| Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan | |
| Familycolor: | Paleosiberian |
| Era: | 2000 BCE |
| Target: | Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages |
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 | pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| |
| Fricative | pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| ||
| Nasal | pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| |||
| Approximant | pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| pronounced as /
| |||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /
|
pronounced as /*/v/}} is a voiced labiodental fricative (like v in English). pronounced as /
The entire pronounced as /
| Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /i/ | pronounced as /u/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /e/ | pronounced as /ə/ | pronounced as /o/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /æ/ | pronounced as /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. 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 | pronounced as /-∅/-(ə)n/-ŋæ/-lŋǝn/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)n/ | pronounced as /-t/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)nti/ | |
| dative | pronounced as /-(ǝ)ŋ/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)naŋ/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)ðɣǝnaŋ/ | ||
| locative | pronounced as /-(ǝ)k/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)næk/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)ðǝk/ | ||
| instrumental | pronounced as /-tæ/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)næk/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)ðǝk/ | ||
| comitative | pronounced as /kæ- -tæ/ | - | - | ||
| associative | pronounced as /ka- -ma/ | - | - | ||
| referential | pronounced as /-kjit/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)nækjit/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)ðǝkækjit/ | ||
| ablative | pronounced as /-ŋqo(rǝŋ)/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)naŋqo(rǝŋ)/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)ðǝkaŋqo(rǝŋ)/ | ||
| vialis | pronounced as /-jǝpǝŋ/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)najpǝŋ/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)ðǝkajpǝŋ/ | ||
| allative | pronounced as /-jǝtǝŋ/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)najtǝŋ/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)ðǝkajtǝŋ/ | ||
| attributive | pronounced as /-nu/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)nu/ | pronounced as /-(ǝ)ðɣǝnu/ |
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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