Sergei L. Nikolaev
Institute of Slavic studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow/Novosibirsk); sergenicko@mail.ru
Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan.
Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
The first part of the present study, following a general introduction (§ 1), presents a classification and approximate glottochronological dating for the Algonquian-Wakashan languages
(§ 2), a preliminary discussion of regular sound correspondences between Proto-Wakashan,
Proto-Nivkh, and Proto-Algic (§ 3), and an analysis of the Algonquian-Wakashan “basic lexicon” (§ 4). The main novelty of the present article is in its attempt at formal demonstration of
a genetic relationship between the Nivkh, Algic, and Wakashan languages, arrived at by
means of the standard comparative method, i. e. establishing a system of regular sound correspondences between the vocabularies of the compared languages. Proto-Salishan is considered as a remote relative of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan; at the same time, no close
(“Mosan”) relationship between Wakashan and Salish has been traced. Additionally, lexical
correspondences between Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan, Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan, and
Proto-Salishan are also reviewed. The conclusion is that no genetic relationship exists between Chukchi-Kamchatkan, on the one hand, and Algonquian-Wakashan, languages (Nivkh
included), on the other hand. Instead, it seems more likely that Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan
has borrowed words from Wakashan, Salishan, and Algic (but probably not vice versa; § 5).
The Algonquian-Wakashan, Salishan and Chukchi-Kamchatkan common cultural lexicon is
also examined, resulting in the identification of numerous “cultural” loans from Wakashan
and Salish into Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan. Borrowing from Salishan into Proto-Nivkh was
far less intensive, as there are no reliable Nivkh-Wakashan contact words. Proto-Algic has no
borrowed “cultural” words from the mentioned languages (§ 6).
Keywords: Algonquian-Wakashan languages, Algic languages, Wakashan languages, Nivkh
language, historical phonology, basic lexicon, cultural lexicon.
1. Introduction
1.1. Edward Sapir (1929) had originally proposed the Algonkin-Wakashan phylum (elsewhere
denoted as Algonquian-Wakashan, Algonquian-Mosan and Almosan = Algonquian + Mosan) with the following internal classification: 1. Algonkin–Ritwan [Algic]1. (1) Algonkin
[Algonquian]. (2) Beothuk. (3) Ritwan. (a) Wiyot. (b) Yurok. 2. Kootenay [Kutenai]. 3. Mosan
(Wakashan-Salish). (1) Wakashan (Kwakiutl-Nootka). (2) Chimakuan. (3) Salish. The term
“Mosan” was derived from the common designation of ‘four’ in Salishan (*mus), Chimakuan
(*maʔyas) and Wakashan (*mu:) languages.
Morris Swadesh (1953a, 1953b) published a large list of similar Salishan, Wakashan and
Chimakuan roots and stems as a demonstration of the Mosan genetic relationship; lexical correspondences were provided along with Proto-Mosan reconstructions. Swadesh was comparing forms from attested languages, since the Proto-Salishan, Proto-Chimakuan, and ProtoWakashan reconstructions had not yet been produced. Although Swadesh’s Mosan recon1
The current synonyms are given in square brackets.
Journal of Language Relationship • Вопросы языкового родства • 13/1 (2015) • Pp. 23—61 • © Nikolaev S. L., 2015
Sergei L. Nikolaev
structions are rather speculative, no system of regular sound correspondences was established,
and genetic relationship of the languages could not be considered proven, his work still laid
the basis for further study.
Sapir’s “Algonkin-Wakashan” (or “Almosan”) remains a speculative hypothesis, not to
mention Joseph Greenberg’s “Almosan–Keresiouan”2. While Mosan is considered as a probable (although not properly demonstrated) diachronic unit with features typical of a
Sprachbund (Beck 1997), both “Almosan” and “Almosan–Keresiouan” have been rejected by
most specialists in Native American languages (Campbell 2000: 327–328). Nevertheless, the
reasoning of the “non-believers” is no more or less convincing as that of the “believers”, since
both positions remain equally unfounded. Neither are there any convincing arguments for
“Macro-Algonquian”, allegedly including, besides Algic, also the “Gulf” languages of the
Muskogean family (Creek, Choktaw, etc.) and Natchez, Atakapan, Chitimacha, Tunica, and
Tonkawa (Haas 1958, 1959, 1960: 983–987). Indeed, the Muskogean languages have several
striking lexical similarities with Algic, but a serious evaluation of the evidence will be possible
only after the completion of a reconstruction for Proto-Gulf (Goddard 1979: 106). There are
also hypotheses on Chukchi-Kamchatkan-Nivkh-Almosan (Mudrak & Nikolaev 1989) and
Chukchi-Kamchatkan-Nivkh relationship (Fortescue 2011, see § 5). A simple collection of
vaguely homologous words, or even a superficially more impressive group of similar monosyllabic affixes from various contemporaneous languages do not really count as convincing
arguments in favor of their etymological cognacy.
1.2. As of now, our chances to resolve the Mosan and Algonquian-Wakashan controversies have significantly increased. The main achievement in this respect of the last 50 years has
been the reconstruction of parent languages of families allegedly pertaining to the Algonquian-Wakashan macrophylum. This allows to compare data on much deeper levels than
those of contemporary languages, and, therefore, avoid being misled by comparisons that represent nothing more than secondary accidental resemblances.
The Proto-Wakashan, as well as the Proto-North and Proto-South Wakashan forms, have
been reconstructed in the “Comparative Wakashan dictionary” by M. Fortescue (2007). The
Proto-Wakashan data are far from complete: although we do possess a full list of the Northern
Wakashan roots by N. Lincoln and J. Rath (1980), similar work on South Wakashan is yet to be
done, since Fortescue’s dictionary contains only a part of South Wakashan cognates. Consequently, Proto-North Wakashan forms will appear in the present comparison much more often than South Wakashan.
Publication of the Quileute dictionary (Powell & Woodruff 1976) permits us to determine
the classificatory status of the Chimakuan languages3. For the time being, however, work on
the Quileute materials is still underway, so in this part of the paper I only quote them where
absolutely necessary. Data on Chemakum are so scarce that it is not even possible to fill up a
quarter of Swadesh’s wordlist.
The Algic family includes the Algonquian subfamily with numerous languages, of which
Central and Eastern Algonquian languages are reliable sources for a definitive reconstruction
Greenberg (1987) included Sapir’s Algonkin–Wakashan (denoted as “Almosan”) into the “Almosan–Keresiouan” phylum along with the Caddoan, Iroquoian, Keresan, and Siouan–Catawban families. This hypothesis
presumes an exclusive distant relationship and has not been properly supported with standard methods of comparative linguistics.
3 Chimakuan languages (Quileute and the scarcely documented Chemakum) belong to the same phylum as
Wakashan. The Quileute material still requires further processing in its historical aspect; therefore, only the most
important Quileute and Chemakum data are given in the present paper.
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Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
(Bloomfield 1925; Sapir 1929; Miller 1959). For the most part, the Proto-Algonquian dictionaries (Aubin 1975; Hewson 1993) rely on material from these languages. The Plains Algonquian
languages have ruined sound systems; many of their forms allow multiple historical interpretations and are therefore often “adscribed” to the dependable comparisons, although occasionally they can render the previous reconstructions more exact in certain aspects (Goddard
1974, 1982; Proulx 1977, 1989; Siebert 1941). The languages of the Ritwan subfamily (Yurok,
Wiyot) are rather archaic and sufficient for an appropriate phonological reconstruction of
Proto-Algic, but they put rather fragmentary data at our disposal: there is a relatively full Yurok vocabulary (Robins 1958) and a much more incomplete list of the Wiyot forms (Teeter &
Nichols 1993; additional field data in P. Proulx’s articles). Due to this, the number of ProtoAlgic forms is much smaller than could be expected for a protolanguage that had most likely
split no earlier than circa 3500 B.C.4 Paul Proulx’s articles (1984a, 1984b, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1994)
contain the bulk of Algic comparisons; some addenda are also available in Berman 1984, 1990.
The Algic protoforms as reconstructed by Paul Proulx are used in the present article, with only
slight modifications.
The Proto-Salishan phonology was reconstructed by Aert Kuipers, who has published an
etymological dictionary (2002) in which not only the Proto-Salishan protoforms, but also those
of both Salishan groups (Internal and Coast Salish) are given. Newman 1979 contains some
additional information on personal affixes in Proto-Salishan.
Oleg Mudrak’s comparative study on the so-called “Palaeo-Asian” languages make an
important contribution to our understanding of the linguistic situation in Northeast Asia,
and allows us to integrate the lexical material of Eskimo, Nivkh, Chukchi-Kamchatkan, and
Yukaghir families in our comparison in corpore. In the present article, the following works by
Mudrak have been taken into consideration: his reconstructions of Proto-Chukchi and ProtoItelmen (Mudrak 2000; the comparative database “Chukchi-Kamchatkan etymology” at
http://starling.rinet.ru), Proto-Eskimo (Mudrak 2011; the comparative database “Eskimo etymology” at http://starling.rinet.ru), and his as of yet unpublished Proto-Nivkh and ProtoYukaghir databases, kindly provided to the author of the present paper with valuable personal commentary. Still another version of the Chukchi-Kamchatkan reconstruction, together
with a comparative dictionary, has been published by Michael Fortescue (2005). Finally, Mudrak’s as of yet unpublished database niodet.dbf assembles numerous lexical similarities between Proto-Nivkh, Proto-Yukaghir, and Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan.
1.3. The present article aims to conclusively demonstrate genetic relationship between the
Nivkh family5 and both the Algic and Wakashan language families, as compared to the rather
speculative conclusions in Mudrak & Nikolaev 1989. The Nivkh family is the only constituent
of this tripartite phylum in Northeast Asia; all of its relatives had relocated to North America,
covering the territories adjacent to the homogenous Na-Dene area, and for many centuries had
had no further contact with Nivkh.
This explains the prevalence of the binary Proto-North Wakashan and Proto-Nivkh lexical correspondences
over the Proto- Wakashan/Proto-South Wakashan and Proto-Algic/Proto-Algonquian ones. We dispose of the
North Wakashan and Nivkh lexical material in corpore, whereas Proto-Algonquian data are limited, with ca. 800
reconstructed roots. Materials on Proto-Algic, Proto-Wakashan, and Proto-South Wakashan are even more scarce.
5 The Nivkh family should include not only the contemporary Nivkh languages, but also some extinct language or languages that must have served as the source for borrowings into Yukaghir and Proto-ChukchiKamchatkan. Contemporary languages include Amur Nivkh and Sakhalin Nivkh with three dialects (Northern,
Eastern, and Southern).
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Sergei L. Nikolaev
In my opinion, genetic relationship between Nivkh, Algic, and Chimakuan-Wakashan is
quite plausible, while the resemblances between Chukchi-Kamchatkan and Nivkh look rather
like results of long-term mutual borrowings (contrary to Fortescue 2011, see § 5). Traditionally,
Nivkh has been attributed to the so-called “Palaeo-Asian”, or “Palaeo-Sibirian” language
grouping, which is in reality nothing more than a Sprachbund. Attempts to include Nivkh into
the Nostratic (sensu stricto)6 macrophylum, based on several lexical parallels with Uralic and
Altaic languages, have not been confirmed by lexicostatistics. These parallels are most likely
due to the fact that Nivkh contains numerous loanwords of Tungus-Manchu origin, and, vice
versa, Nivkh loans from different time periods are found in Chukchi-Koryak, Itelmen,
Yukaghir, and Tungus-Manchu languages.
Concerning vocabulary, the Palaeo-Siberian and Northwest American Sprachbunds demonstrate a real hodge-podge of multilateral borrowings from poorly identifiable sources and
with obscure etymologies7. Consequently, we are obliged to thoroughly examine the different
lexical strata of the languages in question, trying to distinguish between loans and inherited
vocabulary. At this stage of study we intentionally avoid comparisons that imply non-trivial
semantical changes, even though such cases were undoubtedly quite common over several
thousand years of independent history of the Algonquian-Wakashan languages.
Comparative lexical material that serves as the basis for the present study may be found
in the author’s own databases on Algonquian-Wakashan, Wakashan, Salishan, Chimakuan,
and Algic etymology (unpublished, but available upon request), as well as certain databases
and publications by different authors (see the complete list of “Language abbreviations and
sources” appended to the paper).
I express a deep gratitude to George Starostin for his invaluable help with my English in
writing this paper.
2. Internal classification of the Algonquian-Wakashan languages
2.1. As is well known, the very fact of numerous lexical similarities between two or more languages does not testify in favor of a genetic relationship between them, unless the similarities
have been satisfactorily elaborated into a set of etymologies based on recurrent sound correspondences. Furthermore, even when such correspondences have been established, they can
also be due to mass borrowing from one language into another, rather than genetic relationship8. Lexicostatistics makes it possible to perform a preliminary evaluation of observed similarities between languages, to differentiate between cognate and borrowed strata of vocabulary, and to determine the chronology (relative and even absolute) of divergence of related
languages9. Proof of genetic relationship is achieved only through the demonstration of a sysJoseph Greenberg and S. A. Starostin use the term “Eurasiatic”, which is more precise for this language
macrophylum, since “classic” Nostratic (according to H. Pedersen, V. M. Illich-Svitych and A. Dolgopolski) also
includes — or, more accurately, is also an immediate ancestor — of Afro-Asiatic, a separate macrofamily probably
cognate with Nostratic (sensu stricto) on a much deeper level (Starostin 1989b).
7 See § 6 for notes on the cultural lexicon, and § 5 on lexical parallels between Chukchi-Kamchatkan languages, on one hand, and Algonquian-Wakashan and Salishan languages, on the other hand.
8 For example, Romanian shows almost ideal phonetic correspondences between the bulk of ancient Slavic
borrowings and their immediate source (close to Old Bulgarian), see examples in Mihăilă 1973.
9 See further on lexicostatistics (including glottochronology) as a component part of comparative linguistics
in Gell-Mann et al. 2009; Kassian et al. 2010, 2014; G. Starostin 2010, 2014; S. Starostin 1989a, 1999, 2000, 2007;
S. Starostin et al. 1995.
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Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
tem of regular sound correspondences operating in toto on the inherited lexicon of related languages, primarily within its basic strata where mutual borrowings are usually rare10.
2.2. The Algonquian-Wakashan classification and preliminary glottochronological datings
are reproduced in Fig. 111. This scheme is the result of processing data from one reconstructed
(Proto-North Wakashan, ca. 500 A.D.) and several modern Algonquian-Wakashan languages,
corresponding to Sergei Starostin’s 110item wordlist12, with the aid of the StarLing software
package13; additional calculations were also performed on the basis of George Starostin’s
50item wordlist14. Etymological support exists for the overwhelming majority of the entries
on the 110item list; the forms marked as cognate with each other are tied together by regular
sound correspondences (§ 3) and are extremely unlikely to have been borrowed from outside
sources after the original disintegration of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Percentages of lexical
coincidence are shown in Tables 1 and 2. An annotated survey of the comparative data used in
lexicostatistical calculations will be given in the second part of the present article, since it has
to be accompanied with detailed comments on historical phonology: sound changes in the
history of the Nivkh and Algic families have been so substantial that cognates are frequently
unrecognizable to “the naked eye”.
2.3. The Salishan family is one further Native American taxon that seems to show signs of
further phylogenetic unity with Algonquian-Wakashan. There are numerous lexical similarities
between Proto-Salishan and Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan within the “basic lexicon” (§ 4), including personal pronouns and numerals 1–3 (§ 4, 7); however, regular sound correspondences
remain unestablished, leaving the Salish-Algonquian-Wakashan relationship in the realm of
speculation. If the observed similarities are taken at face value, that could indicate that ProtoSalishan had diverged from Proto-Salish-Algonquian-Wakashan (“Almosan”, in J. Greenberg’s
terms) ca. 2000 years prior to the subsequent disintegration of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan.
It makes little sense to discuss morphological similarities between languages that are so remotely related,
but it may be noted that Proto-Wakashan, Proto-Nivkh and Proto-Algic are reconstructed as polysynthetic languages with weak prefixation and well-developed suffixation, including incorporation of nominal and verbal
roots as “lexical suffixes”. In this respect Nivkh may be considered as the most archaic constituent, since, although
the “incorporated” nominal and verbal forms in Nivkh are marked with morphophonemic sound alternations,
they have not been transformed into proper suffixal forms, the way it happened in Proto-Chimakuan-Wakashan
and in Proto-Algic. A peculiar feature of these languages is suppletion in the sphere of body part terms and in
some other lexemes, when independent and suffixal forms are derived from different roots (a serious problem for
lexicostatistical work on those of the languages that are poorly documented). Polysynthesis is also well developed
in Na-Dene, Chukchi-Kamchatkan, and Eskimo-Aleut languages, i. e. it can be considered a Sprachbund-level phenomenon. Formal borders between noun and verbal stems are rather arbitrary. Several “non-trivial” PAW affixes
may be reconstructed, such as *ŋV, attached to inalienable nouns, or the plural infix *Ay. Several other common
monosyllabic nominal and verbal suffixes have also been noted, but they are generally irrelevant for the demonstration of remote relationship, since similar auxiliary morphemes with the appropriate grammatical meanings
may be found in the majority of the world’s language families.
11 The glottochronological dates should not be treated as incontestable facts and will undoubtedly undergo
modifications once the material of all the constituents of Algonquian-Wakashan (most importantly, Quileute, and
perhaps Kutenai as well) is taken into account. The current datings reflect a highly approximate temporal scale of
linguistic divergence.
12 Reflects the standard 100item Swadesh wordlist with 10 additional items, included for the sake of improved accuracy in classifying and dating closely related languages.
13 StarLing for Windows, v. 2.5.3: computerized system for multilingual database processing, (c) 1985–2005
by S. A. Starostin, StarLing Software Inc. (available for download at http://starling.rinet.ru).
14 A shortened Swadesh list, specially prepared for a rough evaluation of genetic relationship, particularly
useful on remote time depths (G. Starostin 2010).
10
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Sergei L. Nikolaev
-6 .
50
-6 .
00
-5 .
50
-5 .
00
-4 .
50
-4 .
00
Figure 1. Genetic tree of the Algonquian-Wakashan macrophylum (with glottochronological dating).
-3.50 -3.00 -2.50
-2.00
-1.50
-1.00
-0.50
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
Nootka
Wakashan
Northern Wakashan
Algonquian-Wakashan
Amur Nivkh
Nivkh
Sakhalin Nivkh
Nivkh-Algic
Miami-Peoria
Central-Eastern Algonquian
Western Abenaki
Algic
Fort Severn Cree
Yurok
Ritwan
Wiyot
Table 1. Percentages of lexical cognacy in the 50item wordlist between Algonquian-Wakashan languages.
North Wakashan
Nootka
Amur
Nivkh
Sakhalin
Nivkh
Western
Abenaki
Miami
Cree
Wiyot15
Yurok
34%
21%
19%
15%
17%
15%
19%
17%
12%
15%
14%
14%
14%
12%
10%
92%
22%
22%
20%
16%
24%
22%
24%
22%
21%
24%
64%
72%
37%
30%
66%
42%
32%
42%
30%
Nootka
Amur Nivkh
Sakhalin Nivkh
Western Abenaki
Miami (Peoria)
Cree (Fort Severn)
Wiyot
56%
Table 2. Percentages of lexical cognacy in the 110item wordlist between Algonquian-Wakashan languages.
North Wakashan
Nootka
Amur Nivkh
Sakhalin Nivkh
Western Abenaki
Miami Peoria
Cree (Fort Severn)
Wiyot
Nootka
Amur
Nivkh
Sakhalin
Nivkh
Western
Abenaki
Miami
Cree
Wiyot
Yurok
31%
16%
16%
11%
12%
12%
16%
16%
12%
12%
10%
11%
11%
9%
10%
91%
19%
20%
17%
16%
23%
19%
21%
17%
16%
22%
58%
64%
30%
25%
64%
34%
27%
34%
23%
47%
Some imbalances in the percentages shown by Wiyot are due to incomplete 50 and 110item wordlists, as
well as insufficient information on precise meanings of certain words.
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Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
Table 3.16
Algonquian-Wakashan macrophylum (ca. 6500 B.C.)
Chimakuan-Wakashan phylum (ca. 5000 B.C.)
