Editing Nentan languages

'''Nenta''' ([[w:International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]: [{{ipa|ˌnɛntaꜜ}}]) is a kanva language family whose languages are primarily spoken in northern Quillan. It is one of the two daughter language families of the primary language family [[Nenta—Caligan languages|Nenta—Caligan]].

Kanvas are a species of cat-like anthropomorphic beings unique to Spectradom, the world in which this language family is placed, and the languages in the family reflect that in some ways.

==Included languages==
* Classical Nenta
** Old Rokadong
*** (Middle) [[Rokadong]]<br>(split further into Modern Rokadong, Ahotelan, etc., but the similarities here are numerous enough these are usually considered dialects of one language)
*** Kailtelan (extinct sister language to Kairitelan)
*** [[Kairitelan]]
** Karanesa / Middle Nenta (as it appears to be the least divergent descendant of Classical Nenta to this point)
*** Imperial Karanesa
**** Karane-Puram (creole between Old Karanesa and Old or Middle Rokadong)
***** (Modern) Karroka
**** [[New Karanesa]] (also called New Nenta)
*** [[High Karanesa]]
*** Nenyanezan
* High Kanafan
** Caliganyuan
** Yudirayan
** Hayabian
* Low Kanafan
** Citalian
** Kanaskulypian

==Shared characteristics==
Most Nentan languages share a series of plosives at the labial, alveolar, velar, and some guttural place of articulation. In Middle Rokadong, these are /p t k ʔ/ and the voiced equivalents /b d g/. However, as seen in the more popular Modern Rokadong dialects and post-Imperial Karanesa, the guttural plosive is not necessarily stable. High Karanesa in particular lost its reflex of /ʔ/, but regained the sound through later loans. They also exhibit agglutinative morphology and Austronesian alignment.

There are also some characteristics which are shared by a significant portion of the Nentan languages, but not all of them. For example, High Kanafan appears to have had a very strict stress system, which not only survives in its descendant languages, but also affected Imperial Karanesa.

==Proto-Nenta==
From modern and historic data on the various languages of Quillan, the language Proto-Nenta can be reconstructed. It is thought to have been spoken along the coast of the modern day Wassecola Bay, despite the name of its family being derived from the Neneta Peninsula. Proto-Nenta is usually considered to be the western dialect of Proto-[[Nenta—Caligan languages|Nenta—Caligan]], with the eastern dialect descending into the Caligan languages, such as Sãdenyan.

Ideally, Proto-Nenta should be the ancestor of Classical Nenta and both families of Kanafan. However, given the Kanafan subfamilies only have contemporaneous attestation from late Classical Nentan/early Middle Nenta sources, the weight to place on Low and High Kanafan languages varies among different analyses. Some linguists even propose that Proto-Nenta and Proto-Nenta—Caligan are the same language.

===Phonology===
{{main|Proto-Nenta phonology}}
====Consonants====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Consonant phonemes
|-
! 
! colspan="2" | [[w:Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" | [[w:Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! colspan="2" | [[w:Velar consonant|Velar]]
! colspan="2" | [[w:Uvular consonant|Post-velar]]
|-
! [[w:Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced bilabial nasal|m]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced alveolar nasal|n]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced velar nasal|ŋ]]
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[w:stop consonant|Stop]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless bilabial stop|p]] || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced bilabial stop|b]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless alveolar stop|t]] || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced alveolar stop|d]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | &nbsp;[[w:Voiceless velar stop|k]] || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced velar stop|g]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless uvular stop|q]] || style="border-left: 0;" |
|-
! [[w:fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless alveolar sibilant|s]] || style="border-left: 0;" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless velar fricative|x]] || style="border-left: 0;" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[w:Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced alveolar lateral approximant|l]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[w:Trill consonant|Rhotic]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced alveolar trill|r₁]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced uvular trill|r₂]]
|}
=====Notes=====
* Proto-Nenta is typically considered a CCV language, where any singular consonant, any plosive before /x/, and any plosive after /s/ is allowed. Null onset is also allowed, though in Classical Nenta these seem to have become coda approximants. As the consonant clusters near-universally simplified, however, sometimes these clusters are considered a single consonant.
* The uvular consonants reconstructed for Proto-Nenta—Caligan have been merged into the velar consonants. The so-called "uvular stop" shown above corresponds to the Proto-Nenta—Caligan glottal stop /ʔ/, though its value is uncertain, as it has glottal reflexes in Old Rokadong, but uvular in ancient Kanafan, and freely-varying in Karanesa. The use of the uvular stop letter is also partially a matter of convenience, as it is more difficult to type ʔ than q.
* The two rhotic consonants here are present because while evidence from Old Rokadong, modern Kairitelan, New Karanesa, and even some Caligan languages show two rhotic phonemes - with Old Rokadong in particular having /r ʀ/ as its two rhotics - the exact values they correspond to further back in the timeline is uncertain. In the case of Proto-Nenta, one of the rhotics, typically notated r₁ or just r, is said to be derived from a Proto-Nenta—Caligan r, typically characterized as an alveolar trill, as it corresponds to Old Rokadong /r/. The second rhotic, r₂, is the reconstruction given for Old Rokadong /ʀ/, but its value in Proto-Nenta is unclear. Proto-Nencali is usually reconstructed with two uvular fricatives, /χ ʁ/, the former of which is said to correspond to Proto-Nenta /x/. However, where /ʁ/ ended up is uncertain. It is a candidate for r₂, but then, it could also have become a voiced velar fricative, as seen in Karane-Puram. Or, seeing as no Nentan language is known to have both /ɣ/ and two rhotics except New Karanesa, it could be that /ɣ/ is instead descended from a uvular r₂. In acknowledgement of this issue, some Proto-Nentan reconstructions have, either instead of or in addition to r₁ and r₂, a second velar fricative, corresponding to a Proto-Nenta /ɣ/, is added. Usually the two velar fricatives are represented as <h x>.

