Proto-Quame
Overview
The Gamedan languages are moderately inflecting languages that use mainly suffixing and infixing morphology.
Inspirations: Indo-European, Semitic, Native American languages
Phylogeny
| Proto-Gamedan (P P' B) |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phonology
Consonants
An inventory of 35 consonants is reconstructed for Proto-Raxo-Talsmic. The Koiƛoq̓ic/Coytłochic branch preserves the most archaic consonant inventories, whereas the Talsmic branch and Wiobian are the most innovative.
| Proto-Raxo-Talsmic reconstructed consonants | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Denti-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||
| central | lateral | plain | labialized | plain | labialized | |||||
| Nasal | *m | *n | ||||||||
| Plosive | plain | *p | *t | *k | *kʷ | *q | *qʷ | *ʔ | ||
| voiced | *b | *d | *g | *gʷ | *ɢ | *ɢʷ | ||||
| ejective | *p̓ | *t̓ | *k̓ | *k̓ʷ | *q̓ | *q̓ʷ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | *s | *ł | *h | ||||||
| voiced | *z | *λ | ||||||||
| Affricate | plain | *c | *ƛ | |||||||
| ejective | *c̓ | *ƛ̓ | ||||||||
| Approximant | *y | *w | ||||||||
| Liquid | *r | *l | ||||||||
*m *n *l *r could be syllabic.
Consonant correspondences
| PGam | *p | *b | *p̓ | *t | *d | *t̓ | *s | *z | *c | *c̓ | *ł | *λ | *ƛ | *ƛ̓ | *k | *g | *k̓ | *kʷ | *gʷ | *k̓ʷ | *q | *ɢ | *q̓ | *qʷ | *ɢʷ | *q̓ʷ | *m | *n | *l | *r | *y | *w | *ʔ | *h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rax | p, u- | b | ph, hu- | t | d | th | z | z | tz | tzh | ł | l | tł | tłh | tx | x | txh | qu | gu | hu | c | g | ch | qu | gu | hu | m, -n | n | l | r | y | u | h | Ø |
| PTal | *p | *b | *ɸ | *t | *d | *θ | *h | *z, *r | *s | *s | *h | *λ | *t, *k | *ł | *k | *g | *x | *kʷ | *gʷ | *xʷ | *q | *ʁ | *χ | *q | *ʁ | *χ | *m | *n | *l | *r | *j | *w | *ʔ | *h |
| Wio | f | p | ƀ | þ | t | đ | s, ß, r | Ø | ß | ß | s | z | s | ɟ | h | k | g | ƕ | qu | w | h | [ʔ] | [ʔ] | ƕ | qu | w | m | n | l | r | j | w | [ʔ] | [ʔ] |
| PBon | *p | *b | *pʼ | *t | *d | *tʼ | *x | *ɣ | *s | *cʼ | *s | *z | *č | *čʼ | *k | *g | *kʼ | *p | *b | *pʼ | *ʔ | *ʔ | *ʔ | *ʔʷ | *ʔʷ | *ʔʷ | *m | *n | *l | *l | *y | *w | Ø | Ø |
| PKoi | *p | *b | *p̓ | *t | *d | *t̓ | *s | *z | *c | *c̓ | *ł | *λ | *ƛ | *ƛ̓ | *k | *g | *k̓ | *k | *g | *k̓ | *q | *ɢ | *q̓ | *q | *ɢ | *q̓ | *m | *n | *l | *r | *y | *w | *ʔ | *h |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | *i *ī | *u *ū | |
| Mid | *e *ē | *o *ō | |
| Open | *a *ā |
Suprasegmentals
No phonemic pitch, tone or stress existed in Proto-Gamedan.
Phonotactics
Consonant clusters were allowed, but limited.
Grammar
Typology
The basic word order was SOV.
The morphological form of a typical Gamedan word can be described as root<infix>-suffix-ending.
Nominals
Proto-Raxo-Talsmic did not distinguish between nouns and adjectives. They both inflected for:
- 9 cases: nominative, (definite) accusative, genitive, dative, locative, ablative-comitative, allative, instrumental, adverbial
- A noun class system, indicated by different final classifier clitics. Or perhaps an animate-inanimate opposition.
- 3 numbers: Singular, dual, plural
Nouns minimally consisted of a root and an optional infix, case/number endings and a classifier suffix. The classifier suffixes play a role in gender assignment in daughter languages.
Declension
| Case suffixes | |
|---|---|
| Nominative | Ø |
| Accusative | *-z |
| Genitive | *-ʔ, *-k |
| Dative | *-ƛ |
| Locative-Comitative | *-ksi |
| Ablative | *-hn |
| Allative | *-cti |
| Instrumental | *-hli |
| Adverbial | *-ʔzi |
Nominal morphosyntax
The PRT nominative and accusative cases differ from the canonical nominative-accusative system in that the accusative case marks only definite or specific direct objects. The nominative in PRT also stood for both predicative complements of verbs and predicative nouns (regardless of their case-position). The marking of all predicates with the nominative survives in Raxic and Themsarian (although Raxic has extended the accusative to all direct objects). In later Ractamic languages, where the accusative case had long since lost the definite meaning, predicative direct objects are marked with the accusative case.
Pronouns
Verbs
Verbs were conjugated for subject, aspect, mood, evidentiality, and voice.
- Subject agreement: For each pronoun, and 3rd person m/f/n, and perhaps collective
- Aspects: Aorist, habitual, progressive, stative
- Evidentiality: direct, hearsay, unclear memory, quotative, inferential
- Moods: {Indicative, desiderative, jussive, optative}, {mirative, subjunctive}, imperative
- Voices: Active, mediopassive, causative
Personal suffixes:
| Imperfect suffixes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| 1.ex | -īn | -mēk̓ | |
| 1.in | - | ' | -nci |
| 2 | -z | ' | -lci |
| 3.animate | -m | -rih | |
| 3.inanimate | -ici | ||
| Aorist suffixes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| 1.ex | -īn | -mēk̓ | |
| 1.in | - | ' | -nci |
| 2 | -z | ' | -lci |
| 3.animate | -m | -rih | |
| 3.inanimate | -ici | ||
| Stative suffixes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| 1.ex | -nʔe | -moz | |
| 1.in | - | ' | -toz |
| 2 | -zʔe | ' | -li |
| 3.animate | -h | -woz | |
| 3.inanimate | -z | -toz | |
Derivational morphology
- ⟨*l⟩ verbalizer
- ⟨*r⟩ nominalizer/adjectivalizer