Wakashan family (ca. 3000 B.C.)
Northern Wakashan (Kwakiutlan) subfamily
Haisla
Kwakiutl (Kwak’wala)
Heiltsuk
Oowekyala
Southern Wakashan (Nootkan) subfamily
Makah (†)
Nitinaht (Ditidaht)
Nootka (Nuuchahnulth)
Chimakuan family
Quileute
Chemakum (†)
Nivkh-Algic phylum (ca. 5000 B.C.)
Nivkh family
Southern Nivkh subfamily (ca. 700 A.D.)
Amur Nivkh
Sakhalin Nivkh
Northern Nivkh subfamily
Northern Nivkh (†)17
Algic family (ca. 3000 B.C.)
Algonquian subfamily (ca. 1500 B.C.)
Plains tribe
Blackfoot, Arapaho, Gros Ventre, Cheyenne
Central-eastern tribe (ca. 700 B.C.)
Central group: Cree—Montagnais—Naskapi, Menominee,
Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Sauk—Fox—Kickapoo,
Shawnee, Miami—Illinois(†), etc.
Eastern group: Micmac, Western Abenaki, Eastern Abenaki(†),
Malecite—Passamaquoddy, Narragansett(†),
Mohegan—Pequot (†), Massachusett, Quiripi—
Naugatuck-Unquachog (†), Mahican (†), Delaware,
Nanticoke—Piscataway (†), Carolina Algonquian
(Pamilco †), Powhatan (†), etc.
Ritwan subfamily (ca. 1400 B.C.)
Wiyot (†)
Yurok
Approximate dates of disintegration are shown in brackets.
This language may be reconstructed in part, based on the phonetic characteristics of Nivkh loanwords in
Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan and especially in Proto-Yukaghir.
16
17
29
Sergei L. Nikolaev
Kutenai may also be somehow related to Algonquian-Wakashan, probably representing
its separate branch, but the data are too scarce to establish both sound correspondences and its
position in the classification18. A relatively close relationship between the Chimakuan and
Wakashan families seems to be beyond serious doubt, even though it has not been proven according to standard comparative methodology (Powell 1993). The place of Beothuk is unclear
due to the unreliability of lexical data.
Sapir’s Algonquian-Wakashan phylogenetic unity (§ 1.1) seems to be generally confirmed,
except for the inclusion of Salishan directly into the “narrow” Algonquian-Wakashan macrophylum. The impression of an immediate Salish-Chimakuan-Wakashan relationship is produced by phonological resemblances, typologically similar sound changes and numerous
contact words resulting from the prolonged amalgamation of Salishan and ChimakuanWakashan languages in the Northwest American Sprachbund. Subsequently, the term “Mosan”
loses its “authentic” phylogenetic significance.
All the other Eurasian and North American languages either show much more distant genetic relationship with Algonquian-Wakashan, or no relationship at all. In particular, any specific relation to the Iroquois-Caddoan phylum, Keresan and Siouan families (as per Greenberg)
is out of the question.
2.4. Lexicostatistics suggests the following phylogeny for the Algonquian-Wakashan macrophylum: Table 3.
3. Algonquian-Wakashan sound correspondences
Genetic relationship between Proto-Wakashan, Proto-Nivkh, and Proto-Algic may be demonstrated by means of the standard comparative method, i. e. the establishment of a system of
regular sound correspondences between the compared vocabularies, including the “basic lexicon”. Part 2 of the present article will be specially dedicated to the Algonquian-Wakashan
sound correspondences; positional distribution of the reflexes of PAW phonemes will be described in more details in subsequent papers.
Table 4 contains a simplified version of sound correspondences; its purpose is to provide
a basic reference model for orientation among the lexical comparisons quoted below.
4. Algonquian-Wakashan “basic lexicon”
4.1. In the present paper the words (roots) with lexical meanings that have been included in
Sergei Starostin’s 110item wordlist are conventionally denoted as belonging to the “basic lexicon”. Below we list the most likely Algonquian-Wakashan etymologies that represent this
particular layer of the “basic lexicon”. The seeming “synonymy” of several PAW roots (e. g.,
two PAW roots for ‘breast/heart’, three roots for ‘head’, etc.) is the inevitable result of the approximate nature of semantic reconstruction; more formally, it means that in each case at least
one of the comparanda meets the semantic requirements of the 110item wordlist.
In spite of its incompleteness (there are no lexical correspondences for several terms), the
Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan “basic lexicon”, reconstructed on the basis of regular sound correspondences between Nivkh, Algic and Wakashan (§ 3), would seem to constitute sufficient
evidence for their genetic relationship. The following list contains lexical correspondences
18
30
The only accessible source on Kutenai for me has been Boas 1918.
Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
Table 4. Principal sound correspondences between Proto-Wakashan, Proto-Nivkh, and Proto-Algic.19
Proto Wakashan
Proto Nivkh
Proto Algic
Obstruents
*p1
*p
*ph-2, *f
*p3
*b
*b, *p4
*p5
*p ~ *ph
*p’
*p’, *p
*p
*t
*t
*th, t
*d
*d, *t
*t
*t’
*t’, *t
*t
*c
*s
*ch- , *s
*c (/*č)
*ʒ
*s
*c
*ʒ ~ *ch (~ d9)
*c’
*c’, *c
*ch, *s 10
*c (/*č)
*s
*s
*ch, *s
*s (/*š)
*č
*c, *s
*ch, *s
*č (/*c ~ *t)
*ǯ
*ʒ, *s
*c
*ǯ ~ *čh (~ d)
*č’
*c’, *c
*ch, *s
*č (/*c ~ *t)
*š
*s
*ch, *s
*š (/*s)
*
*
*th, *l
*ł (/*š)
*
*, *
*l
* ~ *ł
*’
*’, *
*t, *l
*ł
*ł
*ł
*th- ~ *l12
*ł
*k
*k
*Kh-13, *X
*k
*g
*g, *k
*K
*g15 ~ *kh
*k’
*k’, *x
*Kh, *K
*x
*x
*Kh, *X
*kɀ
*kɀ16
*Kh, *X
*kw
*gɀ
*gɀ, *kɀ
*K
* w- ~ *khw
*k’ɀ
*k’ɀ, *kɀ
*Kh, *K ~ *v 17
*kw
*xɀ
*xɀ
*Kh, *X ~ *v
*kw ~ *w
*q
*q
*h-18 ~ *Kh, *X
*k
*
* -/*g-
*h- ~ *Kh, *X
*g ~ *kh
*q’
*q’, *χ
*K
*k ~ *ʔ20
*χ
*χ
*h- ~ *Kh, *X
*k
*qɀ
*qɀ
*h- ~ *Kh, *X
*kw
*p
6
*d ~ *th
*t (/*č)
8
19
*t (/*č7)
11
14
*k-
In this table the signs “/” and comma separate positional reflexes; the sign “~” separates reflexes with unclear distribution. An intermediate Proto-Nivkh-Algic reconstructruction, although indispensable for methodological reasons, is not really necessary for practical ones, since the reduced sound systems in both Proto-Algic and
Proto-Nivkh would result either in several equiprobable and equally clumsy/useless reconstructions, or, if external
data are taken into proper account, in a reconstruction that is pretty much equal to Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan
itself. Since the chronological distance between PAW and PNA must not have been very large, PNA phonology
could hardly have had time to introduce multiple changes that would significantly distinguish it from PAW.
19
31
Sergei L. Nikolaev
Proto Wakashan
Proto Nivkh
Proto Algic
* ɀ
* ɀ, *qɀ
*K
* w- ~ *khw
*q’ɀ
*q’ɀ, *qɀ
*K ~ *v
*kw
*χɀ
*χɀ
*h- ~ *Kh, *X ~ *v
*kw ~ *w
*ʔ
*ʔ21
*ʔ, *0
*ʔ
*h
*ʔ, *0
*h, *0
*ʔ, *h
Sonorants
*
*x-
*j-/*0-
*h-/*0-
* ɀ
*gɀ, *w/*023
*f, *v/*0 (/*X-24)
*w, * w
*
*χ-
*j-/*0-
* -
*ɀ
* ɀ, *w/*0
*v-/*0- (/*X)
*w
*w
*w’
*w’
*y
*y
*y’
*y’
*r
*l, *ł/*l26
*r’
*l’, *l’/*ł
*l
*l-28, *ł/*l29
*l’
*l’, *l’/*ł
*ĺ (?)
*y, *ł/*l
*ĺ’ (?)
*y’, *l’/*ł
*m
*m
*m’
*m’
*n30
*n
*n’
*n’
*ń
*n
*ń’
*n’
*ŋ
*n
*ŋ’
*n’
22
*v-/*ʔ-25, *v/0
*w-/*ʔ, *w
*y-/*ʔ, *j/*0
*y-/*ʔ, *y
*r
*l27 (/*r)
*l
*l
*l
*l, y
*m
*m
*n
*n
*ń
*n
*ŋ
*m, n
Clusters (sonorants+obstruents)
*wC
*wC/*C31
*vC
*C
*yC
*C
*jC
*C
*rC
*C
*rC
*hC32
*lC
*lC
*lC
*łC
*ĺC
*C
*lC
*łC
*mC
*mC
*NC33
*nC
*nC
*nC
*(N)C
*nC
*C
*NC
*C
*ŋC
32
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Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
Proto Wakashan
Proto Nivkh
Proto Algic
Vowels35
*i
*i36
*e
*a
*ä
*i
*Ǹ
*u
*
*a
*a
*a
*o
*a
*u
*u
*i:
*i:
*e:
*a:
*ä:
*i:
*:
*a:
*Ǹ:
*u:
*a:
*a:
*o:
*a:
*u:
*u:
*ü: (?)
*i:
*e ~ *i37
PA38 *e
*a
* ~ *Ǹ
PA *a ~ *e
*a
*o ~ *u
*e ~ *i
*a
* ~ *Ǹ
*a
PA *i: ~ *e:
PA *e: (~ *a:)
PA *a: (~*e:)
PA *a: (~*e:)
PA *o:
PA *a: (~ *o: )
PA *o: (~*a:)
*o ~ *u
PA *o:
PA *i: ~ *e: ~ *o:
N o t e s o n t h e t a b l e:
1 Clusters consisting of two obstruents are, as a rule, simplified in PW, so that the first component is deleted
or develops into *ʔ, *h.
2 The PNi aspirated palatal, velar and uvular stops/affricates (ch, kh, qh) are in complementary distribution
with fricatives (s, x, χ): stops/affricates in root-initial and fricatives in medial/coda position. All of the PNi rootmedial plain stops and voiceless fricatives have positional voiced allophones, mostly with obvious distribution
(voiced allophones between vowels and before sonorants, etc.): p~b, t~d, c~z, k~g, q~, s~z, x~, χ~. Irregular
voiced obstruents serve as indications of an original intervocalic position; such cases are analysed in part 2 of
the present article. In this table, only voiceless allophones are shown. Positional variants of the rootinitial
stops/affricates in the alternations ph~f, th~řh, ch~s, kh~x, qh~χ; p~v, t~r, c~z, k~, q~, in which fricatives appear after actual or former (deleted) vowels and sonorants in the “incorporated” forms, are not given in the table, either.
Cf.: us=pǸńx ‘meat soup’ ~ cho=vǸńx ‘fish soup’; luvr=ćosq ‘to break a spoon’ ~ laq=zosq ‘to break a ski’; thiv ~ řiv ~
iřp ‘to sit’, etc.
3 In Proto-Algonquian, all four PAlg series of stops/affricates merged in one: *p, *t, *s, etc. The origin of PAlg
glottalized consonants (*p’, *t’, *k’, *c’, *č’) remains unclear. The PAlg phonemes denoted by Paul Proulx (1994) as
*T , *K , *L, *C , *Č (I interpret them as voiced stops/affricates *d, *g, *, *ʒ, *ǯ) are regular reflexes of the PAW voiced
consonants. Likewise, PAlg aspirated stops (*ph, *th, *kh, *ch, *čh) reflect PAW voiced consonants. There is also a
case of the alternation D~Th: PA *ety ‘belly’, Yu. eyah ‘stomach, belly’ (< PAlg *edey), but Wi. ith ‘belly’ (< PAlg
*ethey). Proulx is probably right that PAlg glottalized and aspirated stops represent former consonantal clusters.
In this case, there were only two series of stop phonemes in PAlg: voiced and unvoiced.
4 Probably as a result of redistribution of root coda consonants on morphemic boundaries (where samdhi
rules must have developed at an early date, just as they did in PW), aspirated stops became generalized in the PW
root coda. Only several archaic derivatives have voiced and glottalized stops in the root coda position.
5 PAW *Nb > PNi m. This is a particular case of the general development PAW *ND > PNi *N (where D = any
voiced stop/affricate).
33
Sergei L. Nikolaev
Dental stops are deleted before consonants in PNi. Further developments of some consonantal clusters took
place after vowel deletion: PAW *TVyV (T = any dental stop) > PNi *c(h)V, PAW *KVlV and *KVyV (K = any velar) > PNi *c(h)V; PAW *QVlV (Q = any uvular) > PNi *KjV (before front vowels) /*KV (elsewhere).
7 PAlg dental stops/affricates, dental and lateral fricatives, and the lateral sonorant *l have special “diminutive” allophones, given in the table in brackets.
8 Phonetically, PNi *ch and *c were palatal affricates [ćh] and [ć], and *s was a palatal fricative [ś]. In contemporary Nivkh the reflexation of *c is habitually pronounced as [k̜] (palatal stop), the reflexation of *ch — as [ćh]
(palatal affricate) and the reflexation of *s — as [s] (dental sibilant).
9 PAlg *d, *t instead of *ǯ, *č appear as a result of hypercorrection, since PAlg *ǯ, *č are the regular “diminutive” substitutes of *d, *t. “Diminutive” allophones of *č, *ǯ are *c, *ʒ. The next step was the formation of secondary
diminutive forms of diminutives; as semantic difference between allomorphs became obliterated, ternary oppositions of alternating root forms (with T~C~Č) came into being. Occasionally external comparison helps reveal the
original shape of the root.
10 Also PNi *z- of onomatopoeic origin.
11 PAW *ŋǯ > PNi *ŋ. This is a particular case of the development PAW *ND > PNi *N (where D = any voiced
stop/affricate).
12 PAW *ł is deleted before consonants in PNi.
13 At some stage in the history of Proto-Nivkh, velars (/K/) and uvulars (/Q/) became redistributed, depending
on the ensuing vowel. Historical distribution is generally obvious, in spite of a few secondary exceptions: /K/ before /u/, front and middle vowels, /Q/ before /a/, /o/. /Q/ before /e/ goes back to PAW labialized uvulars (e.g. PAW
*ɀi: > PNi *qeŋ ‘whale’). In root-final position, both velars and uvulars are present; most probably, they reflect the
quality of the coda vowels that were deleted. In the present table PNi *Kh, *K, *X denote both velars and uvulars.
14 PAW *Ng > PNi ŋ. This is a particular case of the development PAW *ND > PNi *N (where D = any voiced
stop/affricate).
15 PAlg *g > * before w.
16 Labialization of PW velars and uvulars is unstable before and after /u(:)/.
17 Root-medial *v is a regular reflexation of PAW *k’ɀ, *xɀ, *q’ɀ, *χɀ, maybe also of some other labialized velars and uvulars. Such reflexations as PAW *k’ɀ > PNi *K should be treated as results of delabialisation.
18 PNi *h appears instead of *qh as the result of an old type of samdhi in “incorporated” forms, cf.
*qhaw/*haw ‘call’, *qhew/*hew ‘slant’, *qhosqŋ/*hosqŋ ‘man’s apron’.
19 PAW * > PW *g before i(:).
20 E. g. PAW *q’ > PAlg *ʔ in PAW *q’E:nVcV (~ ŋ, ń, c’) > PAlg *ʔe:nece ‘bivalve shell’ ▪ PWN *q’nc ‘chitons
(sea prunes, Chinese slippers)’.
21 Root-medial PW *ʔ and PAlg *ʔ, *h also regularly reflect several stops/affricates before obstruents:
PWN *k’ɀaʔqɀ ‘lichen’ < PAW *k’ɀa:t’qɀA; PAlg *kweht ~ *kwehc ‘other’ < PAW *qɀaKt’V ~ *qɀaKc’V, etc. Sometimes
the origin of PAlg *ʔ, *h before consonants is obscure.
22 PAW * and *ɀ were velar glides (velar sonorants), like in Salish, Wiyot, Yurok and Tlingit. PAW *, *ɀ
were uvular or post-uvular glides, as in Proto-Salishan.
23 The distribution between *y and *0, *w and *0 in PW and PNi most likely depended on the surrounding
vowels.
24 Reflexations of delabialized glides after and before consonants.
25 Reflexations of PAW *w/w’ and *y/y’ in PNi and PAlg depend on the following vowels. PNi *v is reflected
as [w] before consonants.
26 *l before consonants and in fossilized allomorphs of several roots.
27 PAlg *l of any origin is replaced by *ł before consonants.
28 Early PW *ly > PW *y.
29 *l before consonants and in fossilized allomorphs of several roots.
30 PAW *n, *ń, *ŋ > PChim *l (> Quil., Chem. l) and PAW *n’, ń’, *ŋ’ > PChim *n (> Quil. d, Chem. n).
31 After u(:).
32 PAW *r’C > PAlg *łC (?).
33 The choice between *m, *n and *ŋ in PNi reflexes of PAW *mC, *nC and *ŋC depends on the following consonant.
34 In case of vowel elision, PAW *nVw > *nw > PW *nm, PNi *m; PAW *ŋVw > *ŋw > PNi *m.
6
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Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
Judging from the back consonant split into velars/uvulars in PNi coda position, they were originally followed by different vowels. For PAW, I reconstruct root coda *A where PNi has uvulars and root coda *E where
PNi has velars. Phonetic typology of ancient (Altaic, Uralic, North Caucasian) and contiguous (ChukchiKamchatkan, Yukaghir, Eskimo) protolanguages seems to indirectly corroborate the reconstruction of disyllabic
roots in Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. It is also possible that reconstruction of coda vowels will explain the double
reflexation of root-medial vowels in Proto-Nivkh and Proto-Algic.
36 Quality and quantity of PW vowels are preserved in PWS. In PWN, all PW short vowels yield *, whereas
long vowels retain differences in quality: PW *i: > PWN *i, *a: > *a, *u: > *u.
37 There are several cases of PAW *i(:) > PNi *Ǹ after velars and uvulars.
38 The PAlg forms are too scarce for establishing regular vowel correspondences. PAlg *i and *e > PA *e, PAlg
*o and *o: > PA o:. Unlike PW and PNi, quantitative ablaut was widespread in PAlg, its most frequent manifestation being the gradation *a/*e. Long and short vowels also tend to alternate; as a result, we observe fragments of
such ablaut series as *a: / *e: / *a (*o ) / *e (*i )/ *0, *o: / *a: / *a (*o )/ *e (*i) / *0. It seems that all PAW short vowels except for *i had merged in Early PAlg *, which later split again into *a (*o) ~ *e (*i) ~ *0. Long vowels also show several ablaut alternations that hinder reconstruction of the original phoneme. We restrict ourselves to “long/long”
and “short/short” correspondences between PW and PA. In PW, short and long vowels form a consistent opposition, so that the presence of allomorphs with shortened syllables does not hinder the reconstruction of the initial
full form of the root; in PAlg, however, the vowel may reflect any random degree of ablaut that has been generalized. In PA, long vowels are often the results of contraction: in particular, PA *i: goes back to PAlg *ee, i. e. reflects the contraction of root vowel *e with the preceding diminutive or plural infix *e.
35
between Proto-Wakashan (with or without Chimakuan), on the one hand, and Proto-Nivkh
and/or Proto-Algic, on the other hand. PAW reconstructions and general comments are separated from the data with the symbol ‖; potential cognates in Proto-Salishan are separated with
the symbol ◊. A few Nivkh-Algic cognates without any Chimakuan-Wakashan counterparts
are also included, provided they have further parallels in Proto-Salishan, since such roots may
have had the required meaning as early as in Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan20. The alleged
“Northern Nivkh” forms that have been borrowed into Proto-Yukaghir are denoted as NiY
(“Nivkh in Yukaghir”).