====Vowels====
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Vowel phonemes
|-
!
! colspan=2 | [[w:Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan=2 | [[w:Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[w:Close vowel|Close]]
| [[w:Close front unrounded vowel|i₁]]
| [[w:Close front unrounded vowel|i₂]]
| [[w:Close back rounded vowel|u₁]]
| [[w:Close back rounded vowel|u₂]]
|-
! [[w:Close-mid vowel|Mid]]
| colspan=2 | [[w:Close-mid front unrounded vowel|e]]
| colspan=2 | [[w:Close-mid back rounded vowel|o]]
|-
|-
! [[w:Open vowel|Open]]
| [[w:Open front unrounded vowel|a₁]]
| [[w:Open front unrounded vowel|a₂]]
| [[w:Open back unrounded vowel|a₃]]
| [[w:Open back rounded vowel|a₄]]
|}

=====Notes=====
* There are two /i/ and /u/ phonemes, both of which are considered a carryover from Proto-Nencali. The 2-variants color the consonant before them, while the 1-variants do not. The exact value of each /i/ and /u/ is unknown, but a popular reconstruction from Quillan linguist Kuila Júnakoromiyo lists them as /i₁ i₂ u₁ u₂/ [ij je uw wo]. This reconstruction is popular because it also aligns with the common reconstructions for /a₂ a₄/. However, other common reconstructions are [iː ej uː ow], [ɪ i ʊ u], or any combination. What is more certain is that /i₂ u₂/ evolved into consonant-coloring /ʲi₁ ʷu₁/ in Classical Nenta or Old Rokadong.
* There are also four /a/ phonemes, so noted because all four have turned into /a/ in all members of the Rokaselan subfamily and Karane-Puram. Unlike /i/ and /u/, the four /a/ phonemes see relative agreement as to their values. /a₁ a₃/ are unambiguously front and back. /a₂ a₄/ are effectively equivalent to /ja₁ wa₃/; the same applies here as did to /i₂ u₂/.
* However, the exact values of the open vowels are a little unclear as well, namely in the height dimension. Proto-Nenta—Caligan is typically reconstructed with two open and two open-mid vowels: /ɛ æ ɔ ɑ/. It is evident that these merged into two vowels, notated a₁ and a₃, but the exact relationship is unclear. As open consonants seem to be more common in 6-vowel languages than open-mid consonants, [æ ɑ] are the more popular pair, but the expected /a₄/ form [jɑ] is written with an /o/ diacritic in Classical Nenta, so either in Proto-Nenta itself or by the time of Classical Nenta, it is likely that a₄ and possibly even a₂ were instead forms of [ɔ]. Júnakoromiyo's reconstruction gives the four antecedents of Modern Rokadong /a/ the values [æ jɛ ɒ ɥɔ], but even he notes that "realistically, these could be the complete reverse, [ɛ jæ ɔ ɥɒ], and it is unlikely that a certain decision will be possible on the matter." In fact, that exact analysis was espoused by one of Júnakoromiyo's contemporaries, Dr. Bik Amaril.

[[Category:Rokadong]]
[[Category:New Karanesa]]
[[Category:High Karanesa]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Conlangs]]
[[Category:Nentan languages]]