Proto-Alpianic
| Proto-Alpianic | |
| Spoken in: | Switzerland, ca. 1000 BC |
| Conworld: | League of Lost Languages |
| Total speakers: | extinct (reconstructed) |
| Genealogical classification: | Hesperic
|
| Basic word order: | V2; SOV in subclauses |
| Morphological type: | fusional |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | accusative |
| Created by: | |
| Jörg Rhiemeier | 2013 |
Proto-Alpianic is the common ancestor of the Alpianic branch of the Hesperic language family in the League of Lost Languages. It is currently being created by Jörg Rhiemeier.
Proto-Alpianic probably was spoken in central Switzerland around 1000 BC and appears to be the language which gave the Alps their name (*alpa 'mountain'). A closely related language probably was spoken further north and gave the Alb, a lesser mountain range north of the Alps, its name. Proto-Alpianic is about as closely related to Old Albic as Greek is to Latin.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Laryngeal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral stops | *p | *t | *k | |
| Aspirated stops | *ph | *th | *kh | |
| Affricates | *pf | *ts | *kx | |
| Fricatives | *f | *s | *x | *h |
| Nasals | *m | *n | *ń | |
| Laterals | *l | *ĺ | ||
| Rhotics | *r | *ŕ | ||
| Semivowel | *j |
The dorsal nasal *ń almost certainly was a velar nasal [ŋ]. The phoneme *ĺ probably was a velarized alveolar lateral [ɫ], the phoneme *ŕ a uvular trill [ʀ].
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | *i î | *u û | |
| Mid | *e ê ẽ | *o ô õ | |
| Low | *a â ã |
The circumflex accent marks a long vowel; nasal vowels (with tilde) are always short.
Syllable structure
The maximum syllable structure is (s)C(R)V(L) with the following values:
- C is any consonant.
- R is any nasal, liquid or *j; if present, C must be an obstruent.
- V is any vowel.
- L is any nasal or liquid, or gemination of the following consonant. May not be present in a syllable with a long or nasal vowel, and not in final syllables.
Accent
The accent, which probably was stress, falls on the first syllable of the word.
Morphology
Proto-Alpianic is a fusional-synthetic language. The morphosyntactic alignment is nominative-accusative, though predicate nouns are, unlike most European languages, in the accusative rather than the nominative case.
Nouns
Nouns are divided into three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter; to a large part arbitrary but the neuter gender contains only inanimate nouns) and are inflected for two numbers (singular, plural) and four cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative). There are several declension classes that inflect differently; these cut across the genders, but neuters always decline differently from non-neuters of the same declension class: the accusative is always the same as the nominative and the dative the same as the genitive, and the plural is formed differently.
Case usage
- The nominative is used for the subject of the clause.
- The genitive is used for possessors, and the objects of a small number of prepositions.
- The dative is used for indirect objects, and the objects of most prepositions.
- The accusative is used for the direct object, but also for predicate nouns.
A-stems, masculine
With rare exceptions, masculine nouns are a-stems.
Example: *phassa 'person'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | *phassa | *phassi |
| Genitive | *phasse | *phassie |
| Dative | *phasso | *phassio |
| Accusative | *phassã | *phassẽ |
A-stems, neuter
Neuter a-stems are not as predominant as masculine a-stems, but still frequent as many basic vocabulary items fall into this class.
Example: *kxara 'stone'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom.-acc. | *kxara | *kxaro |
| Gen.-dat. | *kxaro | *kxaralo |
I-stems, feminine
With rare exceptions, feminine nouns are i-stems.
Example: *saria 'woman'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | *saria | *sari |
| Genitive | *sarie | *sarie |
| Dative | *sario | *sario |
| Accusative | *sariã | *sariẽ |
I-stems, neuter
Example: *pãti 'ribbon'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom.-acc. | *pãti | *pãtio |
| Gen.-dat. | *pãtio | *pãtialo |
U-stems, non-neuter
Non-neuter u-stems are rare.
Example: *kańua 'mountain imp'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | *kańua | *kańui |
| Genitive | *kańue | *kańue |
| Dative | *kańuo | *kańuo |
| Accusative | *kańuã | *kańuẽ |
U-stems, neuter
This is also a small class.
