A Proto-Nastowic text
(Proto-Nastowic see more here)
To see its evolution through more stages of the language, see parts 2, 3, 4, and 5.
*Igmǝl gigod, gʷiʔqi gi-bun. Kʷihebsi səxɯdiŋ, pimuqebsi dagɯl, niximasi pelkebsi kʷǝd, ʔalə ʔalə adlɯkɯg. Lɯs biqa kʷǝd altǝd, pihin ɯqi. Imbagʷ ǝʔqi, tagma tiqmu, igmǝl numpuna, dimin gʷandǝda. Palin qatɯg ǝʔqi qʷǝlaʔ mul oŋkʷǝn mibakɯdǝd. Pihi ʔakixaʔi sippu god saŋɯʔi ǝʔqi, qʷitiqmu teʔimna lu. Sobugʷ ǝʔqi, pihi alɯsǝglǝdkɯmuna, dimin mǝgtab niqib. An, χima pid numpuna, iqodǝn ǝgpod muqlɯ. Nana dlaʔ bǝtta tekigǝna, pikasin qaniŋina, qʷiqɯd qaspa tedǝkʷupuqɯda. Tata, ɯχa, alǝnkʷǝ miqʷinigǝna mitubsǝ. Gʷiqa miχʷǝlu silikanǝ. Nixɯdǝn hɯgmin mibǝhatǝte, temǝhatǝkɯgil. Qʷiqalɯ alǝkɯ teqʷǝgted: Qʷotadlǝ lu. Na, tesadlǝ lu! Qʷelǝnkʷǝ qʷoyexasǝte alǝkɯ tepa. Qʷodǝgtedkɯgilte tihɯgmin qʷodǝgipo dagtǝn ɯqisi. Tǝdǝn tagma, an mekɯn kɯʔan gad lu. Sobugʷǝn qʷǝlaʔǝn qʷǝlaʔ igɯlkɯ. Tigalǝ, mexǝna migini. Agʷudabi miqaspo igʷpi ǝha ixaʔilka ǝʔqi. Imbagʷ goʔimnokɯgǝb ina!
The sky is above us, the earth below. To the north is the Great Lake; to the east are mountains; to the south and west are more plains. There are the horses and antelopes, and the sun’s home. In summer, even at night the sky is white and the earth sweats. We gather fat black berries in our skin bags. When the sun, burning red, floats over the grass, I know that it watches me too. Through winter, the sun never climbs high, but slumbers near the horizon. Only the moon and snow are white; everything else is black. In blankets of furs, with numb fingers, mother starts a fire with flint and dry grass. Carrying spears, father, brother and I go outside. The wind cuts into our bones. We greet the spirit of the woods, and it answers. A deer speaks to my heart, “Here I am.” And there it was. I throw my spear and it falls. I thank the deer and send its soul back to the world of beasts. Tonight the moon is like the edge of a fingernail. Soon it will be the blackest black of winter. Then we will eat meat and sing. The remains we dry in the smoky hut. May we see the summer again!
An example of Late Proto-Swiric. Previously, I posted a short text in Proto-Nastowic, then one in Early Proto-Swiric. Here is its evolution to the next stage, (late) Proto-Swiric. This is the ancestor of Swira, one of the languages of the "barbarians" north of Tepat.
It is followed by the early Proto-Swiric text, then the Proto-Nastowic text, to illustrate the development. At this stage, we start to see long (double) vowels and vowel clusters, and almost all open syllables.
For this one, I've bolded a couple words which underwent replacement or an irregular change.
Would it be better to show morpheme boundaries too, or not?
The sky is above us, the earth below. To the north is the Great Lake; to the east are mountains; to the south and west are more plains. There are the horses and antelopes, and the sun’s home. In summer, even at night the sky is white and the earth sweats. We gather fat black berries in our skin bags. When the sun, burning red, floats over the grass, I know that it watches me too. Through winter, the sun never climbs high, but slumbers near the horizon. Only the moon and snow are white; everything else is black. In blankets of furs, with numb fingers, mother starts a fire with flint and dry grass. Carrying spears, father, brother and I go outside. The wind cuts into our bones. We greet the spirit of the woods, and it answers. A deer speaks to my heart, “Here I am.” And there it was. I throw my spear and it falls. I thank the deer and send its soul back to the world of beasts. Tonight the moon is like the edge of a fingernail. Soon it will be the blackest black of winter. Then we will eat meat and sing. The remains we dry in the smoky hut. May we see the summer again!
Three abstracts of my working file on the Proto-Nastowic language.
