Hesperic: Difference between revisions

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|valign="top"|Genealogical classification:
|valign="top"|Genealogical classification:
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: '''Hesperic'''
:: see below
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'''Hesperic''' is a [[language family|family]] of [[diachronic conlang]]s by [[User:WeepingElf|Jörg Rhiemeier]] spoken in the world of the [[League of Lost Languages]]. So far, [[Old Albic]] is the best-elaborated language of the family.
'''Hesperic''' is a [[language family|family]] of [[diachronic conlang]]s by [[User:WeepingElf|Jörg Rhiemeier]] spoken in the world of the [[League of Lost Languages]]. This family forms an early diverging branch of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] family and is a "re-creation" of the hypothetical [[Aquan languages|Aquan]] language group. So far, [[Old Albic]] is the best-elaborated language of the family.


==Sources==
==Sources==


The main natlang sources of inspiration for Hesperic are the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]], [[Uralic]] and [[Wikipedia:Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian]] language families.  The family is meant as a fictional elaboration of the hypothetical [[Aquan languages|Aquan]] language family, the study of [[Paleo-European languages]] is relevant to the project, and the author is working the results of his research into the linguistic prehistory of Europe into the Hesperic project.
The language family is built on an internal reconstruction (by the author himself, but drawing on the ideas of various scholars such as [[Wikipedia:Tamaz V. Gamkredlidze|T. V. Gamkrelidze]], [[Wikipedia:Vyacheslav Ivanov (philologist)|V. V. Ivanov]] and the late, lamented [[Wikipedia:Jens Elmegård Rasmussen|J. E. Rasmussen]]) of an early stage of [[Proto-Indo-European]]; further inspiration for the building of the family came from the [[Uralic]] and [[Wikipedia:Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian]] language families.


Conlangs of inspirational value are chiefly the [[Quendian]] ([[J. R. R. Tolkien]]), [[Eastern languages (Almea)|Eastern]] ([[Mark Rosenfelder]]) and [[Sunovian]] (Geoff Eddy) families.
Conlangs of inspirational value are chiefly the [[Quendian]] ([[J. R. R. Tolkien]]), [[Eastern languages (Almea)|Eastern]] ([[Mark Rosenfelder]]) and [[Sunovian]] (Geoff Eddy) families which inspired me to build a large, diverse language family.


==Overview (intrafictional)==
==Overview (intrafictional)==


The Hesperic languages are spoken in various [[residual zone]]s in Central and Western Europe, with a total number of speakers not exceeding 50,000 today, though the family once had many more speakers as the extant Hesperic languages are the last remains of a once great language family that was later eclipsed and displaced by [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] (Old Albic alone is estimated to have been spoken by about 2 million people during the apogee of the [[Commonwealth of the Elves]] around 600 BC).  All Hesperic languages are endangered today; none has official status in the country where it is spoken.
The Hesperic languages are spoken in various [[residual zone]]s in Central and Western Europe, with a total number of speakers not exceeding 50,000 today, though the family once had many more speakers ([[Old Albic]] alone is estimated to have been spoken by about 2 million people at its apogee about 600 BC).


The [[Old European hydronymy]] may be Hesperic in origin, but as the original meanings of those names are unknown, such an identification remains speculative.
This family is a branch of Indo-European that separated from the rest of the family early, around 4500 BC, and is probably associated with the first wave of the Kurgan culture expansions. (The Anatolian languages represent the second wave around 3500 BC, while the other Indo-European languages descend from the third wave around 3000 BC. The [[Old European hydronymy]] may be Hesperic in origin, but as the original meanings of those names are unknown, such an identification remains speculative.
 
Today, however, all Hesperic languages have to be considered endangered, and none has official status in the country where it is spoken.  


==Classification==
==Classification==
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The Hesperic languages have been influenced to various degrees by the [[Wikipedia:Standard Average European|Standard Average European]] linguistic area.  The influence of this Sprachbund is strongest in Alpianic and weakest in Albic.
The Hesperic languages have been influenced to various degrees by the [[Wikipedia:Standard Average European|Standard Average European]] linguistic area.  The influence of this Sprachbund is strongest in Alpianic and weakest in Albic.


==External relationships==
Hesperic shows all the hallmarks of a [[Mitian]] language family.  Typologically the Hesperic languages show affinity to the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]], [[Uralic]] and [[Wikipedia:Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian]] languages.  The phonology is most similar to Indo-European, the morphology to Uralic and the syntax to Kartvelian.
The most likely closest kin of Hesperic is Indo-European, with which Hesperic shares more than 100 lexical cognates.  Also, internal reconstruction in Proto-Indo-European leads to a stage that shows a substantial affinity to Hesperic.  The morphological affinity to Uralic is best explained as a shared retention from [[Indo-Uralic]], while Indo-European has innovated.  The similarities to Karvelian, which seem also to hold for an earlier stage of Proto-Indo-European, are probably due to contact.