Example: *khanu 'joint'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom.-acc. | *khanu | *khanuo |
| Gen.-dat. | *khanuo | *khanualo |
Consonant stems, neuter
This is a fairly large class; there are no non-neuter consonant stems. It is in this class hard to predict the other forms from knowing the nominative-accusative singular, hence the genitive-dative singular is also given in the dictionary.
Example: *saĺjo 'wing'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom.-acc. | *saĺjo | *saĺjalo |
| Gen.-dat. | *saĺjalo | *saĺjalalo |
Example: *thupe 'gift'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom.-acc. | *thupe | *thupaso |
| Gen.-dat. | *thupaso | *thupasalo |
While the genitive-dative and the plural forms are not predictable from the nominative-accusative singular, the reverse is possible. All consonants following the stem-final vowel are dropped, and the stem-final vowel changed according to the (first) consonant following the stem-final vowel:
| Coda consonant | Vowel is |
|---|---|
| Labial or liquid | Backed and rounded |
| *s or *ts | Fronted |
| Nasal | Nasalized (*i and *u become *ẽ and õ) |
| Other | Unchanged |
Articles
The Proto-Alpianic definite article is declined as follows:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | *sa | *si | *sia | *si | *tsa | *tso |
| Genitive | *se | *sie | *sie | *sie | *tso | *tsalo |
| Dative | *so | *sio | *sio | *sio | *tso | *tsalo |
| Accusative | *sã | *sẽ | *siã | *siẽ | *tsa | *tso |
The usage of the numeral *mana '1' as an indefinite article may date back to Proto-Alpianic; it is declined like a first-declension adjective.
Adjectives
Adjectives agree with their head nouns in gender, number and case. They also have the category of degree of comparison: positive (unmarked), comparative and superlative.
There are four declension classes.
First declension
This is a large class, containing all adjectives with a monosyllabic stem. These adjectives decline like a-stems in the masculine and neuter, and like i-stems in the feminine.
Example: *makha 'great, big'
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | *makha | *makhi | *makhia | *makhi | *makha | *makho |
| Genitive | *makhe | *makhie | *makhie | *makhie | *makho | *makhalo |
| Dative | *makho | *makhio | *makhio | *makhio | *makho | *makhalo |
| Accusative | *makhã | *makhẽ | *makhiã | *makhiẽ | *makha | *makho |
Second declension
This is another large class, consisting of adjectives with a stem of more than one syllable. The difference from the first declension is that the neuters are declined like consonant stems.
Example: *rutiana 'bloody'
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | *rutiana | *rutiani | *rutiania | *rutiani | *rutiã | *rutiano |
| Genitive | *rutiane | *rutianie | *rutianie | *rutianie | *rutiano | *rutianalo |
| Dative | *rutiano | *rutianio | *rutianio | *rutianio | *rutiano | *rutianalo |
| Accusative | *rutianã | *rutianẽ | *rutianiã | *rutianiẽ | *rutiã | *rutiano |
Third declension
A fairly large class. These are i-stems in all genders. The masculine and feminine forms are the same.
Example: *maltsia 'sweet'
| Masc/Fem. | Neuter | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | *maltsia | *maltsi | *maltsi | *maltsio |
| Genitive | *maltsie | *maltsie | *maltsio | *maltsialo |
| Dative | *maltsio | *maltsio | *maltsio | *maltsialo |
| Accusative | *maltsiã | *maltsiẽ | *maltsi | *maltsio |
Fourth declension
A small group. These decline as u-stems in all genders. Masculine and feminine forms are the same.
Example: nartua 'right (direction)'
| Masc/Fem. | Neuter | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | *nartua | *nartui | *nartu | *nartuo |
| Genitive | *nartue | *nartue | *nartuo | *nartualo |
| Dative | *nartuo | *nartuo | *nartuo | *nartualo |
| Accusative | *nartuã | *nartuẽ | *nartu | *nartuo |
Comparative and superlative
The comparative is formed with the suffix *-is-: *makhisa 'bigger', *rutianisa 'bloodier', *maltzisa 'sweeter', *nartuisa 'farther right'.
The superlative is formed with the suffix *-iss-: *makhissa 'biggest', *rutianissa 'bloodiest', *maltzissa 'sweetest', *nartuissa 'rightmost'.
Both comparative and superlative follow the second declension, regardless of the original adjective's declension class.
