Earthy Language http://www.earthylanguage.com Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:39:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 The Ancestral Sentence http://www.earthylanguage.com/2010/01/the-ancestral-sentence/ http://www.earthylanguage.com/2010/01/the-ancestral-sentence/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:42:23 +0000 Brent http://www.earthylanguage.com/?p=532 The normal order of the Ancestral sentence is VSO i.e. Verb > Subject > Direct Object > Indirect Object | Prepositional Phrase.

Particles invariably precede the verbs and nouns they modify; adverbs, adnouns, and dependent clauses typically follow the verbs and nouns they modify.

]]> http://www.earthylanguage.com/2010/01/the-ancestral-sentence/feed/ 0 The Ancestral Adverb http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/12/the-ancestral-adverb/ http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/12/the-ancestral-adverb/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:03:31 +0000 Brent http://www.earthylanguage.com/?p=516 The Ancestral adverb typically follows the verb it modifies, agrees with its focus, and is introduced (or marked) by the comparative particle /la/.

]]> http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/12/the-ancestral-adverb/feed/ 0 The Ancestral Adnoun http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/12/the-ancestral-adnoun/ http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/12/the-ancestral-adnoun/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:34:23 +0000 Brent http://www.earthylanguage.com/?p=514 The Ancestral adnoun typically follows the noun it modifies, agrees with its case, and is introduced (or marked) by the comparative particle /la/.

]]> http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/12/the-ancestral-adnoun/feed/ 0 The Ancestral Particle http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/12/the-ancestral-particle/ http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/12/the-ancestral-particle/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:17:05 +0000 Brent http://www.earthylanguage.com/?p=507 Every Ancestral verb, adverb, noun, and adnoun is normally introduced (or marked) by one or more particles. These particles (which might also be referred to as function words) create the framework of an Ancestral sentence and take the place of English conjunctions, expletives, interjections, prepositions, pronouns, suffixes, etc. To date, I have tentatively identified the following Ancestral particles:

  • The Adpositional Particle
  • The Affirmative Particle
  • The Agentive Particle
  • The Augmentative Particle
  • The Collective Particle
  • The Commissive Particle
  • The Coordinative Particle
  • The Correlative Particle
  • The Demonstrative Particle
  • The Diminutive Particle
  • The Dual Particle
  • The Evidential Particle
  • The Expletive Particle
  • The Feminine Particle
  • The Interjective Particle
  • The Interrogative Particle
  • The Masculine Particle
  • The Mirative particle
  • The Modal Particle
  • The Negative Particle
  • The Patient Particle
  • The Paucal Particle
  • The Prohibitive Particle
  • The Pro-Adnoun Particle
  • The Pro-Adverb Particle
  • The Pro-Noun Particle
  • The Pro-Verb Particle
  • The Quotative Particle
  • The Singulative Particle
  • The Subordinative Particle
  • The Trial Particle
]]> http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/12/the-ancestral-particle/feed/ 0 The Ancestral Verb http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-verb/ http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-verb/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:55:48 +0000 Brent http://www.earthylanguage.com/?p=215

Introduction

The canonical Ancestral verb is  composed of three distinct elements:

  1. A vocalic focus marker circumfix
  2. A consonantal semantic root
  3. A vocalic tense marker infix

In other words, each verb can be analyzed as V1 + CC + VV + CC + V1 where:

  1. V1 = focus marker (indicating the emphasis of the sentence)
  2. CC__CC = semantic root (indicating the lexical meaning of the verb)
  3. VV = tense marker (indicating one of twenty-five tenses)

Every verb is introduced (marked) by one or more mood particles, indicating the attitude of the speaker to the thought.

An interesting feature of Ancestral is that every noun is in effect a “frozen” verb, that is a “being” at a particular moment in time.

]]> http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-verb/feed/ 0 The Ancestral Noun http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-noun/ http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-noun/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:42:28 +0000 Brent http://www.earthylanguage.com/?p=209 Introduction

The canonical Ancestral noun is  composed of three distinct elements:

  1. A vocalic case marker circumfix
  2. A consonantal semantic root
  3. A vocalic state marker infix

In other words, each noun can be analyzed as V1 + CC + VV + CC + V1 where:

  1. V1 = case marker (indicating the role of the noun in the sentence)
  2. CC__CC = semantic root (indicating the lexical meaning of the noun)
  3. VV = state marker (indicating the growth state  of the noun)

Every noun is introduced (marked) by one or more noun particles, indicating additional information about the noun.

An interesting feature of Ancestral is that every noun is in effect a “frozen” verb, that is a “being” at a particular moment in time.

]]> http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-noun/feed/ 0 The Ancestral Vowel http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-vowel/ http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-vowel/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:00:31 +0000 Brent http://www.earthylanguage.com/?p=183 Introduction

In contrast to its unusually rich consonant system, the Ancestral vowel is the very picture of simplicity. It consists of the five most common vowels /i e a o u/, pronounced (I believe) in more or less the Spanish manner.

No, the only remarkable thing about the Ancestral vowel is lexical, not phonological. Each of the five cardinal vowels expresses one aspect of a single semantic sphere, namely “growth”. The nearest equivalent in a modern language is the “sing, sang, sung” pattern of Modern English, a lovely artefact of the Proto-Indo-European ablaut system.

The base vowel of every Ancestral noun can have one of these five realizations, each of which indicates the specific “growth state” of that noun. For further details on this system, please see The Ancestral Noun.

The five cardinal vowels can be combined into twenty-five diphthongs, each of which is used as a wonderfully compact tense marker. For further details on this system, please see The Ancestral Verb.

