Proposal for a Conlang
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2017 2:33 am
Okay, so first a bit of background:
Assuming that the Kurgan hypothesis is more or less valid, we can entertain the idea of a hypothetical Graeco-Aryan clade of PIE (or "Southern Indo-European" dialect) that may have been spoken by the peoples of the Yamna culture of the Pontic steppes. So, assuming that this is the case, we can theorize the following:
Proto-Hellenic (or perhaps even a Graeco-Armenian clade) formed in the western part of the Yamna cultural area and split off when the ancestors of the Greeks entered the Balkans (from what I've read, probably sometime between 2500 and 2300 BC); and
Proto-Indo-Iranian formed in the eastern part of the Yamna area and emerged as a distinct language sometime later, with the Iranian and Indo-Aryan languages having diverged by 2000 BC.
What struck me as fascinating was how little we know about the peoples of the Pontic steppe who remained in the central Yamna area, on the shores of the Black Sea. What would an Indo-European language spoken by these people look like?
So far, I figure that, at least in its early development, such a language would exhibit the following shared features with Indo-Iranian:
1. Early satemization and the application of the RUKI rule
2. Vocalization of the PIE syllabic nasals to *a
3. Bartholomae's law and Brugmann's law
However, due to the hypothetical dialect continuum that existed in its early development, it would also possibly have the following differences:
1. Preservation of the PIE vowels *e and *o, unlike in IIr., where they merge with *a. Although, I'm thinking of a possible shift of short *o to *a, as this seems to be a fairly common feature of the Indo-European languages and, from what I've read, quite possibly could derive from original PIE *o originally being a rounded open back vowel, at least in some dialects.
2. Preservation of *k, *g, *gh (from original PIE *kw, *gw, *gwh) before front vowels, assuming that these were realized as palatal allophones in such a position and only became phonemic when *e merged with *o in Indo-Iranian. Of course, at some point, these may very well palatalize later, as in other IE languages, such as Proto-Greek.
3. Preservation of a distinct syllabic *l and syllabic *r and later, their vocalization to *al and *ar;
4. Vocalization of the syllabic laryngeals to *a, as in most other Indo-European languages (and possibly also initial *HC > *aC, as is theorized in Armenian and Phrygian). My thinking here is that, at least from what I've read, the *H > *i shift in Indo-Iranian was largely conditioned by modifications to the vowel system that derived from the leveling of *a, *e, *o as *a.
What does everyone think? I'm looking for further ideas and suggestions for this project. I have yet to develop a coherent alt history for these hypothetical Yamna descendants, but I really would like to put some work into this.
Assuming that the Kurgan hypothesis is more or less valid, we can entertain the idea of a hypothetical Graeco-Aryan clade of PIE (or "Southern Indo-European" dialect) that may have been spoken by the peoples of the Yamna culture of the Pontic steppes. So, assuming that this is the case, we can theorize the following:
Proto-Hellenic (or perhaps even a Graeco-Armenian clade) formed in the western part of the Yamna cultural area and split off when the ancestors of the Greeks entered the Balkans (from what I've read, probably sometime between 2500 and 2300 BC); and
Proto-Indo-Iranian formed in the eastern part of the Yamna area and emerged as a distinct language sometime later, with the Iranian and Indo-Aryan languages having diverged by 2000 BC.
What struck me as fascinating was how little we know about the peoples of the Pontic steppe who remained in the central Yamna area, on the shores of the Black Sea. What would an Indo-European language spoken by these people look like?
So far, I figure that, at least in its early development, such a language would exhibit the following shared features with Indo-Iranian:
1. Early satemization and the application of the RUKI rule
2. Vocalization of the PIE syllabic nasals to *a
3. Bartholomae's law and Brugmann's law
However, due to the hypothetical dialect continuum that existed in its early development, it would also possibly have the following differences:
1. Preservation of the PIE vowels *e and *o, unlike in IIr., where they merge with *a. Although, I'm thinking of a possible shift of short *o to *a, as this seems to be a fairly common feature of the Indo-European languages and, from what I've read, quite possibly could derive from original PIE *o originally being a rounded open back vowel, at least in some dialects.
2. Preservation of *k, *g, *gh (from original PIE *kw, *gw, *gwh) before front vowels, assuming that these were realized as palatal allophones in such a position and only became phonemic when *e merged with *o in Indo-Iranian. Of course, at some point, these may very well palatalize later, as in other IE languages, such as Proto-Greek.
3. Preservation of a distinct syllabic *l and syllabic *r and later, their vocalization to *al and *ar;
4. Vocalization of the syllabic laryngeals to *a, as in most other Indo-European languages (and possibly also initial *HC > *aC, as is theorized in Armenian and Phrygian). My thinking here is that, at least from what I've read, the *H > *i shift in Indo-Iranian was largely conditioned by modifications to the vowel system that derived from the leveling of *a, *e, *o as *a.
What does everyone think? I'm looking for further ideas and suggestions for this project. I have yet to develop a coherent alt history for these hypothetical Yamna descendants, but I really would like to put some work into this.