Quame languages
Quihum | |
---|---|
Created by | – |
Geographic distribution | Txapoalli, Bjeheond, Etalocin; today worldwide |
Linguistic classification | One of Tricin's primary language families |
Proto-language | Proto-Quihum |
Subdivisions |
The Quihum languages (Eevo: brits Cłillym, from *kʷiχəm, the reconstructed ancestral word for 'one') are a major language family in Tricin, descended from Proto-Quihum (PQ), which is thought to have been spoken 6000 years before present. The main source languages for the reconstruction of PQ are Thensarian and Naquian. The membership of Sjowaazhéñ in Quihum is less well-established.
Todo
Should I keep an ejective series or not?
If no ejective series: how to get ejectives in Naquic and a 3-way distinction in Sjowaazhic?
- Cr > C'?
- Sjowaazhic would have less distinction for coda consonants, like Navajo (just -d and -t')
Todo:
d t > d t in Talmic, t t' in Naquic
Overview
Urheimat: Txapoalli or Talma?
Phonology
Consonants
The following inventory of consonants is reconstructed for PQ and is now accepted by the majority of Trician scholars.
Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | labialized | plain | labialized | ||||||
Nasal | *m | *n | |||||||
Plosive | plain | *p | *t, *c | *k | *kʷ | *q | *qʷ | *ʔ | |
voiced | *b | *d, *z | *g | *gʷ | *ɢ | *ɢʷ | |||
Fricative | *f | *þ, *s | *x | *xʷ | *χ | *χʷ | *h | ||
Resonant | *l, *r | *y /j/ | *w |
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Mid | *e *ē | *o *ō | |
Open | *a *ā |
Suprasegmentals
Stress was phonemic.
Phonotactics
all open syllables like polynesian?
Rules:
- Grassmann's Law operates in many descendants.
Grammar
Typology
The basic word order was V2, modifier-modified.
Pronouns
Nom/Acc
X = some laryngeal
V = some vowel
- naχ = I (Tal./Nqu. nā, Sjo. nakh)
- wey(-r) = thou (Thn. veir, Nqu. uī)
- kaχ(-mi) = we (exc) (Thn. cām, Nqu. txā)
- gwon(-mi-ti) = we (inc) (Thn. gonti, Nqu. quan)
- sen(-kwi) = blotp (Thn. senci, Nqu. sen)
Genitive
- χ, nχ = my (Thn. -na, -a; Sjo. kha)
- something with r = thy
- sma = our (exc)
- sgwiX = our (inc) (Thn. -swī)
- dkaX (?) = blotp's
Demonstratives
- m- = proximal, this, here
- kw- = distal, that, there
- ta- = what, who
- t(a)Xs = what (Thn. tās)
Ablaut
Much like in PIE, PQ had an ablaut system where roots (usually of 2 or 3 consonants) were inflected in different ablaut grades.
Functions of ablaut
- Noun inflections
- Verb inflections
- Verb voices
- Deriving nouns and verbs
Ablaut grades
- o-grade: present tense
- a-grade: derived nouns
- e-grade: preterite tense
- ∅-grade: derivations
- lengthened grades: various verb aspects/voices
Nominals
Nouns had:
- two genders: animate, inanimate.
- There were also honorific forms which worked like a gender somewhat. The honorific turns into a feminine in Talmic, meanwhile animate and inanimate become masculine and neuter.
- two states: absolute and construct.
- three cases: direct, indirect, and genitive.
- two numbers: singular and plural. There was also a third number, the collective, formed by reduplication of the first syllable.
Some nouns had plurals in a different ablaut grade.
Possible declensions:
- a-stems
- x̌-stems
- i-stems
- u-stems
- consonant stems
- heteroclitic stems: r/s
Animate nouns
a-stems
Singulative | Plurative | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | Absolute | δoerom | ' |
Construct | δoeroes | δoerot | |
Genitive | Absolute | ' | δoerōni |
Construct | '-' | '-' | |
Accusative | Absolute | '-' | δoerobim |
Construct | δoeroes | δoerot |
Consonant stems
Singulative | Plurative | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | Absolute | māram | ' |
Construct | mārīs | mārae | |
Genitive | Absolute | ' | mārini |
Construct | māria | '-' | |
Accusative | Absolute | māribos | mārebim |
Construct | mārīs | mārae |
i-stems
u-stems
x̌-stems (honorific stems)
r/s-stems
Inanimate nouns
Heteroclitic stems
a-stems
Singulative | Plurative | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | Absolute | δoerom | δeδoerom |
Construct | δoeroes | δoerot | |
Genitive | Absolute | δeδoerot | δoerōni |
Construct | '-' | '-' | |
Accusative | Absolute | '-' | δoerobim |
Construct | δoeroes | δoerot |
Consonant stems
jénaqws 'water'
i-stems
welís 'name'
u-stems
r/s-stems
Verbs
Verbs were conjugated for subject, object, aspect, and mood (but not for voice).
- Subject agreement: For each pronoun, and gender in 3rd person
- Aspects: present, preterite, stative
- Moods: indicative, subjunctive, jussive, imperative
- Austronesian alignment, realized with various trigger verb prefixes.