1a. All1. PWS *n’u:m’ ‘all’ ▪ PNi *mǸŋ (~ ) ‘wholly’21 ‖ PAW *ŋ’Ǹ:m’V ~ *m’Ǹ:ŋ’V22.
1b. All2. PNi *sek23 ‘all’ ▪ PA *ča:k24 ‘completely’ ‖ PNA25 *če:k’E (~ *č’, q’) ◊ Cf. PS *cukɀ ‘to be
all there, be complete’.
In this case it is of little importance whether the corresponding Proto-Salishan forms are inherited or have
been borrowed from Proto-Wakashan, since lexical contacts between Proto-Algic and Proto-Salishan have not
been observed at all.
21 Am. mǸdoχ ‘as a whole’ < PNi *mǸŋdoχ (~ ).
22 In protoforms the tilde symbol (~) denotes alternative variants of reconstruction, rather than an actual alternation in the protolanguage. Capital letters should be decoded as follows: A = indefinite back vowel, C = any
sibilant (alveolar) affricate, Č = any hushing (palato-alveolar) affricate, E = indefinite front vowel, K = any velar, L =
any lateral, O = *u ~ *o, P = any labial stop, Q = any uvular stop, V = any vowel, X = any velar or uvular fricative.
This notation is used when available comparative material is insufficient to definitively choose one particular
PAW phoneme.
23 “Incorporated” form of *chek.
24 With “expressive” *č instead of regular *š < PAlg *č.
25 Phonetically, the Proto-Nivkh-Algic reconstructions would not differ from the hypothetical PAW forms
that chronologically precede them, but the denotation “PNA” is used for purposes of chronological stratification
of the vocabulary.
20
35
Sergei L. Nikolaev
Ashes. PNi *phlǸŋg ‘ashes’ ▪ PAlg *p(el)enekw26 ‘ashes, dust’ ‖ PNA *pVlŋVk’ɀE 27 ◊ Cf.
PS *pq’ɀ ‘powder’.
3. Bark (tree). PWN *χakɀ, *χaxɀ ‘bark; scab’ ▪ PNi *ker ař ‘birch bark (with fine scales),
«black birch»’ ‖ PAW *χe:rgɀA ~ *ge:rχɀA.
4a. Belly1. PW *da:k’ ‘belly’28 ▪ PNi *taq(a)l ‘fish abdomen’ ▪ PAlg *ta: w-29 ‘belly, stomach’ ‖
PAW *da:k’A ~ *t’a:gA30.
4b. Belly2. PWN *(k)ʔis (suff.) ‘belly, body’ ▪ PNi *vic ‘body’, NiY *wiʒie ‘body’ ▪ PA *wi:s
‘belly fat’ ‖ PAW *w’i:ʒV.
5. Big ? [There are two Nivkh-Algic roots, see § 4.3].
6a. Bird1 (large). PWN *pał [along with an irregular variant *mał] ‘swallow (bird)’ ▪ PAlg
*pele: w ‘large bird’ ‖ PAW *pa:rV (~ e:, :, o:, l) ◊ Cf. PSC *paʔl ‘large bird’.
6b. Bird2 (singing). PW *c’i:kɀ ‘bird (generic)’; PWN *c’sqɀ, *csqɀ ‘any small songbird’ ▪ PNi
*zaq ‘chickadee’ ▪ PAlg *co:c’k ‘small bird’ [reduplication] ‖ PAW *c’ä:q’ɀA,*c’V:cq’ɀA ◊ PS
*c’yaqɀ, *c’qɀay, *c’k’ɀy ‘small bird’.
6c. Bird3 (singing). PWN *sup, *cup- ‘robin (Turdus migratorius)’ ▪ PNi *cevrq ‘bird (singing,
generic)’ ▪ PAlg *ce ep [with diminutive infix] > PA *si:pe:hs ‘bird (generic)’ ‖ PAW
*ʒǸ:pV ~ *ʒi:pV.
6d. Bird4 (singing). PWS *n’i:n’i:č, *n’ayn’ays- ‘small bird’ ▪ Quil. dí:doʔos ‘bird (generic)’ ▪
PA *nenemeXk ‘small bird (wren, thunderbird, hummingbird)’ ‖ PAW *n’i:n’V (~ ń’) ◊ Cf.
PS *nin-aʔ ‘great horned owl’.
7. Bite — see ‘Eat’.
8. Black ?
9a. Blood1. PWN *ʔlkɀ ‘blood’; *ʔlxɀ ‘to bleed’ ▪ Quil. łič ‘blood’, łi: ‘to bleed’ ▪ PNi
*ŋar31 ‘blood’ ‖ PAW *ʔarV ◊ Cf. PSI *mil’k’ ‘blood’, PS *mil’ ‘bleed’.
9b/66. Blood2. PW *c’i:x > Kw. c’ixa ‘boiled blood’; ? PWN *c’ix ‘lean (meat)’ ▪ PNi *choχ
‘pitch, sap; blood’ ▪ PAlg *ckoʔw ‘blood; red’32 ‖ PAW *c’ü:xA ◊ Cf. PS *ci ɀ ‘to bleed’;
*ciqɀ, *caqɀ ‘to bleed; red’.
10a. Bone1. PWN *łqɀ, *’qɀ ‘pit (in fruit); inside of sea eggs (urchins); brain’ ▪ PNi *ŋk
‘gristle’33 ▪ PAlg *łk ‘bone’34 ‖ PAW *łVq’(ɀ)E ~ *ʔVłq’(ɀ)E.
2.
PAW structures *PVlVC(V)K, *PVlVN(V)K develop into PAlg *pelVC(V)K, *pelVn(V)K, with *l preserved in
Wi. as ł (e. g., płtk , płtw- ‘stone’) but deleted in PA (*pełkw ‘stone’) and Yu. (pełk ‘gravel’). The same reflexation is seen in Yu. penkw ‘acorn flour’, PA *penkw ‘ashes’ ~ PNi *phlǸng ‘ashes’; PA *pakw ‘leaf’ ~ PNi *phlaŋq
‘leaf’, but in these cases the corresponding Wi. forms are absent.
27 This PNA stem is a compound, consisting of PAW *pVlV ‘powder ?’ and *ʔnV(k’ɀV) ‘fire’.
28 PWN *tk’ (< *dk’), suff. *(s)dak’ʒ(a), PWS *tač’ ‘belly’.
29 PAlg nominal stems may include one of the 3 thematic formants: *0, *w, and *y. These affixes have no
lexical meaning and have probably evolved out of root coda vowels. After velars the formant *w phonetically
coincides with the reflex of labialization (*ɀ) and may only be differentiated from the latter by means of external
comparison.
30 Reconstruction of PAW glottal features of stops/affricates (voiceless/voiced/glottalized) in roots containing
two stops or affricates is somewhat difficult, due to assimilaton/dissimilation of glottal features in the history of
languages; therefore, several roots have optional protoforms.
31 PNi *ŋa/*ŋ/*ŋ is a prefixal morph, represented in body part terms. It corresponds to the PAlg
prefix*m(e) ‘indefinite possession prefix’ in “inalienable” nouns (body parts, kinship terms, ʽlouseʼ, ʽdogʼ) and
further to PS *m ‘prefixal morph in “inalienable” nouns’.
32 PA *meskw ‘blood; red’ (with fossilized prefix); Wi. tkʔwik ‘blood’.
33 PNi *–k < *łkE.
34 PA *wełkan, *wałkan, suff. *(V)kan ‘bone’, Wi. wtkdát ‘bones’, Yu. ʔwłkʔ ‘bone’.
26
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Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
10b. Bone2. PW *χa:x ‘bone’ ▪ Quil. qa:χ ‘bone’ ▪ PNi *xuski ‘fish bones’ ‖ PAW *χo:ck’E (~ č, s, š).
11a/40. Breast1/heart. PWN *t’q ‘chest, breast’ ▪ PNi *ŋr Ǹr ‘breast; wing’ ▪ PAlg *te(:)kwl,
dimin. *če:kwr ‘heart’35; Yu. tekɀ ‘chest’ ‖ PAW *t’ǸqE (~ ).
11b/40. Breast2/heart. PWN ʔp(a) (suff.) ‘chest’ ▪ PNi *ŋif ‘heart’ ‖ PAW *ʔipV (~ e).
12a. Burn1. PWN *px ‘to heat, hot (like metal)’ ▪ PNi *phu, *phuj ‘set fire; shine (sun)’ ▪ PAlg
*po:w , *pew, *pu ‘put on the fire’; ? PA *apw ‘heat, roast, bake’ ‖ PAW *po V (~ u) ◊ Cf.
PSI *p’ ‘to burn (esp. of forest fire)’.
12b. Burn2. PWN *qɀał ‘to burn (to cinders)’ ▪ PNi *hilm, *helm[h]elm ‘blaze’, *hi[l]mř ‘cinders’ ‖ PAW *qɀe:lV (~ ĺ, ł).
13. Claw (nail). PWN *k’ɀut- ‘to nail’ ▪ PNi *tkń ‘claw, fingernail’, NiY *tukn ‘nail (peg)’36 ▪
PAlg *tkan,*čkan, *čken37 ‘claw, hoof, finger, toenail’ ‖ PAW *t’Ǹ:k’ɀE ~ *k’ɀǸ:t’V38.
14a. Cloud1. PWS *łi:w’aχ ‘get cloudy’▪ PNi *lax ‘cloud’ ▪ PAlg *a:lwadekw, *a:lewdekw
‘cloud’39 ‖ PAW *ʔä:lVw’adVχE.
14b. Cloud2. PWN *ʔnu ‘cloud’, *ʔunqɀ ‘fog’ ▪ NiY *niw ‘cloud’40 ▪ PA *awanw ‘fog’ ‖
PAW *ʔVwǸ:nV (~ ń, ŋ).
15a. Cold1. PW *k’in ‘feel cold’ ▪ PNi *kǸŋ ‘freeze, cool down’ ▪ PA *ko:n ‘snow’ ‖ PAW
*k’i:wŋV ◊ Cf. PS *k’im ‘cold, to freeze’.
15b. Cold2. PWN *’uχɀ ‘ice; to ice up, to freeze, to congeal’ ▪ PNi *lkrǸ ‘to chill’; NiY *ĺerk
(~ j) ‘to shiver with cold’ ▪ PA *tahk ‘cool, cold’41 ‖ PAW *’Ǹrq’E ~ *Ǹrq’E ◊ PS *’xɀ
‘cold (object)’.
15c. Cold3. PWN *t’ns ‘cold’ ▪ PNi *tuz ‘cool’ ‖ PAW *t’onsV (~ u, c, ʒ, š, č, ǯ).
16. Come ?
17. Die. PWS *n’apxta: ‘die instantly from blow’ ▪ PNi *pńu ‘die (about twins)’ [metathesis
of *ńpu] ▪ PA *nep- ‘die’42 ‖ PAW *ń’abV (~ e, o, , p’).
18a. Dog1. PWS *q’ini ‘dog’ ▪ PNi *qanŋ ‘dog’ ‖ PAW *q’änV43. Here the correlation of the
PW suffix *(V)(ʔ) and the PNi suffix *ŋ is exactly the same as in PWN *n’a’ ‘wolverine’ and PNi *ŋǸŋ ‘otter’ ◊ Cf. PSC *qɀmay ‘dog’.
18b. Dog2. PNW *w’ac’ ‘dog’ (< PW *wa:sʔa), *w’as ‘to hunt with dog’ ▪ PAlg *waye(h)c ‘dog’
‖ PAW *w’a:yVʒV, derived from PAW *w’a:yV ‘to bark’, cf. PW *w’a:, PNi *vaj ‘to bark’.
19. Drink — see ‘Water1’.
20. Dry. PWN *q’k ‘to dry (and pound) salmon eggs’ ▪ Quil. q’i:x- ‘dry’ ▪ PNi *qharχa44 ‘dry,
dried up’ ▪ PAlg *ka:hk ‘dry’ ‖ PAW *q’a:rkA ~ *qa:rkA.
Wi. atw, Yu. cekws ‘heart’, dim. tekwsaʔr ‘heart of salmon, uvula’; PA te:h ‘heart’.
A similar root in PTM, *thokon ‘middle finger’, was borrowed into PNi as *tokoń ‘little finger’.
37 PA *weška(n)šy, *wetka(n)šy ‘fingernail, claw, hoof’; Wi. tkn() ‘finger, toenail’; Yu. ʔwełkete ‘fingernail, toenail, claw’.
38 This PAW root must have had the original meanings ‘nail (peg)’ and ‘finger, toenail, claw, hoof’.
39 PA *aletkw and *watkw ‘cloud’, Yu. lewkw, rewkw- ‘cloudy, misty’; Wi. ʔalúkš ‘shadow’. P. Proulx (1994,
#304) reconstructs *aleTewkw, *a:laTekw, *a:leTewk, but the insertion of *w after *T is, in my opinion, rather superfluous.
40 Metathesis either in “Northern Nivkh” or in Proto-Yukaghir.
41 Instead of *łahk, probably due to dissimilation: *’Ǹrq’ > *t’Ǹrq’.
42 In light of external comparanda, PAlg *nep ‘sleep’ either represents a different root, or its meaning has
metaphorically evolved from ‘die’.
43 Cf. PEsk (Sibirian) *qhn ‘dog, polar fox’, a possible loan from Algonquian-Wakashan (unless it happens
to be inherited from Proto-Nostratic).
44 Am. qharχqharaʒ ‘dry’.
35
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Sergei L. Nikolaev
21a. Ear1. PWN *hatu (suff.) ‘ear’ ▪ PAlg *htʔl, *hčʔr ‘ear; to listen’45 ‖ PAW *ha:tV (~ t’, e:,
:, o:).
21b/39. Ear2/hear. PW *na(:) ‘hear’46 ▪ Quil. ʔò:lá:xat, suff. lax ‘ear’ ▪ PNi *nos ‘ear’47 ▪ PA
*no:nt ‘hear’ [< PAlg *no(:)Vmt] ‖ PAW *no: ◊ Cf. PS *tʔaniʔ, *tʔanaʔ ‘ear’, suff. *aniʔ,
*anaʔ ‘ear(side)’; ? *q()an ‘hear’.
21c — see ‘Hear2’
22a. Earth1. PWS *nism’ak ‘land, country’, PWN *m’a ‘tribe’ ▪ PNi *mif ‘land, place’;
*mami, *ormi ‘clay’ ▪ PAlg *a:mehkw ‘earth, soil’ ‖ PAW *m’e: ~ *ʔe:m’V48 ◊ Cf. PS *mixɀ
‘earth, land, ground’.
22b. Earth2. PW *c’akɀ ‘dirt’ ▪ Quil. c’iq’á:ti ‘ground, land, earth, world, territory’ ▪ PAlg *ačk,
*ečk ‘earth, land’ ‖ PAW *č’akɀV ~ *ʔač’kɀV (~ e, , o) ◊ Cf. PS *c’iq’ ‘mud’.
23a/7. Eat1/bite. PW *ham’ ‘eat’, *m’a:, *m’al ‘bite, hold in teeth’, PWS *m’a: ‘bite’; *ma:c,
*ma(:)s ‘eat as side dish’ ▪ PNi *am ‘(fish)bait’; *mx, *mk ‘mouth’49 ▪ PAlg *amw ‘eat’,
*Vm (suff. ) ‘with the mouth, eating, biting’; PA *mo:[h]w, *mi:t ‘eat’ ‖ PAW *m’a:hV ~
*ham’V ◊ Cf. PS *ʔum, *ʔam, *m ‘to feed, food’; *mal ‘(fish)bait’; PSC *makɀ ‘to eat, put
into mouth, chew’.
23b/7. Eat2/bite. PW *q’Vns > PWN *q’ns ‘to eat meat’; *q’s ‘to eat meat or fat’; *q’s (suff.)
‘eat, put in mouth’; PWS ’i:ks ‘eat, consume’ ▪ PNi *haz ‘to bite’ ‖ PAW *q’ancV ~ *qancV (~ s).
24a. Egg1. PWN *qlχ ‘egg; to lay eggs (said of a bird); to have children’; PWN *t’lq- ‘roe,
spawn in fish’50 ▪ PNi *tqhla ‘to spawn’ ‖ PAW *qalV.
24b. Egg2. PWN *n’i: ‘salmon roe’51 ▪ PNi *ŋojeq ‘egg’52, *ŋoj ‘penis’53, *ŋojchoχ ‘sperm’ ▪ ? PA
*a:mi:w ‘to spawn’ ‖ PAW *ŋ’ü:yV.
25a. Eye1. PWS *ał54 ‘eye’ ▪ PAlg *ʔeł in *čepʔeł, *čpʔeł ‘eyelash’ ‖ PAW *ʔałV (~ e, , o) ◊ Cf.
PS *ł in *cpł ‘eyebrow, eyelash’.
25b. Eye2 — see ‘See’.
26a. Fat1 (n.). PWN *ɀuł ‘animal fat, tallow, marrow’ ▪ PAlg *wel ‘fat (n.)’ ‖ PAW * ɀo:lV (~ Ǹ:).
26b. Fat2 (n.). PNi *ŋoχ ‘fat (n.)’, *ŋǸ l ‘fat (adj.)’ ▪ PA *mak()w ‘grease’55 ‖ PNA *ŋok(ɀ)A (~ u,
q, X). Supposedly a derived stem, cf. PNi *ŋar ‘be fat’ and further PS *nụs, *nạs ‘marrow, fat, oil’.
PA *htawak ‘ear’, suff. *ht, *hš ‘ear; to listen’; Wi. tblúk ‘ear’, šápruk ‘to listen’; Yu. cpeaʔr ‘ear’,
cpeʔroy- ‘to listen’, reʔroy- ‘to hear sth. as news’, cpeyuʔr ‘to tell a story’.
46 PW *na: > PWN *na in Kw. nanaiga ‘obey’; PW *na > PWS *na in *naʔa: ‘hear; sense’; *nayi ‘echo’.
47 A deverbative with suffixal *c/ch, cf. moc ‘female breast, teat’, derived from *momo ‘to suck’.
48 Many PAW roots have “inversed” allomorphs *CVCV, *ʔVCCV. The latter structures prevail in Proto
Nivkh-Algic.
49 With the same suffix as *hilx, *hilk ‘tongue’ ~ *hel[h]el ‘lick’ and with a parallel vowel alternation (*mx ~
*am).
50 PWN *t’lq- (only Kw. t’q’iʔ ‘roe, spawn in fish’) corresponds directly to PNi *tqhla ‘to spawn’ and contains the same prefix *t, i. e. *t’lq < *tʔVql. Suffixal *χ in *qlχ is one of the PW “stem extenders”, partly cognate with the PNi “numerative affixes” added to numerals. In the current case, PW *χ (a desemanticized “stem
extender”) may be equal to PNi *ik, *ix ‘numerative affix for small round objects’. PCS *qlχ ‘fish roe’ is borrowed
from Wakashan.
51 PWN *Gin’i ‘salmon roe’, PWS *n’ixɀ ‘salmon roe, kidneys’.
52 Borrowed into Orok as ŋojoqo ‘egg’.
53 Probably with semantic development ‘egg/testicle > genitals > penis’. The semantic shift may have been assisted by the presence of the homonymous root *ŋoj ‘bough’.
54 With the prefix of “inalienable” possession, cf. *i:xk- ‘louse’, *as ‘eye’ (originally ‘face’).
55 In PA *makwehše:weni ‘feast, banquet’.
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Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
27. Feather. PWN *mχ ‘long feather of eagle’ ▪ PNi *ŋmx ‘head hair; animal hair’ ▪ PA
*mi:kwan ‘feather’ ‖ PAW *mǸ:χE.
28. Fire1. PW *ʔan, *ʔanakɀ ‘fire’ ▪ PNi *phlǸŋg ‘ashes’ ▪ PAlg *p(el)enekw ‘ashes, dust’56 ‖
PAW *ʔŋV(k’ɀE).
28. Fire2. PWN *mi ‘to flame’ ▪ PAlg *mehš ‘fire’ [with diminutive suffix] ‖ PA *mi.
29. Fish1. PNi *qaŋ ‘trout’ ▪ PAlg *ki:ko:n ‘fish (generic)’ [reduplication] ‖ PNA *ga:ŋV ◊ Cf. PS
*kanaxɀ ‘salmon (generic term)’.
