while in the early stage many alterations still remained and were productive. One of such alterations is a singular oblique suffix which had three varieties: ''*-cid'', ''*-jid'' and ''*-sid''. There is no clear explanation to the origin of these alterations, but they might have appeared already in Proto-Oronaic.
===Nouns===
===Nouns===
The exact amount of noun cases in Proto-Carpathian is unknown, however, eight cases were proposed. Adjectives agreed with their nouns according to case and number just like in modern descendants, which may be an innovation, influenced by the nearby Indo-European languages. Three numbers: singular, dual and plural are reconstructed on the basis of East Carpathian dialects. The dual nuber endings were ''*-jə'' and ''*-ńə'' (found only in East Carpathian ''erkiń'' "eye (dual)"< ''*gèrə<sub>1</sub>kińə''). The plural was marked with ''*-kə'', ''*-ɣi'', and ''*-ɣət'', but only the first ending can be found in almost all words in modern descendants (Again in East Carpathian the nominative plural for the word "eyes" is ''erie'' from ''*gerə<sub>1</sub>ɣì'' or ''*gerə<sub>1</sub>kìɣi''). The accusative singular was ''*-tax'' or ''*-dax'' while ''*-m-'' infix was added to form the accusative plural and ''*-w-'' for the dual.
The exact amount of noun cases in Proto-Carpathian is unknown, however, eight cases were proposed. Adjectives agreed with their nouns according to case and number just like in modern descendants, which may be an innovation, influenced by the nearby Indo-European languages. Three numbers: singular, dual and plural are reconstructed on the basis of East Carpathian dialects. The dual nuber endings were ''*-jə'' and ''*-ńə'' (found only in East Carpathian ''jerkiń'' "eye (dual)"< ''*gèrə<sub>1</sub>kińə''). The plural was marked with ''*-kə'', ''*-ɣi'', and ''*-ɣət'', but only the first ending can be found in almost all words in modern descendants (Again in East Carpathian the nominative plural for the word "eyes" is ''erie'' from ''*gerə<sub>1</sub>ɣì'' or ''*gerə<sub>1</sub>kìɣi''). The accusative singular was ''*-tax'' or ''*-dax'' while ''*-m-'' infix was added to form the accusative plural and ''*-w-'' for the dual.
The following cases are typically reconstructed (vowel harmony counterparts are not included):
The following cases are typically reconstructed (vowel harmony counterparts are not included):
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===Adjective comparison===
===Adjective comparison===
Adjectives are inflected in exactly the same way as nouns, but they also had three degrees of comparison. The comparative was formed by adding ''*-ava'' or ''*-ijä'' suffix to the stem, while superlative was formed with an suffixation of ''*-ma'' either to a comparative form or directly to the stem with an ''*-e-'' infix.
Adjectives are inflected in exactly the same way as nouns, but they also had three degrees of comparison. The comparative was formed by adding ''*-ava'' or ''*-ijä'' suffix to the stem, while superlative was formed with an suffixation of ''*-ma'' either to a comparative form or directly to the stem with an ''*-e-'' infix.