Eastonian language
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Eastonian | |
---|---|
Āsthaya | |
Pronunciation | [ɑːsˈtʰɐjɐ] |
Native to | Emnia, Austrasia |
Ethnicity | Eastonians |
Native speakers | ~30 thousand (2020) |
Early forms | |
Equatoric | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Eastonian languages are a group of closely related languages spoken by the Eastonian people in northern Calatania — primarily in eastern Emnia. While there exists a considerable degree of variation between the dialects or languages, a standardised form has been developed which is largely mutually intelligible across all varieties.
Classification
The Eastonian languages form a branch of the Emnitic language family. According to the traditional view, Eastonian is within the Emnitic family most closely related to Emnian, but this view has recently been challenged by many scholars who argue that the traditional view of a common Emnian-Eastonian protolanguage is not as strongly supported as had been previously assumed, and that many of the assumed similarities may be simply shared retentions or mutual areal influence.
In terms of internal relationships, the Eastonian languages are divided into two groups: western dialects, which are spoken in the eastern and southern highlands of Emnia, and eastern dialects, which are spoken in the Emnian Far East and Austrasia. Varieties form a dialect continuum throughout their range in which neighbouring varieties are highly mutually intelligible, while more widely separated speakers may not immediately understand each other's speech.
History
Orthography
Phonology
Grammar
Nouns and Adjectives
Eastonian nouns and adjectives are declined according to the following properties:
- State (indefinite, definite, or construct)
- Gender (feminine or masculine); this is an inherent characteristic of nouns but part of the declension of adjectives
- Number (singular or plural)
Nouns in their citation form are given in the indefinite singular; adjectives are given in the indefinite singular masculine.
Noun/Adjective ṭhavāb ("good") |
masc. sg. | fem. sg. | masc. pl. | fem. pl. |
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | ∅ ṭhavāb |
∅-a ṭhavāba |
∅-īṃ ṭhavābīṃ |
∅-āṃ ṭhavābāṃ |
definite | -a ṭhavāba |
∅-ata ṭhavābata |
∅-ayya ṭhavābayya |
∅-āta ṭhavābāta |
construct | ∅ ṭhavāb |
∅-at ṭhavābat |
∅-ai ṭhavābai |
∅-āt ṭhavābāt |
Pronouns
Free pronouns:
Person | Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
1st | anā | anāṇā | |
2nd | athā | athoṃ | |
3rd | masc. | hū | homū |
fem. | hī |
Bound pronouns:
Person | Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
1st | ayā | anū | |
2nd | achā | achoṃ | |
3rd | masc. | hū | homū |
fem. | hā |
Verbs
Vocabulary
Substrate hypothesis
Some theories about the origin of the substrate vocabulary in the Eastonian languages link it to an unattested Neocalatanian language. According to Coleman (2004), the speakers of the Proto-Emnitic language arrived in Eastonia and had fully assimilated the local populations by the middle of the 1st century CE. In her opinion, a detailed reconstruction of this language would be impossible.
Eastonian | Proto-Emnitic | Emnian | Sudric |
---|---|---|---|
... | ... | ... | ... |
... | ... | ... | ... |