Proto-Pygmy

Proto-Pygmy Vocabulary

Proto-Pygmy affixes

Proto-Pygmy is the most recent ancestor of the Pygmy Languages.

=Phonology=

Vowels
The low vowel a is though to have been [ɑ] but it's possible that it was in free variation with [a].


 * /i iː/ become [ɨ˞ ɨ˞ː] before retroflex consonants
 * /i iː/ become [ɨ ɨː] before /n̻ s̻ z̻/
 * /i iː/ become [ɯ ɯː] before a semivowel

Consonants
It is thought that the series b1, d1, D1 and g1 were prenasalised stops: [mb] [nd̻] [ɳɖ] [ŋg].

r1 is thought to have been the lamino-alveolar tap [ɾ̻].


 * Alveolar stops /t̻ t̻ʰ d̻ ⁿd̻ ʈ ʈʰ ɖ ɳɖ/ become [t̻͡s̻ t̻ʰ͡s̻ d̻͡z̻ ⁿd̻͡z̻ ʈ͡ʂ ʈʰ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ ɳɖ͡ʐ] before fricatives
 * /t̻ t̻ʰ d̻ ⁿd̻/ become [t tʰ d ⁿd] before /ɽ/ and /ɭ/
 * /b d̻ ɖ g/ become [bʱ dʱ ɖʱ gʱ] before an aspirated consonant, or when in a cluster containing an aspirated consonant regardless of if it is directly next to it or not
 * /p t̻ ʈ k/ become [pʰ t̻ʰ͡s ʈʰ͡ʂ kʰ] before /h/
 * /b ᵐb d̻ ⁿd̻ g ŋg/ become [p b t̻ d̻ k g] word finally

=Classifiers=

Proto-Pygmy has a set of 17 classifiers which are used alongside nouns in several circumstances. Most often they serve a derivational purpose which will be detailed below.

Class1 (tall and thin things) typically includes tall trees, cliffs, mountains and upright species such as bipeds and climbing plants.
 * *gir1um- ("land") > gir1um siNu- ("mountain")
 * *Hwi- ("person, pygmy") > *Hwi siNu- ("Homo Spargere, non-pygmy hominid")

Class 10 (nebulous) typically contains things like smoke, clouds, mist, insect swarms/colonies, bird flocks, grains, powder.

When a noun already has a classifier, it can be derived into another class simply by replacing the classifier: *ug1f- ("red") > *ug1f ab1- ("apple that hasn't been plucked" ~ "red plant") > *ug1f vuxwi- ("apple that has been plucked for eating").

=Nouns and Adjectives=

Grammatical Number
Proto-Pygmy has three grammatical numbers which are Singular, Dual and Plural. The Singular is unmarked while the other two numbers are marked periphrastically with particles. Nouns are made plural by placing the appropiate classifier after the noun followed a pluralising particle. There are two particles which are *xiThvu- (from xiTh- "to be" + -vu "agentive suffix") for animate nouns and *dua- (literally meaning "thing") for inanimate nouns which are assigned semantically to each noun. For example the noun *piad1- ("ant") has the plural piad1 tuag1 xiThvu and the noun *az- ("stick") has the plural *az siNu dua. For the dual number all nouns use the particle *hid1- ("pair") after the classifier: piad1 tuag1 hid1 ("two ants"), *az siNu hid1 ("two sticks")

Attributive Adjectives
Attributive adjectives are placed after the noun:
 * DuiD1u vib1S (tail big) "big tail"

Possession
Possession is marked with the suffix -ā on the possessor noun, which is placed after the possessed noun:


 * DuiD1u irag1ā (tail leopard-) "leopard's tail"
 * i Zig1f xab1Zā (tooth slant horse-) "the horse's slant tooth"

Nouns and Adjectives as Predicates
There are several ways to form copular constructions such as "I am a man" or "You are my son". When the subject is the 1st or 2nd person then the appropiate index pronoun is prefixed directly onto the noun/adjective:


 * *ud1- (" index pronoun") + *rad1n ("man") > ud1rad1n ("I am a man")
 * *ig1- (" index pronoun") + *buain- ("son") + *ud1viā ("my") > *ig1buain ud1viā ("you are my son")

When the subject is in the 3rd person and is animate it does the same thing. But when it is inanimate it does not prefix an index pronoun, rather it uses the verb *xiTh- ("to be"):


 * puig1iN rad1nā vib1S xiTh (hand man- big be) "the man's hand is big" (inanimate)
 * wiug1f (3S-red) "It is red" (animate)
 * aran kiu hid1 garad1 xiTh (cave  scary be) "caves are scary" (inanimate)
 * az ug1f xiTh lui (stick red be ) "the stick is not red" (inanimate)

=Determiners=

Pronouns
Proto-Pygmy pronouns can be either "anaphoric pronouns" or "index pronouns". The index pronouns are those which attach to predicates such as verbs, nouns and adjectives as bound morphemes to mark person while anaphoric pronouns are unbound morphemes.