Numerals
Cardinal numerals
Cardinal numerals behave pretty much like adjectives. The basic numerals are:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 20 | 100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *mana | *thôi | *tsari | *pfatsi | *pfãti | *pfatti | *tsarti | *thôti | *manti | *pfali | *ratsa | *khantha |
Of these, *mana, *ratsa and *khantha are declined like first declension singular adjectives; all others are declined like first declension plural adjectives. Other numerals are formed by compounding, e.g. *tsari khantha thôi ratsa manti '3*100+2*20+9 = 349'. All cardinal numbers except *mana are used with plural nouns.
Ordinal numerals
Ordinal numerals are formed by replacing the final vowel of the cardinal by the suffix *-an-, they are declined as second declension adjectives, e.g. *tsarana/tsarania/tsarã 'third'. '1st' and '2nd' are irregular: '1st' is *antsana, '2nd' is *pfalkuna.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Proto-Alpianic has 1st and 2nd person pronouns; the function of third person pronouns is taken by demonstratives (see next subsection).
| First person | Second person | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | *môa | *môi | *tsôa | *tsôi |
| Genitive | *môe | *môje | *tsôe | *tsôje |
| Dative | *mô | *môjo | *tsô | *tsôjo |
| Accusative | *môã | *môẽ | *tsôã | *tsôẽ |
Demonstratives
Demonstratives distinguish three genders and two degrees of deixis ('this' and 'that').
Proximal demonstrative ('this'):
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | *asa | *asi | *asia | *asi | *atsa | *atso |
| Genitive | *ase | *asie | *asie | *asie | *atso | *atsalo |
| Dative | *aso | *asio | *asio | *asio | *atso | *atsalo |
| Accusative | *asã | *asẽ | *asiã | *asiẽ | *atsa | *atso |
Distal demonstrative ('that'):
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | *kxasa | *kxasi | *kxasia | *kxasi | *kxatsa | *kxatso |
| Genitive | *kxase | *kxasie | *kxasie | *kxasie | *kxatso | *kxatsalo |
| Dative | *kxaso | *kxasio | *kxasio | *kxasio | *kxatso | *kxatsalo |
| Accusative | *kxasã | *kxasẽ | *kxasiã | *kxasiẽ | *kxatsa | *kxatso |
Interrogative and relative pronouns
There is a distinction between *pfa 'who' and *mana 'what'.
| Who? | What? | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | *pfa | *mana |
| Genitive | *pfe | *mano |
| Dative | *pfo | *mano |
| Accusative | *pfã | *mana |
Prepositions
Grammatical relations other than subject, direct object, indirect object and possessor are expressed by prepositions. Most prepositions are used with the dative case. A few, marked with (G) in the list below and in the lexicon, are used with the genitive case.
Local prepositions
| At | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | *la | *ta | *na |
| In | *ãto | *ãta | *ãtã |
| On | *raso | *rasa | *rasã |
| Under | *talo | *tala | *talã |
| Near | *naro | *nara | *narã |
Other prepositions
| With (comitative) | *pfã (G) |
|---|---|
| By/With (instrumental) | *pi |
| Without | *misi |
| For | *pfari |
| Against | *tã |
Verbs
Verbs in Proto-Alpianic are inflected for tense and mood, and the person and number of the subject. There are two tenses, present and past, expressed by verb inflection, and two further tenses, future and conditional, expressed periphrastically with the auxiliary *phamo 'to come' and the infinitive. There are also four perfect tenses to match these, which are formed with the auxiliary *krapo 'to have' and the past participle. The moods are indicative (unmarked), subjunctive, optative and imperative.
A peculiarity of Proto-Alpianic is that plural verb forms are also used if the direct object is definite and plural, regardless of the number of the subject.
Present tense
The present tense is formed by suffixing personal endings to the stem.
Example: *laro 'to sing'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | *larã | *larẽ |
| Second person | *lara | *lari |
| Third person | *lare | *lari |
Past tense
The past tense uses the same personal endings, but the stem is modified according to the following rules:
- If the stem ends in an obstruent, this is replaced by a homorganic geminate nasal (*h becomes *nn).
- If the stem already ends in a nasal, this is geminated.
- If the stem ends in a liquid or a vowel, *-n- is suffixed.
Example: *laro 'to sing'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | *larnã | *larnẽ |
| Second person | *larna | *larni |
| Third person | *larne | *larni |
Future tense
The future tense is formed with the present tense of *phamo 'to come' and the infinitive.
