Proto-Eteonoric
| Proto-Eteonoric | |
| Spoken in: | Austria, ca. 1000 BC |
| Conworld: | League of Lost Languages |
| Total speakers: | extinct (reconstructed) |
| Genealogical classification: | Eteonoric
|
| Basic word order: | V2, SOV in subclauses |
| Morphological type: | agglutinating |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | accusative, topic-prominent |
| Created by: | |
| The group | 2005-2012 |
Proto-Eteonoric is a diachronic conlang that forms a part of the League of Lost Languages. The language was built as a group effort (the main contributors being Jörg Rhiemeier, Roger Mills, Benct Philip Jonsson and Paul Bennett).
Proto-Eteonoric is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Eteonoric languages. It was probably spoken about 3000 years ago in central Austria, somewhere between Vienna and Salzburg.
An essential part of the project is the Proto-Noric Dictionary and Root Generator.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | Voiceless | *p | *t | *k | *q | |||
| Voiced | *b | *d | *g | |||||
| Aspirated | *ph [pʰ] | *th [tʰ] | *kh [kʰ] | *qh [qʰ] | ||||
| Affricates | Voiceless | *c [ts] | *č [tʃ] | |||||
| Voiced | *dz | *dž [dʒ] | ||||||
| Aspirated | *ch [tsʰ] | *čh [tʃʰ] | ||||||
| Fricatives | Voiceless | *s | *š [ʃ] | *h | ||||
| Voiced | *z | *ž [ʒ] | ||||||
| Nasals | *m | *n | ||||||
| Lateral | *l | |||||||
| Rhotic | *r | |||||||
| Semivowels | *w | *j | ||||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | *i | *y [ɨ] | *u |
| Mid | *e | *o | |
| Low | *a |
All vowels except *y which is always short, may be short or long. Long vowels are marked with a grave accent: à è ì ò ù.
Accent
The Proto-Eteonoric accent may fall on any syllable and is marked with an acute accent (á é í ó ú ý) on the vowel, or a circumflex (â ê î ô û) if it is long.
Root structure
C(R)VC or CV(R)C
Words however are minimally C(R)VCV or CV(R)CV and must end in a vowel (or vowel + sonant?)
Morphology
Nouns
Nouns do not inflect much. The plural marker is *-my; the topic marker is *-tâ (which attracts stress). The plural topic marker is *-mytâ (also attracts stress). The genitive relation is expressed by the particle *nu placed between possessum and possessor, e.g. *atéga nu babâ (house GEN father) 'the father's house'. If such a NP is topicalized, the topic marker is appended to the final element: *atéga nu babàtâ.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | Exclusive | *atê | *kímy |
| Inclusive | *kórymy | ||
| 2nd person | *iwká | *kakýmy | |
| 3rd person | Masculine | *jáša | *jášamy |
| Feminine | *jáši | *jášimy | |
| Neuter | *atâ | *atâmy | |
Demonstratives and others
| Person | Thing | Place | Way | Reason | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This | *thámi | *tháta | *tháši | *thákala | *thámada |
| That | *ními | *níta | *níši | *níkala | *nímada |
| Which? | *kémi | *kéta | *kéši | *kékala | *kémada |
| Some | *sémi | *séta | *séši | *sékala | *sémada |
| Every | *jômi | *jôta | *jôši | *jôkala | *jômada |
| No | *bêmi | *bêta | *bêši | *bêkala | *bêmada |
Numerals
| Cardinal | Ordinal | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ìqhá | ìqhádža |
| 2 | câhu | câhudža |
| 3 | ûba | ûbadža |
| 4 | šujú | šujúdža |
| 5 | ánta | ántadža |
| 6 | ýto | ýtodža |
| 7 | hátù | hátùdža |
| 8 | twatâ | twatâdža |
| 9 | dáqù | dáqùdža |
| 10 | áša | ášadža |
| 11 | ýče | ýčedža |
| 12 | ábì | ábìdža |
| 20 | udó | udódža |
| 100 | úkhi | úkhidža |
| 1000 | òjcí | òjcídža |
Adjectives
Adjectives agree with their head nouns in number (the plural suffix is *-my, as with nouns). The degree of comparison is expressed by the suffixes *-kha (comparative, does not attract stress) and *-khatá (superlative; attracts stress). The latter two suffixes precede the plural suffix.
