User:Ceige/Proto-Kamut

Grammar

Nouns

Early Proto-Kamut Abstract Cases

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural	Semantic Range
Absolutive	-ə	-ikə	-itə	[nom/abs]
Objective	-əm	-ikəm	-itəm	[acc/dat]
Genitive	-ən	-ikən	-itən	[gen/nom]
Nominative	-əp	-ikəp	-itəp	[nom/erg]
Partitive	-ət	-ikət	-itət	[abl/par/gen/top]
Instrumental	-ək	-ikək	-itək	[ins/loc]
Locative	-əi	-ikəi	-itəi	[loc/ins]
Dative	-əu	-ikəu	-itəu	[dat/all]

Late Proto-Kamut Abstract Cases

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural	Semantic Range
Absolutive	-ə	-ik	-it	[nom/abs]
Objective	-əm	-ikəm	-itəm	[acc/dat/ben]
Genitive	-ən	-ikən	-itən	[gen/nom/ben]
Topic	-ət	-ikət	-itət	[nom/erg]
Nominative	-əpə	-ikəpə	-itəpə	[nom/erg]
Ablative	-ətə	-ikətə	-itətə	[abl/par/gen/ben]

Late Proto-Kamut Spacial Cases

This case system arose through the agglutination of case markers; this specific set survives in the core Kamut branch. There existed more beyond these, like those in the Ayut branch (-minu and -minət; -minu and -minta). These are just examples.

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural	Usage
Locative	-mi	-ikmi	-itmi	at
Ablative	-mət	-ikmt	-itmt	from
Inessive	-min	-ikmin	-itmin	in
Illative₁	-minu	-ikminu	-itminu	into
Elative₁	-minət	-ikminət	-itminət	outwards
Illative₂	-minən	-ikminən	-itminən	into
Instrumental	-mik	-ikmik	-itmik	by means of
Dative	-mu	-ikmu	-itmu	to, for, at
Allative	-mut	-ikmut	-itmut	to, towards
Exessive	-mun	-ikmun	-itmun	out, outside of
Elative₂	-munən	-ikmunən	-itmunən	outwards
Prosecutive	-muk	-ikmuk	-itmuk	by way of
Equative	-tut	-iktut	-ittut	like, as
Essive	-tun	-iktun	-ittun	to be
Abessive	-tək	-iktək	-ittət	without, -less

Some etymological notes on -tut vs -tun: it is believed that -tut was used basically to say "to the party, [I am] from (related to) it", while -tun was used to say "to the party, [I am] of (part of it) it", where "party" means "a selection made using the partitive case". Thus, the mechanics are essentially to make a selection, use -u (dative) to point to it, and then state one's affiliation to it (-t-u-(t/n)).

With time, however, the meanings drifted, with -tut becoming an equative and giving an impression of similarity or being a member of a larger group, and with -tun becoming an essive and giving an impression of essence.

Additional Cases

These cases do not follow symmetry or fit in a traditional paradigm.

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural	Usage
Locative-Genitive	-mien	-ngien	-nien	of a place, hailing from

The additional cases are more derivational than inflectional. While they can be used inflectionally, cases like the LOG/GEN -mien are lessed used in inflection where the genitive or locative would be better, and are instead used in things like adjectives and nouns more often (-mien in particular might translate to -ian or -ese).

Combined Cases

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural	Usage
Absolutive	-V	-(i)k	-(i)t	[nom/abs]
Objective	-(e)m	-(i)k(em)	-(i)t(em)	[acc/dat/ben]
Genitive	-(e)n	-(i)ken	-(i)ten	[gen/nom/ben]
Nominative	-(e)p	-(i)kep	-(i)tep	[nom/erg]
Dialectal Nominative	-(e)pa	-(i)ppa/kka	-(i)ppa	[nom/erg]
Ablative	-(e)ta	-(i)kka	-(i)tta	[abl/par/gen/ben]
Locative	-mi	-ngi	-ni	at, with
Ablative	-mit	-ngit	-nit	from
Inessive	-min	-ngin	-nin	in
Illative	-minen	-nginen	-ninen	into
Instrumental	-mik	-ngik	-nik	by means of
Dative	-mu	-ngu	-nu	to, for, at
Allative	-mut	-ngut	-nut	to, towards
Exessive	-mun	-ngun	-nun	out, outside of
Elative	-munen	-ngunen	-nunen	outwards
Prosecutive	-muk	-nguk	-nuk	by way of
Locative-Genitive	-mien	-ngien	-nien	of a place, hailing from

In total, there are approximately 15-17 cases (45-51 declension items), depending on who is describing the language.

