Tlazoltéotl

c-PAMA-NYUNGAN-12.htm

PROTO-LANGUAGE PHONEMES

in IE and Pama-Nyungan

(Nostratic Hypothesis)

by Patrick C. Ryan

The Pama-Nyungan Comparison essay is currently being developed and should be finished during the summer of 2008.

The purpose of this short essay is to establish as a hypothesis that IE and Pama-Nyungan, a reconstructed Australian proto-language, are both descended from a common ancestor, which, I term the Proto-Language --- from the form into which it had developed by about 60-40K BPE.

This date is based on the estimates of Cavalli-Sforza for the separation of the peoples of Asia and Europe (The Great Human Diasporas, p. 123) from the "main" branch of the people speaking the Proto-Language.

During this phase of development, the Proto-Language was passing out of a ergative-type morphology into an nominative-type morphology (G. A. Klimov).

SOV is the earliest Pama-Nyungan word-order, corresponding to SOV established by W. P. Lehmann for IE; SOV word-order stems from the earliest syntax of the Proto-Language, in which the transitive subject is only loosely linked to the object-verb, which is primary.

Phonologically, it had already reached a stage of development in which the oldest semantic contrasts of C+E/ C+A/ C+O had been replaced by C^yV/ CV/ C^wV.

In the Table of Correspondence found after the listing of lexical cognates below, the column entitled PROTO-LANGUAGE shows the earliest syllables before vocalic contrasts were replaced by a contrast of glides and no glide (during the Pontic stage: 60-40K BPE).

Similar tables of equivalence can and have been constructed for the Proto-Language, IE and Afrasian, Altaic, Basque, Beng (Southern Mandé), Blackfoot (Algonquian), Dravidian (incomplete), Etruscan, Hurrian-Urartian, Japanese, Mon/Hmong, Nama, Pama-Nyungan (present essay) (incomplete), (Sino-)Tibetan, Sumerian, and Uralic.

An excellent online resource for Nostratic is at the TOWER OF BABEL, founded by Sergei Anatolyevich Starostin, and now part of the Evolution of Human Languages project at the Santa Fe Institute.

An important new resource for Nostratic studies is the website Nostratica, instituted by Kirill Babaev, the founder of the Cybalist language discussion group at Yahoo! Groups.

TABLE
OF
PL / IE / PAMA-NYUNGAN
CORRESPONDENCES

number+i=(word) initial; number+m=medial (non-initial); number+f=(word) final
#=unattested (as yet); *=systematically irregular; :=long vowel; &=modified in combination.

FOR EXAMPLES, SEE (NUMBER) IN PL / IE / Pama-Nyungan Lexical Comparisons BELOW

PROTO-

LANGUAGE

INDO-

EUROPEAN

PAMA-NYUNGAN

may be used for annotation

HV⁽¹⁾

HV:

0( )

HV:

0(3,4)

0( )

HV:

0( )

¿E

HHE

HV:

y(4)

i[i](6)

0( )

¿A

HHA

HV:

0(6)

0(2,5)

¿O

HHO

HV:

y( )

0( )

P[?]E

P[H]E

b(h)/wV

p( )

P[?]A

P[H]A

b(h)/wV

p(5)

p(2)

P[?]O

P[H]O

b(h)/wV

p( )

P[?]FE

PF[H]E

bhV

p[h]V:

p( )

P[?]FA

PF[H]A

bhV⁽²⁾

p[h]V:

p( )

P[?]FO

PF[H]O

bhV

p[h]V:

p( )

F[H]E

wV:

w( )

F[H]A

wV:

w( )

F[H]O

wV:

w( )

T[?]E

T[H]E

ty( )

T[?]A

T[H]A

t( )

T[?]O

T[H]O

rt( )

t(4)

T[?]SE

TS[H]E

dhV

t[h]/twV:

ty( )

T[?]SA

TS[H]A

dhV⁽³⁾

t[h]/twV:

t( )

T[?]SO

TS[H]O

dhV

t[h]/twV:

rt( )

S[H]E

sV:

th( )

S[H]A

sV:

th( )

th(2)

S[H]O

sV:

th( )

K[?]E

K[H]E

g[^]V

k[^]V

k( )

K[?]A

K[H]A

k( )

K[?]O

K[H]O

k( )

K[?]XE

KX[H]E

g[^]hV

k[^][h]V:

k( )

