Proto-Algic (sometimes abbreviated PAc) is the
proto-language
In the tree model of historical linguistics, a proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family. Proto-languages are usually unattest ...
from which the
Algic languages
The Algic languages (also Algonquian–Wiyot–Yurok or Algonquian–Ritwan) are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian subfamily, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to ...
(
Wiyot language
Wiyot (also Wishosk) or Soulatluk (lit. "your jaw") is an Algic languageCampbell (1997:152) spoken by the Wiyot people of Humboldt Bay, California. The language's last native speaker, Della Prince, died in 1962.
Wiyot, along with its geograp ...
,
Yurok language
Yurok (also Chillula, Mita, Pekwan, Rikwa, Sugon, Weitspek, Weitspekan) is an Algic language. It is the traditional language of the Yurok people of Del Norte County and Humboldt County on the far north coast of California, most of whom now spe ...
, and
Proto-Algonquian
Proto-Algonquian (commonly abbreviated PA) is the proto-language from which the various Algonquian languages are descended. It is generally estimated to have been spoken around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, but there is less agreement on where it was ...
) are descended. It is estimated to have been spoken about 7,000 years ago somewhere in the American Northwest, possibly around the
Columbia Plateau
The Columbia Plateau is a geologic and geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Col ...
.
[Paul Proulx, ''Proto-Algic I: Phonological Sketch'', in the ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', volume 50, number 2 (April 1984)] It is an example of a second-level proto-language (a proto-language whose reconstruction depends on data from another proto-language, namely its descendant language
Proto-Algonquian
Proto-Algonquian (commonly abbreviated PA) is the proto-language from which the various Algonquian languages are descended. It is generally estimated to have been spoken around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, but there is less agreement on where it was ...
) which is widely agreed to have existed.
Its main researcher was
Paul Proulx.
Vowels
Proto-Algic had four basic vowels, which could be either long or short:
:long: *i·, *e·, *a·, *o·
:short: *i, *e, *a, *o
Consonants
Proto-Algic had the following consonants:
:
1 The identity of this consonant is not entirely certain; in Proto-Algonquian, it is sometimes alternatively reconstructed as ''θ'' /θ/.
It is unknown if ''č'' /tʃ/ was an independent phoneme or only an allophone of ''c'' and/or ''t'' in Proto-Algic (as in Proto-Algonquian). In 1992,
Paul Proulx theorized that Proto-Algic also possessed a phoneme ''gʷ'', which became *''w'' in Proto-Algonquian and ''g'' in Wiyot and Yurok.
All stops and affricates in the above chart have aspirated counterparts, and all consonants, except fricatives, have glottalized ones.
Proto-Algonquian
Proto-Algonquian (commonly abbreviated PA) is the proto-language from which the various Algonquian languages are descended. It is generally estimated to have been spoken around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, but there is less agreement on where it was ...
significantly reduced this system by eliminating all glottalized and aspirated phonemes.
[Paul Proulx, Proto-Algic I: Phonological Sketch, in the International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 50, number 2 (April 1984)]
See also
*
Algic languages
The Algic languages (also Algonquian–Wiyot–Yurok or Algonquian–Ritwan) are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian subfamily, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to ...
*
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages ( or ; also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous American languages that include most languages in the Algic languages, Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language f ...
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Proto-Algonquian language
Proto-Algonquian (commonly abbreviated PA) is the proto-language from which the various Algonquian languages are descended. It is generally estimated to have been spoken around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, but there is less agreement on where it was ...
References
*
Baldi, Philip, ''Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology'' (, 1990)
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{{Algic languages
Algic languages
Algic
The Algic languages (also Algonquian–Wiyot–Yurok or Algonquian–Ritwan) are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian subfamily, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to ...