Speaking area of West (
Okeseteh,
Fosotih,
Pamokotih) and
East Yalan ca. 0 YP
Yalan languages form a language subfamily within the T₁ group.
They comprise:
- Old Yalan, the common ancestor (ca. -1000 ÷ -800 YP)
- Early North Yalan (ca. -400 YP)
- Early West Yalan (ca. -200 YP)
- Early East Yalan (ca. -200 YP)
Characteristics
The common features of Yalan languages are:
- Phonology
- Ultimate or penultimate syllable word stress.
- Presence of one phonemic liquid consonant (/r/ or /r~l/).
- Lack of phonemic labial or labio-velar approximant (epenthetic [w] present in EY).
- Simple syllable structure with little or no consonant clusters (only ENY permits any clusters).
- Nominal morphology
- Possession-number prefixes and case endings for nouns.
- Distinct animate and inanimate inflections (i.e. number prefixes).
- Three-four core cases.
- Deixis and additional non-core locative/prepositional case (absent in ENY).
- Separate personal pronoun class, with additional salience and/or animacy distinction in 3rd person.
- Verbal morphology
- Verbs inflected for number and animacy of both subject and object; no person marking.
- Presence of additional aspectual distinction: imperfect and progressive tenses (absent in ENY).
- Presence of additional future tense (absent in WY).
- Several distinct verbs for "to be", used in different situations.
Supposedly, at least some of these features may be attributed to a group of languages that was spoken earlier in that region, later influencing Yalan languages (probably leaving some loans) and finally going extinct.
Those hypothetical ethnolects, unrelated to Yalan and T1 languages, are sometimes collectively named Eteoialanic and connected to languages of various Primundic peoples.
Internal sound correspondences
Sonorants
| OY
|
ENY
|
WY
|
EY
|
| m
|
m
|
m
|
m
|
| n
|
n
|
n
|
n
|
| ɲ
|
ɲ
|
ɲ
|
| ŋʲ
|
ɲ
|
ŋ
|
| ŋ
|
ɡ, k
|
—
|
|
| OY
|
ENY
|
WY
|
EY
|
| r
|
l~r
|
ɾ
|
r
|
| j
|
j
|
j
|
ʒ
|
|
Stops
| OY
|
ENY
|
WY
|
EY
|
| pʰ
|
f, p
|
pʰ
|
p
|
| tʰ
|
ts, t
|
tʰ
|
t
|
| tʃʰ
|
ʃ, tʃ
|
tsʰ
|
ʃ
|
| kʲʰ
|
ç, c
|
tɕʰ
|
k
|
| kʰ
|
x, k
|
kʰ
|
|
| OY
|
ENY
|
WY
|
EY
|
| p
|
p, b
|
p
|
p
|
| t
|
t, d
|
t
|
t
|
| tʃ
|
tʃ, dʒ
|
ts
|
ʃ
|
| kʲ
|
c, ɟ
|
tɕ
|
k
|
| k
|
k, ɡ
|
k
|
|
| OY
|
ENY
|
WY
|
EY
|
| b
|
b, p
|
p
|
v
|
| d
|
d, t
|
t
|
z
|
| dʒ
|
dʒ, tʃ
|
ts
|
ʒ
|
| ɡʲ
|
ɟ, c
|
tɕ
|
ɦ
|
| ɡ
|
ɡ, k
|
k
|
|
Fricatives
| OY
|
ENY
|
WY
|
EY
|
| s̺
|
ʃ
|
f
|
s
|
| s
|
s
|
s
|
| ʃ
|
ʃ
|
ʃ
|
| xʲ
|
ç
|
ɕ
|
x
|
| x
|
x
|
h
|
|
| OY
|
ENY
|
WY
|
EY
|
| v
|
v
|
f
|
v
|
| z̺
|
ʒ
|
z
|
| z
|
z
|
s
|
| ʒ
|
ʒ
|
ʒ
|
| ɣʲ
|
—, j
|
ɕ
|
ɦ
|
| ɣ~ɦ
|
—, v
|
h
|
|
Vowels
| OY
|
ENY
|
WY
|
EY
|
| EJ
|
RJ
|
CJ
|
| i
|
i, ə
|
e
|
e
|
e
|
i
|
| æ
|
ɛ, a
|
a
|
ə
|
| u
|
y, u
|
o
|
o
|
u
|
u, i
|
| o
|
ø, o
|
a
|
o
|
u
|
|
| OY
|
ENY
|
WY
|
EY
|
| EJ
|
RJ
|
CJ
|
| iː
|
i, ə
|
i
|
i
|
i
|
ai
|
| æː
|
ɛ, a
|
a
|
e
|
a
|
a
|
| uː
|
y, u
|
u
|
u
|
u
|
au, ai
|
| oː
|
ø, o
|
ɒ
|
o
|
o
|
au
|
|