K[?]XA

KX[H]A

ghV⁽⁴⁾

k[h]V:

k( )

k(1)

K[?]XO

KX[H]O

ghV

k[h]V:

k( )

X[H]E

g[^][w]V

k[^][w]V

?( )

X[H]A

g[w]V

k[w]V

?( )

X[H]O

g[w]V

k[w]V

?( )

M[H]E

mV:

m( )

M[H]A

mV:

m(3)

m( )

M[H]O

mV:

m(6)

m( )

N[H]E

l[^]V

l[^]V:

ny( )

N[H]A

lV:

n(1)

n( )

N[H]O

LV:

rn( )

Q[H]E

(n)g[^]V

(n)k[^]V:

ng( )

Q[H]A

(n)gV

(n)kV:

ng( )

Q[H]O

(n)gV

(n)kV:

ng( )

R[H]E

rV:

r(6)

r( )

R[H]A

rV:

r( )

R[H]O

LV:

r( )

PL / IE / PAMA-NYUNGAN LEXICAL COMPARISONS

(IE entries in parentheses are keywords in Pokorny 1959 unless marked by * [Morris 1976])

[bold entries are Pama-Nyungan, taken from Koch 1997 (Pama-Nyungan Reflexes in the
Arandic Languages, Harold Koch, pp. 271-302, in Tryon and Walsh 1997)]

Aboriginal Rock Art

(1)K[H]XA-?A-NA {‘stick-plant-top-thing'}, in kana, ‘digging stick'; (IE *kanna, ‘a reed '; cf. also k^ent-, ‘stechen')

(2)P[H]A-HHA-S[H]A {‘flat'-REFL-‘state'}, patha, ‘bite'; (IE pa:-, ‘füttern, nähren, weiden; in Latin pa:sco:, ‘lasse weiden, füttere' [IE pa:s-]; of additional interest may be IE pa:só-s, ‘Verwandter', if this term can be possibly interpreted as ‘messmate'(?))

(3)(QO-)?A-MA {‘family-breast'}, ngama (better *ng(a)^(a)-ama), ‘breast, mother'; (IE am(m)a, ‘Mutter')

(4)(QO-)?A-T[H]O-¿E {‘family-approacher-like'}, ngatyi (better *ng(a)⁽¹⁾-at(a)-yi), ‘mother's father'; (IE atta, ‘Vater, Mutter', + -y{PL ¿E, ‘-like'} cf. Greek dial. acc. át(t)ein, ‘Großvater')

(5)(QO-)HHA-P[?]A {‘water-spot'}, ngapa (better *ng(a)⁽¹⁾-pa, ‘water'; (IE ab-, ‘Wasser, Fluß')

(6)¿A-MO-¿E-RE {‘eye-[slip-like=swing]-do'}, miira, ‘watch'; (IE Hamir- (not in Pokorny), in Latin mi:ror, ‘to wonder at, be astonished, look at with admiration' [cf. also Modern Spanish mirar, ‘look at, watch'], incorrectly listed under 1. (s)mei- (better *me:i-; cf. smei-ro-, ‘erstaunlich'), ‘lächeln, erstaunen'; cf. also Akkadian amâru, ‘see'; Egyptian (j)m3(3), ‘see, look at')

(7)(QO-)HHA-X[H]A {‘water-pouch'}, ng/kuku (better *ng(a)⁽¹⁾{*-aka-u becomes }-uk-u), ‘water'; (IE ak^wa:-, ‘Wasser, Fluß')

(8)HHE-¿A-T[H]O {‘go[out of]-PERF-NOM'}, yirtiya (better *yirt-iya), ‘road'; (IE ei-to-, ‘Gang'; listed under 1. ei-, 'gehen')

(9)T[?]SE-XA-FA {‘release-PL-IMPF ‘}, tyukurtu (better {*tyaku-rtu becomes} tyuku-rtu), ‘smoke'; (IE dheg^wh-, ‘brennen')

(10)F[H]O-R[H]A-F[H]A {‘wind-fly-IMPF'}, waru (better *war-u), ‘fire'; (IE 12. wer-, ‘brennen, verbrennen, schwärzen')

(11) (QO-)¿E {‘speak[er]' [note 13 below]}, ngay (better *ng(a)⁽¹⁾ -y[a]), ‘1 SING. NOM.'; (IE cf. ya:-, ‘erregt sprechen'; but note Egyptian -j, ‘1st person sing.'; Arabic -ya, ‘1st person sing. poss.')