Phonetic Analysis

  • [i] high, front, unrounded vowel
  • [e] mid, front, unrounded vowel
  • [a] low, central vowel
  • [o] mid, back, rounded vowel
  • [u] high, back, rounded vowel

Phonemic Analysis

  • /i/ high, front vowel
  • /e/mid, front vowel
  • /a/ low, central vowel
  • /o/ mid, back vowel
  • /u/ high, back vowel

Monophthong Semantics

  • /i / the unforeseeable future, the dreamtime
  • /e/ the foreseeable future, young, growing, waxing, living
  • /a/ the present, mature
  • /o/ the remembered past, old, fading, waning, dying
  • /u/ the unremembered past, dreamtime

Dipththong Semantics

  • /ii/ the distant future > the distant future
  • /ie/
  • /ia/
  • /io/
  • /iu/
  • /ei/
  • /ee/
  • /ea/
  • /eo/
  • /eu/
  • /ai/
  • /ae/
  • /aa/ the present > the present
  • /au/
  • /oi/
  • /oe/
  • /oa/
  • /oo/
  • /ou/ the recent past > the distant past
  • /ui/ the distant past > the distant future
  • /ue/ the distant past > the forseeable future
  • /ua/ the distant past > the present
  • /uo/ the distant past > the recent past
  • /uu/ the distant past > the distant past

Diphthong Chart

ii ie ia io iu
ei ee ea eo eu
ai ae aa ao au
oi oe oa oo ou
ui ue ua uo uu
]]> http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-vowel/feed/ 0 The Ancestral Consonant http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-consonant/ http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-consonant/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:31:50 +0000 Brent http://www.earthylanguage.com/?p=188 Introduction

At first glance, the Ancestral consonant is breathtakingly complex. On closer inspection, however, I believe the Ancestral speaker understood it to consist of ten places and ten manners of articulation, the intersection of which was the sound (or, more properly, the absence of sound) we know as the glottal stop.

Consonant Chart (In Transcription)

s
f
h
x
q
p b t d c ’ j y k w g
v
z
r
l
n

Places Of Articulation
My tentative reconstruction of the places of articulation, from left to right above, are as follows:

  • Bilabial
  • Linguo-Labial
  • Interdental
  • Alveolar
  • Retroflex
  • Expressive
  • Palato-Alveolar
  • Palato-Velar
  • Velar
  • Labio-Velar
  • Uvular

The Bilabial series is made with both lips, as in the English word /pop/ “pop”.

The Linguo-Labial series is made by placing the tip of the tongue against the upper lip, as in the Tangoa word /tete/ “butterfly”. It is an unusual sound in today’s world, but it is not difficult to pronounce.

The Interdental series is made by placing the tip of the tongue between the teeth.

The Alveolar series is made by placing the tip of the tongue behind the teeth, as in the English word /tot/ “tot”.

The Palato-Velar and Labio-Velar series will be instantly familiar to anyone acquainted with the classic reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European sound system, but

The Expressive (my term) series puzzled me for a very long time. I now believe that the Expressive series does not correspond to any definable place of articulation; instead, it consists of the most marked (i.e. acoustically distinct) representative of each permissible manner of articulation — a “super-series”, if you will. My work on understanding this aspect of the Ancestral consonant continues.

Manners of Articulation

My tentative reconstruction of the manners of articulation, from top to bottom above, is as follows:

  • Spirant
  • Fricative
  • Aspirate
  • Explosive | Egressive
  • Laryngeal
  • Plosive
  • Murmur
  • Implosive | Ingressive
  • Rhotic
  • Lateral
  • Nasal

I would note in passing that the presence of clicked consonants will add fuel to the fire of those who believe the clicks of Khoisan are ancient.

Consonant Cluster Chart 1 (In Transcription)

sp sb st sd sc s sj sy sk sw sg
fp fb ft fd fc f fj fy fk fw fg
hp hb ht hd hc h hj hy hk hw hg
xp xb xt xd xc x xj xy xk xw xg
qp qb qt qd qc q qj qy qk qw qg
p b t d c ’ j y k w g
vp vb vt vd vc v vj vy vk vw vg
zp zb zt zd zc z zj zy zk zw zg
rp rb rt rd rc r rj ry rk rw rg
lp lb lt ld lc l lj ly lk lw lg
np nb nt nd nc n nj ny nk nw ng

Consonant Cluster Chart 2 (In Transcription)

ps bs ts ds cs s js ys ks ws gs
pf bf tf df cf f jf yf kf wf gf
ph bh th dh ch h jh yh kh wh gh
px bx tx dx cx x jx yx kx wx gx
pq bq tq dq cq q jq yq kq wq gq
p b t d c ’ j y k w g
pv bv tv dv cv v jv yv kv wv gv
pz bz tz dz cz z jz yz kz wz gz
pr br tr dr cr r jr yr kr wr gr
pl bl tl dl cl l jl yl kl wl gl
pn bn tn dn cn n jn yn kn wn gn
]]> http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/09/the-ancestral-consonant/feed/ 0 The Department Of Culture http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/08/the-department-of-culture/ http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/08/the-department-of-culture/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:03:27 +0000 Brent http://www.earthylanguage.com/?p=345 Infrastructure

  • Arts Center
  • Cultural Environments
  • Cultural History Center
]]> http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/08/the-department-of-culture/feed/ 0 Mansion http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/08/mansion/ http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/08/mansion/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:07:55 +0000 Brent http://www.earthylanguage.com/?p=68 Company

  • Culture

Feigned History Museum

  • Explorers’ Club
  • Secret Passages
]]> http://www.earthylanguage.com/2009/08/mansion/feed/ 0