Example: *laro 'to sing'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | *phamã laro | *phamẽ laro |
| Second person | *phama laro | *phami laro |
| Third person | *phame laro | *phami laro |
Conditional tense
The conditional is formed with the past tense of *phamo 'to come' and the infinitive. Example: *laro 'to sing'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | *phammã laro | *phammẽ laro |
| Second person | *phamma laro | *phammi laro |
| Third person | *phamme laro | *phammi laro |
The perfect tenses
The perfect tenses are present perfect, past perfect, future perfect and conditional perfect. They are formed with the auxiliary *krapo 'to have' and the past participle, which agrees with the subject in gender and is in the accusative case.
Example: *laro 'to sing'
| Present perfect | Past perfect | Future perfect | Conditional perfect | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| First person | *krapã laranã | *krapẽ laranã | *krammã laranã | *krammẽ laranã | *phamã laranã krapo | *phamẽ laranã krapo | *phammã laranã krapo | *phammẽ laranã krapo |
| Second person | *krapa laranã | *krapi laranã | *kramma laranã | *krammi laranã | *phama laranã krapo | *phami laranã krapo | *phamma laranã krapo | *phammi laranã krapo |
| Third person | *krape laranã | *krapi laranã | *kramme laranã | *krammi laranã | *phame laranã krapo | *phami laranã krapo | *phamme laranã krapo | *phammi laranã krapo |
Subjunctive
The subjunctive is formed by adding the suffix *-f- between the stem and the personal endings. (If the stem ends in an obstruent, the suffix is *-uf-.)
Example: *laro 'to sing'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | *larfã | *larfẽ |
| Second person | *larfa | *larfi |
| Third person | *larfe | *larfi |
Optative
The optative is formed by adding the suffix *-ij- between the stem and the personal endings.
Example: *laro 'to sing'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | *larijã | *larijẽ |
| Second person | *larija | *lariji |
| Third person | *larije | *lariji |
Imperative
The imperative is formed with the suffix *-ti: *larti! 'sing!". If the stem ends in an obstruent, the suffix is *-iti.
Passive
The passive voice is formed with the auxiliary *sthano 'to stand' and the past particple, which agrees with the subject in gender and is in accusative case, e.g. *tsa lare sthane larã 'The song is sung'.
Infinitive
The infinitive is formed with the suffix *-o: *laro 'to sing'.
Participles
The present participle is formed with the suffix *-antsa/-antsia-/-ã (masculine/feminine/neuter). The past participle is formed with the suffix *-atsa/-atsia-/-e (masculine/feminine/neuter). The participles are declined as second declension adjectives.
Derivation
Noun-forming suffixes
The agent of a verb is formed by a suffix that is *-iara if the verb stem ends in an obstruent, and *-jara otherwise, e.g. *larjara 'singer', *pathiara 'someone who beats'.
The instrument is formed by a suffix that is *-io (gen. *-ialo) if the verb stem ends in an obstruent, and *-jo (gen. *-jalo) otherwise, e.g. *saĺjo 'wing', *pathio 'cudgel'.
Diminutives of nouns are formed with the following suffixes:
| Gender | After obstruent | After other sounds |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | *-iana | *-jana |
| Feminine | *-iania | *-jania |
| Neuter | *-iã | *-jã |
A suffix identical in form is used to form words for descendants. An example of this is the reconstructible ethnonym *alpiana, lit. 'descendant of the mountains'.
Syntax
Sample text
Lexicon
Abbreviations
- adj. adjective.
- adv. adverb.
- art. artucle.
- conj. conjunction.
- f. feminine noun.
- m. masculine noun.
- n. neuter noun.
- num. numeral.
- prep. preposition.
- pron. pronoun.
- v. verb.
A
- *afa m. river.
- *afã afano n. water.
- *aka v. to drive.
- *alpa m. mountain.
- *anara m. man.
- *ara adj. high.
- *aria f. sun.
- *arne arnaso n. summer.
- *arpfalkha m. eagle.
- *asa asia atsa pron. this.
Ã
- *ãta prep. out of.
- *ãtã prep. into.
- *ãto prep. in.
F
- *falva m. butterfly.
- *falta adj. old.
- *farkha n. cloud.
- *farte fartaso n. spring.
- *farto v. to grow.
- *fãta m. wind.
- *fãte fãtaso n. winter.
I
- *isa m. star.
- *iso v. to sparkle.
J
- *jafa adj. young.
