Proto-Northern-Romance (MGR)

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Proto-Northern-Romance
*Roumānēc / *Jermānēc / Lingua Rūstica Germāniārum
Spoken in: northwestern Europe
Conworld: Mundus Germaniae Romanae
Total speakers: unknown
Genealogical classification: Indo-European
Romance
Italo-Northwestern-Romance
Proto-Northern-Romance
Basic word order: SVO
Morphological type: inflecting
Morphosyntactic alignment: nominative-accusative
Writing system:
Created by:
P Collier, BP Jonsson 2006+

Introduction

Proto-Northern Romance is a reconstructed language. It is the posited common ancestor of today's Northern Romance languages (see below), sometimes known as the Germanican languages, that developed in central and northwestern Europe from the local variant of Vulgar Latin.

Modern Descendants

The distibution of Romance languages in Europe. The modern descendants of Proto-Northern Romance are shown in green.












 

Phonology

Consonants


Consonants
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p   b ¹ t   d ¹ k   g ¹
Fricative     β ¹ f     θ   ð ¹ s x   ɣ ¹ h
Approximant w j
Trill r
Lateral l

¹The stop allophones occured in initial position or when geminated. In other positions b d and g are realised as fricatives.


Vowels


Vowels
Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
High iː uː
Near-high ɪ ʊ
High-mid e oː
Low-mid ɛ   ɛː ɔ   ɔː
Low a   aː


Phonological History


Earliest Developments, Gallo-Romance/Germano-Romance Split

The earliest linguistic developments in Germania paralleled those in neighbouring Gaul. A more detailed description of Vulgar Latin and its development in Gaul can be found elsewhere.

The differing substratum in Germania however ultimately led to a divergence of Gallo- and Germano-Romance dialects from around the 2nd century CE.

One of the earliest Northern Romance developments that marks the split with Western Romance is the further development of the Vulgar Latin vowel system, as outlined below. N-Rom also did not take part in the intervocalic lenition undergone by all the W-Rom dialects.

Also distinctive is that the palatisation of stops before front vowels, a common feature of W-Rom, is not present in N-Rom where such consonants were instead geminated. Since such palatisation is singularly lacking in N-Rom despite the fact that very early evidence exists for paltisation in Latin, it is thought that not only did this feature not develop further in N-Rom but that existing palatised consonants must have reverted to pure stops. The generally accepted hypothesis for this phenomenon is that palatised consonants did not exist in the languages of Pre-Roman Germania, and this exerted a strong substratic influence causing their elimination in N-Rom.

The final major defining feature of early Proto-Northern Romance is the change in stress from the penult or antepenult to the word stem.


Stress

Pimary stress in Proto-Northern Romance moved to the word stem in all instances. Formerly stressed vowels retained a slight, secondary stress. For example: haˈbēmus > *ˈhāˌbīms. The change in stress coupled with the syncope of unstressed vowels had a considerable effect on morphology.


Vowels

The 10-vowel system of classical Latin had already, through a replacement of length distinctions with qualitative distinctions and subsequent merger of some qualities, evolved into a 7 or 8 vowel system in the Italo-Northwestern dialects of Vulgar Latin.

In Proto-Northern Romance the vowel system developed further, and a phonemic length distinction began to re-emerge.

Evolution of vowels in PNR
VL PNR
ɪ > iː
e > ɪ
eː > ɪ
ɛ > ɛ
æː¹ > aː
a > a
ʊ > uː
o > ʊ
ɔ > ɔː

¹ From Latin diphthong /a͡i/. In other VL dialects this vowel merged with /ɛ/.


Vowel Lengthening in Open Syllables

Vowels in open syllables became lengthened, and three new sounds /ɛː/, /eː/ and /oː/ emerged:

Open Syllable Lengthening
ɪ > eː
ɛ > ɛː
a > aː
ʊ > oː


A-Mutation

A short high vowel (/ɪ/ or /ʊ/) was lowered when the following syllable contained a non-high vowel (/aː/, /eː/, /ɛː/, or /ɔː/). The high vowel was not lowered, however, if /j/ intervened between it and the following non-high vowel. An intervening nasal consonant followed by a consonant of any kind also blocked the process.

A-Mutation
ɪ > ɛ
ʊ > ɔ


Vowel Breaking

Some long vowels broke and became diphthongs.

