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.[1][2][3][4][5] It is an example of a second-level proto-language (a proto-language whose reconstruction depends on data from another proto-language, namely its daughter language Proto-Algonquian) which is widely agreed to have existed.[2] Its chief researcher was Paul Proulx.[6]
| Proto-Algic | |
|---|---|
| PAc | |
| Reconstruction of | Algic languages |
| Region | Columbian 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:
| labial | alveolar | alveolar affricate & sibilant |
postalveolar affricate/ palatal |
velar | labiovelar | glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stop / plosive | p | t | c /t͡s/ | č /t͡ʃ/ | k | kʷ | ʔ | |
| aspirated stop / plosive | pʰ | tʰ | cʰ /t͡sʰ/ | čʰ /t͡ʃʰ/ | kʰ | kʷʰ | ||
| glottalized stop / plosive | pʼ | tʼ | cʼ /t͡sʼ/ | čʼ /t͡ʃʼ/ | kʼ | kʼʷ | ||
| fricative | ɬ /ɬ/ 1 | s | š /ʃ/ | h | ||||
| nasal | m | n | ||||||
| glottalized nasal | mʼ | nʼ | ||||||
| lateral, rhotic | r, l | |||||||
| glottalized lateral, glottalized rhotic | rʼ, lʼ | |||||||
| semivowel | w | y /j/ | ||||||
| glottalized semivowel | w' | yʼ /jʼ/ | ||||||
- 1 The identity of this consonant is not entirely certain; in Proto-Algonquian, it is sometimes alternatively reconstructed as θ /θ/.
It is unclear 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.[7]
References
- Bakker, Peter (2013). "Diachrony and typology in the history of Cree". In Folke Josephson; Ingmar Söhrman (eds.). Diachronic and typological perspectives on verbs. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 223–260.
- Paul Proulx, Proto-Algic I: Phonological Sketch, in the International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 50, number 2 (April 1984)
- Paul Proulx, Algic Color Terms, in Anthropological Linguistics, volume 30, number 2 (Summer 1988)
- Paul Proulx, Proto-Algic IV: Nouns, in Studies in Native American Languages VII, volume 17, number 2 (1992)
- Golla, Victor (2011). California Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 256.
- Amherst Obituary for Paul Proulx
- Paul Proulx, Proto-Algic I: Phonological Sketch, in the International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 50, number 2 (April 1984)
- 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.
- Berman, Howard (1990). "New Algonquian–Ritwan Cognate Sets". International Journal of American Linguistics. 56 (3): 431–434. doi:10.1086/466168. JSTOR 1265518.
- 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. 1 (2nd ed.). Oxford: Elsevier. pp. 161–166. doi:10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/02265-3.
- Proulx, Paul (1977). "Connective Vowels in Proto-Algonquian". International Journal of American Linguistics. 43 (2): 156–157. doi:10.1086/465473. JSTOR 1264935.
- Proulx, Paul (1980). "The Subordinative Order of Proto-Algonquian". International Journal of American Linguistics. 46 (4): 289–300. doi:10.1086/465664. JSTOR 1264710.
- 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.
- Proulx, Paul (1984b). "Algonquian Objective Verbs". International Journal of American Linguistics. 50 (4): 403–423. doi:10.1086/465850. JSTOR 1265400.
- Proulx, Paul (1989). "A Sketch of Blackfoot Historical Phonology". International Journal of American Linguistics. 55 (1): 43–82. doi:10.1086/466104. JSTOR 1265411.