Proto-Central Pacific language
{{Short description|Reconstructed ancestor of the Central Pacific languages}}
{{Infobox proto-language
| name = Proto-Central Pacific
| altname = PCP
| familycolor = Austronesian
| region = Fiji
| ancestor = Proto-Austronesian
| ancestor2 = Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
| ancestor3 = Proto-Oceanic
| target = Central Pacific languages
| child1 = {{nowrap|Proto-Polynesian}}
}}
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.
It was first proposed by George W. Grace in 1959,{{citation|last=Grace|first=George W.|title=The position of the Polynesian languages within the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language family|journal=Memoir 16|date=1959}} who also named the subgroup in 1967.{{citation|last=Grace|first=George W.|title=The effect of heterogeneity in the lexicostatistical test list: the case of Rotuman|date=1967}} It was reconstructed by C.F. Hockett in 1976.{{citation|last=Hockett|first=C.F.|title=The Reconstruction of Proto-Central Pacific|journal=Anthropological Linguistics|volume=18|number=5|date=May 1976|pages=187–235}}
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.{{citation|last=Geraghty|first=Paul|title=Some Problems with Proto-Central Pacific|journal=Oceanic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics|date=1996|pages=83–91}}
Phonology
The phonology of Proto-Central Pacific, according to Geraghty (1986),{{citation|last=Geraghty|first=Paul|title=The sound system of Proto-Central Pacific|journal=Focal II: Papers from the Fourth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics|date=1986|url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/252035|pages=289–312}} are:
:
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Consonants ! colspan="2" | |
| rowspan="2" |Stop
|*{{IPA link|ᵐb}} {{angbr|*b}} | |*{{IPA link|ⁿd}} {{angbr|*d}}, *{{IPA link|ⁿd}}{{IPA link|r}} {{angbr|*dr}} | |*{{IPA link|ᵑg}} {{angbr|*q}} |*{{IPA link|ᵑgʷ}} {{angle bracket|*qw}} | |
|---|
| voiceless
|*{{IPA link|p}} {{angbr|*p}} |*{{IPA link|t}} {{angbr|*t}} | | |*{{IPA link|k}} {{angbr|*k}} |*{{IPA link|kʷ}} {{angbr|*kw}} |*{{IPA link|ʔ}} |
| colspan="2" |Nasal
|*{{IPA link|m}} {{angbr|*m}} |*{{IPA link|n}} {{angbr|*n}} | |*{{IPA link|ɲ}} {{angbr|*ñ}} |*{{IPA link|ŋ}} {{angbr|*g}} |*{{IPA link|ŋ}}{{IPA link|ʷ}} {{angbr|*gw}} | |
| colspan="2" |Fricative
|*{{IPA link|β}} {{angbr|*v}} |*{{IPA link|ð}} {{angbr|*c}} |*{{IPA link|s}} {{angbr|*s}} |*{{IPA link|ɟ}} {{angbr|*z}} |*{{IPA link|x}} {{angbr|*x}} | | |
| colspan="2" |Affricate
| | | |*{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} {{angbr|*j}} | | | |
| colspan="2" |Approximant
| | |*{{IPA link|l}} {{angbr|*l}}, *{{IPA link|r}} {{angbr|*r}} |*{{IPA link|j}} {{angbr|*y}} | |*{{IPA link|w}} {{angbr|*w}} | |
:
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Vowels ! ! Front ! Back |
| Close
| align=center | *{{IPA|i}} {{angbr|*i}}, *{{IPA|iː}} {{angbr|*ī}} | align=center | *{{IPA|u}} {{angbr|*u}}, *{{IPA|uː}} {{angbr|*ū}} |
|---|
| Close-mid
| align=center | *{{IPA|e}} {{angbr|*e}}, *{{IPA|eː}} {{angbr|*ē}} | align=center | *{{IPA|o}} {{angbr|*o}}, *{{IPA|oː}} {{angbr|*ō}} |
| Open
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| *{{IPA|a}} {{angbr|*a}}, *{{IPA|aː}} {{angbr|*ā}} |
The orthography used is similar to that of Fijian.
Example sentence
From Kikusawa (2000, 167){{citation|last=Kikusawa|first=Ritsuko|title=Reconstructing the actancy systems of Proto-Central Pacific and its daughter languages: ergativity, accusativity and their diachronic development|date=2000}}
{{interlinear|indent=3|lang=und|abbreviations=PRS:personal
|*Na{{=}}ᵑgu tirovi{{=}}a i aku (ʔi na vale).
|PST{{=}}1SG.GEN see{{=}}3SG PRS 1SG LOC DET house
|'I saw him (in the house).'
}}