29. Fish2. PW *ʒu:xɀ ‘cohoe salmon’ ▪ PNi *cho ‘fish (generic)’ ‖ PAW *ǯu: ◊ Cf. PS *caw’in
‘coho salmon’57.
30. Fly (vb.). PWN *n’l ‘to fly’ > Kw. n’xʔid, nxʔid ‘to fly’ ▪ PNi *nuljo ‘hurry’ ▪ PAlg a:l,
*el58 ‘to fly’; PA *iʔl ‘to fly’ [with incorporated *ip ‘speed’] ‖ PAW *n’o:lV.
31. Foot. PWS (suff.) *cit’a ‘leg, thigh’, *c’i:ł ‘foot’ ▪ PNi *ŋz(Ǹ)l ‘foot, sole’ ▪ PAlg *citł
‘foot’59 ‖ PAW *ci:t’V(lV).
32. Full. PWS *nis ‘be full, satiated’ ▪ PA *mo:šken, suff. *ašken60 ‘full’ ‖ PAW *ŋü:šV.
33. Give. PW *c’u: ‘to give’ ▪ PA *ahǯ, *ehǯ ‘to give, to give food’ ‖ PAW *č’Ǹ ɀV ~ *ʔǸ ɀǯV
(~ o:, u:).
34. Good ?
35a. Green1. PW *q’am ~ *q’ɀam ‘green, unripe’ ▪ PNi *qoŋr ‘green’, NiY *qomo ‘green’ ‖
PAW *q’omV.
35b. Green2. PWN *qɀił ‘blue, turquoise’ ▪ PNi *qala ‘green, unripe’, NiY *qola (~ k) ‘green,
yellow’ ‖ PAW *qü:lV ~ *ü:lV (~ ĺ, ł) ◊ Cf. PS *kɀ̣l ‘green, yellow’ or *qɀay ‘blue, green; bruise’.
36. Hair.61 PW *hap- ‘hair (facial, body)’ ▪ PNi *f ‘moustache, beard, tentacles’; *ŋvrki ‘body
hair’ ▪ PAlg *epl, *epr ‘hair (facial, head)’, PA *i:łeʔł ‘head hair’ (“head+hair”) ‖ PAW
*h:pV ‘hair (facial, head)’ ◊ PSI *wp ‘hair, fur, cover of grass, weed’.
37a. Hand1. PW *du:mqɀ > PWN *duqɀ, *dmqɀ ‘armpit’ ▪ PNi *tmk ‘hand, arm’, NiY *ϑirqa
‘hand, finger, paw, sole’ ‖ PAW *dǸ:mq’ɀE.
37b. Hand2. PW *n’ukɀ (suff.) ‘in hand’ ▪ PA *nełk ‘arm’ ‖ PAW *n’oĺk’V (~ ń’, u, sk’).
37c. Hand3. PW *i:ks (suff.) ‘in/by hand’ ▪ ? PAlg *e(:)k ‘hand’ in Yu. pnek ‘hand measure’,
pnek’h ‘hand length’ ‖ PAW *ʔi:kV ◊ Cf. PS *ak, *akaʔ, *akis(t) (suff.) ‘hand, lower arm’.
38a. Head1. PW *t’uqɀ ‘head’ ▪ Quil. t’i, Chem. t’e:ql ‘head’ ▪ PNi *thx ‘forehead’ ‖ PAW
*t’ǸqɀE ~ *tǸqɀE.
38b. Head2. PW *am(ł), *sam (suff.) ‘round thing; mask’ [originally perhaps ‘head’]’; PWN
*ɀuɀmi ‘face’ [“head-face”, compound consisting of PW *ɀu: ‘face’ and *am ‘head’]
▪ PNi *hemi ‘temple’ ‖ PAW *emV ◊ Cf. PS *q’ɀum ‘head, skull, hair on head’.
38c. Head3. PWN *hix ‘head’ ▪ PNi *o ri ‘nape (of the neck)’ ‖ PAW *hü:xE.
38d. Head4. Quil. dókɀč’it ‘head (usually fish or animals)’ ▪ PNi *coŋ r62 ‘head’ ▪ PAlg *a:čkw,
*ečk, *etk ‘head’63 ‖ PAW *č’Ǹ:ŋ’kE ~ *ŋ’Ǹ:č’kE.
See fn. 26.
PWS *c’a:wił ‘spring (king) salmon’ is borrowed from Salishan.
58 “Incorporated” forms with deleted *n, cf. ʽFullʼ, ʽSwimʼ.
59 PA *sit and secondary *i in Ritwan: Wi. elił ‘foot’.
60 With regular loss of the initial sonorant in the “suffixal” form, cf. PAlg *nape:w, *a:pe:w ‘man, male’,
PA *nepy, *epy ‘water’, etc., also PAlg *o:l (i. e. *[m]o:l) ‘swim’ < PAW *m:rV.
61 There are no special PW, PNi and PAlg roots for simply ‘head hair’ or ‘single hair’. The meaning ‘head
hair’ is usually denoted with composite forms consisting of ‘head’ and ‘facial/animal hair’.
62 The Sakh. variant coŋqr has q, probably under the influence of PNi *qr ‘neck’.
63 PA *etkw, ešky (suff.) ‘head’, Yu. mołkw ‘head’.
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Sergei L. Nikolaev
39a. Hear1. PWN *qaχɀ (~ xɀ) ‘to hear, to listen’ ▪ Quil. qɀoqɀal ‘hear’ ▪ PNi *heχ ‘hear about,
feel’ ‖ PAW *qe:χɀA (~ xɀ).
39b. Hear2/ear. PWS *ʔamił (suff.) ‘ear’ ▪ PNi *mla ‘ear’, *mǸ ‘hear, listen’ ▪ PAlg *Vʔm ‘by
hearing (also ‘by thought’) in Yur koʔm ‘hear’ (also ‘understand, feel’), Wi kniʔmił
‘hear’, PA *pe:mt, *no:mt ‘hear’ (< *peem, *no(:)Vm) ‖ PAW *m ~ *ʔmV ‘hear’,
*ʔmlV (~ ł) ‘ear’. Two different PAW roots may have gotten contaminated in Algic due
to the reanalysis of *k in ‘know, understand’ as a prefix; see ʽKnowʼ.
40. Heart — see ʽBreastʼ.
41. Horn. PWN *w ‘horn, antler’ ▪ PA *wi:ł ‘horn’64 ‖ PAW *wi:V (~ , ’) ◊ PS *wi’ ~
*wil’ ‘horn’65.
42. I. PW *nu: ‘I; we’ ▪ Quil. lá:b, Chem. lá:ʔał66 ▪ PNi *ńi ‘I’; *ńǸŋ ‘we (excl.)’ ▪ PAlg *neʔ
(pref.) ‘I, me, my’, *neʔila ‘I (independendent pronoun)’ ‖ PAW *ńV. PW u: is a result of
vowel contraction. ◊ Cf. PS *nc, *cnʔ67 [with deictic particle *c] ‘I (independent pronoun)’; *n ‘1st singular possessive prefix’, *an ‘1st singular transitive subject suffix’,
*kan ‘1st singular intransitive subject affix’, etc.
43. Kill. PWN *ʔlχ ‘to kill, murder, beat up’ ▪ PNi *khu- ‘kill’ [also passive *khu- ‘perish (in
the battle)’] ‖ PAW *ʔVlχV ◊ PS *χɀay ‘perish (pl.), disappear’.
44a. Knee1. PWS *p’iqa (suff.) ‘knee’ ▪ PNi *pix, *pixt ‘knee’, NiY *po oδi (~ ) ‘knee’ ‖ PAW
*p’iqE.
44b. Knee2. PWN *χtam’u68 ‘knee’ ▪ PAlg *ʔaket69 ‘knee’ ‖ PAW *ʔVχVtV (~ d, t’).
45a. Know1. PWS *χam70 ‘know, know how, recognize’ ▪ Quil. χab ‘to know how’ ▪ PNi
*khim, *him ‘know, understand, realize’ ▪ PAlg *kom (~ a:) > Yu. kom- ‘understand, feel’
[also ‘hear’, formally containing prefix k and root PAlg *Vm ‘by thought’ (also ‘by
hearing’)] ‖ PAW *χemV. See comment on ʽHear2ʼ.
45b. Know2. PWS *huχtakɀ ‘know how, learn, expert’ ▪ PA *ketk ‘know, recognize’ ‖ PAW
*huχVtak(ɀ)V (~ o, d, e, , o, k’, g).
46. Leaf. PWN *plq ~ χ > Ha. pχa ‘flower, blossom’71 ▪ PNi *phlaŋq ‘leaf, branch of broadleaved tree’72 ▪ PAlg *p(el)akw > PA *pakw ‘leaf’ ‖ PAW *pVlaŋq’A ◊ Cf. PS *packl [ <
*palkc] ‘leaf’.
47. Lie. PWN *łi ‘to lie (said of many people)’ ▪ PAlg *Vhł ‘to lie, fall’ ‖ PAW *łi:hV ~ *hi:łV
(~ e:).
48. Liver1. PW *l’a:q ‘liver’ ▪ PNi *ŋarqaj (~ ) ‘milt’ ▪ PAlg *łkwen ‘liver’ ‖ PAW *r’a:q’ɀA ~
*ʔa:r’q’ɀA (~ :) ◊ Cf. PS *łiqɀ ‘flesh, meat’.
48b. Liver2. PWN *tk (~ x) ‘bile, gall’ ▪ PNi *thiuř (< *thi uř) ‘liver, kidney’ ‖ PAW *tikV (~ x).
Cheyenne vevêsce, évesé, Arapaho hini:nis, Delaware wi:la:wan, Kickapoo wi:n, Miami (Peoria) wi:wi:la
‘horn’, etc.
65 Bella Coola wi’aχ, Shuswap wlaps ‘horn’.
66 PChim *l is a regular reflexation of PChiW *n, whereas PChim *n (Quil. d) < PChiW *n’.
67 Bella Coola nc, Clallam ʔ́c, Saanich ʔs, Cowlitz, Upper Chelalis ʔ́nca, Puget ʔcá, Lilloet sʔenc, MosesColumbia, Okanagan ʔincá, Thompson River ncé vs. Coeur d’Alene čineʔ, Halkomelem cun ‘I’.
68 With the specificatory suffix *(a)m’u ‘underlying or implicated in’.
69 PA *ketekw, Yu. ʔ:kł, (suff.) ekeł ‘knee’.
70 Makah, Ditidaht χabup ‘know, recognize (a person)’, Nootka ħamup, dial. ħami:p ʽknowing, recognizingʼ,
caus. ħim. ʽshowʼ.
71 Concerning semantics, cf. PNi *comr ‘leaf; flower’ and PNi *eŋv ‘to flower’, *eŋvk ‘flower’ ~ PA *ani:py
‘leafʼ < PNA *ʔEŋE:pV (~ ŋ’) ‘leaf, flower’.
72 Borrowed in PIt as *pъl’ă ‘leaf’. This loan has substituted PChK *ʔxɀt ‘leaf’, still retained in Southern
Itelmen kaza ‘September (“leaf-month”)’.
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49. Long. PWN *gl- ‘long, tall’ ▪ PNi *kǸl ‘long’ ‖ PAW *gǸlV (~ , ĺ).
50. Louse. PW *i:xk73 ‘louse’ ▪ Quil. wí:k’is ‘louse’ ▪ PNi *hiřkr ‘nit, body louse’ ▪ PAlg
*ihkw ‘louse’ ‖ PAW *hi:rxk’E ◊ Cf. PS *mxkn ~ *mxk’n ‘head louse’.
51. Man. PW *ʔi:t(a)χɀ, *ʔat(a)χɀ ‘man of tribe or residing at; male inhabitant of; people of,
where one lives’ ▪ PNi *utk ‘man, husband’ ‖ PAW *ʔ[oyV]tOq’E.
52. Many ? [There is a Nivkh-Algic root, see § 4.3].
53. Meat. PWN *diqɀ ‘meat, flesh’ in Oo. diq’ɀy’a ‘cheek meat of fish’, Ha. dìqɀa ‘diseased
fish with white spots in flesh’ ▪ PNi *tjuř ‘meat’74; NiY *cu:l ‘meat’ ▪ PAlg *daw, *dew75
‘meat, flesh’ ‖ PAW *di ɀV ~ *diɀV (~ e).
54. Moon. PWN *n’uʔs-i ‘moon, month’76 ▪ PNi *loŋ- ‘moon’, NiY *jälon:ʒ ‘sun’77 ‖ PAW
*l’u:ŋ’ʒV.
55. Mountain — ?
56a. Mouth1. PW *(h)aqs (suff.) ‘mouth’ ▪ PNi *hes ‘larynx’, *hesqr ‘throat, gullet’ ▪ PA tkweł,
*kweł ‘nose’78 ‖ PAW *qɀesV ~ *heqɀsV ◊ Cf. PS *mqsn ‘nose’; *qs(n) (suff.) ‘nose; point,
end’.
56b. Mouth2. Quil. ʔólit ‘mouth’ ▪ PNi *l ‘mouth’ ▪ PAlg *o:ł ‘mouth’ ‖ PAW *ʔǸ:łV (~ , ’).
57a. Name1. PW *kł (suff.) ‘named’79, PWN *kl(a) ‘refer to’ ▪ Quil kɀoláʔ ‘name’ ▪ PAlg *ekl >
PA *eʔl ‘narrate (sacred story)’80 ‖ PAW *kVlV ~ *ʔVklV.
57b. Name2. PNi *qha ‘name’ ▪ PAlg *w(e )en ‘name; to mention by name’; *e(:)w > Yu. ew
‘name’ ‖ PNA *xɀa ~ *ʔaxɀV ◊ Cf. PS *kɀa ~ *kɀi ‘name, to name’.
58a. Neck1. PWN *k’ɀns (~ c) ‘gill(s)’ ▪ Quil. q’ɀos ‘neck’ ▪ PNi *qhosŋ ‘neck, Adam’s apple’ ▪
PAlg *skw ‘neck’81 [metathesis] ‖ PAW *k’onsV ◊ Cf. PS *k’span ‘neck’.
58b. Neck2. PWN *q’ɀu ‘neck’ ▪ PAlg *kwe:yaw, *kwayaw (suff.) ‘neck’ ‖ PAW *q’ɀǸ:yV.
59. New. PW *c’u:x ‘new’ ▪ Quil. c’á:ta ‘new’ ▪ PNi *chuř, *chiř ‘new’, NiY *cirov ‘new’ ▪
PAlg *ci:, *ci (~ č) > Yu. caʔan, cin ‘new’ ‖ PAW *c’i:wV (~ č’).
60a. Night1. PWS *ʔatχiyi ‘night’82 ▪ PNi *thaχ ‘afterglow’ ▪ PA *etk ‘night’ [in *tepetk ‘(dark)
night’; *letkan ‘it is evening; by night’] ‖ PAW *taχA ~ *ʔatχA.
60b. Night2. PWN *nikɀ, *nkɀ ‘night, at night’ ▪ PNi *ńakr ‘night’83 ▪ PAlg *ne t, *ne č ‘last
night’ ‖ PAW *ńä:gɀE ~ *ńä:gɀt(’)V ◊ Cf. PS *nat ‘night; 24hour period’.
With the prefix of indefinite inalienable possession, “someone’s louse”, cf. *ał‘eye’ and *as ‘eye’ (originally ‘face’).
74 Am. cur, Sakh. tuř. In PNi, the PNA diminutive infix *V was inserted in the root (*dVɀ > *djɀ), cf.
the PAlg reconstruction.
75 PA i:yaw ‘flesh; body’, Yu. tewon, tew ‘flesh’. P. Proulx’s (1994, #375) reconstruction: *weTewi, *weeTawi
ʽ(her) flesh, bodyʼ (these forms contain the detachable possessive prefix *wʔe- and the infix *e(e)).
76 PW *n’ in place of *l’ by assimilation with *ŋ’ (developed into *ʔ).
77 Evenki loŋǯama ‘sickle moon’ is a “Northern Nivkh” or Yukaghir loan.
78 PA *t in this stem may be related to the PS prefix *t in body part terms (*tʔan ‘ear’, *tal ‘tongue’, etc.).
79 PWN *(x)(a) ‘named, called’; PWS *qł(a:) ‘named, called; having as name’. The PWS uvular is due to
contamination with PWN *ał ‘to call (sb. names)’ < PAW *a:lV (~ e:, :, o:) ‘speak’, hence PNi *qlaj ‘speak’; PAlg
*ga:l, *ga:ł ‘speak’ and further PS *qɀal ‘to speak, think’.
80 I. e. ‘to refer to ancestors’ names’.
81 PA *łkwe:kan, suff. *Vłkw/*Vkw ‘neck’; Wi. sw ‘neck’ in hit́kwswalił ‘she fell and broke her
neck’, (hu)ẃswitkdʔl ‘her neck’.
82 Borrowed into Coast Tsimshian as ʔa:tk, Gitksan ʔaχxɀ ‘night’.
83 Only Am. muv ńakr ‘day and night, 24hour period’, consisting of muv ‘day’and ńakr, obviously meaning
‘night’. The latter word is not attested in free use. The vowel a in the form ńakr is irregular.
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61a. Nose1. PWS *q’awa:n84 ‘fish nose, fish nose cartilage’ ▪ PAlg *łke ew (~ sk) [with diminutive infix] > PA *łki:wan ‘nose’ ‖ PAW *lVq’awV (~ e, , o).
61b. Nose2. PWN *waqɀ ‘cape’ ▪ PNi *vix ‘nose’ ‖ PAW *we:qɀE.
62. Not. PWN *k’i, *k’ ‘negative stem’85, PWN *k(a) (suff.) ‘un-’ ▪ PNi *qhau ‘no, there isn’t’
▪ PAlg *ka ‘negative stem’ ‖ PAW *kä:.
63. One. PW *n’am ‘one’ ▪ PNi *ńǸ, *ńń ‘one’; *nu i ‘first, fore’ ▪ PAlg *nekwe(h)t ~
*nekwehc ‘one’ [compound “one+half”], PA *nehšihke:w ‘alone’, *nay ‘only; all in one
place’, *nawat ‘first’ ‖ PAW *ń’ ◊ PS *nak’, *nk’u ‘one, another’, *naqas ‘one’.
64. Person. PW *bakɀ ~ *bukɀ ‘human being’ ▪ PNi *ńiv ŋ ‘person; Nivkh’ ▪ PAlg *na(:)pe: w
‘man, male’ ‖ PAW *be:kɀE ~ *pe:gɀE [PNA *ń’Vpe:gɀE may be analysed as “one + person”].
65. Rain. PWN *y’ugɀ ‘to rain’; *y’ugɀa ‘rain’ ▪ PNi *ju ‘dew’ ‖ PAW *y’Ǹ: ɀE (~ *o:, *u:).
66. Red. Quil. p’ič’ ‘red’ [č’ < PChi *k’] ▪ PNi *pa ‘red, red-haired’ ▪ PAlg *(ne)pek, *(ne)pak
‘red; blood’ ‖ PAW *p’akV86.
67. Road ? [There is a Nivkh-Algic root, see § 4.3].
68. Root. PW *’u:p’ak ‘root’ ▪ Quil. c’á:boqɀł ‘root’ ▪ PNi *vizlǸx (~ řl) ‘root’; NiY *waδiụlu:
‘root’ [with metathesis]87 ▪ PAlg *(wʔe)dlayep, *(wʔe)dlayepi:t(a)k88 ‘root’ ‖ PAW
*č’VlVyǸp’V, *č’VlVyǸp’:tkE89 ◊ Cf. PS *c’apaʔχ ‘cedar root’.
69. Round. PWN *klx ‘round, round thing, to turn (wheel), to make sth. round’ ▪ PNi
*kulkuř ‘wheel’ ▪ PA *kwe:łk ‘turn, return’ ‖ PAW *kulk’V, *k’ulk’V or *k’ɀi:lk’V90 (?) —
contamination of various allomorphs or similar roots. ◊ Cf. PS *q’lχ, *q’laχ ‘round; circle’
and *χɀlq’ɀ ‘round, to roll’.
