Proto-Central Pacific language

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.

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

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

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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

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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⟩ *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⟩, * ⟨*ī⟩ *u ⟨*u⟩, * ⟨*ū⟩
Close-mid *e ⟨*e⟩, * ⟨*ē⟩ *o ⟨*o⟩, * ⟨*ō⟩
Open *a ⟨*a⟩, * ⟨*ā⟩

The orthography used is similar to that of Fijian.

Example sentence

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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

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  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