(12) (QO-)NA {‘[those]inside'}, ngana, ‘1 PL. INC.'; (IE 3. ne-, ‘wir (ursprüngl. außerhalb des Nominativs)'; also note Egyptian -n, ‘1st person pl..'; Arabic -na, ‘1st person pl. poss.')

(13)¿E-NA {‘speak-thing'}, yini, ‘name'; (IE cf. ya:-, ‘erregt sprechen'; en(o)mN-, ‘Name'; note Russian imja, ‘name', from *jem-?)

PL MORPHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS IN PAMA-NYUNGAN

(not included under lexical headings)

press here to see.

**The correspondence of ??? roots and ??+ formants suffices for a preliminary study to establish the presumption of a genetic relationship.**

NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS

For an explanation of the Proto-Language and Indo-European notational conventions used in these essays, press here.

(Proto-)Pama-Nyungan

The notation and the roots discussed above follow the reconstructions of principally Geoffrey O'Grady (and others) as transmitted by Harold Koch in his essay "Pama-Nyungan Reflexes in the Arandic Languages", pp. 271-302, in Tryon and Walsh 1997.

(Proto-)Pama-Nyungan Phonemes:

p, m;

ty (prepalatal), t (alveolar), rt (postalveolar), ny (prepalatal), n (alveolar), rn (postalveolar);

th, nh, lh (all dental);

k, ng;

w, y;

rr (alveolar), r (postalveolar), ly (prepalatal), l (alveolar), rl (postalveolar);

i, ii, a, aa, u, uu.

(doubling indicates phonemic length)

Combinatory Modifications

for modifications of the vowels and consonants in combination, see the

Table of Modifications

PROTO-LANGUAGE MONOSYLLABLES

In order for readers to judge the semantic plausibility of the analysis of Proto-Language (PL) compounds suggested here, I am including access to a table of Proto-Language Monosyllables and the meanings I have provisionally assigned:

most assignments can be exhaustively supported by data from actually attested forms but a few animates are very doubtful; and this list does not represent the "final" solution of these questions, which will only be approached when other scholars assist in refining it.

Patrick C. Ryan

Spring 1998

PAMA-NYUNGAN BIBLIOGRAPHY

ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

the latest revision of this document can be found at

HTTP://WWW.GEOCITIES.COM/proto-language/c-PAMA- NYUNGAN-12.htm

Patrick C. Ryan * 9115 West 34^th Street - Little Rock, AR 72204-4441* (501)227-9947

PROTO-LANGUAGE@msn.com

NOTES

a. Although I have no indication that Pama-Nyunganists recognize initial ng- as a prefix, I believe it can be related to PL QO, ‘skull, (animate) creature', and serves as a classifier for words connected with animates.
1. The Pontic stage of the Proto-Language, from which Indo-European and Afrasian developed, had only one V : (a), which became e, a, or o in Indo-European according to the Ablautgradation required by the grammatical form.

2. Final IE voiced aspirated stops + a can become unaspirated: -bha -> b(a); -gha -> -g(a); -dha -> -d(a).

3. v. 2. supra

4. v. 2. supra

c-PAMA-NYUNGAN-12.htm

PROTO-LANGUAGE PHONEMES

in IE and Pama-Nyungan

The Pama-Nyungan Comparison essay is currently being developed and should be finished during the summer of 2008.

TABLE OF PL / IE / PAMA-NYUNGAN CORRESPONDENCES

PL / IE / PAMA-NYUNGAN LEXICAL COMPARISONS

PL MORPHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS IN PAMA-NYUNGAN

press here to see.

The correspondence of ??? roots and ??+ formants suffices for a preliminary study to establish the presumption of a genetic relationship.

NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS

For an explanation of the Proto-Language and Indo-European notational conventions used in these essays, press here.

Combinatory Modifications

for modifications of the vowels and consonants in combination, see the

Table of Modifications

PROTO-LANGUAGE MONOSYLLABLES

PAMA-NYUNGAN BIBLIOGRAPHY

ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOTES

TABLE
OF
PL / IE / PAMA-NYUNGAN
CORRESPONDENCES

**The correspondence of ??? roots and ??+ formants suffices for a preliminary study to establish the presumption of a genetic relationship.**