Roshterian/Proto-Roshterian

Old Roshterian is the reconstructed intermediate stage between Proto-Talmic and Roshterian. It was spoken approximately at the same time Thensarian was spoken.

• stress shift to penultimate (endings have not dropped completely yet)
  • yields Modern Roshterian ultimate stress
• Old Irishy allomorphy
• ā > iə

Some words

• φlat-nəm "seed" > Old Roshterian *ḽatnə > laaṉ "child (offspring)"
• tekts "child" > Old Roshterian *tejṱ, tejs- > ṯeit, ṯeis- "child (young human)"
• bonditejṱiə, bondejṱiə, bnejṱiə "child-bearer, child-rearer, babysitter" > breit, breiti- "woman"
• soliθe > OR höḽiṱe "5" > helit, lite-
• kabnənts > OR kabrəṋs "woman" > (lost)
• snuwem "round" > OR nǖ "fat" > ṉii "big"
• mārom "tree" > OR miəro "tree" > miar
• dēdī > dēdii "tears" > ḏeeḏ
• gwaθwā > baṱu "throat" > batu
• nā > ṋiə "I" > nia
• som, sam > hum "he"
• sausmam > hauma "moon" > hoom
• sk, st > ść, st > OR sṱ, st > st, s̱ṯ
• Final -r has been deleted in endings

Phonology

Vowels

a e i o u ə ö ü ē ī ō ū ȫ ǖ iə uə aj ej öj uj iw

ȫ > aa in later Roshterian; aa also emerges from CL

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Medial	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		*m	*ṋ	*n
Plosive	voiceless	*p	*ṱ	*t			*k	*q
	voiced	*b	*ḓ	*d			*g
Fricative	voiceless			*s	*σ				*h
	voiced				*ζ			*ʁ
Resonant		*w	*ḽ	*l, *r		*y

Stress

The initial stress in Proto-Talmic had shifted to penultimate by Pre-Roshterian. (becomes ultimate stress in Roshterian after final vowels are deleted)

Morphology

Nouns

Case? Maybe just absolute/construct

ḽatnə 'seed'

Construct	Singular	Plural
ḽatnai	ḽatnə	hēḽatnə

Verbs

Verbs have absolute and conjunct stems, much like in Old Irish. With a preverb or an incorporandum (incorporated noun stem), the conjunct form is used.

The process of attaching preverbs such as prepositions to verbs was productive in Proto-Talmic, which then was repurposed for applicatives and for noun incorporation in Old Roshterian [unlike in Thensarian which took a path more akin to IE languages].

The forms came from the following stress pattern:

Verb stress patterns in Pre-Roshterian [immediately after stress shift]

	preverb		first	...	penult	final
Absolute	-		secondary	unstressed	primary	unstressed
Conjunct	secondary		unstressed	unstressed	primary	unstressed

Handwave: This creates a succession of unstressed syllables in the conjunct form which gets smooshed together in Old Roshterian

Examples:

Pronouns

	Singular	Plural
1	*ṋiə	*iəm
1 + 2		???
2	*wēr	???
3 (masculine)	*hum	???
3 (feminine)	*hī
3 (inanimate)	*he
4 (obviative)	*pī