Proto-Central Pacific language
Reconstructed ancestor of the Central Pacific languages
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Proto-Central Pacific (abbreviated as PCP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Central Pacific languages. It belongs to the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian languages.
ancestors
| Proto-Central Pacific | |
|---|---|
| PCP | |
| Reconstruction of | Central Pacific languages |
| Region | Fiji |
Reconstructed ancestors | |
| Lower-order reconstructions | |
It was first proposed by George W. Grace in 1959,[1] who also named the subgroup in 1967.[2] It was reconstructed by C.F. Hockett in 1976.[3]
Descendants
Proto-Central Pacific, originally spoken by Lapita settlers in Fiji three millennia ago, separated into a dialect network, consisting of what would become a western dialect (ancestral to Rotuman and western Fijian dialects) and an eastern dialect (ancestral to eastern Fijian dialects and Proto-Polynesian). Later, the dialects that remained in Fiji converged back, eventually becoming more similar, leading to the present-day Fijian language.[4]
Phonology
The phonology of Proto-Central Pacific, according to Geraghty (1986),[5] are:
Consonants Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal Nasal *m ⟨*m⟩ *n ⟨*n⟩ *ɲ ⟨*ñ⟩ *ŋ ⟨*g⟩ *ŋʷ ⟨*gw⟩ Stop voiceless *p ⟨*p⟩ *t ⟨*t⟩ *k ⟨*k⟩ *kʷ ⟨*kw⟩ *ʔ prenasalized *ᵐb ⟨*b⟩ *ⁿd ⟨*d⟩, *ⁿdr ⟨*dr⟩ *ᵑg ⟨*q⟩ *ᵑgʷ ⟨*qw⟩ Affricate *t͡ʃ ⟨*j⟩ Fricative *β ⟨*v⟩ *ð ⟨*c⟩ *s ⟨*s⟩ *ʑ ⟨*z⟩ *x ⟨*x⟩ Sonorant *l ⟨*l⟩, *r ⟨*r⟩ *j ⟨*y⟩ *w ⟨*w⟩
The orthography used is similar to that of Fijian.
Example sentence
From Kikusawa (2000, 167)[6]
*Na=ᵑgu
PST=1SG.GEN
tirovi=a
see=3SG
i
PRS
aku
1SG
(ʔi
LOC
na
DET
vale).
house
'I saw him (in the house).'