Languages of Pan

There are 327 languages known by name on the island of Pan. Almost all of them are extinct, most since 1640. The 17 that survive are well described, with dictionaries, grammars, and often a flourishing press. But even the most optimistic researcher does not expect them all to survive. Within 50 years, only Nova, Mr�, Luizamen, Dtanorakerieka, and Marata will survive as mediums of everyday speech. The relentless engine of Nowanization, as it has been termed, will eventually triumph and only Nova will remain.

As a group, the Pani languages have certain features in common. They tend to have fairly small morpheme sets, they are more likely to have base 20 number systems (although base 10 and base 5 are not unusual), they analyze concepts at least in part based upon their duration, and where they have number marked on nouns, it usually includes a known/unknown quantity differentiation. Phonologically they show little in common. Phonemic tone is more common than not. They tend to be spoken more slowly than Homo sapiens' languages and with less importance attached to stress.

Those 327 languages are all believed to be descended from a single common ancestor, usually referred to as Hawklordish (ra.q�.va), although the tie to the Hawklords remains unprovable. As a group, they are referred to as the Pani Macrophylum. The subdivisions of this macrophylum are somewhat in dispute but this paper will use what is most widely accepted classification.

Some explanation of the levels of classification is needed. The following describes what has become the standard terminology when dealing with the languages of Pan.

Phylum
A Phylum is a group of languages whose last common ancestor whose spoken about 10,000 years ago. The use of the term phylum is relatively recent and while a number of phylums have been suggested, it should be noted that not even names for these Phyla have come into common usage.
Superstock
A Superstock is a group of languages whose last common ancestor whose spoken about 8,000 years ago.
Stock
A Stock is a group of languages whose last common ancestor whose spoken about 5-6,000 years ago. This is approximated by the Kentum-Satem division of Indo-European.
Family
A Family is a group of related languages whose last common ancestor was spoken about 2-3000 years. They are perhaps as closely related as the Germanic or Romance languages.
Isolate
An Isolate is a language without attested relatives at a given level. Thus a Family Level Isolate is a language whose nearest relatives are only found at the Stock level.

The Phyla, as has been noted are controversial. Five Phylum Level Groupings have been proposed withing the Pan Macrophylum:

  1. Phylum A; Iztak-Rajaki Stock as sole member.
  2. Phylum B; Lupe-Otsheian, Mogut-Rongan, Zate-Seseian Superstocks.
  3. Phylum C; Kori-Dakkan and Pranunan-Doeman Superstocks
  4. Phylum D; Au-Nilithi-Le and Macro-Mre Superstocks
  5. Phylum E; Cidhag-Neritian Superstock as sole member.

There are obvious problems with calling the Iztak-Rajaki Stock, for example, a Phylum, when it is already called a Stock. It merely implies that no recognizable relationship exists with any other branch before the ultimate ancestor is reached. The problems not with standing, the Phyla are used below as the primary groupings, then alphabetically by Superstock, Stock, Family. Those languages that are still spoken are marked by *.

Phylum A

Iztak-Rajaki Stock

Phylum B

Lupe-Otsheian Superstock
Mogut-Rongan Superstock
Pranunan-Doeman Superstock

Phylum D

Au-Nilithi-Le Superstock
Macro-Mre Superstock

Phylum E

Cidhag-Neritian Superstock

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© 2001 Brad Coon
Revised August 29, 2001

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