Prepositions
Proto-Eteonoric is a prepositional language.
Local prepositions
| At | From | To | Through | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | *ta | *do | *ke | *čhà |
| In | *qitá | *qidó | *qiké | *qičhâ |
| On | *satá | *sadó | *saké | *sačhâ |
| Under | *čhìtá | *čhìdó | *čhìké | *čhìčhâ |
| Near | *litá | *lidó | *liké | *ličhâ |
| Up | *hî |
|---|---|
| Down | *chó |
Other prepositions
| With (comitative) | *nîli |
|---|---|
| By/With (instrumental) | *dára |
| Without | *banî |
| For | *džúki |
| Against | *badžú |
Verbs
The verb is inflected for tense and mood, and the person and number of the subject. There are also several subordinating suffixes.
Mood
Mood is expressed by a suffix on the verb. The following moods are distinguished:
| Indicative | -∅ (no suffix) |
|---|---|
| Subjunctive | -ka |
| Optative | -kala |
| Imperative | -chí |
The imperative suffix attracts stress and is never followed by any other suffix except the plural suffix *-my.
Tense
There are two tenses in Proto-Eteonoric: present (non-past) and past. Only the indicative and the subjunctive moods combine with the past tense. The present tense has no suffix, while the past tense is marked with the suffix *-še. In the subjunctive mood, the past tense suffix follows the subjunctive mood suffix.
Person and number
The personal prefixes are:
| 1st person | *ki- |
|---|---|
| 2nd person | *ka- |
| 3rd person | ∅- (no prefix) |
The plural is expressed by the suffix *-my in all three persons. This suffix follows the mood and tense suffixes.
Subordinating suffixes
The verb of a subordinate clause takes a suffix which expresses the relation between the subordinate clause and the main clause. This suffix is always the last in the verb complex and attracts stress. The following subordinating suffixes can be reconstructed for Proto-Eteonoric:
| Relative | *-máchi |
|---|---|
| Complement | *-mâ |
| If | *-čhî |
| When | *-tatá |
| Before | *-kêmi |
| After | *-dôthi |
| Because | *-gûru |
| Though | *-nîlu |
Conjunctions
Proto-Eteonoric has only coordinating conjunctions, as subordination is done with verb suffixes (see above).
| And | *ki |
|---|---|
| Or | *čha |
| Not | *be |
| Thus | *da |
Syntax
Morphosyntactic alignment
Proto-Eteonoric is a nominative-accusative language. Subjects and direct objects are not marked for case, but the subject always precedes the object unless the object is topicalized (see below). The verb inflects for the person and number of the subject. Overlaying this, Proto-Eteonoric is a topic-prominent language; in many sentences, one argument is topicalized.
The Noun Phrase
Adjectives precede the noun, while possessors and relative clauses follow. The topic marker is always suffixed to the last element in the NP.
The Clause
In main clauses, the verb is always in the second position. If a noun phrase is marked as topic, it comes first in the sentence. Otherwise, the subject precedes the verb and the object follows the verb. Subordinate clauses have Subject Object Verb word order.
Main clause without topic
In a main clause without topic, the subject is placed before the verb and the object after it:
| (1) | amâ bíli rúnthu |
|---|---|
| mother love child | |
| 'The mother loves the child.' |
Proto-Eteonoric is a pro-drop language, i.e. the subject pronoun can be omitted if the verb is inflected for a person other than third person singular:
| (2) | rúnthu kibíli |
|---|---|
| child 1SG-love | |
| 'I love the child.' |
As the example shows, the object moves into the first position in such a clause due to the V2 constraint (in a main clause, the verb is always in second position).
