Proto-Donghai

**Proto-Donghai** is the reconstructed ancestor of the Donghai languages. It is theorized to have diverged from Proto-Batanic around 2000 BC and spread to Orange Islands, Kyushu, and Quelpart Island (as part of the Austronesian migration to the East China Sea Islands) before splitting into its daughter languages.

## History

The current consensus is that Proto-Donghai split off from Proto-Batanic around 2000 BC and spread to the Yaitsa Islands by means of Formosa, though during this initial phase there appears to have been no attempt of colonization of the island. Trade with indigenous peoples was common, but was concentrated along the southwestern coast with the ancestors of the Amis and Kavalan. There also appears to have been limited contact with Proto-Tramenic peoples prior to the Great Formosan Migration which is evidenced by a few loanwords. Around 1800 BC the language reached the Tangtang Islands, and by 1700 BC it reached Kyushu. At this point, the speech communities in the Yaitsa Islands and Tangtang Islands no longer spoke Proto-Donghai, but rather its daughter languages of Proto-Yaitsa-Kidan. However, Proto-Donghai was still spoken in Kyushu, and later Quelpart Island by 1500 BC, though its grammar was slightly different (i.e. more analytic). This "Proto-North Donghai" only split around 1200 BC.

## Phonology

Vowels
 Close-Mid
 Open

### Sound Changes from Proto-Batanic

Note that PBat \*o corresponds to PDong \*u, both representing /u/.

* \*e → e
* h → f / \_u
* h → Ø / else
	+ These sound changes occur first.
* ae → e
* ay → e
* ey → i
* aw, ao → o
* iw, io, iwu, oi, oy, oyi, oe, ue, we → ø
	+ The above four do not apply if followed by another vowel. For example, PBat \*raya "blood" → PDong \*raya, not \*\*rea.
* ayi → e
* eyi → i
	+ For example, PBat \*reyis "sea current" → PDong \*aris (note the addition of \*a-, as mentioned below)
* awo → o
	+ For example, PBat \*rawot "millet" → PDong \*arot (note the addition of \*a-, as mentioned below)
* i → ui / R\_
* R → Ø / \_#
* l → r
* n → m / #\_ ! verbs because they always have prefixes (the prefixes themselves have the change)
* dy → c
* Monosyllabic words *tend* to have \*a- prefixed onto their *canonical* forms.

## Grammar

Proto-Donghai grammar simplifies many features in Proto-Batanic while simultaneously introducing some more.

### Pronouns and Case Markers

Unlike Proto-Batanic, Proto-Donghai uses the same case markers for both people and objects. They are as follows:

 Distal

As a consequence, the pronouns have similarly simplified. Notably, topic forms that begin with \*si- become non-topic forms by reinterpreting it (which originated as the personal topic marker) as a non-topic marker. Other words usually have the word that corresponds to the Babuyan "Nominative 1" become the non-topic form.

### Morphology

Notably, due to word-initial /n/ merging with /m/, the distinction between the infinitive and the past and the present and the future is lost in words that take a verb prefix beginning with /m/ (e.g. \*may-), effectively collapsing the tense system into past (and infinitive) and nonpast. In addition, the merger of \*ai into \*e means *may-* class becomes *me-*, while an irregular sound change merges the *mag-* class into the *maN-* class. The \*om- prefix (sometimes realized as an infix \*-om-) metathesizes and becomes \*mu- (always a prefix and not an infix) in Proto-Donghai. The patient-focus *-in-* class also becomes a prefix, but due to the shift of \*n to \*m it is realized as *mi-*.

Additionally, the prefix \*pay- in Proto-Batanic, marking what an instrument is used for, becomes a "case" marker \*pe in Proto-Donghai that marks the beneficiary of something (not necessarily the indirect object / dative). This is especially useful when the dative case markers \*di and/or \*du are present, as they also mark the locative. For example:

Mampatnek ta si vaRe pe marapi ku du aRas.
mam-patnek ta si vaRe pe marapi ku du aRas
PST-build 1PL.INC.TOP NONTOP.PROX house BEN twin 1SG.GEN LOC.DIST swidden
"We built a house for my twin in that swidden."
Similar to the shift of *mag-* to *maN-*, the prefix *taga-* meaning "hailing from" loses the final \*a and the \*g promptly shifts to \*N leaving *taN-*.

### Changes in lower-order reconstructions

South Donghai languages, comprising of Proto-Yaitsa-Abaz and Proto-Tangtangic, preserves more of the morphology of Proto-Donghai.

In contrast, North Donghai languages, i.e. Proto-Mayashiruan and Proto-Quelpartian, are more analytic. The goal-focus *i-* prefix merges with *mi-* but is fossilized on some words such as \*inaNe "to go".

## Lexicon

*Main article: List of Proto-Donghai words*
Proto-Donghai has evidence of borrowings from Proto-Southern Formosan.

### Numbers

As with Proto-Batanic and potentially Proto-Malayo-Polynesian as a whole, Proto-Donghai has two sets of numbers: one for counting people and one for counting objects. Unlike other PMP languages, these would be preserved in most of its daughter languages (but not the Mayashiruan languages). (Note that the distinction for "four" and "six" seems to have collapsed, and the one for "nine" and "ten" seems to have never existed, though a few daughter languages appear to recreate it by analogy.)

Numbers in Proto-Donghai
 two
 three
 four
 five
 six
 seven
 eight
 nine
 ten

### Idioms and metaphors

Proto-Donghai is additionally reconstructed to have had numerous metaphors and figures of speech, many of which relate to the sea or nautical terms. This is because similar metaphors are found from Mayashiruan to Abaz and even the Kusbarat and New Faroe Islands; their presence in the latter two, which are very conservative, are what point to the early existence of said metaphors.

## Descendants

Proto-Donghai is generally considered to have four daughter languages, all of them reconstructed proto-languages. Recent studies have additionally grouped these into two groups: South Donghai, which is more agglutinative, and North Donghai, which is more analytic.

* South Donghai
	+ Proto-Yaitsa-Abaz, spoken in the Yaitsa Islands
	+ Proto-Tangtangic, spoken in the Tangtang Islands
* North Donghai
	+ Proto-Mayashiruan, spoken in Kyushu Island
	+ Proto-Quelpartian, spoken in Quelpart Island and the southern Jinhyung Peninsula