The Swira language, spoken by nomadic herders in the northern frontier of Tepat, is one of many “barbarian” tribes ringing Tepat, belonging to the widespread Nastowic language family. This family is named for two of its branches, Nasic and Towic, whose names both mean “people.” Swiric comprises another branch, as does Para-Towic, and the extinct historic language Wepum. Proto-Nastowic is a head-final, head-marking, compositionally polysynthetic language. Phonologically, Proto-Nastowic includes a series of labialized dorsal consonants and distinction between lenis and fortis consonants, and a hierarchy of vowel strength that interplays with stress assignment and other processes. It has an extensive system of personal prefixes, noun-incorporation and verb-root compounding, allowing very long verbal forms (compositional polysynthesis), possessor-raising incorporation, with several applicatives. Word order is flexible with a default of SOV. Nominal modifiers precede heads while verbal modifiers follow, because of basic SOV order combined with internally-headed relative clauses. Most of these features apply in daughter languages as well. However, their well-known pastoral culture evolved later than the protolanguage itself.
The Proto-Nastowic language is the reconstructed ancestor of the Nastowic language family, which includes Swiric, Towic, Nasic, and the extinct Wepum language. It was a polysynthetic, head-final, and head-marking language with extensive verb morphology, including noun incorporation, personal prefixes, and applicatives. Its phonological system featured labialized dorsal consonants, a distinction between lenis and fortis stops, and a vowel hierarchy that influenced stress and phonotactic rules. Proto-Nastowic had a flexible SOV word order, with nominal modifiers preceding nouns and verbal modifiers following verbs. The language likely originated among semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers living north of modern Tepat, with vocabulary reflecting their environment and way of life. Over time, Proto-Nastowic diversified into its daughter languages, influenced by interactions with neighboring linguistic groups.
Proto-Nastowic is the reconstructed ancestor of the Nastowic language family, which includes Swiric, Towic, Nasic, and the extinct Wepum language. It was a polysynthetic, head-final, and head-marking language with an extensive system of verb morphology, including personal prefixes, noun incorporation, and multiple applicatives that allowed highly complex verbal constructions. The language had a flexible SOV word order, with nominal modifiers preceding nouns and verbal modifiers following verbs, likely due to the presence of internally-headed relative clauses. Phonologically, Proto-Nastowic featured a distinction between fortis and lenis consonants, labialized dorsal consonants, and a hierarchical vowel system influencing stress patterns. Its vocabulary reflected the semi-nomadic lifestyle of its speakers, who inhabited the northern frontier of Tepat, transitioning seasonally between mountain and grassland environments. Early Proto-Nastowic lacked terms for agriculture and horse domestication, though later borrowings suggest cultural shifts. As it evolved, Proto-Nastowic diversified into distinct branches, with Towic becoming the most widespread. The language also exhibited contact-induced changes due to interactions with neighboring Taknic and Yuktepatic languages. These influences, along with internal phonological and grammatical developments, shaped the emergence of its descendant languages, each preserving and innovating upon Proto-Nastowic structures.
An example of Classical Swira. This is the 4th of 5 parts, showing its evolution. (Or 15 parts - there may be extensions, to be announced - but the last part for now!) Previously, I posted a short text in Proto-Nastowic, then one in Early Proto-Swiric, then Late Proto-Swiric, and finally Old Swira, all versions of the same text, through time, describing a family / hunting party in winter.
This is more or less how Swira would be spoken at the time they invaded and ransacked the Tepatic Conciliarity, following years of conflict.
At the Classical Swira stage, the number of geminate consonants increases due to assimilation, and also some cases of metathesis and epenthesis.
Omo iyol, weeiwo. Pyoosi sɯɯle, fimoko irka, niima ferko puke, arar alkii.Ɯra weka puattɯl, fii byoo.Imoke, tema tem, omo nubuna, lime wara.Farengatike para mur atsa miwakɯl.Fiiatyaai sifu yol saguike, petemu tiina.Tokike, fiiatsilkɯmuna, lime mito neko.Tobi, ema fiinubuna, ekoln ifol mol. Anna komolɯn uta tetiina, fipurun-kangina, pekɯl katsa telpufoola. Atta, aaki, arbu mepeniina mitusɯ. Weka my-oru serekan.Niilɯn ime miwaatte, temaatkiirɯ. Pekarɯ arkɯ tepatel -- Potal ko.Na, tesal ko!Perbu paaste arkɯ tefaa. Poltekiitte tiime polifo letɯn oke.Tɯn tema, tobi mekɯ gaayal.Tokibara-bara yɯɯrkɯ.Tiyar, mitawena miini. Aulau mikatso ifyaayaarkake. Imo yoinakiiaru ina!
