Idavic languages

Ashe and Hirst's Shalaian grammar provides the following diachronics:

Phonology

• Consonants: b d j gw ɓ t’ č’ kʷ’ q’ p t č kʷ q s h ʔ m n l r w y ʕ
• Vowels: a i u ā ī ū ō ə
• Pitch accent: modal (á), creaky (aˀ)

Diachronics

• b > v; ɓ > b; gw > g > γ > x
• Grimm's law: p t č kʷ q > f θ ʃ x H
• q G q' > H ayin q
• further shifts: kʷ' > kʷ > xʷ
• Vowel shifts: ā > /ɛɪ/ (except before pharyngeals); ō > /əʊ/, u > /ɒ/, iw > /ju:/
• final -ā -ī shorten to -a -i
• Loss of initial glottal stop, then loss of non-prevocalic /r/
• Historical long vowels (also /ɑː/ from historical /ar/) shorten before /ʕ/

Phonotactics

1- or 2- syllabic roots most common CVC, CVCC, CVCVC, CVCCVC

Morphology

Tone changes were part of the morphology of Proto-Shalaian, as in Modern Shalaian.

The three genders, the strong and weak declensions and the two sets of possessive markers are all Proto-Shalaian features. Verbs were not inflected for tense or person, and were syntactically verbal nouns; it is thought that verbs developed personal marking later from possessed (even doubly-possessed) verbal noun forms.

Syntax

Proto-Shalaian syntax was AuxVOS:

• Stative verbs (eventually all intransitives): Aux_i VN-w_i S_i
• Dynamic verbs (eventually transitives): Aux_i s_j-VN-w_i O_j S_i
• Infinitive clauses: prep VN-w_i S_i O ...