- *jana m. child.
K
- *kamuka m. chamois.
- *kańua m. mountain imp.
- *kara adj. old.
- *kãpa m. goat.
- *kãsa m. goose.
- *kila adj. yellow.
- *klasa n. wood.
- *krapo v. to have.
- *kratho v. to scratch.
- *krisa adj. hot.
- *kruxa n. gorge.
- *krupo v. to dig.
Kh
- *khalsa adj. red.
- *khano v. to be able to.
- *khanu n. joint.
- *khatsa m. cat.
- *khãtha num. 100.
Kx
- *kxara n. stone.
- *kxasa kxasia kxatsa pron. that.
- *kxôsa n. neck.
L
- *la prep. at.
- *lakxa m. salmon.
- *lańa adj. white.
- *laro v. to sing.
- *lêsa adj. green.
- *lôpia f. cow.
- *lôxa m. fire.
M
- *makha makhia makho adj. big.
- *malia f. bee.
- *malfa m. horse.
- *malke malkaso n. autumn.
- *mana pron. what.
- *mana num. 1.
- *mare maraso n. death.
- *maro v. to die.
- *mãti num. 9.
- *misa m. mouse.
- *misi prep. without.
- *môa pron. I.
- *môtsa n. honey.
- *môtsia môtsio adj. sweet.
- *musa m. mouth.
N
- *na prep. to.
- *nara prep. from near.
- *narã prep. to near.
- *naro prep. near.
- *narta adj. hard.
- *nartua nartu adj. right (direction).
- *natta m. duck.
- *nôa adj. new.
Ô
- *ôfa m. swan.
- *ôpa m. ancestor.
- *ôsa n. eternity.
P
- *para m. boy.
- *paro v. to carry.
- *pathio pathialo n. cudgel.
- *patho v. to beat.
- *parua adj. blue.
- *pãti n. ribbon.
- *pãto v. to bind.
- *pêna n. bone.
- *pi prep. by, with (instrumental).
- *plajo v. to flee.
- *plaso v. to blow.
- *prajo v. to pursue.
- *praka adj. cold.
- *prako v. to bend.
- *prana adj. brown.
- *praxa m. frog.
- *pritho v. to break.
- *pusa n. lip.
Pf
- *pfa pron. who.
- *pfale pfalaso n. lowland.
- *pfamo v. to come, to arrive.
- *pfana m. dog.
- *pfane pfanaso n. shape.
- *pfano v. to shape.
- *pfasa adj. early.
- *pfali num. 10.
- *pfata n. foot.
- *pfatti num. 6.
- *pfatsi num. 4.
- *pfã (G) prep. with (comitative).
- *pfańa n. hand.
- *pfãti num. 5.
- *pfirkha m. songbird.
- *pfẽkha m. finch.
- *pfisa m. fish.
- *pfixa adj. small.
- *pfôka m. falcon.
- *pfukala m. bird.
Ph
- *phajo v. to live.
- *phamo v. to come.
- *phassa m. person.
R
- *rasa prep. down from.
- *rasã prep. onto.
- *raso prep. on.
- *rassa m. head.
- *ratsa num. 20.
- *rãpa n. belly.
- *rãkha n. arm.
- *rikã rikano n. rain.
- *ruta n. blood.
- *rutiana rutiania rutiano adj. bloody.
S
- *sa art. the (m.).
- *saĺjo saĺjalo n. wing.
- *saĺo v. to fly.
- *sanja m. moon.
- *sanjo sanjalo n. month.
- *santa adj. soft.
- *santua santu adj. left (direction).
- *saria f. woman.
- *sfalta adj. black.
- *sfamio v. to swim.
- *sia art. the (f.).
- *skafa m. sheep.
- *snaka m. snake.
- *stakha m. deer.
- *stratho v. to stop.
T
- *ta prep. from.
- *tala prep. from under.
- *talã prep. to under.
- *talo prep. under.
- *tara n. day.
- *taro v. to give.
- *tã prep. against.
- *tiamia f. earth.
- *trafo v. to take.
- *trasa n. path.
Th
- *thafo adj. warm.
- *thiafa m. sky.
- *thôi num. 2.
- *thôti num. 8.
- *thupe thupaso n. gift.
Ts
- *tsa tsalo art. the (n.)
- *tsari num. 3.
- *tsarti num. 7.
- *tsôa pron. you.
