Proto-Eteonoric
| Proto-Eteonoric | |
| Spoken in: | Austria, ca. 1000 BC |
| Conworld: | League of Lost Languages |
| Total speakers: | extinct |
| 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) and *-khata (superlative).
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 | -Ø (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 | Ø- (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 |
|---|---|
| If | *-čhî |
| When | *-tatá |
| Before | *-kêmi |
| After | *-dôthi |
| Because | *-gûru |
| Though | *-nîlu |
Syntax
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.
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 |
| 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 |
| méthu | N | mead |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Semantic Spaces
(Paul Bennett)
Do we need to discuss the partitioning of semantic space? It is obvious that the Noric people were subjected to and survived several waves of outside dominant cultures (by my eye Italo-Celtic, Italic, Germanic, Ugric and/or Turkic and Germanic again, more or less). That cultural overlay is going to lead to loan-words and the loaning of which things are culturally significant enough to have special terms for them. For instance, Noric people are likely to have grown wheat and barley, driven goats or sheep, drunk wine and mead --knowledge of both probably came with IE speakers (wine in turn probably came from Caucasian people (something like /ɣwinja/ IIRC)), and beer came later (around 1AD?) from the Romans (Latin cerevisia), who got it from the Egyptians. They would have known about horses but probably not donkeys (knowledge of the horse (PIE *ek^uo) probably came with IE speakers), and had a concept of a home consisting of an entrance area and an inner area with a hearth. They would probably have had separate words for a village and a town (actually, the PIE word for "town" (cf. Greek polis) was apparently borrowed from an unknown source -- might be worth thinking about). Plausibly, they traded in slaves (with a word for "slave" distinct to "man", and a word for "buy/sell slave(s)" distinct from the general "buy/sell"). Plausibly they would draw a line between a libation and a "regular" drink, and maybe between sacrificial killing, killing in battle/"slaying", and "regular" killing.
- Would they really have "towns" as opposed to "villages". BTW Greek polis may well be from Pelasgian -- that would be my first hypothesis lacking other evidence. BPJ 13:35, 2 Jun 2005 (PDT)
- At some point, yes they would. I'm not sure of the age of the polis words, but we're talking about a culture from the Copper or Bronze age all the way through to modern times. At some point, I suspect they'd have need of a distinction. Pb 08:25, 3 Jun 2005 (PDT)
- Wouldn't they take up whatever word the dominant culture used, be it civitas, Stadt or város or whatever? BPJ 12:55, 3 Jun 2005 (PDT)
- Possibly. Probably, in fact. However, the question is going to be at what point in time did the borrowing occur, and what was the dominant language at that time? Would there have been a *bherg^h-/polis term as well as something in the Stadt range? I beleive *bherg^hs developed somewhere between villages and true cities, and indeed that's what they are. I think Stadt would make a perfectly servicable borrowing c. X to XV century (ish), when true cities became a reality. I think *bherg^h- would be borrowed to describe, well, a *bherg^h- Pb 15:02, 3 Jun 2005 (PDT)
- Agree. Real towns would come only with the Romans, probably. BPJ 00:03, 4 Jun 2005 (PDT)
