Proto-Pulchric

Proto-Pulchric (native name Di:nabe puLLeker /dʶi:nabe pulʶ:ekeɾ/) is the ancestor of almost all the languages of Rulak.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial		Coronal		Palatal	Dorsal		Laryngeal
		plain	emph.	plain	emph.		plain	emph.
Nasal		m /m/	M /mʶ/	n /n/	N /nʶ/		ng /ŋ/	NG /ɴ/
Stop	tenuis	p /p/	P /pʶ/	t /t/	T /tʶ/		k /k/	q /q/
	voiced	b /b/	B /bʶ/	d /d/	D /dʶ/		g /ɡ/	G /ɢ/
Fricative									h /h/
Trill/Tap				r /ɾ/	R /ɾʶ/
Approximant		w /w/		l /l/	L /lʶ/	y /j/

Emphatic consonants are uvularized, as in Arabic.

Aspiration is allophonic in voiceless stops. The Luminese dialect aspirates stops more strongly than in the Rencadic dialect.

Gemination

Every consonant except /w j h/ can occur geminated between vowels. Geminate taps are realized as trills.

Gemination is indicated in the orthography by doubling the consonant letter; geminate ng and NG are written nng and NNG respectively.

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i /i/	i: /iː/			u /u/	u: /uː/
Mid	e /e/	e: /eː/			o /o/	o: /oː/
Open			a /a/	a: /aː/

Diphthongs: /ai/ /au/ (written ai au respectively)

Phonotactics

Only CV syllables are allowed, except:

• a geminate consonant can begin a non-initial syllable
• CVC is allowed as the last syllable

Stress

Stress is almost always on the first long syllable, or if no syllable is long, the last syllable in the Rencadic dialect and the first syllable in the Luminese dialect.

Morphology

Proto-Pulchric has an extremely simple morphology, almost completely isolating.

Nouns

Baira "leaf"	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Baira	Baira emmi
Accusative	Baira ta	Baira emmi ta
Genitive	Baira i	Baira emmi i

Proto-Pulchric has other postpositions as well: mi (in), ro (with), po (like), ...

Pronouns

	Singular	Plural
First person	me:	ko:NGe
Second person	tihe
Third person	qel

Proto-Pulchric lacks second and third person plural forms, so either the singular forms are used or combined with the word emmi (many). The word ko:NGe also means "people, folk" (like German "Leute").

Verbs

qi:To- "to think"	Singular	Plural
First person	qi:Ton	qi:Tome
Second person	qi:Tod	qi:Tote
Third person	qi:Tob	qi:Towa
Impersonal	qi:Te:PPi

met- "to eat"	Singular	Plural
First person	metin	metime
Second person	metid	metite
Third person	metib	metiwa
Impersonal	mete:PPi

Proto-Pulchric often uses verbal nouns, which use the suffix -a:t or -or depending on the verb.

Verbs do not inflect for tense in general. There are a few exceptions though. The copula 'to be' inflects as follows:

"to be"	Present		Past		Future
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
First person	qor	qore	pem	peme	ki:nan	ki:name
Second person	qod	qote	pen	pette	ki:nad	ki:nate
Third person	qob	qowa	pem	pewa	ki:nab	ki:nawa
Impersonal	qore:PPi		peme:PPi		ki:ne:PPi

Syntax

Constituent order

Proto-Pulchric word order is head-final and SVO. In Rencadic dialects it's V2, just like German.

Noun phrase

Noun phrases are head-initial if the modifier is a relative clause and head-final if the modifier is an adjective. The words qel (animate) and Tau (inanimate) are used as relative pronouns.

Daha qel qi:Tob "the person who thinks"