The Quest for a Mothertongue ~~~ Biological evolution operates according to might define this boundary as that which three primary rules: Genetic mutations defines a “language”). accommodate evolution, and they are random Since English is the language of world in their appearance. Environmental factors commerce, the quest will start here. It may determine whether these mutations are seem that English may hold out against the beneficial, detrimental, or simply neutral. passage of time, but the fact is that English on Over enough time, an isolated population can the whole is less than 2,000 years old. build up enough mutations such that English-speakers living just 1,000 years ago breeding with the original population becomes impossible (this is the boundary would likely have a tough time understanding the English of today. Consider the following: that defines a “species”). Old English – Beowulf. Similarly, linguistic evolution is made possible by the following scheme: Slight Hƿæt Ƿe Ȝardena in ȝeardaȝum þeod-cyninȝa þrym changes in the way certain words are ȝefrunon huða æþelinȝas ellen fremedon. (Hark! We of pronounced and/or used accommodates the Spear-Danes in years’ past, of the clan-kings, heard of their glory; how those noblemen performed great deeds.) linguistic evolution. These occur according to personal flavour and group acceptance of Middle English – The Canterbury Tales. that, and ultimately can define area-specific “Wepyng and waylyng, care and oother sorwe I knowe dialects. Finally, these changes can add up in ynogh, on even and a-morwe,” Quod the Marchant, “and a fringe population over time to create a so doon oother mo That wedded been.” (“Weeping and distinct language that no longer can be wailing, care and other sorrow I know enough, in the understood by the original population (one evening and in the morning,” said the Merchant, “and so does many another who have been married.”) The Germanic Language Family. Linguists place English within the Germanic Language Family of languages, so here I hope to confirm the presence of the languages specific to this family that marks the first level of our Quest. Pronouns: English I/me/my thou/thee/th he/she/it we/us/our ye/you/your they/them/thei who/what y r German ich/mich/mi du/dich/dir er/sie/es wir/uns/unser ihr/euch/euer sie/ihnen/ihrer wer/was r Dutch ik/mij/mijn jij/jou/jouw hij/zij/het wij/ons/ons jullie zij/hen/hun wie/wat Danish jeg/mig/min du/dig/din han/hun/det vi/os/vor i/jer/jeres de/dem/deres hvem/hva d Swedish jag/mig/min du/du/din han/hon/det vi/oss/vår ni/er/er de/dem/deras vem/vad Norwegia jeg/meg/mi du/deg/din han/hun/det vi/oss/vår dere/dere/deres de/dem/deres hvem/hva n n Icelandic ég/mig/mín þú/þig/þín Hann/hún/þa við/okkur/okka þið/ykkur/ykka þeir/þá/þeirra hver/hvað ð r r The English pronouns are the Elizabethan forms, so that similarities between the other languages here is more visible. The Lord’s Prayer: >English: Our Father, who art in Heaven; hallowed be thy name. >German: Vater unser im Himmel, geheiligt werde Dein Name. >Dutch: Onze Vader, die in de hemelen zijt! Uw naam worde geheiligd. >Danish: Fader Vor, du som er i Himlene, helliget vorde dit Navn, >Swedish: Fader wår, sum är ude himmelen: helgat ware titt namn, >Norwegian: Vor Fader, du som er i Himlene! Helliget vorde dit Navn. >Icelandic: Faðir vor, þú sem ert á himnum. Helgist þitt nafn. In all, there is a nice correlation among the languages that belong to the Germanic Language Family; above is the first line of the Lord’s Prayer in the five major Germanic languages shown here. *Proto-Germanic: I Thou He/she/it We Ye They I ek þu hez/sye/hit wez yuz þe/þye/þa Me mek þek hem/hez/hit uns yiz þem/þen/þa My min þin þen/hen/þen unser yizer þez/þiz/þez That/this þez/þe/þat þe/þi/þen Who/what hwa/hwam/hwas, hwat/hwat/hwas >Lord’s Prayer = Faþer unser, az þu en hemellan; halleȝado warþo namen þin. Indo-European Language Family. Germanic belongs to the Indo-European family, alongside Romance, Slavic, and Indic languages. These will be compared below. Pronouns: I thou he/she/i we ye they who/w t hat Latin ego/mē/meī tū/tē/tuī is/ea/id nōs/nōs/noster vōs/vōs/vester eī/eae/ea qui/quid Greek εγώ/με/μoυ σύ/σε/σoυ αυτός/αυτή/ εμείς/μας/μας εσείς/σας/σας αυτoί/αυτoύς/ πoιός/τι αυτό αυτών Greek ἐγώ/ἐμέ/ἐμo σύ/σέ/σoὒ αὐτός/αὐτή/ ἡμεἲς/ἡμἂς/ἡμὢν ὑμεἲς/ὑμἂς/ὑμὢν αὐτoί/αὐταί/α τίς/τί (Biblica ὒ αὐτό