The languages of Southeast Muria--Some Hayakan grammar

A forum for all topics related to constructed languages
Post Reply
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

The languages of Southeast Muria--Some Hayakan grammar

Post by Solarius »

This'll be a bit of a scratchpad for my concontinent of Muria's languages, and in particular Southeast Muria. Muria is located in the Northern Pacific ocean. Southeast Muria is an area the size of continental Southeast Asia. The focus will here be on both the cultures and the languages, so this first post will seem a little conworldy--but there are conlangs to come, I promise!

Here's a very basic map of it. Sorry for the ugliness. The first is a political map, the second is geographical. Sorry for the poor quality!

Image

Image
This map shows four main geographic zones:
1. Western coastal plains. Mediterranean or Laurisilvan climates. Flat and densely populated, with a few big rivers and lots of small ones. These include all of coastal Kimonle, Ayarang, and Western Inorea, as well as most of western Hayaka, getting hotter the further south one goes.
2. Low-lying, Appalachian-esque mountains (The Facoy Range) running from eastern Inorea to just west of the Kimonese/West Inkapia border, and finally separating that panhandly bit of Kimonle from the rest. Quite wet and rugged, more sparsely populated.
3. The inner plains. Much of this is arid or semi arid, but it isn't super dry since the Facoys aren't super high, and since there's a gap to the south. The Hapola river runs through here and has dense populations along it and its tributaries' banks (You can't see it but the border between Kimonle and West Inkapia is one such tributary.) The rest is sparser, and was for a long time classic nomad territory.
4. The Siuta Mountains. These differ a lot from the Facoys in that they are actually quite new and volcanic, giving the East coast countries a predilection for earthquakes. They are high and rugged, and run close to the coast, like the Sierra Nevada or the Cascades. Densely populated in some areas thanks to the volcanic soils but they're mostly remote.

So, what are the states? And what are the ethnolinguistic groups?

The two largest and most populous countries, as one might be able to guess from the map, are Kimonle and Hayaka. These two have a long running regional cold war ala Iran and Saudi Arabia and they have very hostile relations, having fought two major wars.

Kimonle is a country of around 60 million people. It was granted independence from France along with West Inkapia, Inorea, and the part of Hayaka west of the Hapola estuary. It's officially a Democratic Federal Republic, but in practice it's a repressive military junta and something of a rogue state. There are three main ethnic groups: the Kimon, who are about 60% of the population, the Newi, who comprise around 17%, and the Omifko, who are about 15%--though there are many ethnic minorities and census figures aren't reliable. The Kimon are politically dominant and have oppressed minorities, especially the Omifko; several Kimonese generals are wanted in the Hague for massacres against the Omifko in the last war with Hayaka. Geographically, the Newi dominate the river basin in the south of the country, the Omifko the Facoy mountains in the east-central part of the country, and the Kimon the coastal plains and North/West, though the boundary between Omifko and Kimon areas is very fluid and there are many mixed areas. The country's about as wealthy as the Philippines or Colombia, though more equal. Major indiustries include textiles, manufacturing, and agriculture.

Hayaka, officially the Kingdom of Hayaka, is a former British protectorate and semi-constitutional monarchy. It's often been described by political scientists as an 'illiberal democracy;' the parliamentary elections are free but the military has an outsized influence, as does the monarchy, and some areas of the country are under outright martial law. Its population is larger than Kimonle--around 75 million, around the size of Turkey or Thailand. The largest ethnic group are Hayaks; they comprise around 80% of the population. The Narato, who live along the tripoint between the Inkapias and Hayaka, and the Siuta/Siutang, who live in the mountains and on the Southern coast, are the only other minorities of note, each around 10%. Both minorities have been fiercely persecuted and there are insurgencies in both communities; Narato Province is the one under martial law. Hayaka is wealthier than its neighbors but more unequal; major industries include manufacturing and some service sectors jobs, notably telecommunications.

Inorea has often been a source of conflict between these two. Inorea is ostensibly a federal state but in practice the central government lacks control over much of its territory. The eastern third of the country is primarily ethnically Hayak and is under the military occupation of Hayaka and ethnic Hayak militias, for the purpose of 'protection.' The central government controls the North-central part of the country, but it's essentially a Kimonese client state. The south doesn't recognize the Central government and has a different government, unrecognized by the international community. Ethnicity in Inorea is contentious; Hayaks are 1/3rd and Ayarese are 1/4th and the rest are Inos, with a few Newi sprinkled in. However, Ino ethnicity is pretty contentious, and people are more liable to identify with a village or province. Needless to say, Inorea is quite poor, with about 10 million people.

Ayarang is often called the success story of Southeast Muria. It's a small country (1.5 million) but it has been able to expand it's economy, thanks to offshore banking, transportation, high-tech manufacturing, and tourism. It's a unitary state and a democracy. It's also pretty exclusively Ayarese. Not a lot to say. There are a lot of refugees from Inorea here.


East Inkapia is a big country of 29 million or so. It's a former Spanish and American colony, now turned multiparty democracy after some rough pro-Western dictators in the Cold War. It's ethnically homogenous (~95% Inkapi) but religion is a big cleavage; the Catholic minority has traditionally been the elite while practitioners of the indigenous Berarist faith (the main religion in all of these countries) have been somewhat disenfranchised. East Inkapia is wealthy but a bit unequal.

