Chlesamnic
| Chlesamnic | |
|---|---|
| Created by | – |
| Geographic distribution | Eurasia |
| Linguistic classification | Indo-European
|
| Proto-language | Proto-Chlesamnic |
| Subdivisions | |
 Modern-day extent of Chlesamnic languages:
West Chlesamnic Languages Dobruja Polovic
Azov Polovic
Volga Polovic
Caucasus Polovic
East Chlesamnic Languages Erqhomis
Tonsian
Tevvic | |
The Chlesamnic languages are a branch of the Para-Germanic languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken predominantly in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Chlesamnic, an offshoot from Pre-Proto-Germanic, and thus distantly related to the Germanic languages.
A notable feature of early Chlemsamnic was its susceptibility to be influenced by various superstrata, resulting in the various modern Chlesamnic languages to become quite divergent from each other.
Etymology
Homeland
Branches
Due to their divergent nature, the true number of languages that make up the Chlesamnic family is still under debate. This article aims to show languages that are conventionally agreed upon that make up the four branches of the Chlesamnic languages. These four branches are named on the basis of geography, namely West, East, North, and South Chlesamnic:
- Chlesamnic
- West Chlesamnic
- Low Polovic
- High Polovic
- Caucasian Polovic
- Balkan Thadic†
- East Chlesamnic
- Kolasian
- Tevvic
- Ancient Tevvic (liturgical)
- Tevvic
- (Unnamed)
- Ancient Tevvic (liturgical)
- North Chlesamnic
- South Chlesamnic
- West Chlesamnic
West Chlesamnic
East Chlesamnic
North Chlesamnic
South Chlesamnic
History
Typology
Earlier attested languages such as Old Thadish, Old Low Polovic, Ancient Tevvic, and Kolasian have been instrumental to comparative linguistics, as they exhibit many shared characteristics that have been lost or altered in their modern descendants. Using those languages, a number of shared typological features can be identified.
Grammar
- Largely suffix-based fusional morphology
- Nominative-Accusative alignment
- Subject-object-verb (SOV) word order
- 8-9 grammatical cases
- Nominative
- Vocative
- Accusative
- Allative (a post-PIE innovation)
- Genitive
- Ablative
- Dative (merged with the PIE locative)
- Instrumental
- Comitative (a post-PIE innovation, unclear if it was a shared Chlesamnic or High Polovic innovation)
- Three grammatical genders
- Masculine
- Feminine (High Polovic would merge the feminine into the masculine by the time of the first written records)
- Neuter
- Absence of the dual number
- Synthetic subjunctive mood
- Synthetic future tense
- Synthetic passive voice
- Verbal class system reminiscent to that of the Germanic languages
- a Strong class of verbs that formed their preterites by reduplication and changes to the stem vowel according to seven patterns
- a Weak class of verbs that formed their preterites by means of a dental suffix
- a So-called preterite-present class whose present tense shows the form of the strong preterite
- Postpositions as opposed to prepositions
- Clitics for uses such as marking pronominal possession and verbal objects and introducing subordinate clauses
| reconstructed a-stem endings | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| Nominative | *-as | *-os |
| Vocative | *-Ø | |
| Accusative | *-am | *-ams |
| Nom./Voc./Acc. (n.) | *-ā ~ *-ams | |
| Allative | *-aur | *-arus |
| Genitive | *-as | *-ôm |
| Ablative | *-eť | *-ams |
| Dative | *-ai | *-aisu |
| Instrumental | *-o | *-am(i)s |
| Comitative | *-wam ~ *-oham | ? |
| reconstructed present-active endings | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| 1st person | *-o | *-(a)mas |
| 2nd person | *-asi | *-(a)θ |
| 3rd person | *-aθi | *-anθi |
Phonology
Lexicography
The following is a very brief selection of cognates in basic vocabulary across the Chlesamnic family, which may serve to give an idea of the sound changes involved. This is not a list of translations: cognates have a common origin, but their meaning may be shifted and loanwords may have replaced them.
| Proto-Chleslamic | Ancient Tevvic | Kolasian | Old Thadish | Old Low Polovic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *ať "I" |
अ॑च् (ác) |
— | ѣк̑ъ (ěk’) |
атъ (at’) | |
| *θū "thou" |
थू॑ (thū́) |
— | ѳꙋ (θu) |
бꙋ (bu) | |
| *wais "we" |
वैः॑ (vḗh) |
— | ѵѣ (wě) |
вѣсъ (věs) | |
| *yūs "you" |
युः॑ (yū́h) |
— | юу (ju) |
юусъ (jus) | |
| *áinas "one" |
ऐ॑णंः (ḗṇạh) |
— | ѣнѣ (ěně) |
ѣнасъ (ěnas) | |
| *θwai, *θwes "two" |
थ्वॅः॑ (thvéh) |
— | ѳѵѣ, ѳꙋѣ (θwe) |
бесъ (bes) | |
| *θráyas "three" |
ठाः॑ (ṭhā́h) |
— | ѳрѣꙗ (θrěja) |
браꙗсъ (brajas) | |
| *hwas "who" |
ह्वः॑ (hváh) |
— | хѵѣ, хꙋѣ (xwě) |
хасъ (xas) | |
| *hwat "what" |
ह्व॑त् (hvát) |
— | хѵѣтъ, хꙋѣтъ (xwět) |
хатъ (xat) | |
| *ahš, *áham "eye" |
अ॑ष (áṣa) |
ཨཧྨ (áhm) |
ѣхѧ (ěxę̌) |
— | |
| *óus, *óusam "ear" |
ऊ॑ष (ū́ṣa) |
ཨོཨུས (óus) |
ѻсѧ, ѡсѧ (osę̌) |
— | |
| *ốs, *ốsam "mouth; lips" |
औ॑ष (ṓṣa) |
ཨཽས (ōs) |
ཨཽསྨ (ōsm) |
ѣсѧ (ěsę̌) |
— |
| *wánhas, *wánham "cheek" |
व॑ग्गंः (vággạh) |
ཝངྶ (vángs) |
ѵѣнхѧ, ꙋѣнхѧ (wěnxę̌) |
— | |
| *nā́sā "nose; nostrils" |
ना॑सा (nā́sā) |
ནས (nâs) |
наса (nasa) |
— | |
| *rauδás "red" |
रौधः॑ (rōdháh) |
རཝྡས (ravdás) |
рѣдѣ (rědě) |
— | |
| *halgwás "green; yellow" |
षंल्ग्वः॑ (ṣạlgváh) |
ཧགས྄ (hagás) |
хѣлгѵѣ, хѣлгꙋѣ (xělgwě) |
— | |
| *hāzwás "blue" |
हाज़्वः॑ (hāzváh) |
ཝས (vás) |
хаꙁѵѣ, хаꙁꙋѣ (xazwě) |
— | |
| *θúsnas "brown" |
थु॑नंः (thúnạh) |
ཏུནས (túnås) |
ѳѵꙑсѵѣ, ѳꙋꙑсꙋѣ (θwyswě) |
— | |