Main clause with topic
If a noun phrase is topicalized, it is placed before the verb, and everything else after the verb. If the topicalized noun phrase is the subject, the word order does not change, and no other marking is necessary:
| (3) | amàtâ bíli rúnthu |
|---|---|
| mother-TOP love child | |
| 'As for the mother, she loves the child.' |
If the object is topicalized, a pronoun is placed after the subject:
| (4) | runthutâ bíli amâ jáša |
|---|---|
| child-TOP love mother 3SG:M | |
| 'As for the child, the mother loves him.' |
Prepositional phrases can also be topicalized. In this case, the noun phrase is placed first without the preposition, and a pronoun is placed after the preposition:
| (5) | babàtâ méta amâ láki ke jáša |
|---|---|
| father-TOP give mother fish to 3SG:M | |
| 'As for the father, the mother gives a fish to him.' |
Subordinate clause
In a subordinate clause, the subject precedes the object, and the verb goes last.
| (6) | lìčú líntu čankašedôthi pínčhiše mísa atâ |
|---|---|
| fox bird catch-PAST-after steal-PAST cat 3SG:N | |
| 'After the fox caught the bird, the cat stole it.' |
This is also true for relative clauses:
| (7) | lìčú líntu čankašemáchi sélmaše atâ |
|---|---|
| fox bird catch-PAST-REL eat-PAST 3SG:N | |
| 'The fox that caught the bird ate it.' |
Vocabulary
| ábì | Num | twelve |
| ábìdža | Num | twelfth |
| ašá | Num | ten |
| ašúdža | Num | tenth |
| amâ | N | mother |
| ánta | Num | five |
| ántadža | Num | fifth |
| atê | pron | I (1st pers.sing.) |
| atéga | N | house, dwelling |
| babâ | N | father |
| bádi | adj | yellow |
| bánki | N | hill |
| bíli | V | love |
| bnegâ | adj | big, large |
| câhu | Num | two |
| câhudža | Num | second |
| châqho | N | chamois |
| chó | adposition | down |
| cholcí | N | marten |
| cìbý | N | Alpine cough |
| dáqù | Num | nine |
| dáqùdža | Num | ninth |
| dáwno | N | river |
| -dža | suffix | derives ordinal numbers from cardinals |
| džèlê | N | red deer |
| gwîno | N | wine |
| gýrdy | N | enclosure, courtyard |
| hátù | Num | seven |
| hátùdža | Num | seventh |
| -ima | suffix | denotes inhabitant of X |
| ípe | N | partridge |
| ìqhá | Num | one |
| ìqhádža | Num | first |
| iwká | pron | (2nd pers.sing.) thou |
| îwsi | N | garden, field |
| jûlthè | N | cow |
| kántu | V | hold |
| khórja | N | star; a constellation? |
| khrèthá | N | roe deer |
| kôri | N | tree bark |
| kórpi | N | forest |
| kûrdo | adj | deaf |
| kýrsa | N | bread |
| láki | N | fish |
| líntu | N | bird |
| lìčú | N | fox |
| méta | V | give |
| méthu | N | mead |
| mísa | V | eat |
| mîtho | N | badger |
| múto | V | cut |
| nòla | N | wood |
| nolčî | N | tree |
| òjcí | Num | one thousand |
| òjcidža | Num | one thousandth |
| páli | N | mountain |
| pâre | V | show |
| pása | N | anger |
| pásima | N | barbarian |
| phlóka | N | cloth |
| pínčhi | V | steal |
| qímà | N | sky |
| qúnà | N | mountain |
| qý- | prefix | place for X, place with X |
| qýlaki | N | pond |
| qýnolčì | N | coppice, grove, forest |
| qýchima | N | valley dweller |
| qýcho | N | valley |
| rêsi | N | grain, cereal |
| riwgú | N | marmot |
| ríwma | N | squirrel |
| rúnthu | N | child |
| sélta | N | bridge |
| sélma | V | eat |
| šérka | N | ox |
| šôli | V | heal |
| šôphè | N | human being |
| šujú | Num | four |
| šujúdža | Num | fourth |
| tandú | N | ibex |
| têrzo | N | tree |
| tôši | N | rope |
| twatâ | Num | eight |
| twatâdža | Num | eighth |
| týlpa | adj | mute |
| ûba | Num | three |
| ûbadža | Num | third |
| udó | Num | twenty |
| udódža | Num | twentieth |
| úkhi | Num | one hundred |
| úkhidža | Num | one hundredth |
| úrnò | N | man |
| wárda | N | clan-house |
| wèwga | adj | wide |
| ýče | Num | eleven |
| ýčedža | Num | eleventh |
| ýto | Num | six |
| ýtodža | Num | sixth |
| zíwy | N | hare |
| zulkâ | N | aurochs |
| žulê | N | pheasant |
