Eta-Talmic

The Talmic languages are a relatively isolated subbranch of the Quame language family. They are descended from Proto-Talmic (PTal).

Pre-Talmic sound changes

Laryngeal reflexes

*h

• ihi ihu iha ihə > ī ū ē ī
• ahi ahu aha ahə > ē ō ā ā
• uhi uhu uha uhə > ī ū wa ū
• əhi əhu əha əhə > i u a e
• ihC uhC ahC əhC > īC ūC āC eC
• Chi Chu Cha Chə > Ci Cu Ca Ce
• hi- hu- ha- hə- > i- u- a- e-
• -ih -uh -ah -əh > -ī -ū -ā -ē
• ChC > CeC

*xʷ

• ixʷi ixʷu ixʷa ixʷə > ī yu yo yu
• axʷi axʷu axʷa axʷə > oy ow ō ō
• uxʷi uxʷu uxʷa uxʷə > ī ū ō ō
• əxʷi əxʷu əxʷa əxʷə > e u a o
• ixʷC axʷC uxʷC əxʷC > ēC ōC ōC oC
• Cxʷi Cxʷu Cxʷa Cxʷə > Ce Cu Ca Co
• xʷi- xʷu- xʷa- xʷə- > e- u- a- o-
• ixʷC axʷC uxʷC əxʷC > ēC ōC ōC oC
• ixʷC axʷC uxʷC əxʷC > -ē -ō -ō -ō
• CxʷC > CoC

*x̌

• ix̌i ix̌u ix̌a ix̌ə > ē ō ē ē
• ax̌i ax̌u ax̌a ax̌ə > ay aw ā ā
• ux̌i ux̌u ux̌a ux̌ə > ē ō ō ō
• əx̌i əx̌a əx̌u əx̌ə > e a o a
• ix̌C ux̌C ax̌C əx̌C > ēC ōC āC aC
• Cx̌i Cx̌u Cx̌a Cx̌ə > Ce Co Ca Ca
• x̌i- x̌a- x̌u- x̌ə- > e- a- o- a-
• -ix̌ -ux̌ -ax̌ -əx̌ > -ē -ō -ā -ā
• Cx̌C > CaC

*x̌ʷ

• ix̌ʷi ix̌ʷu ix̌ʷa ix̌ʷə > ye yo ē yo
• ax̌ʷi ax̌ʷu ax̌ʷa ax̌ʷə > ay aw ō ō
• ux̌ʷi ux̌ʷu ux̌ʷa ux̌ʷə > oy ow ō ō
• əx̌ʷi əx̌ʷu əx̌ʷa əx̌ʷə > e u a o
• ix̌ʷC ax̌ʷC ux̌ʷC əx̌ʷC > ēC ōC ōC oC
• Cx̌ʷi Cx̌ʷa Cx̌ʷu Cx̌ʷə > Ce Ca Cu Co
• x̌ʷi- x̌ʷu- x̌ʷa- x̌ʷə- > e- u- a- o-
• -ix̌ʷ -ax̌ʷ -ux̌ʷ -əx̌ʷ > -ē -ō -ō -ō
• Cx̌ʷC > CoC

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Denti-alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
			central	lateral		plain	labialized	plain	labialized
Nasal		*m	*n
Plosive	plain	*p	*t			*k	*kʷ	*q	*qʷ	*ʔ
	voiced	*b	*d			*g	*gʷ	*ɢ	*ɢʷ
	ejective	*pʼ	*tʼ			*kʼ	*kʷʼ	*qʼ	*qʷʼ
Fricative	voiceless		*s	*ł						*h
	voiced		*z	*λ
Affricate	plain		*c	*ƛ
	ejective		*cʼ	*ƛʼ
Approximant					*y		*w
Liquid			*r	*l

Vowels

a e i o u

ā ē ī ō ū

ay aw ey ew iw oy ow uy

āy āw ēy ēw īw ōy ōw ūy

Proto-Talmic phonology

• qʷ ɢʷ qʷ' > q ɢ q'
• p' t' c' ƛ' k' kʷ' q' qʷ' > f þ s ł x xʷ χ χ
• s > h
• c > s
• ƛ > t
• z > r / V_

Consonant inventory

Proto-Talmic reconstructed consonants (Guānitzhūtł)
		Labial	Alveolar	Lateral	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		*m	*n
Plosive	voiceless	*p	*t			*k	*kʷ	*q	*ʔ
	voiced	*b	*d			*g	*gʷ
Fricative	voiceless	*ɸ	*s, *θ	*ł		*x	*xʷ	*χ	*h
	voiced		*z, *ð					*ʁ
Approximant				*l	*j		*w
Trill			*r

Vocalic inventory

	Front	Central	Back
Close	*i *ī		*u *ū
Mid	*e *ē		*o *ō
Open		*a *ā

Diphthongs:

• ai ei oi ui au eu iu ou
• āi ēi ōi ūi āu ēu īu ōu

Proto-Talmic morphology

Nominal morphology

Nouns and adjectives had retained from Proto-Zachydic 6 cases (nominative, accusative, genitive/prepositional, allative, ablative, locative/instrumental), 3 numbers, 2 genders (masculine, feminine), and additionally possessive inflection for nouns. Like its daughter languages as well as Proto-Zachydic, Common Talmic is thought to have been a differential object marking language; only definite or specific direct objects were marked with the accusative case.

