| Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction of | Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages |
| Era | 2000 BCE |
Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages. It is purported to have broken up into the Northern (Chukotian) and Southern (Itelmen) branches around 2000 BCE, when western reindeer herders moved into the Chukotko-Kamchatkans' homeland and its inland people adopted the new lifestyle.[1]
A reconstruction is presented by Michael Fortescue in his Comparative Dictionary of Chukotko-Kamchatkan (2005).
According to Fortescue, Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan had the following phonemes, expressed in IPA symbols.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | *p | *t | *c | *k | *q |
| Fricative | *v | *ð | *ɣ | *ʁ | |
| Nasal | *m | *n | *ŋ | ||
| Approximant | *w | *l | *j | ||
| Rhotic | *r |
*/c/ is a true voiceless palatal stop (not the affricate č). Note that Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan had only voiceless stops, no voiced stops (such as /b d ɡ/). However, there is a series of voiced fricatives, */v ð ɣ ʁ/. These have no voiceless counterparts (such as /f θ x/).
*/v/ is a voiced labiodental fricative (like v in English). */ɣ/ is a voiced velar fricative (like the g in Dutch ogen, modern Greek gamma, Persian qāf, etc.). */ʁ/ is a voiced uvular fricative (like r in French).
The entire */t ð n l r/ series is alveolar — i.e. */t ð n/ are not dentals.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | æ | a |
It is generally accepted that Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan had an eleven-case system for nouns, but Dibella Wdzenczny has hypothesised that these evolved from only six cases in Pre-Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan.[1] Below is the reconstructed case system of Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan.[2]
| Case | Declension 1 (singular) | Declension 2 (singular) | Declension 1 (plural)1 | Declension 2 (plural) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| absolutive | -∅/-(ə)n/-ŋæ/-lŋǝn | -(ǝ)n | -t | -(ǝ)nti |
| dative | -(ǝ)ŋ | -(ǝ)naŋ | -(ǝ)ðɣǝnaŋ | |
| locative | -(ǝ)k | -(ǝ)næk | -(ǝ)ðǝk | |
| instrumental | -tæ | -(ǝ)næk | -(ǝ)ðǝk | |
| comitative | kæ- -tæ | - | - | |
| associative | ka- -ma | - | - | |
| referential | -kjit | -(ǝ)nækjit | -(ǝ)ðǝkækjit | |
| ablative | -ŋqo(rǝŋ) | -(ǝ)naŋqo(rǝŋ) | -(ǝ)ðǝkaŋqo(rǝŋ) | |
| vialis | -jǝpǝŋ | -(ǝ)najpǝŋ | -(ǝ)ðǝkajpǝŋ | |
| allative | -jǝtǝŋ | -(ǝ)najtǝŋ | -(ǝ)ðǝkajtǝŋ | |
| attributive | -nu | -(ǝ)nu | -(ǝ)ðɣǝnu |
1Note that the (mostly inanimate) nouns of the first declension only marked plurality in the absolutive case.
The protolanguage is thought to have been a nominative-accusative language, with the current Chukotko-Kamchatkan ergative aspects coming later in the (Northern) Chukotian branch, possibly through contact with nearby Eskimo–Aleut-speaking peoples. This would explain why Itelmen, spoken further south than any Eskimo–Aleut speakers visited, lacks ergative structures. Some linguists, however, maintain that Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan began as an ergative language and lost that feature over time.[3]
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| Chukotko-Kamchatkan |
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| Yeniseian |
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| Yukaghir |
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| Nivkh |
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| Others |
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Italics indicate extinct languages | ||||||