ὐτά l) Sanskri aham/mām/ tvam/tvām/ ayam/iyam/i vayam/asmān/as yūyam/yuṣmān/yuṣ ime/imāni/imā ke/kim mama tava dam mākam mākam ḥ t Russian я/мeня mы/meбя oн/oнa/oнo мы/нac вы/вac oнu/ux кmo/чmo Armeni es/inj/im du/k’ez/k’o na/nra- menk'/mez/mer duk'/jez/jer nran-k’/nran-c’ ov/inch’ n/nra an Irish mé tú sé/sí muid/sinn sibh siad cé/cad Welsh i/fi/mi ti fe/fo/ef/hi ni hwi i pwy/pa Lithuan àš/manè/ma tù/tavè/tav jìs/jì mẽs/mùs/mu ́sų ju ̃s/jùms/ju ́sų jiẽ/jõs kas/ką ian nę̃ s ę̃ s Farsi man/-am to/-at u/-aš mā/-emān šomā/-etān išān/-ešān kō/pi The Lord’s Prayer: >Latin: Pater Noster qui es in caelis, sanctificetur Nomen Tuum. >Greek (Biblical): Πάτερ ἠμῶν ὀ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς; ἀγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου. >Russian: Oтче наш, Иже еcи на нeбece! Дa cвятитcя имя Твoe, >Armenian: Mer hayr or erknk’umn es: surb lini k’o anunə. (note heavy influence of Caucasian…) >Welsh: Ein Tad, yr hwn wyt yn y nefoedd, sancteiddier dy enw; >Lithuanian: Tēve musų, kurs esi danguje, Buk švenčiamas vardas tavo. *Proto-Indo-European: I Thou He/she/it We Ye They I ʔegom tū ʔe/ʔeʕ/ʔed wes yus ʔi/ʔiʕ/ʔe Me mē tē ʔem/ʔeʕm/ʔed ṇs ẉs ʔis/ʔiʕs/ʔe My meṇe teẉe ʔes/ʔeʕs/ʔes ṇser ẉser ʔesom That/this sā/se/tod te/ti/tā Who/what k’wo/k’wom/k’wos, k’wod/k’wod/k’wos >Lord’s Prayer = Pater ṇser, k’we ʔesse kemellēb’yo; swanktitar ʕṇomōm teẉe. The Eurasiatic Language Family. A number of European and Asiatic languages appear to be related to one another, and may be related to Indo-European via a proposed “Eurasiatic” language family that likely dated to around 10 ka. Pronouns: I thou he/she/it we ye they who/what Finnish minä sinä hän me te he kuka/mitä Estonian mina sina tema meie teie nemad keda/mida Hungarian én te ő mi ti ők ki/mit Turkish ben sen o biz siz onlar kim/ne Turkmen men sen ol biz siz olar Tatar min sin ul bez sez alar Mongolian bi chi ter bid ta ted khen/yuu baina Here, some divergence exists for “I” and “what” between these languages and Indo-European that is meant also to be related to this Family. Note, too, that the Finnish 3rd-person pronoun may be loaned from the Scandinavian Germanic languages. The Lord’s Prayer: >Finnish: Isä meidän, joka olet taivaissa, pyhitetty olkoon Sinun Nimesi, >Estonian: Meije Izsa taiwan: pühhändetuz sago sinno nimmi. >Hungarian: Mi Atyánk, ki vagy a’ mennyekben, szenteltessék meg a’ te neved. >Turkish: Ey gök-ler-de olan Baba-mız İsm-in mukaddes olsun >Mongolian: Tuйнхγγ энэ мэт зaлбupaгmyн: Tэнгэp дэx бuднuй Эцэг эѳ, *Proto-Eurasiatic: I Thou He/she/it We Ye They I menna tenna thenna menda tenda thenda Me menadhtenadh thenadh mendadh tendadh thendadh My menan tenan thenan mendan tendan thendan That/this tæda/tæta nōna/nēna Who/what khuka/kheda meda >Lord’s Prayer = Atta mendan, menghakkədhæm; phujjāndattəkas mōkhaddat nemedya. The Nostratic Language Family. The Nostratic family of languages includes the Eurasiatic family as well as languages spoken in the nation of Georgia (a West-Caspianic nation) and the Dravidian languages spoken in Southern India and Western Siam. Pronouns: I thou he/she/it we ye they who/what Georgian me/če-mi šen/šeni e-sa/mu-š-i čven/čveni tkven/tkveni isini vin/ra Svan mi/mi-šgu si/i-sgu e-ǯa/m-ič-a gu-šgwey/ni- sgăy/i-sgwey šgwey Malayalam ɲaːn n̪ iː aʋan/aʋaːɭ/at̪uː n̪ammaɭ/ɲaŋŋaɭ n̪ iŋŋaɭ aʋar aːɾɨ̆/en̪ t̪ɨ̆ Kannada nɑːnu niːnu avanu nāvu neevu avaru yāru/enu Tamil nɑːɳ niː avaṉ nām/nāṅkaḷ nīṅkaḷ avarkaḷ yār/eṉṉa Telugu neːnu nuvːu/niːvu at̪aɽu/at̪anu meːmu/manamu miːru/tamaru vɑːɭːu/avɪ evaru/eːmiʈi Georgian and Svan are Kartvelian languages, and linguistically they appear more similar to Eurasiatic than the remaining four languages that belong to the Dravidian family of languages. The Lord’s Prayer: >Georgian: Mamao tšweno romeli χar tsatha šina. Tsmida-iqawn saχeli šeni. >Kannada: Paralokathalliruva namma thandye ninna naamavu parisuddavaagirali ninna rajyavu barali >Malayalam: Svarggasthan-āya ñangaĺude pitāvē ninte nāmam pařiśuddham-ākkappedaṇam >Tamil: Paramaṇṭalaṅkaḷilirukkirā eṅkaḷ pitāwē ummuṭaiya ṅāman pārītšutta-māwatāka *Proto-Nostratic: I Thou He/she/it We Ye They I mæna tæna dwæna menkwa tenkwa dwenkwa Me -ma -ta -na -me -te -ne My mænan tænan dwænan menkwṇa tenkwṇa dwenkwṇa That/this tǣdwa/tǣtwa neuna/neina Who/what kweda mweda >Lord’s Prayer = Paraλmǣndākwedəḍṇekwa Dada menkwṇa; mwəṇṭǣya śænya pārīčwdhaqebhədəṇa.