West Inkapia is smaller than its neighbor in both size and population at about 12 million. It's a one party communist state though like China or Vietnam it has liberalized hugely. It's also mostly Inkapi at around 77%, though there are big Hayak (11%) and Narato (6%) populations too. It's poorer than East Inkapia but more equal--thanks state planning!

West and East Inkapia are two very distinct countries, depsite sharing a common language (kinda! dialect continuum!) and ethnicity. They have a common origin--the Inkapi empire supplanted the Hayaks as the rulers of the steppe. However, the two were colonized by different powers and the divide between the two was cemented by their position in the Cold War. The centers of populations are far away from each other--West Inkapia's population is mostly along the upper Hapola river valley while the East Inkapi people are mostly on the coast. Relations used to be very bad but they have improved a lot.

Semerli is a federal republic and a pretty decent democracy. It's very poor and intensely multiethnic, with 14-15 major ethnic groups, the largest being the Diyeri, who live on the coast. It has about 10 million people. The economy is mostly dependent on mining and agriculture.

Kmulle was a breakaway country from Semerli like Kosovo or Somaliland, propped up initially by Kimonle--the Kmo people are closely related to the Kimon. However, they had a falling out and Kmulle turned to Hayaka as a patron instead, and now it has international recognition. Its economy is reliant on agriculture, remitances, and Hayakan aid.

So yeah, these are the countries. The next post'll turn to the actual historical linguistic relationships.
Last edited by Solarius on 21 Nov 2017 15:37, edited 2 times in total.
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Solarius »

So there are two major language families in the regions: Inkangic and Hapolan.

Inkangic is the smaller of the two families. It consists of two major groups: Inkic, which includes Inkapi as well as its close relatives in East Inkapia, Kimonle, and Semerli, and Siutic, which includes the languages of the Siutang peoples of Southern Hayaka. The time depth on this family is pretty interesting; both Siutic and Inkic are pretty shallow language families--it's believed the Siutang languages started diverging around 500 bce and the Inkic around 500 ce. However, the relationship between the two branches is much older; 4000 bce is a commonly given time depth for the divergence between the two though this is poorly understood. Consequently there isn't a reconstructed protolang per se although there are certainly some family features, including glottalized consonants, ergativity, and definiteness marking all over the place.

Historical tools, such as place names as well as historically attested relic populations suggest the Siuta people reached furth north historically, running in the mountains and along the coast all the way into Southeast Semerli. They were gradually displaced and assimilated by the expnasionist Inkapi pastoralists, beginning around year 0 and continuing until the early 1200s. Most other Inkic languages are located in Semerli, so most linguists reconstruct the homeland as somewhere in that region.

Siutic languages are a closely related cluster of languages, spoken from just south of the East Inkapia border south, along the coast of Hayaka. They are distinctive, lacking many of the areal features common to their neighbors. Most Siutic languages are tonal, SOV and head-final. There was a Siutic-English mixed language spoken on Nuthara Island, the southernmost island on the map, (which was the sight of large-scale English-sponsored indentured servitude) and it was likely a big substrate on the presently existing creole. Although there is substantial linguistic diversity, the Siuta people have one ethnic identity and there have been attempts to set up Blue Siuta (commonly just called Siuta) and Siutang as standards.

The languages themselves are:
-Siuta
--Grey Siuta
--Nutharanese
--Blue Siuta (Siuta Proper)
-Western Siutang
--Yellow Siuta
--Samman Islands Siutang
--South Islands Siutang (extinct)
--Chotsoni
-Eastern Siutang
--Siutang proper
-Northern Siutic
--Jounhanese (extinct)

Inkic languages are more closely related. Inkapi itself has a huge number of speakers and is a vast dialect continuum, running from the Kimonese border east to the sea, and north well into Semerli. However, there are quite a few minority Inkapic languages spoken Northeastern East Inkapia, as well as in all parts of Semerli. These languages tend to conform more to the regional type; they tend to VSO and head initial orders. The Southern branch has innovated a large palatalized series and split-ergativity. It should be noted that languages here don't match up well with ethnic identity; speakers in either Inkapia generally identify as Inkapi, whereas Non-Inkapi Southern Inkic speakers in Semerli often do not.

Eastern Inkic
--Nyandrungic
---Nyandrung
---Pama
---Plajanese (Extinct)
--Dogapi (extinct)
--Mititrung
--Khalanatrung
---Northern Khalanatrung
---Southern Khalanatrung (extinct)
---Menjetware
Northern Inkic
--Beleye
Southern Inkic
-Hapola Valley
--Kurnatrunh
--Awanesetrunh
-Plains
--Inkapi
--Apego
--Sentic
---Shintai
---Loterese

Obviously, of the Inkic languages, Inkapi has by far the most speakers. Next is Siutang proper and then Northern Khalanatrung and Siuta proper.

The Hapolan languages are much huger and much more diverse, so I'll save most of the detail for next time. But that shouldn't preclude discussion of isolates!

There are, unfortunately for the language geek, only three isolates in Southeast Hapola. And one is really more of a small family!

