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 ā 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:

Person	tussānis "I pray" (a-stem)	torenis "I bloom, flourish" (e-stem)	aellinis "I love" (i-stem)	cacsynis "I eat" (ablaut stem)
1SG	tussānis	torenis	aellinis	cacsynis
2SG	tussāris	toreris	aelliris	cacsyris
3SG.M	tussāmis	toremis	aellimis	cacsymis
3SG.F	tussāsis	toresis	aellisis	cacsysis
3SG.N	tussās	tores	aellis	cacsis
1EX	tussāmēs	toremēs	aellimēs	cacsymēs
1IN	tussāntis	torentis	aellintis	cacsyntis
2PL	tussāsces	toresces	aellisces	cacsysces
3PL	tussātis	toretis	aellitis	cacsytis

Dependent forms (shown with nīs 'not'):

Person	tussānis "I pray" (a-stem)	torenis "I bloom, flourish" (e-stem)	aellinis "I love" (i-stem)	cacsynis "I eat" (ablaut stem)
1SG	nīs tussān	nīs toren	nīs aellin	nīs cacsyn
2SG	nīs tussār	nīs torer	nīs aellir	nīs cacsyr
3SG.M	nīs tussām	nīs torem	nīs aellim	nīs cacsym
3SG.F	nīs tussāsi	nīs toresi	nīs aellisi	nīs cacsysi
3SG.N	nīs tussā	nīs tore	nīs aelli	nīs cacsy
1EX	nīs tussāmē	nīs toremē	nīs aellimē	nīs cacsymē
1IN	nīs tussānt	nīs torent	nīs aellint	nīs cacsynt
2PL	nīs tussāsce	nīs toresce	nīs aellisce	nīs cacsysce
3PL	nīs tussāt	nīs toret	nīs aellit	nīs cacsyt

Pronouns

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