70. Sand. PWN *q’p ‘sand’ ▪ PNi *qomr (~ ř)91 ‘sand’ ‖ PAW *q’ombV (~ u).
71. Say ? [There is a Nivkh-Algic root, see § 4.3].
72/25. See/eye. PW *n’a: in *n’a:k ‘look’, PWS suff. *in’awχ ‘seeking’, PWN *n’u ‘to aim’ ▪
Quil. daq’ɀó: ‘eye’ ▪ PNi *ńu ‘look, watch’92, *ńřǸ ‘see; find’, *ńaχ93 ‘eye’, *ńisaχ ‘tears’,
*ńxǸr ‘eyelashes’, *ńit ‘to aim’; NiY *nu( ) ‘see, find’, *nojdi ‘watch, guard’ ▪ PAlg
*ne:w ‘see’; *nenʔ, *nenʔaw ‘to look for’, PA *nat(a)w ‘seek, hunt’ ‖ PAW *ń’:.
73. Seed — ?
Cf. the same suffix in PWS *q’ima:n ‘navel’.
Apparently *k’i, *k’ < *k(a)ʔi(:), cf. absence of glottalization in *k(a) and PNi *qha < *ka.
86 Cf. PWN *px ‘to bleed sb.’ and PNi *pu ‘to bleed’.
87 The NiY form reflects PAW *p’ as *ụ; coda u: < *u(u). In Early PNi, the root must have looked like
*weʒlibx = PAlg *(wʔe)dlayepi:t(a)k. The PNi form contains the fossilized 3rd person possessive prefix, cf. PAlg.
88 PA *wetye:pitki ~ *wetye:piski ~ *wetye:piški, suff. *tye:petk; Wi. ʔuwlápitkʔl, ʔulápitkʔl ‘roots’; Yu.
ʔwʔ ‘root(s)’, ʔwoʔłp‘eʔy ‘angelica root’, ʔwʔłpitk ‘root, willow root’, also ʔwohpe ‘spruce root’. P. Proulx’s
(1992, #94) reconstruction is *wʔetlʔeyepi:teke, *wʔetlʔeyepi:take (or, alternatively, *wʔetleyʔVpiteke). PAlg *(wʔe)dlayep
contains secondary d instead of *ǯ. Glottalization of *č’ was lost due to dissimilation.
89 Cf. the similarity between the bizarre PAW root for ‘root’ and PNC *HĭīwVł" ‘root’.
90 Cf. a similar PAW root *xɀi:łV ‘turn’: PWN *xɀił ‘to turn back’, PNi *khelel ‘turn round’, PA *kwe:ł ‘turn,
return’ (cf. also PAlg *kelom ‘turn’).
91 In spite of formal resemblance, this PNi root (kept in Sakhalin Nivkh only) is not a loanword from Altaic
(instead, PAlt *k#umo ‘sand, dust’ may be compared with PEsk *qhmi ‘hill, snowdrift’, *qhmu ‘sand, stale ice’ and
PUr *kumV ‘thin snow’).
92 PNi *ńu probably contains suffixal *w, cf. PAlg *ne:w, PWS *in’awχ.
93 Formal resemblance between PNi *ńaχ and PEA *na:, *ne: ‘eye’ is accidental, since the latter forms descend from PND *lwa, a compound that consists of the determinative prefix *l ‘face’ and the root *wa ‘eye’.
PNi *ńaχ ≈ Quil. daq’ɀó:, where da < *ń’a, and the 2nd (suffixal) component may be cognate with PNi *χ.
84
85
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Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
74. Sit. PWS *t’i:qɀ ‘to sit’ ▪ PNi *thiv ‘to sit, sit down’, NiY *ϑa a (~ , v) ‘sit’ ‖ PAW *t’i:q’ɀV
~ *ti:q’ɀV.
75a. Skin1. PWS *’iχaq ‘skin, fur’ ▪ PAlg *o:k ‘skin, leather’ ‖ PAW *ü:q’V ~ *’ü:q’V.
75b. Skin2. PNi *ŋa r, *ŋ r ‘skin (animals)’ ▪ PAlg * l, * r ‘skin, scale’94 ‖ PNA * VrV ◊ Cf.
PS *k’ɀl’ ‘skin, feather, porcupine quill’.
76. Sleep. PWN *k’ał ‘to sleep, to dream’ ▪ PNi *qho ‘to sleep’95 ▪ PAlg *i:ǻkw, *ełkw ‘sleep,
dream’ ‖ PAW *k’(ɀ)ołV ~ *ʔołk’ɀA.
77. Small ?
78. Smoke. PWN *w’aχ ‘to produce or use smoke’ ▪ PNi *thusk ‘to smoke fish’ [compound
with *thu ‘to burn, smoke’] ▪ PA *wi:škw ‘to smoke (leather or meat)’ ‖ PAW *w’e:čq’E
(~ š).
79a. Stand1. PW *a: ‘stand’ ▪ PNi *lar ‘to get up on the back paws’ ▪ PA *łamat ‘stand up,
erase’ ‖ PAW *a:.
79b. Stand2. PNi *kpr ‘stand, stand up’ ▪ PAlg *ga:p ‘stand’ ‖ PNA *g:p’V ◊ Cf. PSI * ap ‘to
stand upright’.
80. Star — ? [There is a Nivkh-Algic root, see § 4.3].
81a. Stone1. PWN *ckɀ, *cxɀ ‘rock fence, fish trap made of stones’ ▪ PNi *ce ra ‘rock, cliff’96 ▪
PAlg *ček’w ‘big stone, rock’97 ‖ PAW *čikɀE ~ *čik’ɀE (~ e).
81b. Stone2. PW *nuk ‘mountain’ ▪ PNi *ŋǸkr (~ *) ‘clod’ ‖ PAW *ŋǸgE.
82. Sun98. PNi *kheŋ ‘sun’99, NiY *kinʒ ‘moon, month’ ▪ PAlg *ke ečh ‘sun, moon’, *kečh
‘sunshine, daylight’ ‖ PNA *kiŋǯV (~ q, X) ◊ Cf. PS *kɀusn ‘star’.
83. Swim. PWN *mał ‘swim’ ▪ PNi *mr ‘swim (human, animal), bathe’; NiY *mör(i) ‘swim’ ▪
PAlg *o:l ‘swim’100 ‖ PAW *m:rV. Perhaps a suffixal derivate, cf. PWN *mi ‘to swim
(fish), crawl (snake)’.
84a. Tail1. PW *na:k (~ n’) ‘tail of fish or bird’ ▪ Quil. doqɀ ‘fishtail’ ▪ PNi *ŋki ‘tail’; NiY *ĺaqil,
*l ‘tail of animals’ ‖ PAW *ŋ’:gE ◊ PS *anak (suff.) ‘tail, anus, buttocks’.
84b. Tail2. PWN *c’ax ‘tail of a fish’ ▪ PNi *ŋsk ‘tail fin (of a seal)’ ▪ PAlg *–čekwan,
*če ekan ‘tail (of fish, bird), rump’101 ‖ PAW *č’a:k’E (~ e:, :, o:).
85/86b. That, this1. PWN *w’ ‘this (“empty root”)’ ▪ PNi *ivŋ ‘he’, *vŋ ‘he (honor.)’ ▪ PAlg
*weʔ ‘3rd person’; *we ‘this (nonpersonal, extended)’; *wa ‘this (personal, extended)’ ‖
PAW *w’V.
85/86c. That, this2. PW *da ‘this, that’ ▪ PNi *tu ‘this’, *toń ‘this (visible)’ ▪ PAlg *t ‘the one
(known but not previously mentioned)’ ‖ PAW *dV.
85/86d. That, this3. PW *ga: ‘this; here’ ▪ PNi *ku ‘that (invisible)’ ▪ PAlg *kwVl ‘she, he, it’ ‖
PAW *g(ɀ)V.
PA *waʔlakay ‘skin, scale’, *waʔšakay ‘skin’, *łameškay ‘inner skin, membrane’; Wi. ẃtkay ‘skin’;
Yu. srahkwoh ‘loincloth’, slekw ‘clothes (a single set)’.
95 PNi *qho < *łqho.
96 Borrowed into Manchu and Nanai as ǯaχar ‘pebble, boulder’.
97 PA *ši:kwan ‘cliff, grindstone’ (< PAlg pl. *čeek’w); Yu. cek’ɀeł ‘prayer stone “seat” (semicircular wall of
mortared stones)’.
98 Reconstruction of roots for ‘moon’ and especially for ‘sun’ in Native American protolanguages is rather difficult, since the words sun, moon and even stars are usually denoted with the common term ‘luminary’, further
specified as “night luminary” or “day luminary”.
99 PIt *qъńʔъsx%, *qъŋʔ ‘moon’ is a Nivkh loan.
100 With regular loss of the initial sonorant in “suffixal” forms, cf. PA *mo:šken, *ašken ‘full’, *nepy, *epy
‘water’, *nep ‘sleep’, *wihp ‘sleep with others’, *na:pe:w, *a:pe:w ‘man, male’, etc.
101 PA *šekwan ‘tail of fish’; *šyi:kan ‘rump’; Wi. wetútk ‘ventral fin’; Yu. ckɀ ‘bird’s tail’; cecekw ‘fin of fish’.
94
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Sergei L. Nikolaev
85/86e. That, this4. PW *y’i: ‘that yonder’; *y’a: ‘that’; *y’u(:) ‘that (near you)’ ▪ PNi *a ‘that,
there’102 ▪ PAlg *ya ‘that (personal, extended); then’; *yo ‘that (restricted)’ ‖ PAW *y’V.
85/86a. That, this5. PW *hi: ‘that (“empty root”)’ ▪ PNi *huŋ ‘this (“a little farther”)’; *ho ‘this
(remote)’ ‖ PAW *hV.
86. This — see ʽThatʼ.
87. Thou. PChi *ki > Quil. či, Chem. ce:ya ‘thou’ ▪ PNi *chi ‘thou’103 ▪ PAlg *keʔ (prefix) ‘thou,
thee, thy’, *keʔila ‘thou’ ‖ PAW *kV ◊ Cf. PS *nkɀ, *n ɀ ‘thou (independent pronoun)’,
*ʔn[ ɀ] ‘2nd singular possessive prefix’ *axɀ ‘2nd singular transitive subject suffix’,
*kxɀ ‘2nd singular intransitive subject affix’, etc.
88. Tongue. Quil. łiłí:tot ‘tongue’ [reduplication] ▪ PNi *hilk, *hilx ‘tongue’, *hel[h]el ‘lick’104
▪ PA *e:łany ‘tongue’105 ‖ PAW *hi:łV (~ e:, ) ◊ Cf. PSI *tạłaʔ ‘tongue’.
89a. Tooth1. PW *gi:g ‘tooth’ ▪ PNi *khǸk ‘fang’ ‖ PAW *[i]:gE.
89b. Tooth2. PWN *xsi(ʔa) (suff.) ‘tooth’ ▪ PNi *ŋ s, *ŋ zǸr (~ ř) ‘tooth’ ‖ PAW *xEcV (~ s).
90. Tree. PW *suk > PWS *suč’(as) ‘tree’ ▪ PNi *ci r, *cxr ‘tree’ ‖ PAW *ʒikɀE ◊ Cf. PS *cq
‘tree’.
91. Two. PW *ma:, *ma in PW *ma:ʔła ‘two’, PWN *mt ‘twins’; PW *mu: ‘four’ ▪ Quil. báʔyas
‘four’, Chem. ma:ʔis, miʔi:s (< PChi *maʔyas) ‘four’ ▪ PNi *mi, *me, NiY *mä:l ‘two’106 ‖
PAW *me: ‘two’, *meyE:wV ‘four’107 ◊ PS *mus ‘four’.
92a. Walk1 (go). PWN *wn ‘to go, go ahead’ ▪ PNi *vi ‘walk, go’ ▪ PAlg *wehł ‘walk’ ‖ PAW
*wi(:).
92b. Walk2 (go). PWN *ha ‘to go, move’ ▪ PAlg *a: ‘to go’ ‖ PAW *ha: (~ e:, :).
93. Warm1. PWN *kɀuxɀ ‘warm’ ▪ PNi *qhav ‘hot’ ‖ PAW *kɀäxɀV.
93b. Warm2. PWN *pc’- ‘to warm oneself by the fire’ ▪ PA *paset ‘be hot’ ‖ PAW *pVc’V.
94a/19. Water1, drink. PW *k’a, *ʔak[’]ɀ > PWS *č’a ‘drink’; PWS *č’aʔakɀ ‘water’108 ▪ PChi
*k’ɀa:y, *k’a:w > Quil k’ɀá:ya, Chem. c’ó:wa, c’o: ‘water’ ▪ PNi * ‘give to drink, irrigate,
pour on’; *i r ‘creek’ ▪ PAlg *a:hkw, ehkw ‘drink’109, *a:kawy, *ekawy ‘to flow’; PA
*akw (adverbial stem) ‘out of/in the water’; *a:kamy, *e:kamy (suff.) ‘natural body of
water’, *kwa:p- ‘out of the water’ ‖ PAW *k’(ɀ)e: ~ *ʔe:k’(ɀ)V ◊ Cf. PS *ʔuqɀ ‘drink; water’;
*qɀuʔ, *qul, *qal ‘water; drink’; suff. *qɀa, *kɀa ‘water’.
94b. Water2. PWN *w’ap ‘water’ ▪ PNi *fi ‘dew’110 ▪ PAlg *ʔa:ʔp ‘liquid’; PAlg *piʔihk > Yu.
paʔah ‘water, juice; be/get wet’ ‖ PAW *w’e:pV ~ *pe:w’V.
PNi *a ‘there, downriver’, *aǸ- ‘there (distant)’, *a, *ahu ‘that (visible distant)’.
Historical phonetics does not prohibit us from linking together PNi *chi and PW *su: ‘thou’, so that PAW
*cV or *sV may be reconstructed. But a closer connection between Nivkh and Algic urges us to think of PW *su:
as a local Wakashan innovation (or archaism) and consider PNi *chi as cognate with PAlg *keʔila instead (cf. PNi
*ńi ‘I’ ≈ PAlg *neʔila).
104 The PNi term for ‘tongue’ is derived from the verb ‘to lick’, which is in its turn derived from the PAW root
meaning ‘tongue’.
105 Should be distinguished from PA *i:łan, descending from PAlg *i:pł ‘tongue’ and related to PNi *vlǸx
‘lip’ < PNA *ʔǸ:płV ‘lip, tip of tongue’.
106 PEsk *malu- ‘two’ is a loan from Wakashan or “Northern Nivkh”, while Proto-Aleut *a(:)lax ‘two’ has an
areal parallel in Chimakuan-Wakashan: PWS *ʔała, Quil. łáʔw, Chem. łákɀa.
107 The PNA stem for ‘four’ contains the same 2nd component: PNi *nǸ, *nu ▪ PAlg *niye:ʔw < PAW
*nEyE:wV with PAW *nE as in PAlg *niǯ, *nid, *neyiǯ ‘two’ (cf. PS *ʔs, *was, *nwas ‘two’).
108 This PWS compound seems to have meant ‘drinking water’.
109 PA *menehkw, Yu rekɀohp- ‘to drink’.
110 “Incorporated” allomorph of *phi.
102
103
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Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
95. We111. Quil. lobá:ʔa, Chem. má:ʔał ‘we’ ▪ PNi *me ‘we’ ‖ PAW *m’i (~ e) ◊ Cf. PS *nʔim
‘we’112.
96/98a. What, who1. PW *ʔanga, *ʔangɀa ‘who’ ▪ PNi *anq ‘who’ ▪ PAlg *ke:kw ‘something;
which?’; *we:kw ‘what’ ‖ PAW *gɀV ◊ PS *ka(n) ‘interrogative stem (do what? do something; (be) where, how?)’.
96/98b. What, who2. PW *way(a) (~ w’) ‘interrogative stem’ ▪ PAlg *we:kw ‘what’, *wVłʔa
‘who?’, PA *awe:na ‘who’ ‖ PAW *wV (~ w’) ◊ Cf. PS *wat ‘who?’
96/98c. What, who3. PNi *thju- > Am. si, Sakh. řhu ‘what?’ [“incorporated” allomorphs of Am.
*chi, Sakh. *thu], *tha ‘who?’ ▪ PAlg *ta:ł, *tVłʔ ‘interrogative stem’ ‖ PNA *tV ◊ Cf. PS
*tamʔ ‘what?’ (and perhaps *wat ‘who?’).
97. White — ?
98. Who — see ʽWhatʼ.
99. Woman. PW *łukɀ ‘woman’ ▪ PNi *řhaŋq ‘woman’113 ▪ PAlg *ełkw ‘woman, female’ ‖ PAW
*ʔVłäŋk’(ɀ)V ◊ Cf. PS *łanayʔ ‘woman’.
100. Yellow — ?
101. Far. PWS *saya: (~ *χ) ‘far’ ▪ PA *aya:k(w) ‘far off’ ‖ PAW *ʔaya: (~ e, ).
102. Heavy — ?
103a. Near1. PWN *mak ‘near, next to, close’ ▪ PNi *ma ‘near, close’; NiY *mi(ä)k ‘near’ ▪
PAlg *ma:ł ‘side by side, in a row’ ‖ PAW *ma:.
103b. Near2. PW *a- ‘near’ ▪ PNi *la ‘near’, le (postpos.) ‘near’ ‖ PAW *a.
104. Salt — ?
105. Short. PWN *c’kɀ ‘short’ ▪ PAlg *tetkw, *tatkw, *tačkw ‘be short’ [reduplication] ‖ PAW
*č’VkɀV ◊ Cf. PSI *xɀic ‘short’.
106. Snake. PW *q’ɀin ‘snail, slug’ ▪ PNi *veŋ in Sakh. veŋumlaŋ ‘ratsnake (?)’114 ▪ PA
*kenwe:pikw ‘snake’ ‖ PAW *q’ɀiŋV. PA *kenw instead of **kwen under the influence of
*kenw ‘long’ ◊ Cf. PS *k’ínk’ɀu ‘snake’.
107. Thin. PWS *pu:k ‘thin (flexible obj.)’115 ▪ PA *pepak ‘thin, lean’ [reduplication] ‖ PAW
*po:kV (~ u:) ◊ Cf. PSI *p’aχ ‘thin (layer)’.
108. Wind. PW *yu:116 ‘wind; to blow (wind)’ ▪ PNi *la ‘wind’; NiY *ilij ‘wind’ ▪ PAlg *lo:yew
‘blow’ ‖ PAW *la:yVwV117 ◊ Cf. PS *alaq (suff.) ‘wind, weather’.
In Proto-Wakashan and Proto-Algic, ‘we exclusive’ is derived from the ‘I’stem and ‘we inclusive’ is derived from the ‘thou’-stem with pluralizing suffixes. On the contrary, PNi *ńǸŋ ‘we exclusive’ is ‘”I”stem plural’,
whereas ‘we inclusive’ preserves the original PWA root for ‘we’.
112 Bella Coola łmił, Sechelt nímuł, Clallam łniʔŋł, Saanich łniŋł, Cowlitz ʔinim, Upper Chelalis ʔiním,
Puget díbł, Lilloet snímuł, Okanagan mnimłtt ‘we’.
113 Fossilized “incorporated” form of *thaŋq.
114 This compound consists of *veŋ ‘?’ + *umlaŋ ‘snake’ and is translated as “удав” (i. e. “boa”). Apparently we
deal here with such large non-poisonous snakes as ratsnakes (Elaphe) which do not inhabit Sakhalin but are widespread in the Far East (ratsnakes, like boas, smother their prey). Note in particular such species as the Russian
ratsnake (Elaphe schrenckii), 150–190 cm. long, inhabiting the Amur River basin, Eastern Mongolia, Southeast Siberia, Northern Manchuria and Korea; cf. also the Japanese striped snake (Elaphe japonica), 110–150 cm. long, and the
Japanese ratsnake (Elaphe climacophora), 110–130 cm. long, both located in Kunashir and Japan.