Ayarese is the small family. Ayarese proper is the official language of Ayarang with its tiny moribund cousins scattered in isolated villages in Kimonle and Inorea. The varieties are all closely related, diverging a little over 1000 years ago. They all are VSO, strongly head initial, and have complex systems of politeness and gender agreement, conflating in Basque-ish listener gender marking on verbs.

Omifko is also an isolate. It's pretty different typologically from Ayarese, and they seem to have no relation. It's in an extremely tight sprachbund with Kimon, and consequently they have many analogous structures. It's SOV, unlike many of the region's languages (but like Kimon) and has /f/ as a frequent phoneme, often appearing in unusual syllabic positions.

Finally, there is in fact a 'dialect' of Siuta, Straits Siuta, spoken across from Nuthara island, which isn't a dialect at all but rather a different language. It's loaned over 85% of its vocabulary from Siutic languages but has intriguing but vague similarities with Ayarese, including common vocbulary, like təta"mother" (compare Ayarese tʰər "mother") and maipəs "outrigger canoe" (compare Ayarese mʷeɹəng "to float"). However, a link has yet to be confirmed.
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Solarius »

While i'm working on the Hapolan family, a bit about counting. Thanks to Janko for making me do numbers!

A major areal feature to Southeast Muria is a extended body part numeral system. Many languages, particularly those used as standards, have replaced it with decimals for higher values, while others have retained the body part system for higher digits.

Hayakan is a good example of this. It uses body parts for numbers 1-12 and 15, but for higher values uses a decimal system.
1. hari--from hari, thumb
2. demeur--from -dem "to point (archaic)" + meur "hand" (literally index finger)
3. rumeur--from rung "center + meur (literally middle finger)
4. reuleur--from reul "slow" + meur (literally ring finger)
5. yase--from yase "palm of the hand"
6. ou--from ousou "knuckles"
7. runti--from rung + titi "arm" (literally forearm)
8. banti--from bang "tip, edge" + titi
9. thacheu--from tha "from, off, below" + cheu "ten"
10. cheu--from cheu "whole thing, totality" (archaic)
11. thadi--from tha + di "shoulder
12. di--from di "shoulder"
13. cheunrum--cheu + san "and" +rum [1]
15. naha--from naha "neck"
20. cheudem--cheu + dem
30. cheurum--cheu + rum
60. chou--cheu + ou [2]
99. thakatha--tha + katha "one hundred"
100. katha--from katha "whole body"

[1] The <n> here is the remnant of san and is only inserted between the tens place and ones place. After the teens, it's only used when the number in the tens place ends in a vowel; thus cheubantinyase "ninety-five" but cheureulou "fourty-six"
[2] Hayakan deletes the first vowel when there's a possible hiatus or diphthong--the <eu>, <ou> and <ei> digraphs are [ɯ], [o], and [e], respectively.
User avatar
sangi39
moderator
moderator
Posts: 3024
Joined: 12 Aug 2010 01:53
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by sangi39 »

Really liking this thread at the moment [:D] Seems pretty well thought out and I love the numbers you've just presented as well.
You can tell the same lie a thousand times,
But it never gets any more true,
So close your eyes once more and once more believe
That they all still believe in you.
Just one time.
Iyionaku
mayan
mayan
Posts: 2102
Joined: 25 May 2014 14:17

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Iyionaku »

Solarius wrote:While i'm working on the Hapolan family, a bit about counting. Thanks to Janko for making me do numbers!

A major areal feature to Southeast Muria is a extended body part numeral system. Many languages, particularly those used as standards, have replaced it with decimals for higher values, while others have retained the body part system for higher digits.

Hayakan is a good example of this. It uses body parts for numbers 1-12 and 15, but for higher values uses a decimal system.
1. hari--from hari, thumb
2. demeur--from -dem "to point (archaic)" + meur "hand" (literally index finger)
3. rumeur--from rung "center + meur (literally middle finger)
4. reuleur--from reul "slow" + meur (literally ring finger)
5. yase--from yase "palm of the hand"
6. ou--from ousou "knuckles"
7. runti--from rung + titi "arm" (literally forearm)
8. banti--from bang "tip, edge" + titi
9. thacheu--from tha "from, off, below" + cheu "ten"
10. cheu--from cheu "whole thing, totality" (archaic)
11. thadi--from tha + di "shoulder
12. di--from di "shoulder"
13. cheunrum--cheu + san "and" +rum [1]
15. naha--from naha "neck"
20. cheudem--cheu + dem
30. cheurum--cheu + rum
60. chou--cheu + ou [2]
99. thakatha--tha + katha "one hundred"
100. katha--from katha "whole body"

[1] The <n> here is the remnant of san and is only inserted between the tens place and ones place. After the teens, it's only used when the number in the tens place ends in a vowel; thus cheubantinyase "ninety-five" but cheureulou "fourty-six"
[2] Hayakan deletes the first vowel when there's a possible hiatus or diphthong--the <eu>, <ou> and <ei> digraphs are [ɯ], [o], and [e], respectively.
Super cool! Both the idea to use body parts for counting (I know that exists in natlangs - I still find it cool to really use it in a conlang) and the actual sound of the numerals. They sound very natural and beautiful.