Note how there are no 3rd person anaphoric pronouns. 3rd person anaphoric pronouns are instead made by prefixing the 3rd person index pronoun to the appropiate classifier.

Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns are formed with the possessive suffix -ā on the anaphoric pronoun. Note that possessive pronouns are placed after the noun:


 * az wīr1iuā (stick ) "its (the bird's) stick"
 * aRain ig1ā (hip ) "your hip"

=Verbs= In Proto-Pygmy transitive clauses are verb final, with an Agent-Patient-Verb (APV) and Subject-Verb (SV) order. A refers to the agent-like argument of transitive verbs, P refers to the patient-like argument of a transitive verb, and S refers to the single argument of an intransitive verb. When the patient is animate, the verb agrees with it by taking on the 3rd person index pronoun as a prefix. When the patient is inanimate then the anaphoric pronoun is placed before the verb and after the patient. The agent and subject are always marked with anaphoric pronouns. Transitive verbs can be made intransitive with the suffix -Tu.


 * Transitive verb with an animate patient: wiHwi paid1 wikur1ug1 ( ant -eat) "he eats an ant"
 * Transitive verb with an inanimate patient: wiHwi ug1f vuxwi wivuxwi kur1ug1 ( apple eat) "he eats an apple"
 * Intransitive verb with a subject: wiHwi kur1ug1Tu ( eat-) "he eats"

Verbs are rendered negative by placing the negative particle lui after the verb:


 * wiHwi kur1ug1Tu lui ( eat-) "he doesn't eat"

TAM
Proto-Pygmy has two tenses (present and past) and two aspects (imperfect and perfect). The present and imperfect are both unmarked on the verbs. The past tense is formed with the suffix -ubv and the perfect is formed with the suffix -phir. The perfect suffix is always placed after the past tense and the past tense is always placed after the intransitive suffix.

Examples:

*khiunk- ("to hunt")
 * Present Imperfect: ud1vi khiunkTu ("I hunt")
 * Present Perfect: ud1vi khiunkTuphir ("I have hunted")
 * Past Imperfect: ud1vi khiunkTūbv ("I hunted")
 * Past Perfect: ud1vi khiunkTūbvphir ("I had hunted")

Lack of Ditransitives
Proto-Pygmy lacks any kind of ditransitive verbs, meaning that Proto-Pygmy verbs can't have more than two arguments. To get around this, Proto-Pygmy uses a biclausal construction where the first two arguments (Agent and Theme) are made in the first clause and the third argument (Patient) is made in the second. E.g the sentence "the man gave a fruit to the woman" (where "man" is the agent", "fruit" is the theme and "woman" is the patient") is translated as rad1n gaiD1un wivuxwi Huvubv sa vis untir wikilxuSubv ("the man gave a fruit to the woman") the first clause rad1n gaiD1un wivuxwi Huvubv sa ("man fruit take- and)" contains the verb *Huv- ("to take") which is commonly used in such biclausal constructions in place of ditransitives. *Huv- agrees with the theme *gaiD1n- ("fruit"). In the second clause vis untir wikilxuSubv ("then woman -give-") the verb *xuS- ("to give") is introduced and it agrees with the patient *untir- ("woman"). In the second clause the patient index suffix has an extra suffix after it which in this case is ("locative") as the fruit was given to the woman. Such suffixes are known as "oblique suffixes" which are lisetd below:

Also note than when a clause ending in a conjunction comes before another clause, then the second clause must begin with another conjunction. Some common "conjunction pairs" are:


 * sa vis ("and then") e.g ud1vi iTu sa vis ud1vi sib1Tu ( wake- and then live-) "I wake and I live"

Examples:


 * dankhir giamil wikhiug1ubv sa vis diamphi wiHwiā wilamxuSubv (father boar -hunt- and then family -give-) "the father hunted a boar for his family"