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

Nouns also have an incorporated form, used when the noun is used in noun incorporation.

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. Or maybe no syncope, but some sort of vowel harmonization

Examples:

Person	ṋoṱiəṋi "I rest" (independent)	mī-ṋṱiəṋi "I do not rest" (dependent)
1SG	ṋoṱiəṋi	mī-ṋṱiəṋi
2SG	ṋoṱiəri	mī-ṋṱiəri
3SG.M	ṋoṱiəmi	mī-ṋṱiəmi
3SG.F	ṋoṱiəsi	mī-ṋṱiəsi
3SG.N	ṋoṱiə	mī-ṋṱiə
1EX	ṋoṱiəmē	mī-ṋṱiəmē
1IN	ṋoṱiəṋṱi	mī-ṋṱiəṋṱi
2PL	ṋoṱiəsṱe	mī-ṋṱiəsṱe
3PL	ṋoṱiəṱi	mī-ṋṱiəṱi

For verbs that already have a preverb, this works a little differently:

Pronouns

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