(Except for "4" - sorry, but "reuleur" does really not fit my taste [O.o] )
Wipe the glass. This is the usual way to start, even in the days, day and night, only a happy one.
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Solarius »

Thank y'all! I realized I forgot the word for zero: euma, which also means "mouth" and is a reference to visual appearance of the Latin grapheme. One trixy thing about Hayakan is the romanziation, while internally consistent and logical, is sometimes a little unintuitive so it might not be quite the same aesthetic as it looks.

Here's the phoneme inventory and romanization for reference:
Spoiler:
/i e ɛ a ɔ o ɯ u/<i ei e a o ou eu u>

/p pʰ ɓ t tʰ ɗ t͡s t͡sʰ k kʰ/<p ph b t th d c ch k kh>
/f s h/<f s h>
/m n ŋ/<m n ng>
/r l j w/<r l y w>

There's also pretty systematic reduction in syllables after stressed ones, and of /a/ to schwa more generally outside of stressed syllables. So for example:
/ka.si.si/-->['ki.sɪ.si]
/kasasa/--> ['ka.sə.sə]
In any case: THe Hapolan family! It's a beast--it's comparable in time depth to Indo-European, and while it may not have as many subbranches, there is still substantial internal diversity. The primary branches are Kimonic, Kurtlawan, Hayakic, Naratoan, Unalic and Ino-Newic. It's conjectured that they branched like so:
Image
As it can be seen, Kimonic and Kurtlawan formed a node which diverged early, Hayakic broke off a little later, and Narato, Unalic, and Ino-Newic are the most closely related.

Kimonic is the second largest branch by number of speakers. Kimon is by far the largest Kimonic language, and most of the others are vareties which just veer outside of mutual intelligibility--the Kmo people of Kmulle are a good example, but they aren't so different from some of the more different dialects of the Fnajo region (the eastern panhandle of Kimonle) or western Semerli. The historical origins of the Kimonic branch are the main trouble in determining the Hapolan urheimat: it was long believed the Hapolan languages originated in the upper Hapola valley, but recent research has conclusively demonstrated that the Kimon came from the Northwest; nearby Chetankaland has a huge number of very old Kimonic hydronyms and town names, while much of those terms in modern Kimonle are non-Hapolan. the Kimonic languages have spread rapidly in the recent past; the presence of so many Kimonic languages in the East comes from the conquests of Fafalla the Great (1463-1487) who conquered the upper Hapola river basin and Western Semerli. Kimon itself is noted for its SOV word order, its contrast between dental and alveolar fricatives, and a rich number of loanwords, from languages as diverse as Omifko, Chetanka, Sewaqli, and French.
Spoiler:
Kimonic
-Coastal Plains Kimonic
--Standard Kimon
--Dhaffa Kimon
--Kireyol (French influenced Kimonese sociolect/language)
-Eastern Kimonic
--Central Fnajo Kimon
--Central Fnajo Kmon
--South Fnajo Kimu
--Kmo/Kmullehnese
Kurtlawan is just one language--an isolate within the family. It's the main lingua franca of Western Semerli. It retains some unique and archaic features, including the *Cj clusters (lost in the rest of the family) and person marking. It shares with Kimon dental fricatives and a penchant for grabbing loanwords, with a majority of its vocabulary coming from outside sources.

Hayakic is the largest branch of the family. You might expect most of these languages to be native to Hayaka, and you'd be wrong. In fact, the traditional base of the Hayakic languages is in the upper Hapola valley, near the base of the mountains and on the steppe. The ancestors of the Hayaks, along with the early Narato, began raiding further and further south in the 1100s, a migration which culminated in the Hayakan Empire in the mid 1500s. The subsequent explosion of the Inkapi onto the steppe shortly thereafter cut the Hayaks off from their traditional homeland, but there are still islands here and there of Hayakic languages and people all throughout West Inkapia. There also used to be a fair few in the Fnajo region too, but most have fled the country due to severe Kimonese persecution in the 1980s. Curiously, the most spoken Hayakic language after Hayakan is Diyeri, a close relative which is the largest language of Semerli by native speakers and spoken along the coast. The Hayakic languages themselves are distinguished by a rich variety of voiced an unvoiced aspirates (lost in Hayakan proper) as well as grammatical marking of volition and tense.
Spoiler:
Hayakic
-Southwest Valley
--Asikala
--Bhunabra-Bhese
---Bhunabra
---Bhese
--Lokola (extinct)
-Northeast Valley
--Damnola (extinct)
--Demi Bhaka
--Anjuray
--Anhatta
-Steppe
--Hayak
---Northern
----South Fnajo Hayak
----North Fnajo Hayak (extinct)
----Village Hayak
---Southern
----Narato da hiliku
----Aleme Hayak
----Hayakan Proper
-Eastern
--Eastern Fnajo Valley Hayak
--Oceanside
---Anyaquopores Diyeri
----Playa San Wanese
--Diyeri
Naratoan is another small family. The Narato people originate from the eastern slopes of the Facoys and they moved south with the Hayaks, starting in the 1100s. The formation of the Hayakan Empire was deeply intertwined with the explosion of a major religious conflict, described in the spoiler. The tl;dr of it is that language/ethnicity became closely identified with religion, and since the Narato were big losers, their languages lost out too.
Spoiler:
The Berarist religion has several big divisions. The two main ones in this part of the world are the Peng sect and the Unity sect (they prefer the English translation). The two differed less in this time period in theology than in politics; the best way to explain this is that the Unity sect was motivated by a sort of populist, Diggers-esque belief in utopianism and communal living. From its outset in the early 1500s, the Unity Sect had close ties to the agricultural underclass in the upper Hapola valley, while the Peng sect was entrenched with the elites. The neighboring pastoralists who sided with the Unity Sect went on to found the Hayakan empire, and were disproportionately Hayak, while those who sided with the Peng were largely Narato. Ethnic identity is more closely associated to this day with religion rather than language--think the Turkish-Speaking Greeks and the Greek-Speaking Turks.
As a consequence, there are only a few Naratoan languages. The languages themselves have developed uvular consonants and a nifty system of politeness, involving replacement of many word stems.
Spoiler:
Naratoan
-Facoyan
--Fina Mnesi
--Fina Mnololo
--Fina Soko
-Southern
--Naqaq Hayak
--Numeki Hayak
--Dorooli (extinct)
--Narato
Unalic is by far the smallest branch of languages--a cluster of 6 or 7 languages, native to the Fnajo region, Northern West Inkapia, and Semerli. Unalic comes from Unale, the term for Fnajo used in many other languages. The Unalic languages are noteworthy for being less strongly head initial than their neighbors, and for marking adjectives for degree of comparison.
Spoiler:
Unalic
-Joqpoan
-Anayeweresan
--Anayeweres
--Akunha
--Heseqooil (Extinct)
-Denic
--Densiyot
--Tonro Hayak
-Belai (extinct)
Finally, Ino-Newic. This is another big family. These languages are, along with Ayarese, the core of the Southeast Murian language area, and they exemplify it perfectly--VSO or VOS word order, numeral and possessive classifiers, a rich inventory of glottalized consonants. You'll note that there isn't much diversity of languages; the flat coastal plains don't act as great resevoirs for linguistic diversity in the same way the mountains or steppes do.
Spoiler:
Ino-Newic
-Newic
--Newi
--Hik'oroya
--Ddame
-Southern Ino
-Northern Ino
--Kanariu
--Northwest Ino
--Northeast Ino
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Solarius »