115 PWN *plkɀ ‘thin and flat’ has l by analogy with the synonymous root *pl’ < PAW *pAl’V (~ r’) ‘flat’.
116 PW *yu: < *yyV:w < *lyV:w < *la:yVw.
117 Cf. PA *le:hle: ‘breathe’ [reduplication] and further PSC *hli, *ʔli ‘life, spirit’.
111
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Sergei L. Nikolaev
109. Worm118. PWN *k’ɀlp119 > Ha. k’ɀb̀ ‘worm’ ▪ PNi *kǸlaŋa ‘snake’120 and *chŋa ‘viper’,
NiY *kölniʒ ‘worm, caterpillar’121 ‖ PAW *k’ɀǸlVŋV (~ ) ◊ Cf. PS *q’ya’an ‘snail, slug’.
110. Year. PW *ʔinχ (suff.) ‘year, season’ ▪ PNi *ań ‘year’122 ▪ PAlg *en ‘season’ in PA *ni:pen
‘summer’, Yu. kišen ‘be summer; summer’ [lit. ‘warm season’] ‖ PAW *ʔäńV ◊ Cf. PS
*ánaxɀ (suff.) ‘season, year’.
4.2. Stability of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan roots within the 110item wordlist. Precise phonetic/semantic reconstruction of several PAW roots with the 110item wordlist meanings
seems to be impossible, which is not surprising for such a remote relationship, demonstrated
on a restricted volume of lexical material. Sometimes binary comparison of two daughter languages (Proto-Chimakuan-Wakashan and Proto-Nivkh-Algic) does not allow us to determine
which of the two “competing” roots was inherited from the parent language, and only external correspondences in Salishan permit to yield preference to one of them.
Not surprisingly, the “lost roots” of PAW are usually the ones whose lexical meanings
have lower values (“weights”) on the scale of Sergei Starostin123. Table 5 shows that within the
110item wordlist, reconstructible PAW roots prevail over absent ones in all the conventional
groups of the value hierarchy (1–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–110). As a matter of fact, in groups with
the values from 1 to 60 only 2 roots are “lost” completely.
Table 5. Preservation/loss of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan roots with 100wordlist meanings.124
Reconstructible
Lost
1–30
we [1], I [3], fire[7], tongue[8], two[2], eye[4], thou[5], who[6], stone[9]
name[10], hand[11], what [12], die[13], heart [14], drink[15], dog[16], louse[17],
moon[18], claw[19], blood[20], one[21], tooth[22], new[23], dry[24], liver[25],
eat[26], tail[27], this[28], hair[29] , water[30] (30 = 100%)
31–60
nose[31], not[32], mouth[33], full[34], ear[35], that[36], bird[37], bone[38],
sun[39], smoke[40], stand[41], tree[42], ashes[43], rain[45], fish[47], neck[48],
breast[49], give[44], leaf[50], kill[52], foot[53], sit[54], root[55], thin[56], horn[57],
fly[58] hear[59], skin[60] (28 = 93%)
star[46], come[51] (2 = 7%)
61–90
long[61], worm[62], meat[63], know[65], egg[68], knee[70], head[72], sleep[73],
burn[74], earth[75], year[76], feather[77], swim[78], white[79], bite[80], fat[81],
man[82], person[83], all[84], snake[85], night[86], see[87], walk[89] , warm[90]
(24 = 80%)
road[64], salt[66], say[67], seed[69],
black[71], heavy[88] (6 = 20%)
91–110
red[91], cold[92], woman[93], round[94], near[95], lie[97], green[98], cloud[99],
far[100], bark[102], sand[103], short[104], wind[108], belly[109] (14 = 70%)
yellow[96], big[101], good[105],
many[106], mountain[107], small[110]
(6 = 30%)
‘Worm (generic)’, including caterpillars and other small/harmless apodal animals. ‘Angleworm’ is usually
denoted with special terms because of its specific relation to “fishing”.
119 Perhaps < *k’ɀVlŋp.
120 This form may be a loan from Salish, § 6.
121 Similar Altaic terms seem to be contact words, since they are limited to the Far East: PTM *kulīn ‘worm,
snake’, PKor *kùrj̀ŋí ‘adder, viper’.
122 Also PAW *hü:ʔäńV > PWN *hiʔnχ ‘summer’ and PNi *honf ‘spring (season)’ [with positional (?) development *ń > n].
123 See S. Starostin 2007. Average stability indexes were calculated on the basis of assembled 100 and
110item wordlists of 14 language families of Eurasia and Africa.
124 The average stability index as per S. Starostin is indexed in square brackets.
118
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4.3. Proto Nivkh-Algic “basic lexicon”. Nivkh and Algic both go back to Proto-Nivkh-Algic
that, according to preliminary glottochronological calculations, may have diverged from
Proto-Chimakuan-Wakashan ca. 6500 years B. C. and existed until ca. 5000 B.C. The NivkhAlgic “basic lexicon” contains several specific roots without known Algonquian-Wakashan
etymologies, but, naturally, some of them may be archaic, having been lost in Wakashan. The
rest of the presumable Nivkh-Algic 110item wordlist terms have been listed above, under the
general Algonquian-Wakashan lexical correspondences section (§ 4.1).
5a. Big1. PNi *pil- ‘big’ ▪ PAlg *pel ‘big’ ‖ PNA *p’ilV (~ e, ł).
5b. Big2. PNi *maŋ ‘strong, main’125 ▪ PA *mank ‘big’ ‖ PNA *maŋgA (~ m’, ä, k’, q’, ).
12. Burn. PNi *thuv- ‘burn’; thuf ‘smoke’▪ PAlg *tyeʔw ‘burn’ ‖ PNA *toyVq’ɀV (~ u, xɀ).
17. Die. PNi *mu, *mujv ‘die’ ▪ PAlg *ma:hy ‘die’ ‖ PNA *mo:yV (~ m’).
18. Dog. PNi *ajm ‘dog (taboo)’126 ▪ PA *ałemw ‘dog’‖ PNA *ʔałVmV (~ ä, , ’, , m’).
20. Dry. PNi *che ‘to dry’ ▪ PAlg *ce(:) (~ č) in Yu. ceʔl ‘dry (adj.)’ ‖ PNA *ci(:) [~ c’, č, č’, e(:)].
23. Eat. PNi *ńi ‘eat’ ▪ PAlg *no:n > Yu. nun ‘feed, food’ ‖ PNA *ńi:wV (~ ń’, e:).
24. Egg, brood. PNi *ŋvi ‘nest’ ▪ PAlg *a:w ‘egg’ ‖ PNA *ʔ:wV (~ h, w’).
31. Foot, leg. PNi *ŋcx ‘foot, leg’ ▪ PAlg *čk, *tk ‘foot, leg’127 ‖ PNA *č’VkE (~ q, X).
33. Give. PNi *khim, *im ‘give, hand over’ ▪ PAlg *mi:l ‘give’ ‖ PNA *mi: ~ *ʔi:mV (~ m’).
46. Leaf, flower. PNi *eŋv ‘to flower’, *eŋvk ‘flower’ ▪ PA *ani:p-y ‘leaf’ ‖ PNA *ʔEŋi:pV (~ ŋ’).
52. Many. PNi *mal , *mel ‘numerous’128 ▪ PA *ma:l ‘many, much’ ‖ PNA *ma:lV (~ m’, ä:).
67. Road. PNi *ŋol ‘path’ ▪ PA *mye: ‘road, trail’ ‖ PNA *ŋoĺV (~ ŋ’, u)
71. Say. PNi *it ‘say, tell’ ▪ PAlg *the, *tha ‘to talk’ ‖ PNA *di ~ *ʔidV.
80. Star. PNi *uń (Ǹ)r ‘star’ ▪ PA *ała:nkw ‘star’ ‖ PNA *ʔo(:)ńkE (~ q, X).
85/86. This/that. PNi *lilŋ ‘indeed that, just that’ ▪ PAlg *er, *ar; *el, *al ‘thither, thus, that
way, like that, that sort’ ‖ PNA *ʔilV (~ e).
92. Walk. PNi *plew ‘go for a walk’ ▪ PAlg *ba:l ~ *ba:r ‘walk, go’ ‖ PNA *be:lV.
5. Proto Chukchi-Kamchatkan, Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan and
Proto-Salishan lexical correspondences
5.1. Genetic relationship of Nivkh, Chukchi-Kamchatkan, Algic and Salishan was asserted in
Mudrak & Nikolaev 1989. As of now, I seriously doubt whether Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan
shares an immediate common ancestor with Nivkh, Wakashan and Algic; a more natural conclusion is that PChK merely shares with the latter languages a large number of contact words.
An Eastern Nostratic origin for Chukchi-Kamchatkan was proposed by Aharon Dolgopolsky
(1964; Golovastikov & Dolgopolsky 1972), and the Chukchi-Kamchatkan material was also in-
PNi *maŋ is semantically influenced by PTM *maŋga ‘strong, hard’, but analysis of the PA ancestral form
*mank prevents us from treating it as a simple borrowing from PTM. Inside the Altaic phylum, the only parallel
for PTM *maŋga is in Ryukyuan (Shuri mágí, Yonakuni máí); consequently, the item may be considered an areal
word, possibly even a borrowing from Nivkh-Algic. Elsewhere in Northeast Asia, cf. PEsk *maŋKV- ‘stronger than,
tough’ and PChK *mejŋ- ‘big, many’, which may also be loans. The proper PAlt root for ‘many, big’ is *mana.
126 Borrowed into PIt as *hĺme (~ *hɀ, *jm) ‘puppy’. PNi *j instead of the regular l may be tentatively explained by a “tabooistic” mutation of the original phonetics.
127 PA *tka:t ‘leg’, *etk(a:), *ešk ‘by foot or body motion’; Wi. čkač ‘leg’; Yu. eckah ‘foot’, suff. eck ‘foot,
footprint, track’.
128 Cf. PTM *mal(u)kun ‘many’, perhaps of Algonquian-Wakashan origin..
125
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Sergei L. Nikolaev
cluded as relevant into Sergei Starostin’s comparative database for “Nostratic etymology”129. I,
too, share the opinion that Chukchi-Kamchatkan is a constituent of Nostratic, although its
classificatory status remains to be ascertained (see table 6)130.
5.2. Roots belonging to the “cultural lexicon” are analysed in § 6. Binary lexical correspondences between Nivkh and Chukchi-Kamchatkan are not taken into consideration here, since
lexical contacts between the languages of these two families probably remained strong until
quite recently, requiring a more thorough special study of their shared lexicon with the aim of
etymological stratification.
Here as well as in § 6 the most similar forms are separated with the symbol ≈ (as a rule,
this presumes borrowing from one language into another). The single tilde symbol (~) means
“less similar” and is mostly used to separate cognate forms. The notation “(possible) cognates”
refers to internal Algonquian-Wakashan relationship. PChK roots with meanings that correspond to those of the “basic lexicon” items on the 110item wordlist are listed at the beginning
of the lists and are underlined.
5.2.1. Chukchi-Kamchatkan and Wakashan set. The majority of binary lexical correspondences involves Proto-Wakashan. Some Wakashan roots with no PAW etymology may have
been borrowed from Chukchi-Kamchatkan.
Wakashan has a unique (in light of the Algonquian-Wakashan etymology) root for ‘thou’:
*su:, which resembles the Chukchi-Kamchatkan form for the 2nd person pronoun *(g)s. On
the other hand, Chimakuan preserves the standard PAW root for ‘thou’: Quil. či, Chem. cé:ya <
PChiW *ki. One possibility is that Wakashan has borrowed the root for ‘thou’ from ChukchiKamchatkan; another, somewhat preferable, is that the archaic second stem had been preserved under the areal influence of PChK.
1.
2.
3.
4.
PChK *Gtχm ‘bone’131 ≈ PW *χa:x ‘bone’ ~ Quil. qa:χ ‘bone’ ~ PNi *xuski ‘fish bones’
[cognates, PAW *χo:ck’E (~ č, s, š)].
PChK *ʔłuła (~ l) ‘eye’ [reduplication] ≈ PWS *ał ‘eye’ ~ PAlg *ʔeł in *čepʔeł, *čpʔeł
‘eyelash’ [cognates, PAW *ʔałV (~ e, , o)] ~ PS *ł in *cpł ‘eyebrow, eyelash’.
PChK *Gtga- ‘foot, leg’ ≈ PW *gɀi:gɀi: ‘leg, foot, flipper’ ~ PAlg *ki:k > Yu. ekik ‘hip(s)’
[cognates, PAW *gɀi: ‘leg’].
PChK *ʔunki ‘night’132 ≈ PWN *nikɀ, *nkɀ ‘night, at night’ ~ PNi *ńakr ‘night’ ~ PAlg
*ne t, *ne č ‘last night’ [cognates, PAW *ńä:gɀE ~ *ńä:gɀt(’)V] ~ PS *nat ‘night; 24hour period’.
Online version at http://starling.rinet.ru/ (“Tower of Babel”).
The position of the remaining Palaeo-Asian/Palaeo-Siberian languages, little by little, becomes more transparent. Eskimo-Aleut is a family that is rightfully included into the Nostratic macrofamily, where it shares several
isoglosses with Proto-Altaic. Proto-Eskimo-Aleut is included as a peer entity into Sergei Starostin’s database for
“Nostratic etymology”. The alternate hypothesis of a genetic relationship between Wakashan and Eskimo-Aleut is
supported only by J. Holst (2005). Yukaghir family is undoubtedly cognate with Proto-Uralic and has remarcable
number of contact words along with Chukchi-Kamchatkan and loans from some Nivkh-like source (“Northern
Nivkh” in my notation).
131 The presence of an “infixed” dental consonant into QVKV/KVQV-type structures is observed elsewhere in
some PChK roots that were probably borrowed from Wakashan: *kɀitχ ‘sphagnum’ ~ NW *k’ɀaʔqɀ ‘lichen’ (cognate with PNi *vaŋ ‘moss’, Yu. kikɀt); *%tga ‘foot, leg’ ~ PW *gɀi:gɀi: ‘leg, foot, flipper’. Cf. also *qučχ ‘dog’ ~ PS
*sqaχaʔ ‘dog’ and PNi *qaχ ‘husky dog (heading a team)’. PChK probably retains here a more ancient shape of the
PW forms, since as a rule, the first obstruent in PAW consonantal clusters is deleted in PW, cf. PNi *xuski ‘fish
bones’ ~ PW *χak ‘fish backbone’, etc.
132 May also go back to PNostr *nVk’(t)V ‘night’, together with PIE *nok(t).
129
130
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5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
PChK *k’axa ‘back, shoulders’ ≈ PWN *χak ‘backbone of fish’ ~ PNi *harq, *har( )r (~ *ř)
‘dried fish backbone’ ~ PA *taka:kw ‘spine’ [cognates, PAW *χa:rA].
PChK *Guχ ‘before’ ≈ PW *ga:l ‘first; before’.
PChK *ʔkxɀa ‘branch’ ≈ PW *k’ɀa:χ ‘(dry) branches’, PNW *q’ɀaχ ‘hemlock branches’.
PChK *q’ul ‘break, pierce’ ≈ PWN *q’ɀił ‘to break, crumble, grind up, crush, shatter,
mince’.
PChu *lm ‘female breast, teat’ [dissimilation of *nm] ≈ PWS *ʔanma ‘breast; suckle’;
PWN *wn ‘milk’ [metathesis] ~ PNi *momo- ‘suck’ [reduplication]; *moc ‘suck; kiss’, *moc
‘breast (female)’ ~ PAlg *no:w, *new ‘to suck’ [cognated, PAW *no:wV ~ *wo:nV ~ *ʔo:nwV].
PChK *kaxɀa ‘burn (intr.)’ ≈ PWN *xiq ‘to burn, set on fire, fire, red-hot’.
PChK *ʔelu ‘chew’ ≈ PWN *ʔulχ ‘chew’.
PChK *ʔaćiqla- ‘cough, sneeze’ ≈ PWS *w’asaq ‘cough’ ~ PA *weʔł ‘cough’ [cognates,
PAW *w’asV (~ e, o, )].
PChK *ʔkt- ‘hard’ ≈ PWS *qat- ‘hard’.
PChK *q’uqu- ‘hole’ ≈ PW *kɀawχɀ ‘hole’.
PChK *piŋi ‘light, lamp; to shine’ ≈ PW *pnq ‘to glare, shine, light (like a match)’.
PChK *łixe- ‘look, watch’; *ʔłVχu- ‘look, look out’ ≈ NW *ax- ‘to look for lice’ ~ PNi
*khi ‘wait’ ~ PAlg *ekł, *ełk ‘wait, watch’ [cognates, PAW *ʔe:xE ~ *e:xE].
PChK *k’inu ‘navel, scar’ ≈ PWS *q’ima:n(a) ‘navel’ [the same derivation as in *q’awa:n
‘nose’] ~ PNi *khǸlmř ‘navel’ [cognates, PAW *q’iĺmV ~ *qiĺmV].
PChK *kɀaśq (~ šq) ‘other; two’ ≈ PW*qakc’a ‘other, following’ > PWS *qakc’a ‘three’ (“another number [after two]”) ~ PNi *vasq133 ‘half, one of a pair’ ~ PAlg *kwe(h)t ~ *kwehc
‘other’134 [cognates, PAW *qɀaKt’V ~ *qɀaKc’V].
PChK *ʔiχu ‘slippery’ ≈ PWN *x- ‘to slip, slide’ ~ PNi *le , *thle ‘slide’ [cognates,
PAW *ExE ~ *ExE] ~ PS *lix ‘slime, slimy’
PChK *ʔć’xɀ ‘stir, move’ ≈ PWN *ʒikɀ ‘to move, function, operate’.
PChK *ʔimiśa ‘thick’ ≈ PWN *ʔms ‘thick (box, snow, a layer of sth.)’.
PChK *cijlx ‘wing’ ≈ PWN *c’lk ‘feather’.
5.2.2. Chukchi-Kamchatkan and Algic set.
1. PChK *piŋu ‘ashes’ ≈ PAlg *p(el)enekw > PA *penkw ‘ashes, powder’ ~ PNi *phlǸŋg ‘ashes’
[cognates, PNA *pVlŋVk’ɀE].
2. PChK *meł ‘good’ ≈ PA *mel(a)w ‘good’.
3. PChK *ʔipiŋl ‘root’ ≈ PA *wetpeny, tpeny ‘edible root, tuber’.
4. PChK *jił ‘tongue’135 ≈ PA *e:łany ‘tongue’ ~ PNi *hilx ‘tongue’, *hel[h]el ‘lick’ [cognates, PNA *hi:łV (~ e:, )] ~ PSI *tạłaʔ ‘tongue’.
5. PChK *ńic’e ‘two’ ≈ PAlg *niǯ, *nid, *neyiǯ ‘two’ ~ PS *ʔs ‘two’.
6. PChK *ʔłq (~ lq) ‘bone (suffixal); chest bone’ ≈ PAlg * łk ‘bone’ ~ PNi *ŋǸk (~ *) ‘gristle’ ~ PWN *łqɀ, *’qɀ ‘pit (in fruit); inside of sea eggs (urchins); brain’ [cognates, PAW
*łVq’ɀV].
The isolated foms pasq, pazr with irregular *p have been derived (with hypercorrection) from the incorporated forms *vasq, *fasq after numerals: ńvasq, mevasq, cfasq, etc.
134 PA *nekwetw ‘one’, *kwetak ‘other’; Yu kht, koht ‘one’ PAlg < *nekwaht, *nekwe(h)t. Yu kohcekin ʽone
strandʼ and Wi. kuc- ‘one’ < PAlg *nekwehc. Here, the root *kwehc may have become contaminated with *kwet,
which has a different origin and is cognate with PNi *hutǸ ‘middle’, NiY *ködi(δ) ‘inner, amidst’ (PChK *gutnu
‘middle, half’ may have been borrowed from PNi) and PW *qa:t- ‘to cut in two’ < PAW *qɀot’V.
135 Probably not directly related to PNostr *tilV(ŋV) ‘tongue’ > PAlt *tilV, PIE *dleng(hw.
133
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Sergei L. Nikolaev
7.
8.
PChK *ćiłk’e ‘hip’ ~ PAlg *so:g ‘hip’.
PChK *kečju ‘strong, good’ ≈ PA *kešy ‘good’ ~ PSI *χs- ‘good’.
