Proto-Maṭa [PMTA]
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Registered by
[Deactivated User] on 9 May 2022
Language type
Proto-Conlang
Species
Human/humanoid
About Proto-Maṭa
The Maṭa refer to themselves in their own language as ‘The Great People’ – a characteristically chauvinistic choice for the people who would eventually come to dominate the entire western plains. The homeland of the Maṭa is traditionally considered the stretch of territory to the west of the Sekash River, reaching as far north as the Patira, and the foothills of the Warni mountains. This hilly landscape is where we find the first evidence of the Maṭa, as a society of pastoralists and warriors. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Maṭa were not the first settlers in this region, and most likely displaced or assimilated the previous inhabitants – however details on this period are scant
The Maṭa spoke a variety of mutually intelligible dialects of uncertain providence, which can be broadly divided into three dialect groups: the northern and southern highland dialects, and the lowland dialects. The lowland dialects were far more heavily influenced by Mezlan and Isham and contain a large quantity of loan words – particularly terms for manufactured goods and agriculture.
The first written records of Maṭa are from Mezlan records of Maṭa personal names. Later, the Maṭa would adapt the Mezlan alphabet for writing their own language. Maṭa writings increase substantially during the period of the first empire, where a semi-standardised lowland dialect of Maṭa was used as the language of the nobility, and of administration.
This variety of Maṭa would go on to become the ancestor of most modern day Maṭaic languages (with the exception of those still spoken in their traditional homeland) and it is this variety that is principally described in this grammar.
The Maṭa spoke a variety of mutually intelligible dialects of uncertain providence, which can be broadly divided into three dialect groups: the northern and southern highland dialects, and the lowland dialects. The lowland dialects were far more heavily influenced by Mezlan and Isham and contain a large quantity of loan words – particularly terms for manufactured goods and agriculture.
The first written records of Maṭa are from Mezlan records of Maṭa personal names. Later, the Maṭa would adapt the Mezlan alphabet for writing their own language. Maṭa writings increase substantially during the period of the first empire, where a semi-standardised lowland dialect of Maṭa was used as the language of the nobility, and of administration.
This variety of Maṭa would go on to become the ancestor of most modern day Maṭaic languages (with the exception of those still spoken in their traditional homeland) and it is this variety that is principally described in this grammar.
Language family relationships
Language treeMaṭaic
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Proto-Maṭa
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Proto-Maṭa[view] About MaṭaicA family of languages ultimately descended from PMTA . Originally confined to the region west of the Sekash River, it was spread via conquest to large areas of the southwestern riverlands and eventually up the Sun river valley and into ...
Phonology
| Consonants | Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Alveolo- palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɳ | ŋ | ||||||||||
| Plosive | p | b | t̪ | d̪ | ʈ | ɖ | k | g | ||||||
| Fricative | ɸ | β | s | z | ʂ | ʐ | ɕ | ʑ | x | ɣ | h | |||
| Affricate | t͡s | d͡z | t͡ɕ | d͡ʑ | ||||||||||
| Approximant | ɻ | |||||||||||||
| Vowels | Front | Back | ||
| Close | i | u | ||
| Open | a | |||
Orthography
Below is the orthography for Proto-Maṭa. This includes all graphemes as defined in the language's phonology settings - excluding the non-distinct graphemes/polygraphs.
| Proto-MaṭaOrthography [edit] | ||||||||||
| Tt Tt /t̪/ | Kk Kk /k/ | Ṭṭ Ṭṭ /ʈ/ | Dd Dd /d̪/ | Dz dz Dz dz /d͡z/ | Ḍḍ Ḍḍ /ɖ/ | Pp Pp /p/ | Bb Bb /b/ | Ss Ss /s/ | Ṣṣ Ṣṣ /ʂ/ | Ẓẓ Ẓẓ /ʐ/ |
| Zz Zz /z/, /z/ | Rr Rr /ɻ/ | Xx Xx /x/ | Cc Cc /t͡s/ | Šš Šš /ɕ/ | Žž Žž /ʑ/ | Čč Čč /t͡ɕ/ | Ff Ff /ɸ/ | Gg Gg /g/ | Jj Jj /d͡ʑ/ | Vv Vv /β/ |
| Hh Hh /h/ | Ȟȟ Ȟȟ /ɣ/ | Mm Mm /m/ | Ṇṇ Ṇṇ /ɳ/ | Nn Nn /n/ | Ŋŋ Ŋŋ /ŋ/ | Ii Ii /i/ | Aa Aa /a/ | Uu Uu /u/ | ||
| ✔ Shown in correct order [change] | ||||||||||