Here are some fun word comparisons.

"apple cider"
Spoiler:
Kimon: [papʰ.xoj]
Omifko: [ba.poj]
Kurtlawan: [ʋa.poj]
Newi: [ba.pʰoj]
Ayarese: [ba.pʰoɕ]
Hayakan: [wa.pɒj]
Inkapi:[fu.a.poj]
Narato: [ɓa.bo]
Apples were introduced to Southeast Muria from China by traders in the 900s. The first apples were grown in modern Newi country, where it was called in the local Ayarese language something like [ɓa.pʰoj], which is a compound of fruit+drink. It was thus loaned into all the other languages; note that the historic languages of the interior use [ʋ] or a variant for the initial consonant, speculated to be interference from an unknown language in the north. Also note that Narato follows the Western languages due to their origins in the Facoy mountains.

"tea"
Spoiler:
Kimon [θina li fsa.me], [sa] (stigmatized)
Omifko: [θinar fθa.me]
Kurtlawan: [kemol fsa.mi]
Newi: [tja]
Ayarese: [tɕʷə]
Hayakan: [te]
Inkapi: [t̪e] (western) [t͡ʃaj] (eastern)
Narato: [t͡ʃa]
This is the common pattern one sees with "chai" vs. "tea." Areas with relexes of "chai" were historically more plugged into Chetanka trade routes, whereas "tea" were areas of important Spanish and Dutch trade, and late French/English colonization. Fsame is a Yerba Mate-esque drink popular in the region; the Kimonese and Omifko names mean "Chinese Fsame" while Kurtlawan means "Kimon Fsame."

"orange (fruit)"
Spoiler:
Kimon: [a.san]
Omifko: [a.zan]
Kurtlawan: [a.t͡ʃaŋ]
Newi: [a.djɛŋ]
Ayarese: [a.dʑeŋ]
Hayakan: [a.ɗɛŋ]
Inkapi: [na.ran.ʜa]
Narato: [a.ʑa]
Nothing too wild. All the stems come from Middle Chetanka <achang> (except the Inkapi), probably [adʑaŋ] or something like that. <achang> itself comes from Middle Chinese, plus a a-, which may have been on analogy with the achiling, a local citrus fruit in Chetankaland. Hayaka [a.ɗɛŋ] also refers to the color, and orange in fact is the color of the ruling House of Khurba, and thus the country.

"outrigger canoe, boat"
Spoiler:
Kimon: [fo.ka]
Omifko: [fo.ka]
Kurtlawan: [ʋo.ka]
Newi: [wo.ga]
Ayarese: [wok]
Hayakan: [o.kə]
Inkapi: [ɣa.kˤa]
Narato [wo.kə]
These all come from a Polynesian language, likely coming from Hawai'i, via an unknown Eastern Siuta language which had the change *[wa]-->*[wo].