Nominalisation of Phrases

An entire phrase in Kamut can be nominalised using -(a)no. This has been noted as a similarity between Kamut and Japanese (-no), although others have explained it as being an ablauted emphatic form of the Genitive ending.

Thus, kamungunen ano (bear-du-obl-ela nmz) = "the thing about exiting the two bears".

Alternatively, -(u)va exists, although this is used as a quotation and question marker amongst other uses. This can be clarified by prosody (questions have a change in pitch) or by context and judgement calls by the listener.

Kamunienami va... = "as for that thing you said about being with the Kamut people...".

Verbs

The default form of the verb is tyically given an aorist-indicative TAM assignment.

Personal Endings

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural	Usage
First Person Strong	-mi	-miik	-miit
First Person Weak	-mi	-viik	-viit
First Person Proximal	-kə	-kəik	-kəit
Non-First Person Person Strong	-tə	-təik	-təit
Non-First Person Person Medial	-sə	-səik	-səit
Fourth Person Traditioanl	-nə	-nəik	-nəit
Third Person Distal	-ənə	-ənəik	-ənəit

Vocabulary

Numerals

Apart from the singular, dual and plural numbers, the proto-language also possessed multiple sets of numerals for counting. These were suffixed variously, with -ti and -ma being popular. Furthermore, these suffixes could be combined with the partitive, both for simply counting individuals, and for making note of how many individuals formed a collective. This thus yielded -tit and -mat.

The two main attested sets of numerals are called the "Herder" and "Traveller" numerals respectively. The defining characteristics of the two are that Herder numerals can be quite long and rhythmic, while Traveller numerals are often two to three morae long, and having more patterns; however, both sets of numbers appear to share a tendency to internally derive new numbers and avoid unique roots.

It became common in later stages of the proto-language to mix number sets with each other and with loaned number sets too.

Herder Numerals

Numeral	Proto-Form	Later forms	Etymology	Explanation
1	(s)in-	sinni, simma	si-(i)n-	"one"
2	n(i)ik-	niksi, ninga	(i)n-ik-	"two ones"
3	til-	tilli, tilma	(i)t-il-*	"with plural"
4	tuk-	tuksi, tunga	tu-k-	"with two"
5	intukak-	innukaksi, innukanga	(s)in-tuk-ək-	"one with four"
6₁	tilik-	tiliksi, tilinga	til-ik- "two threes"
6₂	n(i)ikitil-	niitilli, niitilma	n(i)ik-i-til-	"three by two"
7	tiltuk-	tilluksi, tillunga	til-tuk-	"three-four"
8	tukik-	tukiksi, tukinga	tuk-ik-	"two fours"
9₁	inəkänlä	ingälläsi, ingälläma	(s)in-ək-än-lä (nikikək)-	"(ten) not with one"
9₂	inətək-	innaksi, innanga	(s)in-ət-ək- (nikikək)-	"(ten) without one"
10	nikikək-	niikaksi, niikanga	n(i)ik-i-((s)in-tu)k-ək-	"five by two"

Numerals beyond 5 are less regularly attested.

Traveller Numerals

Numeral	Proto-Form	Explanation
1	ipti	ipsi	"one"
2	(i)pikti	(i)piksi	"two-ones"
3	mitti	mitsi	"three"
4	jotti	jotsi	"four"
5	tipti	tipsi	"five"
6	maikti	maiksi	"two-threes"
7	nopti	nopsi	"seven"
8	jaukti	jauksi	"two-fours"
9	qapti	qapsi	"nine"
10₁	tipikti	tipiksi	"ten"
10₂	tupukti	tuuksi	"ten"