Vowel Breaking
eː > ı͡e
ɛː > ɛ͡ə
oː > o͡u
ɔː > ɔ͡ə


Vowel Syncope in Non-Stressed Syllables

The process of vowel elision began prior to the separate development of Proto-Northern Romance, such as with the loss of unstressed vowels between an obstruent and a liquid (e.g. Populus > *Poplus).

This syncope continued in Proto-Northern Romance, with the loss of non-initial pretonic vowels, and unstressed post-tonic e and u.


Consonants

Consonants underwent many changes in their evolution from Vulgar Latin. The main changes are summarised below.


Assimilation in Consonant Clusters

In common with Gallo-Romance, the Germano-Romance dialects assimilated some consonant clusters.

Assimilation
VL PNR
tl > kl
bs > ps
bt > pt
skl > sl
nkt > nt


Simplification of Consonant Clusters

Certain consonant clusters were simplified.

Simplification
VL PNR
ns > s
ks > s
ls > s
mpt > nt
kw > k ¹

¹ Except before /a/ or /aː/


Loss of Final Consonants

Final m had been lost since classical times. In Proto-Northern Romance final n was also lost (except in monosyllables) from a very early stage and, later, final d. The loss of final d is attributed to the Gallo-Romance super- / adstratum.


Interchange of w, b and u

The pronunciation of b and w had begun to merge in Vulgar Latin, as the two sounds approached /β/. In the Germanian dialects it appears w remained perhaps more distinct while b developed two allophones, [b] and [β], depending on position.

Ultimately there was some interchange of b and w, depending on position, or vocalisation of either to u, ū or au.

  • b or w between i or e and a short vowel vocalised to u
  • b or w between u or ō and a short vowel vocalised to ū
  • b or w between o, a or ā and a short vowel vocalised to au
  • w before t vocalised to ū
  • b after any obstruent shifted to w
  • b before w shifted to w
  • w after m shifted to b
  • b after m, w after any consonant (except m), and b or w in initial position remained unchanged
  • all other instances of b and w merged to [β]


Consonant Shifts

The following sound shifts are also attested in Proto-Northern Romance:

Consonant Shifts
VL PNR
Any labial > f before t
Any dental + t > ss
ss > st before r
f > θ except before l
z > s
p > f ¹
(s)sj > x
x > h between vowels
gj > dj
dj > j in initial position
g > j before front vowels

¹ Presumably via an intermediate stage as /ɸ/.


Gemination

Any consonant (except r) was geminated when immediately followed by j.

  • *animaljōru > *āmmallōr
  • *ratjōnis > *rattōnes

Morphology

Note with regard to spelling:

The written language of the literate Roman inhabitants of Germania was Classical Latin. Proto-Northern Romance was never transcribed, but rather was the local spoken dialect of Vulgar Latin.

As any spelling of Proto-Northern Romance is purely hypothetical, it allows a certain freedom when transcribing the language. For this reason, and ease of reading, modern spelling conventions are used in transcribing the semivowels /j/ and /w/ and those sounds not present in Classical Latin.

/j/       j
/w/       w
/θ/       th
/ð/       dh
/x/       ch

The Proto-Northern Romance phoneme /b/ was pronounced either as frictaive [β] or stop [b], depending on position (see phonology). Both allophones here are transcribed as b. Similarly /g/, which could be [ɣ] or [g], is transcribed as g.


Nouns

Latin's seven case system had reduced to four in Proto-Northern Romance – nominative, accusative, genitive and dative.

The neuter gender was lost, neuter nouns on the whole being reanalysed as masculine.


1st Declension

Group I

Mainly feminine, with some masculine exceptions. Derived from Latin 1st and 5th declensions.

1st Declension – Group I
Singular Plural
Nominative – a – as
Accusative – a – as
Genitive – ā – ār
Dative – ā – īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin):

  • terra, terrae
  • *dia, *diae (< *diēs, diēī)
  • *Aenēa, Aenēae (< *Aenēas, Aenēae)
  • *Anchīsa, Anchīsae (< *Anchīses, Anchīsae)


Group II

Feminine. Derived from Latin 1st declension.

