Re- Conlanging

The effort to reconstruct texts in a long gone
language that left no samples of such is a daunting
prospect. But there are those who try.

Of possible interest is the following on Proto Indo
European (PIE) and Nostatic, a postulated precursor.

This contains 2 quotes from:

http://petrich.com/writings/NostraticRefs.txt

Such reconstruction efforts are surely a form
of conlanging. Or language RE-construction. Or
Re-Con-Langing?

Best regards,                           Leo Moser

~~~~~~~~~ Begin Quote # 1 ~~~~~~~~~~

There is no good reason to believe that PIE was a
homogeneous language. It may have been more like a continuum of
dialects, where innovations can spread in waves (compare the early
history of the Germanic languages for a similar example). Dialect
variations can also contribute to the previous pitfalls. So one might
have to settle for some sort of "consensus" dialect.

* Schleicher's Fable:

[This is taken from the version in Jared Diamond's _The Third
Chimpanzee_, though with a bit of re-spelling]

Owis Ek'wooskwe

Gwrreei owis, kwesyo wl@naa ne eest, ek'woons espeket, oinom ghe
gwrrum woghom weghontm, oinomkwe megam bhorom, oinomkwe ghmmenm ooku
bherontm.

Owis nu ek'womos ewewkwet: "Keer aghnutoi moi ek'woons agontm nerm
widntei".

Ek'woos tu ewewkwont: "Kludhi, owei, keer ghe aghnutoi nsmei widntmos:
neer, potis, owioom r wl@naam sebhi gwhermom westrom kwrnneuti. Neghi
owioom wl@naa esti".

Tod kekluwoos owis agrom ebhuget.

[The] Sheep and [the] Horses

On [a] hill, [a] sheep that had no wool saw horses, one [of them]
pulling [a] heavy wagon, one carrying [a] big load, and one carrying
[a] man quickly.

[The] sheep said to [the] horses: "[My] heart pains me, seeing [a] man
driving horses".

[The] horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see
[this]: [a] man, [the] master, makes [the] wool of [the] sheep into
[a] warm garment for himself. And [the] sheep has no wool".

Having heard this, [the] sheep fled into [the] plain.

[Here, @ = schwa, the "uh" sound, usually represented by an
upside-down e; also, long vowels are written double]

~~~~~~~~~ Quote # 2 ~~~~~~~~

Here is a poem in reconstructed Nostratic composed by the late
Nostraticist Vladislav Illich-Svitych:

K'elHa"         wet'e-i         `aK'u-n         ka"hla
Tongue          time-of         water-of        path/ford

k'ala-i         palhV-k'V       na              wete
gone-of         dwelling-to     us              lead(s)

s'a da          'a-k'V          'ejV            'a"la"
he but          there-to        come(s)         no(t)

ja-k'o          pele            t'uba           wete
which-who       fear(s)         deep            water

Language is a ford through the river of time
It leads us to the dwelling of the ancestors
But he does not arrive there
Who is afraid of deep water

Note: V is an uncertain vowel, K is k/q, a" is a with " on top, and s'
is s with ' on top. The ' after a stop consonant (t, k, etc.) denotes
a glottalized consonant (with a stricture in the throat).

Several of these words have Indo-European cognates; I give them both
in the traditional transcription and a modified one closer to
Nostratic due to Shevoroshkin et al, following a /, when it is
different. I will give only the more common offshoots; the Latin and
Greek words should be familiar from borrowings. You may have fun
looking for other offshoot words.

`aK'u   IE akwa- / akwha-       Latin: aqua, "water"
palhV   IE pelH- / phelH-       Greek: polis, "city"
na      IE nes, nos             English: us; Latin: nos
wete    IE wedh- / wed(h)-      English: wed
k'o     IE kw(o/i)- / kwh(o/i)- English: who, what, other wh's;
                                Latin: qu-
t'uba   IE dheub- / d(h)eup-    English: deep
wete    IE wed- / wet-          English: water, wet;
                                Greek: hudor, hudr-, "water";
                                Russian: voda, "water"
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