"Germany"
Spoiler:
Kimon: [a.li.ma.nɯ]
Omifko: [doj.re]
Kurtlawan: [doti.le]
Newi: [a.ɓu.ne.de.le]
Ayarese: [doj.tɕi.lan]
Hayakan: [ne.ɗɛr.lən.le ra.kʰi.həl]
Inkapi: [a.lˤe:.ma.na]
Narato: [ker.ma]
This is a ridiculous pattern. The Kimon and Inkapi terms are from French and Spanish, while Narato is from English and Ayarese from German. Omifko and Kurtlawan combine a morpheme for German ([doj], [doti]) with the common country suffix -le. The Newi and Hayakan is the word for "The Netherlands" plus either the augmentative or the adjective "grey."
Last edited by Solarius on 21 Nov 2017 15:22, edited 2 times in total.
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Solarius »

Quick post on Hayakan nonfinite verbs:

Hayakan has two nonfinite verb forms. Neither is marked for anything other than itself.

ang(a)- indicates a lexical verb in an auxiliary verb construction. It's also an action nominal prefix.

Angarika hasan dem.
PART-pray PST-PROG 1p.SG
"I was praying."

Ongye yonakhakha angarika eipe dem
.
LOC-be god-PL prayer fluid.substances 1p.SG
"The Gods have my prayers."

(eu)- indicates an adverbial meaning; it's modified by various adverbs but by itself it indicates current or simultaneous action.

Eurita arika'a parofesor.
ADV-walk pray-PROG professor
"While walking, the professor is praying."

Arika ipa tima dem na hewen ne
.
ADV-pray if go 1p.SG DAT heaven Q
"If I pray, will I go to heaven?"

Note that verbs like -arika lose the eu- due to vowel hiatus rules. It still functions the same however.
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Solarius »

Proto Hapolan is reconstructed as having a fairly simple phonology:
*/i a ə u/
*/p b t d k g ʔ f s z x h m n l ʎ j/

Most of these phonemes are pretty uncontroversial. */ə/'s value is unknown; /ə/ is a bit of a placeholder for the various relexes--[e], [ɯ], [a], etc. However, there has been a lot of controversy about two phonemes in particular:
-*/x/'s precise articulation is a source of controversy. Many speculate that it was originally a pharyngeal, as it colors vowels in Hayakic, but others argue that it was a velar fricative due to early loanwords to and out of Omifko and Inkangic.
-*/ʎ/ is a new addition to the reconstruction. It's somewhat controversial, as the only language branch where it maintains a value distinct from */j/ is Kimonic, where it's the laminal lateral.

Critical to the reconstruction of Proto-Hapolan is the valid syllable types. Proto-Hapolan is reconstructed as allowing the following syllable structure:
(C1)(C)(C2)V(C3)(C1)

However, the range of complex onsets and codas was highly constrained and in fact most syllables were CV.
-The C1 slot only permitted the fricative */f/.
-The C2 slot only permitted the consonants */ʔ n l ʎ j/
-The C3 slot only allowed the consonants */s x n l ʎ j/

Stress is difficult to reconstruct, especially further back, but it was believed to have been word-initial as early as the point where Hayakic diverged.
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Solarius »

Proto-Hapolan's verbal system isn't especially well understood--but several things are universally accepted.

There were two nonfinite verb forms: *xaga- and *gji-, which are the direct ancestors of Hayakan ang(a)- and eu-. They aren't clearly separated in the proto-language and it's not clear what difference in function there might have been; Kurtlawan uses the former for some auxiliaries and the latter for others, while the branches other than Hayakic reanalyze or dispose of one or both. The specific use function in Hayakan is actually specific to the modern languages; older varieties appeared to have used both ang(a) and eu- for auxiliaries.

As far as the verbal morphology, there was a system of subject person marking prefixes[1].
Spoiler:
1p.SG ʎ(ə)-
2p.SG bj(ə)-
3p.SG 0-
1p.PL tʎ(ə)-
2p.PL təbj(ə)-
3p.PL z(ə)-
You can see traces of a potential t- plural prefix, partially effaced by epenthesis and the 3rd person paradigm.

There was also a system, known as the reduplicative verb, in which the final syllable was reduplicated. What exact function it served is unclear, but it's hypothesized that it indicated "repeated action," with a meaning narrowing to either a habitual or iterative depending on the aspect of the auxiliary.

There was also valency marking: the causative *mu- and the instrumental applicative *li-
Aside from the prefixes there are two other verbal affixes of significance in the language. The first is the negative suffix -*ja, the second is the future suffix -*ipa. There were also some auxiliary verbs it seems.

*xənus "imperfective auxiliary is the best attested; it's seen in Hayakan's imperfect suffix -nur, the Kimonic progressive particle anuθ and others. It may have grammaticalized from "to sit" as there is no reconstructable word with this meaning and it looks similar to *xənu "buttocks."

*dja "to come, irrealis" this evolved into the ever frequent obligation marking -tha in Hayakan and the epistemic suffix -t̪ja in Kimonic.

*ma "to see" is the origin of the direct evidential in most Hapolan languages; it's unattested in Kurtlawan and Hayakan, but has reflexes elsewhere.

There are also quite a few other verbs which become affixes in descendants, but which may not have been in Proto-Hapolan.

*ailə "to get, to obtain" is the source of the Hayakan past perfective as well as the Narato.

*pa "to give" develops into auxiliaries in several languages but with radically different meanings, and it may be better to think of it's use in the subsequent languages as a later development. It's a benefactive applicative prefix in Hayakan but a causative suffix in the Unalic languages and Narato.