[[Category:Hesperic|*]]
[[Category:Hesperic|*]]
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[[Category:Conlangs]]
[[Category:Conlangs]]
[[Category:Diachronic conlangs]]
[[Category:Diachronic conlangs]]
[[Category:Indo-European conlangs]]
[[Category:Artlangs]]
[[Category:Artlangs]]

Revision as of 12:50, 30 March 2017

Hesperic
Spoken in: Europe
Conworld: League of Lost Languages
Total speakers: ca. 50,000
Genealogical classification: Indo-European
Hesperic
see below
Basic word order: varies
Morphological type: varies
Morphosyntactic alignment: varies
Created by:
Jörg Rhiemeier 2000-

Hesperic is a family of diachronic conlangs by Jörg Rhiemeier spoken in the world of the League of Lost Languages. This family forms an early diverging branch of the Indo-European family and is a "re-creation" of the hypothetical Aquan language group. So far, Old Albic is the best-elaborated language of the family.

Sources

The language family is built on an internal reconstruction (by the author himself, but drawing on the ideas of various scholars such as T. V. Gamkrelidze, V. V. Ivanov and the late, lamented J. E. Rasmussen) of an early stage of Proto-Indo-European; further inspiration for the building of the family came from the Uralic and Kartvelian language families.

Conlangs of inspirational value are chiefly the Quendian (J. R. R. Tolkien), Eastern (Mark Rosenfelder) and Sunovian (Geoff Eddy) families which inspired me to build a large, diverse language family.

Overview (intrafictional)

The Hesperic languages are spoken in various residual zones in Central and Western Europe, with a total number of speakers not exceeding 50,000 today, though the family once had many more speakers (Old Albic alone is estimated to have been spoken by about 2 million people at its apogee about 600 BC).

This family is a branch of Indo-European that separated from the rest of the family early, around 4500 BC, and is probably associated with the first wave of the Kurgan culture expansions. (The Anatolian languages represent the second wave around 3500 BC, while the other Indo-European languages descend from the third wave around 3000 BC. The Old European hydronymy may be Hesperic in origin, but as the original meanings of those names are unknown, such an identification remains speculative.

Today, however, all Hesperic languages have to be considered endangered, and none has official status in the country where it is spoken.

Classification

Hesperic

  • West Hesperic
  • Low Elvish
  • Mediterranean Hesperic
  • Ibero-Hesperic
  • Italo-Hesperic
  • Viddan (incertae sedis)
  • East Hesperic
  • Western Duniscian
  • Central Duniscian
  • Eastern Duniscian

Viddan shows a mixture of western and eastern traits, and its affiliation is unclear.

The "Kastenholz scheme"

The Kastenholz scheme (named after a fictional linguist) groups the eight branches of Hesperic in a 3x3 grid (with one empty cell):

  West Central East
North Albic Viddan Marissan
Central Montdorais Alpianic Duniscian
South Ibero-H. Italo-H.  

This chart corresponds to four major isogloss bundles, two running north-south and two running east-west, characterized as below.

Northern zone

  • Moderate to large consonant inventories
  • Long and short vowels
  • Pitch accent with two contrasting intonations (thrusting and slipping tone) on long vowels
  • Preservation of all five Proto-Hesperic primary cases
  • Richly developed secondary cases
  • Complex verb morphology with two sets of personal endings

Central zone

  • Moderate consonant inventories
  • Long and short vowels
  • Stress accent
  • Four-case system
  • Moderately complex verb morphology

Southern zone

  • Small consonant inventories
  • No long vowels
  • Stress accent
  • Topic-prominent noun declension, topic marker from genitive
  • Simple verb morphology

Western slice

  • Loss of aspiration (only partially in Albic)
  • Drummond's Law
  • Vowel umlauts
  • Initial accent (lost in parts of Albic)

Central slice

  • Spirantization of aspirates (also in parts of Albic)
  • Drummond's Law (uvularization in Viddan)
  • Monophtongization of diphthongs (also in parts of Albic)
  • Initial accent

Eastern slice

  • Loss of aspiration
  • Gemination of consonants followed by laryngeals
  • Palatalizations
  • Penultimate accent

Influence of Standard Average European

The Hesperic languages have been influenced to various degrees by the Standard Average European linguistic area. The influence of this Sprachbund is strongest in Alpianic and weakest in Albic.