Proto-Algic Language
Proto-Algic (sometimes abbreviated PAc) is the proto-language from which the Algic languages (Wiyot language, Yurok language, and Proto-Algonquian) are descended.
It is estimated to have been spoken about 7,000 years ago somewhere in the American Northwest, possibly around the Columbia Plateau. It is an example of a second-level proto-language (a proto-language whose reconstruction depends on data from another proto-language, namely its descendant language Proto-Algonquian) which is widely agreed to have existed. Its main researcher was Paul Proulx.
| Proto-Algic | |
|---|---|
| PAc | |
| Reconstruction of | Algic languages |
| Region | Columbia Plateau? |
| Era | ca. 5000 BCE |
| Lower-order reconstructions | |
Vowels
Proto-Algic had four basic vowels, which could be either long or short:
- long: *i·, *e·, *a·, *o·
- short: *i, *e, *a, *o
Consonants
Proto-Algic had the following consonants:
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | plain | labialized | |||||
| Stop | plain | *p | *t | *k | *kʷ | *ʔ | ||
| aspirated | *pʰ | *tʰ | *kʰ | *kʷʰ | ||||
| glottalized | *pʼ | *tʼ | *kʼ | *kʼʷ | ||||
| Affricate | plain | *c /t͡s/ | *č /t͡ʃ/ | |||||
| aspirated | *cʰ /t͡sʰ/ | *čʰ /t͡ʃʰ/ | ||||||
| glottalized | *cʼ /t͡sʼ/ | *čʼ /t͡ʃʼ/ | ||||||
| Fricative | *s | *ɬ1 | *š /ʃ/ | *h | ||||
| Nasal | plain | *m | *n | |||||
| glottalized | *mʼ | *nʼ | ||||||
| Liquid | plain | *r | *l | |||||
| glottalized | *rʼ | *lʼ | ||||||
| Semivowel | plain | *y /j/ | *w | |||||
| glottalized | *yʼ /jʼ/ | *wʼ | ||||||
- 1 The identity of this consonant is not entirely certain; in Proto-Algonquian, it is sometimes alternatively reconstructed as *θ /θ/.
It is unknown if *č /tʃ/ was an independent phoneme or only an allophone of *c and/or *t in Proto-Algic (as in Proto-Algonquian). In 1992, Paul Proulx theorized that Proto-Algic also possessed a phoneme *gʷ, which became *w in Proto-Algonquian and g in Wiyot and Yurok.
All stops and affricates in the above chart have aspirated counterparts, and all consonants, except fricatives, have glottalized ones. Proto-Algonquian significantly reduced this system by eliminating all glottalized and aspirated phonemes.
See also
References
- Baldi, Philip, Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology (ISBN 311088609X, 1990)
- Berman, Howard (1982). "Two Phonological Innovations in Ritwan". International Journal of American Linguistics. 48 (4): 412–420. doi:10.1086/465750. JSTOR 1264843. S2CID 144518292.
- Berman, Howard (1990). "New Algonquian–Ritwan Cognate Sets". International Journal of American Linguistics. 56 (3): 431–434. doi:10.1086/466168. JSTOR 1265518. S2CID 144558611.
- Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509427-5.
- Campbell, Lyle (2004). Historical Linguistics: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-53267-9.
- Campbell, Lyle & Poser, William J. (2008). Language Classification: History and Method. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-88005-3.
- Goddard, Ives (1990). "Algonquian Linguistic Change and Reconstruction". In Baldi, Philip (ed.). Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology. Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 45. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 99–114. ISBN 978-0-89925-546-0.
- Pentland, David H. (2006). "Algonquian and Ritwan Languages". Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Oxford: Elsevier. pp. 161–166. doi:10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/02265-3. ISBN 978-0-08-044854-1.
- Proulx, Paul (1977). "Connective Vowels in Proto-Algonquian". International Journal of American Linguistics. 43 (2): 156–157. doi:10.1086/465473. JSTOR 1264935. S2CID 143570568.
- Proulx, Paul (1980). "The Subordinative Order of Proto-Algonquian". International Journal of American Linguistics. 46 (4): 289–300. doi:10.1086/465664. JSTOR 1264710. S2CID 144992880.
- Proulx, Paul (1982). "The Origin of the Absolute Verbs of the Algonquian Independent Order". International Journal of American Linguistics. 48 (4): 394–411. doi:10.1086/465749. JSTOR 1264842. S2CID 145240092.
- Proulx, Paul (1984b). "Algonquian Objective Verbs". International Journal of American Linguistics. 50 (4): 403–423. doi:10.1086/465850. JSTOR 1265400. S2CID 144807432.
- Proulx, Paul (1989). "A Sketch of Blackfoot Historical Phonology". International Journal of American Linguistics. 55 (1): 43–82. doi:10.1086/466104. JSTOR 1265411. S2CID 144999752.
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