Proto-Central Pacific language

Proto-Central Pacific
PCP
Reconstruction ofCentral Pacific languages
RegionFiji
Reconstructed
ancestors
Lower-order reconstructions

Proto-Central Pacific (abbreviated as PCP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Central Pacific languages. It belongs to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian languages.

It was first proposed by George W. Grace in 1959,[1] who also named the subgroup in 1967.[2] It was reconstructed by C.F. Hockett in 1976.[3]

Descendants

Proto-Central Pacific, originally spoken by Lapita settlers in Fiji three millennia ago, separated into a dialect network, consisting of what would become a western dialect (ancestral to Rotuman and western Fijian dialects) and an eastern dialect (ancestral to eastern Fijian dialects and Proto-Polynesian). Later, the dialects that remained in Fiji converged back, eventually becoming more similar, leading to the present-day Fijian language.[4]

Phonology

The phonology of Proto-Central Pacific, according to Geraghty (1986),[5] are:

Consonants
Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Stop prenasalized *ᵐb ⟨*b⟩ *ⁿd ⟨*d⟩, *ⁿdr ⟨*dr⟩ *ᵑg ⟨*q⟩
voiceless *p ⟨*p⟩ *t ⟨*t⟩ *k ⟨*k⟩ *kʷ ⟨*kw⟩ *ʔ
Nasal *m ⟨*m⟩ *n ⟨*n⟩ *ɲ ⟨*ñ⟩ *ŋ ⟨*g⟩ *ŋʷ ⟨*gw⟩
Fricative *β ⟨*v⟩ *ð ⟨*c⟩ *s ⟨*s⟩ *ɟ ⟨*z⟩ *x ⟨*x⟩
Affricate *t͡ʃ ⟨*j⟩
Approximant *l ⟨*l⟩, *r ⟨*r⟩ *j ⟨*y⟩ *w ⟨*w⟩
Vowels
  Front Back
Close *i ⟨*i⟩, *iː ⟨*ī⟩ *u ⟨*u⟩, *uː ⟨*ū⟩
Close-mid *e ⟨*e⟩, *eː ⟨*ē⟩ *o ⟨*o⟩, *oː ⟨*ō⟩
Open *a ⟨*a⟩, *aː ⟨*ā⟩

The orthography used is similar to that of Fijian.

Example sentence

From Kikusawa (2000, 167)[6]

*Na=ᵑgu

PST=1SG.GEN

tirovi=a

see=3SG

i

PRS

aku

1SG

(ʔi

LOC

na

DET

vale).

house

*Na=ᵑgu tirovi=a i aku (ʔi na vale).

PST=1SG.GEN see=3SG PRS 1SG LOC DET house

'I saw him (in the house).'

References

  1. ^ Grace, George W. (1959), "The position of the Polynesian languages within the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language family", Memoir 16
  2. ^ Grace, George W. (1967), The effect of heterogeneity in the lexicostatistical test list: the case of Rotuman
  3. ^ Hockett, C.F. (May 1976), "The Reconstruction of Proto-Central Pacific", Anthropological Linguistics, 18 (5): 187–235
  4. ^ Geraghty, Paul (1996), "Some Problems with Proto-Central Pacific", Oceanic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics: 83–91
  5. ^ Geraghty, Paul (1986), "The sound system of Proto-Central Pacific", Focal II: Papers from the Fourth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics: 289–312
  6. ^ Kikusawa, Ritsuko (2000), Reconstructing the actancy systems of Proto-Central Pacific and its daughter languages: ergativity, accusativity and their diachronic development