The essive case (*-ēri) was marginal, and was only used adverbially (cf. Th. -ēr adverbial suffix).

Some nouns took the "thematic" suffix/clitic *-ʔ with an uncertain meaning, a holdover from the classifier system in Proto-Zachydic.

Pronominal morphology

Proto-Talmic free pronouns can be reconstructed with less confidence because all case marking except as clitics and suffixes was eliminated.

Verbal morphology

Tense

The Proto-Talmic verbal system has converted the pre-existing aspect-based perfective/imperfective dichotomy into a time-based one (past/non-past). The irregularity of the past system is probably a result of conflation of many different parent aspect systems.

Aspect

The following aspect suffixes can be reconstructed:

• prospective *-eh-
• inceptive *-lʁa-
• cessative *-mbe-

Mood

Proto-Talmic has kept many moods intact (imperative, desiderative, hortative, optative). The negative imperative used the prohibitive particle along with the hortative form, as in Proto-Zachydic. The moods are frequently collapsed by its progeny (e.g. jussive in Themsaran).

Thematic suffixes

Proto-Talmic saw the development of thematic vowels from derivational suffixes. Thematic vowels are found in many Talmic languages, but modern languages often generalize the a-paradigm to the expense of the others.

• *-īn: basic verbs
• *-a-īn: denominative or transitive verbs
• *-e-īn: dynamic or reflexive verbs

TAM/subject affix paradigm

Todo: rederive past tense... they don't look like they could (all) be perfective suffixes.

Subject affixes
Present/Non-past
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.ex	-īn	-dir	-mī
1.in	-	-ʁ-sē	-n-sē
2	-r	-r-sē	-l-sē
3.m	-m	-iri-	-ʁih
3.f	-isi		-tih
Simple past
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.ex	-nʔe	-sid	-mā
1.in	-	-ʁʔā, -tar	-nʔā, -taq
2	-rʔe	-rʔā	-lʔā
3.m	-ā(-m)	-ā-iri	-ā-ʁih
3.f	-ā-isi		-ā-tih
Prospective
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.ex	-eh-īn	-eh-dir	-eh-mī
1.in	-	-eh-ʁsē	-eh-nsē
2	-eh-r	-eh-rsē	-eh-lsē
3.m	-eh-m	-eh-iri-	-eh-ʁēj
3.f	-eh-isi		-eh-tēj
Imperative
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.in	-	-ʁsi	-nsi
2	-h	-rsi	-lsi
Hortative
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.ex	-īn-ti	-dis-ti	-mī-ti
1.in	-	-ʁs-ti	-ns-ti
2	-ti	-rs-ti	-ls-ti
3.m	-m-ti	-iri-ti	-ʁih-ti
3.f	-isi-ti		-tih-ti
Desiderative
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.ex	-īn-ʔi	-dir-ʔi	-mī-ʔi
1.in	-	-ʁsē-ʔi	-nsē-ʔi
2	-r-ʔi	-rsē-ʔi	-lsē-ʔi
3.m	-m-ʔi	-iri-ʔ	-ʁih-ʔi
3.f	-isi-ʔi		-tih-ʔi
Optative
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.ex	-īn-aʔ	-dir-aʔ	-mī-aʔ
1.in	-	-ʁs-aʔ	-ns-aʔ
2	-r-aʔ	-rs-aʔ	-ls-aʔ
3.m	-m-aʔ	-ir-aʔ	-ʁ-aʔ
3.f	-is-aʔ		-t-aʔ

Other verbal affixes

Other reconstructible affixes include:

• *-pe- potential (e.g. Thm. tacvéi 'know (a fact)' < tak-pe-īn 'be able to say')
• *-re- passive
• *-ina- causative, i.e. supply sb with sth to [verb]/a patient of [verb]
• *-ska- causative
• *az-, "towards" directional prefix.
• the memory evidential prefix *ʔṇʔ-.

Proto-Talmic syntax

Basic word order was most likely SVO, as evinced by the order verb-object suffix in all daughter languages.

Vocabulary

• *az- telic
  • Thm. ar-/as-
    • Núr. ar- superlative, intensive; s- telic