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Difference between revisions of "Old Besokian language"
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Little change seems to have occurred in the language’s sound system, although phonological innovations only appear delayed in writing, and not all changes might be reflected even in the youngest texts at Nishûnâc. The earliest Old Besokian records show no difference to the known Proto-Besokian sound system; it is not until the mid-20th century that the irregular disappearance of word-initial <h> suggests this sound had been lost. By c. 1870, initial <h> has disappeared entirely from the textual record, and by c. 1800, former <VhV> combinations had come to be expressed as single vowels. | Little change seems to have occurred in the language’s sound system, although phonological innovations only appear delayed in writing, and not all changes might be reflected even in the youngest texts at Nishûnâc. The earliest Old Besokian records show no difference to the known Proto-Besokian sound system; it is not until the mid-20th century that the irregular disappearance of word-initial <h> suggests this sound had been lost. By c. 1870, initial <h> has disappeared entirely from the textual record, and by c. 1800, former <VhV> combinations had come to be expressed as single vowels. | ||
Shortly after the first disappearances of the <h> glyph, the <V> glyph is used more and more regularly in word-final position, suggesting elision of final consonants if followed by a similar consonant in the next word. This is first apparent with the consistent dropping of final nasals if the following word begins in a nasal and eventually affects <c#k> clusters as well | Shortly after the first disappearances of the <h> glyph, the <V> glyph is used more and more regularly in word-final position, suggesting elision of final consonants if followed by a similar consonant in the next word. This is first apparent with the consistent dropping of final nasals if the following word begins in a nasal and eventually affects <c#k> clusters as well. | ||
===Morphology=== | ===Morphology=== | ||
The most striking grammatical change seems to be the complete disappearance of the Proto-Besokian derivational system. No instance of its use in Proto-Besokian is attested, but complex derived words appear the [[Besokian Cosmogony]] and are preserved in all daughter languages. While Old Besokian makes use of a fair vocabulary of derived terms, this is a static list containing only common terms and no seemingly spontaneous innovations, and many derived items show phonological innovations that suggest an origin before Old Besokian. | The most striking grammatical change seems to be the complete disappearance of the Proto-Besokian derivational system. No instance of its use in Proto-Besokian is attested, but complex derived words appear the [[Besokian Cosmogony]] and are preserved in all daughter languages. While Old Besokian makes use of a fair vocabulary of derived terms, this is a static list containing only common terms and no seemingly spontaneous innovations, and many derived items show phonological innovations that suggest an origin before Old Besokian. | ||