5.2.3. Chukchi-Kamchatkan and Nivkh set. Here we only quote Nivkh roots of PAW origin.
The numerous Nivkh and Chukchi-Kamchatkan lexical comparanda without parallels in other
Algonquian-Wakashan families and/or in Proto-Salishan are not quoted here because of the
necessity of a more detailed etymological study of such sets which arose under the conditions
of multingual lexical interchange within the Palaeo-Sibirian Sprachbund (see lexical material in
Fortescue 2011: 1369–1373). Some discrepancies between PChK and PNi forms may be due to
the fact that the actual contacts were between Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan and the extinguished northern branch of Nivkh.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
PChK *ʔmń ‘all’ ≈ PNi *mǸŋ (~ ) ‘wholly’ ~ PWS *n’u:m’ ‘all’ [cognates, PAW *ŋ’Ǹ:m’V ~
*m’Ǹ:ŋ’V].
PChK *krx ‘dry’136 ≈ PNi *qharχahar a ‘hard, dry’ ~ PAlg *ka:hk ‘dry’ ~ PWN *q’k ‘to
dry (and pound) salmon eggs’ ~ Quil. q’i:x- ‘dry’ [cognates, PAW *q’a:rkA ~ *qa:rkA].
PChK *ʔeŋer ‘star’ ≈ PNi *uń (Ǹ)r ‘star’ ~ PA *ała:nkw ‘star’ [cognates, PNA *ʔo(:)ńkE (~ q, X)].
PChK *ʔw ‘brood, nest’ ≈ PNi *ŋvi ‘nest’; NiY *avụδ ‘nest, den’ ~ PAlg *a:w ‘egg’ [cognates, PNA *ʔ:wV (~ h, w’) ‘egg, brood’].
PChK *ʔ(l)p’l ‘cheek’ ~ PNi *vlǸx ‘lip’ ~ PAlg *i:pł ‘tongue’137 [cognates, PNA *ʔ[e:]płV
‘lip, tip of tongue’].
PChK *ćǸkołǸ ‘animal’s head’ ≈ PNi *coŋ r ‘head’ ~ PAlg *a:čkw, *ečk, *etk ‘head’ ~
Quil. dókɀč’it ‘head (usually fish or animals)’ [cognates, PAW *č’Ǹ:ŋ’kE ~ *ŋ’Ǹ:č’kE].
PChK *gutnu ‘middle, half’ ≈ PNi *hutǸ ‘middle’, NiY *ködi(δ) ‘inner, amidst’ ~ PA
*kwetak ‘other’ ~ PW *qa:t ‘to cut in two’ [cognates, PAW *qɀot’V].
PChK *ʔalk- ‘notice, wonder’ ≈ PNi *al - ‘find out, learn’ ~ PWN *wlx - ‘to do sth. at
short notice’ [cognates, PAW *walxɀE (~ ~ ä)].
5.2.4. Chukchi-Kamchatkan and Salishan set.
1. PChK *qała- ‘belly, stomach’ ≈ PS *k’ al ‘belly, stomach’.
2. PChK *k’ɀex ‘claw, finger, toenail’ ≈ PS *q’ɀaχ, *q’ɀaχɀ ‘claw, leg, foot, nail’.
3. PChK *ʔeŋχełe ‘to be afraid’≈ PSI *nχal ‘to be afraid’.
4. PChK *qapiti- ‘back, hump’ ≈ PS *k’ɀpt ‘backbone’ ~ PAlg *tapti:tak, *tapti:tek ‘backbone’138.
5. PChK *ʔeq’ełe- ‘bind, hobble’ ≈ PS *q’l ‘to spin, curl, wind/tie around’ ~ PW *k’ul, *k’il
‘tie, bind’.
6. PChu *kiwle ‘(clotted) blood, clot of blood’ ≈ PSC *qɀil ‘blood, to bleed’.
7. PChK *cim- ‘cover’ ≈ PS *ʔic’am ‘to cover with a blanket, dress’.
8. PChK *q’emi ‘top of the head, head hair’ ≈ PS *q’ɀum ‘head, skull, hair on head’ ~ PNi *hemi
‘temple’, NiY *qami (~ k) ‘back of the head’ ~ PW *am(ł), *sGam ‘round thing; mask’
[originally perhaps ‘head’]’; PWN *ɀuɀmi ‘face’ [compound “face+head”, i. e. “headface”] [cognates, PAW *emV].
9. PChK *xɀn ‘hig, upper’ ≈ PSC *’uk’ɀ ‘high’.
Probably not cognate (at least not directly) with PNostr *k’Vk’V ‘dry’ which has no *r: PAlt *k’#ăk’e (~ k,
a), PUr *koksV, PAleut *qaka.
137 Wi. it, Yu. ipł, PA *i:łan ‘tongue’. Should be distinguished from PA *e:łan ‘tongue’, related to PNi
*hilx ‘id.’ (with the same suffix *x as in *vlǸx) and going back to PAW *hi:łV (~ e:, ) ‘tongue’.
138 Probably instead of *kapti:tak. This root should be distinguished from PA *taka:kw ‘spine’.
136
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10.
11.
12.
13.
PChK *ʔqlaxɀola ‘husband’ ≈ PSI *χalwiʔ ‘husband’.
PChK *čijm ‘small; crumb(s)’ ≈ PS *cim ‘small; children’.
PIt *tömkč, *tъŋɀuk ‘thumb’ ≈ PSI *tum’kst ‘thumb’ ~ PNi *tuńm ‘toe’.
PChK *xɀłqu ‘weak, fragile’; *xɀǸlxɀa ‘weak, careless’ ≈ PS * ɀal’ ‘weak, tired, faint,
sleep’ ~ PW *waył, *w’ay ‘weak’.
5.3. Analysis of the lexical parallels between Chukchi-Kamchatkan, on the one hand, and either Algonquian-Wakashan (including Nivkh) or Salishan, on the other hand, shows a very
heterogenous picture: the Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan forms resemble either Wakashan
(§ 5.2.1) or Salishan (§ 5.2.4), either Algic (§ 5.2.2) or Nivkh (§ 5.2.3) counterparts.
Among other things, the PChK 110item wordlist includes: 1) the “Wakashan-like”
*Gtχm ‘bone’, *ʔłuła (~ l) ‘eye’,*Gtga ‘leg, foot’; *ʔunki ‘night’; 2) the “Algic-like” *piŋu
‘ashes’, *meł ‘good’, *ʔipiŋl ‘root’, *jił ‘tongue’ and *ńic’e ‘two’; 3) the “Nivkh-like” *ʔmń
‘all’, *krx- ‘dry’, *ʔeŋer ‘star’; 4) the “Salish-like” *qała- ‘belly, stomach’, *k’ɀex ‘claw, finger,
toenail’. The presence of 14 loanwords on the 110item wordlist is not a typological miracle
(for example, Hindi has 12, Breton and Albanian both have 13, Gujarati has 15, Ossetian has
23, Pashto has 24 and Gypsy dialects have from 25 to 30 loans on the respective lists). Some
Algic counterparts of the PChK terms have no Algonquian-Wakashan etymology and thus,
could have been borrowed from Chukchi-Kamchatkan139.
Regular development of PAW roots in PChK in the image and likeness of different Algonquian-Wakashan languages is not very probable; there is no unified system of phonetic
correspondences that could be established between the Chukchi-Kamchatkan roots and similar Nivkh, Algic, Wakashan and Salishan forms, regardless of whatever variant of the ProtoChukchi-Kamchatkan reconstruction is used.
The Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘thou’ are straight reflections
of Nostratic pronouns: PChK *(g)m ‘I’,140 *(g)s ‘thou’141, in sharp contrast with PAW *ńV,
PS *n, *ʔn ‘I’; PAW *kV, PS *kɀ, * ɀ- ‘thou’, whence PNi *ńi ‘I’ and *chi ‘thou’. Such systematic differences between personal pronouns is a serious argument in determining genetic
relationship and classifying macrophyla (Table 6). Unlike Proto-Nivkh, Proto-ChukchiKamchatkan could hardly be considered an Algonquian-Wakashan language.
Michael Fortescue (2011) has put forward a hypothesis of a Chukotko-KamchatkanAmuric language family that includes Chukchi, Koryak and Itelmen, on one hand, and Nivkh,
on the other. The Chukotko-Kamchatkan-Nivkh lexical material (pp. 1369–1373) is accompanied with reconstructions that are marked with question signs and claim to have been made
on the basis of such sound correspondences (p. 1363) as cannot really be found in any practical
situations, unless they happen to be observed between a couple of closely-related dialects.
Countless exceptions are quite obvious from the adduced examples and remain unexplained;
lexical correspondences include numerous words from peripheral lexical strata, and percentages of direct root matches on the 110item wordlist are critically minimal, let alone such comparanda as PNi *ŋif ~ ChK *liŋ ‘heart’ that both allegedly reflect the protoform *liŋ (p. 1371).
Several Chukchi-Kamchatkan roots may really speak in favor of a very remote (“Borean”) relationship of
Algonquian-Wakashan and Salish, on one hand, and Chukchi-Kamchatkan and other Nostratic languages, on the
other hand. For example, PChK *ʔixɀ ‘water’, *xɀi ‘flow; river’ (> PChu *wejem ‘river’, PIt *xɀi ‘flow’) resemble
both PAW *k’ɀe: ~ *ʔe:k’ɀV (and PS *ʔuqɀ , *qɀuʔ ‘drink; water’) and PNostr *ȥEk’u ‘water’ > PAlt *#ák’a (~ k); *uk’u
(~ k) ‘wet, wash’, PUr *joke ‘river’, PDrav *uk ‘spill, pour’, PIE *h2ekɀ ‘water’, *h1egɀ ‘drink’.
140 Cf. PIE *h me, PAlt *b+, PUr *mE, PKartv *me ‘I, me’.
1
141 Cf. PAlt, PKartv *si ‘thou’.
139
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Sergei L. Nikolaev
Table 6. Distribution of personal pronoun stems in several East Asian and Northwest American language families.
Almosan macrofamily
PS
1 sg.
*n-
PW
*nu:-
*kɀ2 sg.
1 pl.
PChi
*la*ki-
PAlg
*ne*ke-
Nostratic macrofamily
PNi
*ma:ʔ
*nu:-
PAlt
PYuk
PUr
PIE
*m
*vi
*b
*s
*v-c
*si
*me-
*mE
*h1me-
*t-
*tE
*te-
*mi-
*mE
*me-
*chi
*me*ne-
PEsk
*ńi
*su:*n-ʔim-
PChK
*mu-r-
*va-
*b-
*ńǸ-
*ne-
6. Common Algonquian-Wakashan, Salishan and Chukchi-Kamchatkan
cultural lexicon
6.1. There is some evidence that speakers of Proto-Salishan, Proto-Wakashan, Proto-Nivkh,
Proto-Algic, and Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan originally dwelled close to each other in a single
area. This can be illustrated with shared cultural terms, found in these languages. The shared
cultural lexicon is quite large and includes terms for foraging, hunting for land and sea game,
fishing, shamanism, natural conditions, and household objects.
6.2. In the lists adduced below we restrict ourselves to lexical parallels that contain
Chukchi-Kamchatkan and/or Nivkh counterparts. The occasional comparanda in Eskimo and
Na-Dene languages are listed as well. Binary lexical parallels between Nivkh and ChukchiKamchatkan are not included (see § 5.2), nor are binary parallels between Salishan and Wakashan, which are even today characterized by intensive lexical interchange in Northwest
America, far from the original Circumberingian area.
6.2.1. Berries and foraging.
1. PChK *ʔme ‘berries, edible fruits’ ≈ PWN *mał ‘fruit’, *mlk ‘berry’ ~ NiY *malʒ
‘berry (cloud, nagoon, black, raspberry)’ ~ PA *małw ‘wild rice (Zizania sp.)’142 [cognates, PAW *ma:łV] ~ PS *mul’sm, *mal’sm ‘blueberry sp.’.
2. PWN *nkɀ ‘salal berry’ ~ PAlg *mihkhw ‘salal berry’143 [cognates, PAW *ŋi:rgɀV] ~ PSC
*mik’ɀł ‘salal berry’.
3. PNi *ma r (~ , ř) ‘red bilberry’ ≈ PSI *tmqɀ ‘thornberry’ ~ PND *dA[m]AxɀE ‘berry sp.
(lowbush craneberry, bearberry)’.
4. PNi *haqaq ‘red bilberry’ ~ PWN *qk ‘bunchberries (Cornus canadensis)’ [possibly cognates, PAW *hAqAgV].
5. PNi *tm ‘cranberry’ ≈ PS *t’am ‘gooseberry’~ PWN *t’ms ‘bunchberry (Unifolium
dilatum)’ [PNi and PW may be cognates, ? PAW *t’ǸmV (~ )].
6. PNi *qp ‘bird cherry’ and *qafqaf ‘stone berry’ ≈ PS *qɀʔup ‘crabapple’.
7. PNi *kelm ‘raspberry’ ~ PWN *qił ‘bog cranberries’ ~ PS *qala ‘red huckleberry’.
8. PS *q’ɀal ‘berry (generic)’ and PSC *q’ɀil(a) ‘salmonberry (Rubus sp.)’ ≈ PEA *qɀaʔ’a,
*q’ɀa’a ‘salmonberry, cloudberry (Rubus sp.)’.
142
143
52
Zizania palustris and Z. aquatica, their grain was historically gathered and eaten in North America
Wi. bíkhɀl, Yu. mahkew ‘salal’, mahkuł ‘salal berry’.
Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
9.
10.
11.
12.
PNi *qatax ‘red bilberry’ ≈ PS *ktuxɀ ‘bog cranberry, blackberry’.
PChK *kɀegeri ‘rosehip’ ≈ PSI *kɀkɀaw’ ‘rosehip’.
PChK *ʔeχlu ‘pick berries’ ≈ PWN *q’ɀaʔł ‘to pick sprouts’.
PChK *ǯiłi ‘choose, gather’ ≈ PWN *sliʔ ‘to choose’.
6.2.2. Salmon.
1. PChK *kalja ‘Siberian salmon’ ≈ PS *qal ‘salmon (generic)’ ~ PWN *ɀuł ‘trout’ ~ PNi *qhol
‘common rud’ [cognates, PAW *u:lV (~ ł). Note that the Nivkh term denotes a fish that is
unrelated to salmon species].
3. PNi *vel ‘Siberian salmon’ ~ PS *wal ‘fish (generic)’.
4. PChK *ʔexɀeću ‘salmon sp.’ ≈ PS *kasw’, *kw’s [metathesis] ‘spring or silver salmon’ ~ PNi
*vǸc(i)k ‘Siberian salmon’.
5. PChK *kɀiru ‘red salmon, coho salmon’ ≈ PS *k’ɀulxɀ ‘dog salmon’.
6. PChK *gajk’xɀ, *k’ajgxɀ ‘salmon (generic)’ ≈ PW *i:χɀaχ ‘steelhead salmon’ [a compound with *i: ‘whale’].
6.2.3. Sea mammals, water fowl, shellfish.
1. PChK *sixɀ ‘whale, sea lion’ and *sske ‘walrus; a k. of fish’ [reduplication] ≈ PWN *saʔkɀ
‘seal, seal meat’ ~ PAlg *a:ckw, *eckw ‘seal’ [cognates, PAW *ʔa:ckɀV ~ *ca:ʔkɀV (~ :, o:)] ~
PS *ʔasxɀ ‘seal’.
2. PNi *mǸ rʒ (~ ) ‘sea-lion’ ~ PWN *maxɀ ‘sea lion’ [cognates, PAW *m:xɀE]. This one
and the following entry are absent in PChK and probably represent Proto-SalishanAlgonquian-Wakashan heritage.
3. PNi *qeŋ ‘whale’ ~ PWN *ɀi ‘whale’ [cognates, PAW *ɀi:] ~ PS *qɀnis ‘whale’.
4. PChK *qɀali ‘sea mammal’s fat’ ≈ PWN *ɀuł ‘animal fat, tallow, marrow’ ~ PAlg *wel
‘fat’ [cognates, PAW * ɀǸ:lV (~ o:)].
5. PChu * bnko ‘eider’ ≈ PNi *awŋk (~ ) ‘duck sp.’ ~ PWN *ʔnq ‘duck (generic)’ ~ Quil.
díq’diq’ ‘duck, mallard’ [cognates, PAW *ʔäwäŋɀE] ◊ PSC *muʔqɀ ‘duck (generic)’.
6. PChK *ʔaxɀŋ ‘duck sp.’ ≈ PNi *i ŋa ‘merganser’ ~ PW *ʔa(ʔa)naq, *hana:q ‘goose’ [cognates, PAW *heqe:ŋV or *heŋe:qV].
7. PChK *qexɀń ‘crab, cancer’ ≈ PS *k’ɀuxɀaniʔ ‘clam sp.’ ~ PWN *k’nxɀ ‘crab’ ~ PND
*Gimiχa ‘shellfish (abalone, dentalium)’.
6.2.4. Fur game.
1. PEsk *nanu- ‘polar bear’ ≈ PW *na:na ‘grizzly bear’ [reduplication] ~ PNi *ŋa ‘animal,
beast’ ~ PA *mah ‘wolf’ [cognates, PAW *ŋa: V] ~ PND *niwni ‘large beast of prey’144 ~ PS
*m aw ‘large feline or canine (fox, coyote, lynx, cougar)’.
2. PNi *qhotr ‘brown bear’ ≈ PSC *ktxɀn ‘black bear’.
3. PChu *ụmqạ ‘polar bear’ ~ PWS *mucmuχaq ‘bear’ [reduplication] ~ PS *miχał ‘black
bear’145.
Kw. nun ‘wolf (myth name)’ is a Tlingit loan.
A similar PNA root *molk’E (~ m’, u) ‘bear’ is present in PAlg *maǻkw- ‘bear’ and PNi *molk ‘Asian black
bear (Ursus thibetanus)’ [wrongly translated in dictionaries as ‘медведь-муравьед’, i. e. sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) inhabiting Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka]. The PNi (or even PNA) root was borrowed in PTM as
*mō[nǯ]ika ‘Asian black bear’, where it became phonetically contaminated with the reflexation of PAlt *m#8nǯù
‘badger’. Yu. nikɀec ‘grizzly bear’ is related to PWN *nukɀ ‘fur seal’ and PA *nekekw ‘otter’ [with reduplication],
all from PAW *ni:kɀV (~ ń, k’ɀ).
144
145
53
Sergei L. Nikolaev
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
PChK *sipuqe ‘polar fox’ ≈ PS *c’ipq ‘striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis)’ ~ PA *šeka:kw
‘striped skunk’ [perhaps with *k instead of *p due to contamination with *šek ‘urinate’
and *wa:kw ‘fox’]146.
PChK *kuime, *ikumi ‘sable’ ≈ PW *k’ɀa, *k’ɀal ‘land otter’147.
PChK *ŋe ‘otter’ ≈ PWN *n’a’ ‘wolverine’ ~ PNi *ŋǸŋ ‘otter’ [cognates, PAW *ŋ’Ǹ:. Here
we have the same correlation between the suffixes PW *(V)(ʔ) ~ PNi *ŋ as in PWS
*q’ini ~ PNi *qanŋ ‘dog’ (both from PAW *q’änV ‘dog’)].
PChK *ljaxɀlχ ‘squirrel, mouse’ ≈ PAlg *alyekw ‘squirrel’ ~ PNi *laqr ‘squirrel’ [cognates, PNA *ʔVlya(:)k’A (~ ä, q’)] ~ Eyak łkušʔi:ʔah ‘shrew(mouse)’.
PChK *łeq’ ‘weasel, wolverine’ ≈ PNi *laqlaq ‘sable (fur)’ ~ PS *łk’am ‘weasel’ ~ Tlingit
nukšiya:n, łukšiya:n ‘American mink (Neovison vison)’.
PChK *lχixne ‘wolf’ ≈ Kw. ʔul’ìg" ‘wolf’ ~ PNi *li ř ‘wolf’ [possible cognates, PAW
*ʔVl’i:kE].
6.2.5. Spiritual power, shamanism.
1. PChK *kalax (~ ł) ‘devil’ ≈ PS *kɀlx ‘spirit power, shaman’.
2. PNi *milk ‘devil, wooden idol’ ≈ PSI *mlk’ ‘shadow, spirit’ ~ PW *u:kɀ ‘supernatural
power’.