For clarification, the affix order is so:

[person][valency]root[negative][future]

[1]It's not totally clear what the morphosyntactic alignment in Proto-Hapolan was, but that's not especially relevant here.
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Solarius »

Hayaka naming practices are, on the surface, quite simple: individuals have a personal name, followed by the father's and mother's last names, in that order. These three are the names which appear on the individual's passport but they aren't the end of the story for Hayakan naming practices.

To understand them properly, one needs to understand elite Hayakan culture during the time of the migration southward, circa the 1400s and 1500s. Members of the nobility often showed off their military prowess by tacking on more and more surnames indicating territory--so Yayemon Khurba Linisi becomes Yayemon Khurba Linisi phar pherla Li'an ong tan Khurba Nama na Ayaryar, or "Yayemon Khurba Linisi, of the falls of Lian, of Khurba City, Duke to Ayars." This kicked off something of an inflationary process; by the 18th century even minor town merchants would have eight or nine extra surnames. The general population today is a little more modest; most people generally will have only one or too extra "styled" names, usually after a hometown or profession. Individuals change these depending on the phase of life, interests, priorities, etc. Individuals generally use their first two names and then the styled name, set off with a comma or a space[1]. Thus former PM Kara Fenethe Cachar stylesd himself as Kara Fenethe, Peme (from PM) while Prime Minister but once out of office goes by Kara Fenethe, Khihal "Kara Fenethe, the Gray." outside of it. The King himself always goes by Tisabei as the styled name, but other members of the royal family and nobility can use other names. It used to be uncommon for women to use styled names, aside from one referring to her children or father. However, this is no longer the case.

Personal names are the most varying names in the language. Men and women's names vary a fair amount; men's names usually come from adjectives representing ideal traits; thus Hari "First" Haphuri "Bold" and Chantidi "Protective." It's also common to give names borrowed from the Episana, who are very roughly the Apostle-equivalents of Berarism. Thus Peng, Openg from Sewaqli O-Pŋ. It's also pretty common to give a man a name related to the current royal family or political order; thus Khurbasela "Friend of the Khurba" or Consitusiyonphaphiyan "Servant of the Constitution." There's a strong taboo in Berarism against naming a man after his father or any living male antecedent; it's said that it'd lead to Patricide.

Women on the other hand, are almost always named after their mother if they're firstborn. Otherwise they usually also named after adjectives, and quite a few of these cross gender lines. It's also common, moreso than with men, to name women after natural features; thus Pherla "watefall" or Siyan "plains." There's a shallower pool of names for women because of the absence of the ancestor name taboo; thus women's names exhibit less variation.

Familial Names are just what they say on the tin. Everyone takes two last names--the paternal last names of the father and the maternal last name of the mother. Thus Kara Fenethe Cachar's father was Yayemon Fenethe Dari and his mother was Siyan Fenethe Cachar. Women have traditionally taken the paternal name of their husband on marriage; this is a bit of a hot-button culture war issue today but it is still the most common practice, though some politicians have proposed banning it.

Overall the Hayaks have had last names for over 1,000 years, thanks to the influence of Berarism, and consequently they don't have as many last names. As of the 2009 census, the 5 most common last names are:
1. Loureur "cowhand"
2. Bu "grateful"
3. Beinabeu "beloved"
4. Kengtitinlo "devotee of Berarism"
5. Demne "loyal"

[1] The former in the Laitn Script, the latter in the native script.
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Solarius »

Image
Hayakan kin terms--red is women, blue is men. Hayakan follows a pretty common Iroquois kinship system, distinguishing strongly between parallel and cross cousins. It should be noted that the traditional words for husband and wife are Namou and Nacho, respectively, due to historical practices of cross-cousin marriage. It's more common to use the word phiyu "half" instead for a spouse these days, though cross cousin marriage is still relatively common.

A few other words of note, which aren't on the chart:
nana--"baby, gender-neutral term for son/daughter"
phiyu do __--"__ in law", e.g. phiyu do deupa "brother's spouse," phiyu do ca'abaye "niece's spouse"
theilul, thateka--"grandson, grandaughter" Extended generations are formed by adding more tha-, so thathahethi "great-grandnephew" thamama "great-grandmother."
Solarius
roman
roman
Posts: 1173
Joined: 30 Aug 2010 01:23

Re: The languages of Southeast Muria

Post by Solarius »

This post is to sort of lay out where Hayakan is right now, as there have been a few changes. It's a summary so it definitely glosses over a lot of nitty gritty detail. This has only nouns and phonology right now.

Phonology
Spoiler:
/i e ɛ a ɔ o u ɯ/<i ei e a o ou u eu>
/p pʰ t tʰ t͡s t͡sʰ k kʰ ʔ/ <p ph t th c ch k kh '>
/ɓ ɗ/<b d>
/f s h/<f s h>
/m n ŋ/<m n ng>
/l r j w/<l r j w>

Syllable structure is (C)V(C1), where C1 is one of /m n ŋ r l/. Hiatus is illegal.

Stress is assigned by default to the penultimate syllable, but it is somewhat weight sensitive; when the ultimate syllable has a coda and the penultimate one lacks a coda, stress fall on the ultimate syllable. Thus [..'CV.CV] and [..'CVC.CVC] but [..CV.`CVC].

