Proto-East-Cushitic language
| Proto-East-Cushitic | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction of | East Cushitic |
| Region | Horn of Africa |
Reconstructed ancestor | |
Proto-East-Cushitic is the reconstructed proto-language common ancestor of the Eastern branch of the Cushitic language family. Its words and roots are not directly attested in any written works, but have been reconstructed through the comparative method, which finds systematic regularities between languages not explained by coincidence or word-borrowing, and extrapolates ancient forms from these similarities.
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]An initial reconstruction of the Proto-East-Cushitic consonants was proposed by Hans-Jürgen Sasse.[1]
| Labial | Coronal | Post-alv./ Palatal |
Velar | Pharyngeal | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | t | k | ʔ | |||
| voiced | b | d | g | ||||
| glottalized | ɗ <d'>, ɗ₁ <d'₁> | k’ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ <š> | (x?) | ħ | h |
| voiced | z | ʕ | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Glide | w | j | |||||
Vowels
[edit]Sasse assumes a five-quality vowel system with a length distinction:[1]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
Morphology
[edit]Pronouns
[edit]David Appleyard reconstructs the Proto-East-Cushitic personal pronouns as follows:[2]
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subject | oblique | subject | oblique | ||
| first person | *ʔani ~ *ʔanu | *yi ~ *yu (~ *ya?) | *nVnV ~ *ʔVn(n)V | *nV | |
| second person | *ʔati ~ *ʔatu | *ku ~ *ki (~ possessive *ka) | *ʔatin ~ *ʔatun | *kun ~ *kin | |
| third person | m. | *ʔus-uu | *ʔus-a(a) ~ *ʔis-a(a) | *ʔusun ~ *ʔišin | |
| f. | *ʔiš-ii | *ʔiš-ii ~ *ʔiš-ee | |||
References
[edit]- ^ a b Sasse, Hans-Jürgen (1979). "The Consonant Phonemes of Proto-East-Cushitic (PEC): A First Approximation". Afroasiatic Linguistics. 7 (1): 1–67.
- ^ Appleyard, D.L. (1986). "Agaw, Cushitic and Afroasiatic: The Personal Pronoun Revisited". Journal of Semitic Studies. 31 (2).