3. PChK *nińRit ‘pagan deity’ ≈ PS *naʔm ‘shaman (power)’ ~ NiY *mönc ‘spiritual power’ ~
PA *maneto: ‘spirit’ [possible cognates, PNA *mVnV- (~ m’, n’, ń, ń’)].
6.2.6. Natural conditions.
1. PChK *ʔano ‘spring (season)’ ≈ PNi *ań ‘year’; *honf ‘spring (season)’ ~ PAlg *en ‘season’ > Yu. kišen ‘summer’ (kiš- ‘warm’) ~ PW *ʔinχ ‘year, season’; PWN *hiʔnχ ‘summer’ [cognates, PAW *ʔäńV, *hü:ʔäńV] ~ PS *ánaxɀ ‘season, year’.
2. PChK *paŋo ‘snowfall’, *piŋa (~ ń) ‘to snow; snowfall’ ≈ PA *pipo:n ‘winter’ [with reduplication].
3. PChK *ano ~ *qano ‘winter; hoarfrost’ ≈ PA *ko:n ‘snow’ ~ PNi *kǸŋ ‘freeze, cool down’
~ PW *k’in ‘feel cold’ [cognates, PAW *k’i:wŋV] ~ PS *k’im ‘cold, to freeze’.
4. PChK *ʔlwl ‘blow (of wind); wind’ ≈ PAlg *lo:yew- ‘to blow (incl. wind)’ ~ PNi *la
‘wind’; NiY *ilij ‘wind’ ~ PW *yu: ‘wind; to blow (wind)’ [cognates, PAW *la:yVwV] ~ PS
*alaq (suff.) ‘wind, weather’.
5. PChK *ʔjVŋa ~ *ʔnVja ‘fog, cloud’ ≈ PW *ʔun ‘cloud, fog’ ~ PA *awanw ‘fog’ [cognates,
PAW *ʔVwonV (~ u, ŋ)].
6. PChK *ʔić[i]ka- ‘slush, mud’ ≈ PS *c’iq’ ‘mud’ ~ PW *c’akɀ ‘dirt’ ~ PAlg *ačk, *ečk ‘earth,
land’ [cognates, PAW *ʔač’akɀV (~ e, , o)].
7. PChK *ʔumuk ‘(woody) mountain, forest’ ≈ PW *nuk ‘mountain’ ~ PNi *ŋǸk-r (~ *)
‘clod’ [cognates, PAW *ŋǸgE].
8. PChu *piŋ(k) ‘gnat, midge’ ≈ PA *penkw- ‘gnat’ ~ PNi *pheŋgr ‘fly (n.)’ [cognates, PNA
*pink’E (~e; q’)].
9. PChK *šilm ‘eagle’ ≈ PNi *chamŋ ‘eagle’ [< *khjam < *khlaŋw], NiY *com- (~ ) ‘raven’
~ PAlg *kenlew- ‘a sp. of brownish hawk’ [cognates, PNA *xVlaŋVwV or *xVŋalVwV
(~ ä, k’, k)].
It is obvious that the Salishan source of the PChK word did not mean ‘(striped) skunk’, since this animal is
absent in Alaska, Northern Canada and Eurasia.
147 Cf. also PYuk *külvi- ‘polar fox (black), fox’, Ni. Sakh. holo, holu ‘squirrel’.
146
54
Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
6.2.6. Household terms.
1. PNi *qaχ ‘husky dog (heading a team)’ ≈ PS *qaχaʔ ‘dog’148.
2. PNi *tixf, *ti vs ‘language’ ≈ PS *tixɀc, (suff.) xɀc ‘tongue’.
3. PChK *du- ‘door’ ≈ PNi *thǸ ‘door; ice-hole’ ~ PAlg *tha w, *the w ‘through an opening,
passage, space, or door; out’ [cognates, PNA *d ɀV ~ *t ɀV (~ Ǹ)].
4. PChK *ʔśxɀe[n]u ‘shoe’ ~ PNi *momsq (~ řq) ‘women’s footwear’ ~ PAlg *matkesen
‘shoe’ [cognates, PNA *ʔomčVkA (~ h, u). PNi *m reflects prefix *ŋ, *momsq < *ŋomsq as a
result of distant assimilation].
5. PChK *aχa ‘axe’ ≈ PNi *qhaχ ‘spear, to spear’ ~ PWN *qlχ ‘to spear salmon’ [possible
cognates, PAW *qaĺχA (~ ä)].
6. PChK *tijmi ‘to paddle’ and *timi ‘raft’ ≈ PA *či:m [< PAlg *Teyim] ‘to paddle’ ~ PNi *com
‘raft’; *combizombi ‘to paddle in turns’ ~ PWN *t’m ,*t’ms ‘old, worn-out canoe’ [cognates, PAW *t’yomV (~ u)].
7. PChK *ʔimi ‘burden (on the shoulders)’ ≈ PW *ʔam ‘carry on one’s back, shoulders’ ~
PAlg *o:m ‘carry on one’s back’ [cognates, PAW *ʔo:mV].
8. PChK *kɀitχ ‘sphagnum’149 ≈ PAlg *ki:kwt > Yu. kikɀten ‘moss; rotten wood’ ~ PWN
*k’ɀaʔqɀ ‘lichen’ [cognates, PAW *k’ɀa:t’qɀA].
9. PChK *xɀatap ‘moss’ ≈ PSI *qɀl’ap ‘black lichen’.
10. PChK *ʔkxɀ ‘shell; dress’ ≈ PWN *q’ɀuχɀ, *q’ɀuχ ‘to dress’.
11. PChK *sipa (~ r) ‘hide’ ≈ PSI *sip’ay’ ‘skin, hide’ ~ PWN *sap ‘to skin, scalp, remove the
surface layer of sth.’.
12. PChK *xɀir ‘rope; (single) hair’ ≈ PS *χɀil’m ‘rope, string, twine, thread’.
The following Nivkh-Algic root keeps its original meaning ‘stone suitable for making
tools150’ only in Algic. In Proto-Central Algonquian, this meaning evolved into ‘metal suitable
for making tools’, whereas in Nivkh the evolution chain must have been ‘stone ware > metal
ware > chain’. While still in its transitional meaning, the word was borrowed into ProtoChukchi-Kamchatkan151.
13. PChK *plkɀ ‘metal (iron, copper)’ ≈ PNi *vlki ‘chain’ ~ PAlg *pelełk‘stone suitable for
making tools’152 [possible cognates, PNA *pǸLVlk’(ɀ)E (~ ). In spite of irregular *v in PNi,
borrowing of the PNi root either from Algic or Chukchi-Kamchatkan is improbable].
6.3. It appears that the main directions of borrowing were 1) from Salishan to Nivkh (mostly
names for berries) and Chukchi-Kamchatkan; 2) from Wakashan and Algic to ChukchiKamchatkan. There are no convincing signs of any direct borrowing between Wakashan and
Nivkh, nor are there any specific similarities between the Salishan and Wakashan forms
within the lexicon in question. Algic has no loans from any of the mentioned languages.
Cf. PChK *qučχ ‘dog’.
Dried sphagnum moss is used in northern Arctic regions as a building insulating material.
150 Cryptocrystalline materials such as chert or flint, radiolarite, chalcedony, basalt, quartzite and obsidian.
151 The similar PND term *wigš ‘stone; stone knife’ (> Tl. we:kš ‘ulu’, Eyak we:gšg ‘ulu [woman’s scraperknife for splitting fish, etc.]’, PAth *we:š ‘stone; [stone] knife’) is cognate with Proto-North-Caucasian *mHōK(V)ć’V
‘flint’. PNi *vcx (~ Ǹ) ‘arrow- or spearhead’ (secondarily interpreted as derived from *vc ‘metal’, *vcu ‘to forge’),
NiY *waqc ‘cutting edge’ seems to be an ancient Na-Dene loan. PNi *vc ‘metal’ may be a variant of the same borrowing.
152 Yu. pełk- ‘pebbles, gravel’, Wi. pł́tk, pł́tw- ‘rock, stone’, PA *pełkw, *a:pełkw- ‘stone, gravel’.
148
149
55
Sergei L. Nikolaev
The arrows in Table 7 point at the presumable recipients of borrowings. The later lexical
interchange between Nivkh and Chukchi-Kamchatkan, Salish and Wakashan is not taken into
account.
Table 7. Direction of borrowing for cultural terms
Salish
Wakashan
Algic
Chukchi-Kamchatkan
←
←
←
Nivkh
←
—
—
(—)
—
Salish
Wakashan
—
6.4. The lexical parallels listed in §§ 5–6 allow us to suppose a rather long stay of the Salishan
and Wakashan speakers in Eastern Siberia, not far from the Pacific shore, in the neighborhood
of Proto-Nivkh and Proto-ChukchiKamchatkan speakers, since borrowing of such terms as
names of berries and land fur game can be explained as a result of long-term economic ties
between speakers, but hardly as one of occasional trips across the Bering Strait153. It seems as
though Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan speakers could have migrated from somewhere into the
territory originally occupied by Salishan and Algonquian-Wakashan speakers, whose household terms and natural conditions were significantly different from former Chukchi-Kamchatkan ones. The most intense language contacts were with Proto-Wakashan, Proto-Nivkh,
and Proto-Algic languages, terms from which occupy 10% of the PChK 110item wordlist.
It does not matter whether Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan people met with the remnants of
the Salishan, Algic and Wakashan tribes that got stuck in Asia, or if the contact had occurred
before the latter resettled into America. Assumption of multiple migrations from Siberia into
America does not conflict with archaeogenetics154; there were no serious obstacles for seafaring
coastal settlers to cross over the Bering Strait even after the Bering land bridge had melted and
the continents parted around 10 thousands years ago.
It remains paradoxical that not just cultural terms, but lexical similarities in general are
quite infrequent between Wakashan, Salishan, and Chukchi-Kamchatkan, on the one hand, and
Proto-Na-Dene, Proto-Eyak-Athabaskan and Proto-Athabaskan, on the other hand155, even
though the Alaskan homeland of the latter was part of the Circumberingian area, being situated
right between Chukotka and the American homelands of Algonkin, Wakash and Salish tribes.
There are several significant borrowings from Na-Dene to Nivkh, yet they are absent in Algic.
In a similar vein, Proto-Eskimo does not reveal a significant quantity of supposedly direct
borrowings from Proto-Nivkh, Proto-Wakashan, or Salishan (the related Aleut vocabulary reRe-emigration of Proto-Nivkh (as well as of Proto-Chukchi-Kamchatkan) speakers back from America
would be incredible, thus there can be no doubt that the homeland of the Proto-Nivkh-Algonquian language was
situated in Northeast Asia.
154 “The genomic continent-wide patterns observed here can be explained most parsimoniously by a single
main colonization event, as proposed by some interpretations of archaeological, mitochondrial, and Y-chromosomal data ⟨…⟩ Alternatively, similar patterns could result from gene flow across the Bering Strait in the last few
thousand years, together with continual interactions between neighbors on both sides of the Bering Strait. It is also
possible to envision a series of prehistoric migrations, possibly from the same source population, with the more
recent descendants gradually diffusing into pre-existing Native American populations” (Sijia Wang et al. 2007:
2059–2060).
155 Contemporary Athabaskan languages have some words with a “Wakashan-like” shape.
153
56
Toward the reconstruction of Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan. Part 1: Proof of the Algonquian-Wakashan relationship
mains very poorly explored in this respect). Nor is there any evidence of immediate cultural
contacts between Nivkh and Chukchi-Kamchatkan, on the one hand, and Northwest Native
American languages, such as Tsimshian/Gitksan and Sahaptin/Nez-Percé, on the other hand.
Finally, Proto-Altaic and Proto-Uralic show no signs of cultural contacts with either Algonquian-Wakashan or Salishan, except for a rather curious resemblance between the Algonquian-Wakashan and Uralic numerals (§ 7).
§ 7. External relations of the Algonquian-Wakashan numerals
The first four numerals found in Algonquian-Wakashan and Salishan find very likely parallels
in Proto-Uralic. Although the resemblance is striking, the direction, time, and (mainly) location of hypothetical borrowing would remain a complete mystery.
1.
2.
3.
4.
PAW *ń’*q(ɀ)ot’V > PAlg *nekwet ‘one’ (analysed as ‘one + half’) — cf. PUr *ikte (*ükte)
‘one’.
PAW *q(ɀ)aKt’V ~ *q(ɀ)aKc’V > PWS *qakc’a ‘three’ [hence is borrowed PChK *kɀaśq (~ šq)
‘other; two’] ▪ PNi *vasq ‘half, one of a pair’ ▪ PAlg *nekwe(h)t ~ *nekwehc ‘one’
(= ‘one+half’) — cf. PUr *kakta (*käktä) ‘two’.
PAW *gilV (~ e) > Quil. qɀá#:ʔl ‘three’ ▪ PNi *ce ‘three’ [< *kje < *kle] ▪ PAlg *nikhl, *nikhr
‘three’, also PS *kaʔłas ‘three’ — cf. PUr *kolme (*kulme) ‘three’.
PNA *nEyE:w (~ n’) > PNi *nǸ, *nu ‘four’ ▪ PAlg *niye:ʔw ‘four’ — cf. PUr *ńeljä ‘four’.
Language abbreviations and sources
Am. — Amur Nivkh.
Chem. — Chemakum, acc. to Powell 1993 and Boas
1892.
Coast Tsimshian — acc. to Dunn 1995.
Eyak — acc. to Krauss 1970.
Gitksan — acc. to Hindle & Rigsby 1973.
Ha. — Haisla, acc. to Lincoln & Rath 1980.
He. — Heiltsuk, acc. to Lincoln & Rath 1980.
Kw. — Kwak’wala (Kwakiutl), acc. to Lincoln & Rath
1980.
NiY — “Nivkh of Yukaghir borrowings”, the hypothetical Northern Sakhalin language. Forms are
given acc. to Mudrak’s unpublished comparative
Yukaghir database (jukaet.dbf).
Oo. — Oowekyala, acc. to Lincoln & Rath 1980.
PA — Proto-Algonquian, acc. to Aubin 1975; Goddard
1974, 1982; Hewson 1993; Proulx 1984a, 1984b,
1989, 1991, 1992, 1994 [transliteration elements:
*(ϑ → *ł; *xk, *xp → *tk, *tp; *çk, *çp → sk, *sp].
PAlg — Proto-Algic, acc. to Proulx 1984a, 1984b, 1991,
1992, 1994. Several PAlg roots have been added
by me in accordance with Proulx’s reconstruction. I interpret the PAlg phonemes denoted by
Paul Proulx as *T , *K , *L, *C , *Č as voiced (*d, *g,
*, *ʒ, *ǯ). Proulx’s *S (which only occurs in clusters) I interpret as *; its regular reflexations are
PA *ʔ, Wi. 0 and Yu. s (< *r < *). This PAlg phoneme corresponds to velars in other AlgonquianWakashan languages. The “normal” PAlg velar
glide * does not occur in consonantal clusters.
PAlt — Proto-Altaic, acc. to Starostin et al. 2003.
PAth — Proto-Athabaskan, author’s own reconstruction.
PAW — Proto-Algonquian-Wakashan, author’s own
reconstruction.
PChi — Proto-Chumakuan, author’s own reconstruction.
PChK — acc. to Mudrak 2000 and Mudrak’s comparative database “Chukchi-Kamchatkan etymology” (online at http://starling.rinet.ru).
PChu — acc. to Mudrak 2000 and Mudrak’s comparative database “Chukchi-Koryak etymology” (online at http://starling.rinet.ru).
PChiW — Proto-Chimakum-Wakashan, author’s own
reconstruction.
PDrav — Proto-Dravidian, acc. to G. Starostin’s comparative database “Dravidian etymology” (online at http://starling.rinet.ru).
57
Sergei L. Nikolaev
PEA — Proto-Eyak-Athabaskan, acc. to Krauss & Leer
1981.
PEsk — Proto-Eskimo, acc. to Mudrak 2011 and Mudrak’s comparative database “Eskimo etymology” (online at http://starling.rinet.ru).
PFU — Proto-Finno-Ugric, see PUr.
PIE — Proto-Indo-European, acc. to author’s own
comparative database “Indo-European etymology” (online at http://starling.rinet.ru).
PIt — acc. to Mudrak 2000 and Mudrak’s comparative
database “Itelmen etymology” (online at
http://starling.rinet.ru).
PKartv — Proto-Kartvelian, acc. to S. Starostin’s comparative database “Kartvelian etymology” (online at http://starling.rinet.ru).
PKor — Proto-Korean, acc. to Starostin et al. 2003.
PMong — Proto-Mongolian, acc. to Starostin et al.
2003.
PNA — Proto-Nivkh-Algic, author’s own reconstruction.
PNC — Proto-North-Caucasian, acc. to Nikolaev &
Starostin 1994.
PND — Proto-Na-Dene, acc. to Nikolaev 2014.
PNi — Proto-Nivkh, author’s reconstruction according to materials in Mudrak’s comparative Nivkh
database nivget. dbf.
PNostr — Proto-Nostratic, acc. to S. Starostin’s comparative database “Nostratic etymology’ (online
at http://starling.rinet.ru).
PS — Proto-Salishan, acc. to Kuipers 2002.
PSC — Proto-Central Salish, acc. to Kuipers 2002.
PSI — Proto-Interior Salish, acc. to Kuipers 2002.
PTM — Proto-Tungus-Manchu, acc. to Starostin et al.
2003.
PTurk — Proto-Turkic, acc. to Starostin et al. 2003.
PUr — Proto-Uralic, acc. to S. Starostin’s database
“Uralic etymology” (online at
http://starling.rinet.ru).
PW — Proto-Wakashan, acc. to Fortescue 2007.
PWN — Proto-Southern Wakashan, acc. to Fortescue
2007.
PWS — Proto-Northern Wakashan, acc. to Fortescue
2007 and Lincoln & Rath 1980.
PYuk — acc. to Mudrak’s unpublished comparative
Yukaghir database jukaet.dbf. I consistently replace Mudrak’s root-initial *r with *ϑ.
Sakh. — Sakhalin Nivkh.
Quil. — Quileute, acc. to Powell & Woodruff 1976.
Tlingit — acc. to Leer 1975.
Wi. — Wiyot, acc. to Teeter & Nichols 1993 and Proulx
1984a, 1984b, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994.
Yu. — Yurok, acc. to Robins 1958 and Proulx 1985.
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С. Л. Николаев. К реконструкции алгонкино-вакашского праязыка. Ч. 1: Обоснование
алгонкино-вакашского родства.
Первая часть настоящей статьи содержит введение (§ 1), классификацию алгонкиновакашских языков и предварительные глоттохронологические датировки (§ 2), сводку
регулярных фонетических соответствий между правакашским, пранивхским и праалгийским языками (§ 3) и анализ алгонкино-вакашской «базовой лексики» (§ 4). Научная
новизна статьи заключается в попытке формального доказательства генетического родства между нивхским, алгийскими (алгонкино-ритванскими) и вакашскими языками
стандартным компаративистическим методом, т. е. путем установления системы регулярных фонетических соответствий между словарями сравниваемых языков. Прасэлишский язык признается отдаленно родственным праалгонкино-вакашскому, однако
специфическое («мосанское») родство между сэлишской и вакашской семьями не прослеживается. В дополнение к этому рассматриваются лексические переллели между
прачукотско-камчатским, праалгонкино-вакашским и прасэлишским языками. Делается вывод, что генетическое родство между чукотско-камчатскими и алгонкиновакашскими (включая нивхский) языками отсутствует. Представляется, что прачукотско-камчатский содержит многочисленные заимствования из вакашских, сэлишских и
алгийских языков (заимствования в эти языки из прачукотско-камчатского маловероятны, § 5). В результате анализа культурной лексики, общей для алгонкино-вакашских,
сэлишских и чукотско-камчатских языков, делается вывод о том, что многочисленные
«культурные» слова были заимствованы в прачукотско-камчатский из вакашских и сэлишских языков. Заимствование вакашской и сэлишской лексики в пранивхский было
менее интенсивным, надежные вакашско-нивхские заимствования отсутствуют. Праалгийский не имеет «культурных» заимствований из перечисленных языков (§ 6).
Ключевые слова: алгонкино-вакашские языки, алгийские языки, вакашские языки, нивхский язык, историческая фонология, базовая лексика, культурная лексика.
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