Alllophony is a little tenative.
-Vowels undergo serious redution in unstressed final syllables: /i e ɛ a ɔ o u ɯ/→ [ɪ ɛ æ ə ɞ ɔ ʊ ɯ̽]. /a/ is also reduced to schwa in all unstressed environments.
-The alveolar stops /t tʰ/ become flaps intervocallically: /t tʰ/→[ɾ ɾʰ]
-All voiceless unaspirated stops and fricatives become voiced after nasals: /p t t͡s k f s h/→[b d d͡z g v z ɦ]. This applies across phrases, so bang fakoda /'baŋ fa.'kɔ.ɗa/ "rocky edge" becomes ['baŋ va.'kɔ.ɗə].
-Stressed word-initial /j/ is fricativized: /j/→[ʝ]
-Unstressed vowels are nasalized before coda nasals.
-/r/ is realized as [ɾ̥], [t̠ɹ̠̊˔], or [ɹ̠̊˔] before voiceless stops and word-finally. Some speakers even just have [ s ].

There are a few important morphophonological rules in Hayakan as well.
-The final syllable reduplication in the plural and the participles ang- and eu- don't influence stress, unlike other affixes.
-When an affix+lexical item would create an illegal CC cluster, an epenthetic [a] is inserted.
-When an affix+lexical item would create an illegal VV sequence, the first vowel is deleted.*

*These two rules seem a little weird in optimality theory but I guess I'll keep them as I like both. I might get rid of them anyway though as I want this to be highly naturalistic.

Nouns and Noun Phrases
Spoiler:
Nouns are minimally inflected for number and possession.

The plural is indicated with reduplication of the final syllable. Thus abi "sister, female parallel cousin" → abibi "sisters." It's worth noting that this doesn't have a pulling-on effect on stress, unlike most affixes.
The Hayakan plural indicates a number greater than one. It is omitted with numerals, e.g. parofesorsor "professors" but parofesor yase "five professors." The plural is both additive and associative; so Pememe could mean "The PM and his associates" or "The PMs."

Possession is marked by prefixes on possessed nouns. These prefixes indicate the person and number of the possessor.
SG PL
1p.EXCL k(a)- k(i)-
1p.INCL d(a)- d(i)-
2p (i)- (i)-
3p r(a)- r(i)-

The vowels in parentheses only appear when allowed by morphophonological rules. Thus k-abi "my sister" but ka-tata "my mother;" abi "your sister" but i-tata "your mother." Note that this means that the singular and plural possessive prefixes are often merged in practice.

Many lexical items in Hayakan have obligatory possession; namely body parts and kin terms. Because of the historical relation between numerals and body parts, numerals were marked for possession until pretty recently; this remains as a literary or poetic variant and is still the norm in far Northern Hayakan dialects and the language's closest relatives.

Adjectives are not fully distinguished from possessed nouns. Most roots which in other languages would be adjectives are nouns here; thus khihal is properly translated as "greyness" rather than "grey." Applying possessed noun prefixes to adjectives makes them act in that role--thus possession and adjectives are collapsed into one category.

The order of nouns and genitives is relatively fixed, with the possessor coming after the possessed noun. Hayakan is very willing to drop possessors when possible.

Personal Pronouns are fairly systematic and logical.
SG PL
1p.EXCL khan wikhan
1p.INCL dem widem
2p nga wa
3p di widi

The only deviation is wa instead of the expected *winga--but this because Hayakan historically inserted [ŋ] onto words beginning in vowels.
Hayakan has a minimal augmented system, meaning that a singular 1st person inclusive pronoun exists--it means "me and you."

Hayakan numerals are relatively straighforward. As discussed previously, they come from body parts.
1. hari--from hari, thumb
2. demeur--from -dem "to point (archaic)" + meur "hand" (literally index finger)
3. rumeur--from rung "center + meur (literally middle finger)
4. reuleur--from reul "slow" + meur (literally ring finger)
5. yase--from yase "palm of the hand"
6. ou--from ousou "knuckles"
7. runti--from rung + titi "arm" (literally forearm)
8. banti--from bang "tip, edge" + titi
9. thacheu--from tha "from, off, below" + cheu "ten"
10. cheu--from cheu "whole thing, totality" (archaic)
11. thadi--from tha + di "shoulder
12. di--from di "shoulder"
13. cheunrum--cheu + san "and" +rum [1]
15. naha--from naha "neck"
20. cheudem--cheu + dem
30. cheurum--cheu + rum
60. chou--cheu + ou [2]
99. thakatha--tha + katha "one hundred"
100. katha--from katha "whole body"

[1] The <n> here is the remnant of san and is only inserted between the tens place and ones place. After the teens, it's only used when the number in the tens place ends in a vowel; thus cheubantinyase "ninety-five" but cheureulou "fourty-six"
[2] Hayakan deletes the first vowel when there's a possible hiatus or diphthong--the <eu>, <ou> and <ei> digraphs are [ɯ], [o], and [e], respectively.

Demonstratives are pretty complex in Hayakan. There are six basic demonstratives:
yani "near speaker"
ngu "near hearer"
ngi "away from both, in sight"
eiral "far away from both, in sight"
neu "away from both, out of sight"
ula "far away from both, out of sight"

These are pronominal and adnominal demonstratives.

Noun phrase order is generally right-branching:
[Noun][Numeral][Demonstrative].
Post Reply