Eastonian language

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Eastonian
Āsthaya
Pronunciation[ɑːsˈtʰɐjɐ]
Native toEmnia, Austrasia
EthnicityEastonians
Native speakers
~30 thousand (2020)
Early forms
Equatoric
Language codes
ISO 639-3
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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. homū
fem.

Bound pronouns:

Person Singular Plural
1st ayā anū
2nd achā achoṃ
3rd masc. homū
fem.


Verbs

Eastonian has two proper tenses: the perfect and the imperfect. These were originally aspectual, but have developed into something more like a past and nonpast. Below are the forms of the plain stem of regular Eastonian verbs.

Person Perfect Imperfect
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st 1a2ā3at
chatābat "I wrote"
1a2ā3anā
chatābanā "we wrote"
ya1a2ū3u
yacatūbu "I write"
ne1a2ū3u
necatūbu "we write"
2nd 1a2ā3athā
chatābathā "you (sg) wrote"
1a2ā3athoṃ
chatābathoṃ "you (pl) wrote"
te1a2ū3u
tecabūtu "you (sg) write"
te1a2ū3oṃ
tecabūtoṃ "you (pl) write"
3rd 1a2ā3a
chatāba "he/she/it wrote"
1a2ā3aṃ
chatābaṃ "they wrote"
i1a2ū3u
icabūtu "he/she/it writes"
i1a2ū3oṃ
icabūtoṃ "they write"

By geminating the 2nd radical of the stem and shortening the 2nd internal vowel, the intensive is formed, i.e. khatāba "he killed" vs. khathaba "he slew".

By adding the prefix śa- to the plain stem, the causative is formed, i.e. jhacārat "I remembered" vs. śajacārat "I reminded". Note that the initial radical is "softened" after the prefix if it is the first letter. In the 3rd person, the initial -i on the imperfect stem becomes a -y- after śa-.

The reflexive/passive form is generated by adding the prefix et- (Eastern) or eś- (Western), i.e. irahūṣu "she washes" vs. etirahūṣu/eśirahūṣu "she bathes".

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
... ... ... ...
... ... ... ...

Ex nihilio lexical enrichment

Official Status