1st Declension – Group II
Singular Plural
Nominative – – as
Accusative – – as
Genitive – s – ār
Dative – ā – īs

The following Latin paradigm declines per the above:

  • crambē, crambes


2nd Declension

Group I

Masculine, including originally neuter Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

2nd Declension – Group I
Singular Plural
Nominative – – ī
Accusative – – s
Genitive – s – ōr
Dative – ī – īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above:

  • rēte, rētis
  • pater, patris
  • *nōme, nōminis (< nōmen, nōminis)
  • opus, operis


Group II

Masculine, including originally feminine Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

2nd Declension – Group II
Singular Plural
Nominative – s – ī
Accusative – – s
Genitive – s – ōr
Dative – ī – īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above:'

  • amnis, amnis
  • *animālis, *animālis (< animāl, animālīs)
  • *amantis, amantis (< amans, amantis)
  • *ossus, ossis (< os, ossis)
  • *āeris, āeris (< āēr, āeris)
  • *hērōis, hērōis (< hērōs, hērōis)
  • *Periclis, Periclis (<Periclēs, Periclis)
  • *poēmatis, poēmatis (< poēma, poēmatis)


Group III

Masculine, including originally feminine or neuter Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 2nd and 4th declensions.

2nd Declension – Group III
Singular Plural
Nominative – s – ī
Accusative – – s
Genitive – ī – ōr
Dative – – īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above:

  • modus, modī
  • Lūcius, Lūcī
  • *Dēlus, Dēlī (< Dēlos, Dēlī)
  • *dōnus, dōnī (< dōnum, dōnī)
  • portus, *portī (< portus, portūs)
  • *genūus, *genuī (< genū, genūs)


Group IV

Masculine, including originally feminine Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 2nd declension.

2nd Declension – Group IV
Singular Plural
Nominative – – ī
Accusative – – s
Genitive – ī – ōr
Dative – – īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above:

  • liber, librī
  • puer, puerī


3rd Declension

Feminine, including originally masculine Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd and 5th declensions.

4th Declension – Group I
Singular Plural
Nominative – s – s
Accusative – – s
Genitive – s –
Dative – ī – ius

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above

  • *clādis, clādis (< clādēs, clādis)
  • *urbis, urbis (< urbs, urbis)
  • *laudis, laudis (< laus, laudis)
  • *aetātis, aetātis (< aetās, aetātis)
  • rēs, *reis (< rēs, reī)
  • *Naiadis, Naiadis (< Naias, Naiadis)
  • *mōris, mōris (< mōs, mōris)
  • *ratiōnis, ratiōnis (< ratiō, ratiōnis)


Pronouns

Pronouns
Singular Plural
masculine feminine reflexive impersonal masculine feminine reflexive
1st person Nominative jō ― ― nus ―
Accusative mei ― nus
Genitive mīs ma ― ― nōster (nōstra) ―
Dative mī ― ― nous ―
2nd person Nominative tū ― ― wus ―
Accusative tei ― wus
Genitive tus ta ― ― wōster (wōstra) ―
Dative tī ― ― wous ―
3rd person Nominative el ella ― hōm illī ellas ―
Accusative sei hōm(m) sei
Genitive sus sa ― hōms ellōr ―
Dative sī ― hōmmī sī ―
Interrogative
& relative 		Nominative cī ― ― cī ―
Accusative cea ― ― cus quas
Genitive cjus quājas ― ― cour quār ―
Dative cī quā ― ― cius ―


Verbs

In the transition from Latin to Proto-Northern Romance, verbs went through several syntactic and semantic changes. Most of the distinctions present in classical Latin continued to be made, but synthetic forms were often replaced with analytic ones. Other verb forms changed meaning, and new forms also appeared.

In common with the other Romance dialects, Latin's synthetic passive voice was completely lost, to be replaced by a periphrastic form utilising the appropriately conjugated form of the verb 'to be' plus the past participle.

Similar new periphrastic forms also developed for the future tense, utilising the verb 'to come' plus the infinitive, and the perfect tense, using 'to have' and the past participle.

Latin's perfect tense had also functioned as a preterite (simple past). Following the development of a new periphrastic perfect tense (see above), use of the original perfect form continued but became limited solely to its preterite meaning.

Latin's imperfect tense was completely lost in Proto-Northern Romance.


Indicative Mood

1st Conjugation
Present
Singular Plural
1st person – – āms
2nd person – as – āts
3rd Person – at – ant


Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person – aj – aums
2nd person – astī – asts
3rd Person – aut – ārnt


A small group of 1st conjugation verbs, primarily those with stems ending in – d, formed their preterite indicative like 2ii verbs. They differed however in the 3rd person singular.

Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person ...d – dī ...d – dīms
2nd person ...d – distī ...d – dists
3rd Person ...dh – iss ...d – dīrnt


2nd Conjugation

Derived from Latin 2nd and 4th conjugations

Present
Singular Plural
1st person – – īms
2nd person – īs – īts
3rd Person – et – int


Group I - Preterite in – wī etc.

Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person – wī – wīms
2nd person – wistī – wists
3rd Person – wet – wīrnt

2i group derived from Latin 2nd conjugation.


Group II - Preterite in – ī etc.

Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person – ī – iums
2nd person – istī – īsts
3rd Person – iut – īrnt

2ii group derived from Latin 4th conjugation.


3rd Conjugation
Present
Singular Plural
1st person – – (e)ms
2nd person – es – (e)ts
3rd Person – et – (e)nt


Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person – si – sīms
2nd person – sistī – sists
3rd Person – set – sīrnt


Subjunctive Mood

1st Conjugation
Present
Singular Plural
1st person –e – īms
2nd person – es – īts
3rd Person – et – int


Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person – wisse – ausīms
2nd person – wiss – ausīts
3rd Person – wisst – wissint


2nd Conjugation

Derived from Latin 2nd and 4th conjugations

Present
Singular Plural
1st person –a – āms
2nd person – as – ātes
3rd Person – at – ant


Group I Preterite 1st person plural in – wissīms

Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person – wisse – wissīms
2nd person – wiss – wissīts
3rd Person – wisst – wissint

2i group derived from Latin 2nd conjugation.


Group II - Preterite 1st person plural in – iusīms

Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person – wisse – iusīms
2nd person – wiss – iusīts
3rd Person – wisst – wissint

2ii group derived from Latin 4th conjugation.


3rd Conjugation
Present
Singular Plural
1st person –a – āms
2nd person – as – ātes
3rd Person – at – ant


Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person – isse – issīms
2nd person – iss – issīts
3rd Person – isst – issint


Imperative Mood

Singular
1st Conjugation – a
2nd Conjugation – e
3rd Conjugation – e


Plural
1st Conjugation – āt
2nd Conjugation – īt
3rd Conjugation – t


Infinitive and Past Participles

Infinitive
1st Conjugation – āre
2nd Conjugation – īre
3rd Conjugation – re


Perfect Past Participle (Supine)
1st Conjugation cun – āt
2nd Conjugation cun – īt
3rd Conjugation cun – t


Passive Past Participle
Masculine Feminine
1st Conjugation cun – āts cun – āta
2nd Conjugation cun – īts cun – īta
3rd Conjugation cun – ts cun – ta

During the Proto-Northern Romance period the past particple increasingly came to be prefixed with *cun- (from the Latin verbal prefix con-). The precise semantic purpose of the prefix is unclear, although it clearly served to differentiate the past participle from other verb forms. It is possible the use of such a prefix had its origins in the pre-Roman languages of the Germanian tribes.

The passive participle agrees with the gender of the patient.


Auxilliary Verbs

*Esttre (to be)

Present
Singular Plural
1st person *su *soums
2nd person *es *ests
3rd Person *est *sunt


Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person *thwī *thoums
2nd person *thustī *thusts
3rd Person *thut *thournt

*Esttre was used in conjunction with a passive participle to create the passive voice.

The passive participle agrees in gender with the patient. For example, *ella est cunāmāta (she is loved), *elle tut cundāts (it was given).


*Hābīre (to have)

Present
Singular Plural
1st person *hāb *hābīms
2nd person *hābs *hābīts
3rd Person *haut *haunt


Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person *houwī *houwīms
2nd person *houwistī *houwists
3rd Person *houwet *houwīrnt

The present tense of *hābīre was used in conjunction with a past participle to create the perfect: *jo hāb cunthout (I have been).

The preterite of *hābīre was used in conjunction with a past participle to create the pluperfect: *wus houwīms cunwint (we had come).


*Weanīre (to come)

Present
Singular Plural
1st person *wean *weanīms
2nd person *weanīs *weanītīs
3rd Person *weanet *weannt


Preterite (Simple Past)
Singular Plural
1st person *winwi *winwīms
2nd person *winwistī *winwists
3rd Person *winwet *winwīrnt

The present tense of *weanīre was used in conjunction with an infinitive to create the future: *tu weanīs indūccre (you will lead).

The preterite of *weanīre was used in conjunction with an infinitive to create the conditional (i.e. 'future-in-the-past): *jo winwi ferdhounāre (I would forgive).

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