An example of Old Swira. This is the 4th of probably 5 parts showing its evolution. Previously, I posted a short text in Proto-Nastowic, then one in Early Proto-Swiric, then Late Proto-Swiric.
Now, Old Swira is contemperaneous with the Tepatic Conciliarity, and the direct ancestor of the Swira language (one of the languages of the "barbarians" north of Tepat). At this stage, closed syllables have started to emerge again, and a greater number of long vowels.
This time, I have decided to segment the morphemes as best I can with a hyphen.
Again, I have bolded words that changed (and corrected last week) - which is probably good, because a lot of words have changed by this stage. Among them are the words for berry, mountain, heaven, winter, eat, and a couple grammatical particles. Some of these still exist, but with other senses. *Argʷu remains but has changed sense from ‘spear’ to ‘arrow,’ thus changing the sense of the text.
The sky is above us, the earth below. To the north is the Great Lake; to the east are mountains; to the south and west are more plains. There are the horses and antelopes, and the sun’s home. In summer, even at night the sky is white and the earth sweats. We gather fat black berries in our skin bags. When the sun, burning red, floats over the grass, I know that it watches me too. Through winter, the sun never climbs high, but slumbers near the horizon. Only the moon and snow are white; everything else is black. In blankets of furs, with numb fingers, mother starts a fire with flint and dry grass. Carrying spears, father, brother and I go outside. The wind cuts into our bones. We greet the spirit of the woods, and it answers. A deer speaks to my heart, “Here I am.” And there it was. I throw my spear and it falls. I thank the deer and send its soul back to the world of beasts. Tonight the moon is like the edge of a fingernail. Soon it will be the blackest black of winter. Then we will eat meat and sing. The remains we dry in the smoky hut. May we see the summer again!
An example of Proto-Swiric. Previously, I posted a short text in Proto-Nastowic. Here is its evolution to the next stage, early Proto-Swiric. This is the ancestor of Swira, one of the languages of the "barbarians" north of Tepat. The original Nastowic text follows.
The sky is above us, the earth below. To the north is the Great Lake; to the east are mountains; to the south and west are more plains. There are the horses and antelopes, and the sun’s home. In summer, even at night the sky is white and the earth sweats. We gather fat black berries in our skin bags. When the sun, burning red, floats over the grass, I know that it watches me too. Through winter, the sun never climbs high, but slumbers near the horizon. Only the moon and snow are white; everything else is black. In blankets of furs, with numb fingers, mother starts a fire with flint and dry grass. Carrying spears, father, brother and I go outside. The wind cuts into our bones. We greet the spirit of the woods, and it answers. A deer speaks to my heart, “Here I am.” And there it was. I throw my spear and it falls. I thank the deer and send its soul back to the world of beasts. Tonight the moon is like the edge of a fingernail. Soon it will be the blackest black of winter. Then we will eat meat and sing. The remains we dry in the smoky hut. May we see the summer again!
Around Tepat, are various other nations. The most developed of these (and most mentioned here) are Swira, the people Tepat commonly calls “barbarians,” who mostly live a nomadic herder lifestyle on the northern frontier with Tepat, trade and sometimes raid it, and occasionally gather into larger confederations and go to war with it.
Swira belongs to the Nastowic family, descended from Proto-Nastowic. Previously, I uploaded about the kinship system, and phonology. There’s more of that here:
This should be groundwork for preparing the full, later Swira language. But I felt like I needed to clean up the protolanguage first, and it’s gotten fairly complete.
I was going to edit it one day, but it ended up taking me 3 days to edit this. I was gonna prepare to put up on a web page, and maybe post it piece by piece here on Tumblr. But I’m tired and I’m busy. I’m just going to straight up upload the word doc and go to bed. You can see it or download it here.
Comment here or send me a message or comment on the doc. (You can insert a comment but not edit.) It’s like 35 pages but if anyone reads this maybe you might catch some mistakes or omissions for me.
Renamed Macro-Swiric as Nastowic, so the protolanguage is now Proto-Nastowic. I think this works much better. I created the Swira people first, and sketched out their language before going back to the origin. I needed some term, and it was the presumed ancestor of Swira, so of course I called it Proto-Swiric. There wasn’t any other name for it, really. But as it has been fleshed out, Swira is only 1 of ~5 branches, and not even the biggest one. Two branches are Nasic and Towic (Towic is the largest one), both of which are named for words meaning “(the) people,” and Towic goes all the way back to protolanguage *tab-. “Proto-Swiric” now just refers to the daughter language that evolved into Swira, rather than the furthest reconstructible ancestor. So the new name just means “people” represented by the two major terms for that. So it is more satisfying to me.
