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.
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" > bleit, bleiti- "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 > haufa "moon" > hoof
- sk, st > ść, st > OR sṱ, st > st, s̱ṯ
- Final -s, -m, -r had 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 | |||||
The "medial" consonants were retroflex, sje-like or bunched.
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
| Construct | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| ḽatnai | ḽatnə | hēḽatnə |
Nouns also have an incorporated form or an incorporandum, 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:
| 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 | ṋoṱiəsṱi | mī-ṋṱiəsṱi |
| 3PL | ṋoṱiəbi | mī-ṋṱiəbi |
For verbs that already have a preverb, this works a little differently. For example, consider the verb hē-poldəṋi "I praise", an applicative verb formed with hē- 'about' + poldəṋi 'sing':
| Person | hē-poldəṋi "I praise" (independent) | mīs-epoləṋi "I do not praise" (dependent) |
|---|---|---|
| 1SG | hē-poldəṋi | mīs-epoləṋi |
| 2SG | hē-poldəri | mīs-epoləri |
| 3SG.M | hē-poldəmi | mīs-epoləmi |
| 3SG.F | hē-poldəsi | mīs-epoləsi |
| 3SG.N | hē-poldə | mīs-epolə |
| 1EX | hē-poldəmē | mīs-epoləmē |
| 1IN | hē-poldəṋṱi | mīs-epoləṋṱi |
| 2PL | hē-poldəsṱi | mīs-epoləsṱi |
| 3PL | hē-poldəbi | mīs-epoləbi |
In Modern Roshteriann these stems are cited as heepoḻyn, -epryn.
Pronouns
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | *ṋiə | *iəm |
| 1 + 2 | ??? | |
| 2 | *wēr | ??? |
| 3 (masculine) | *hum | ??? |
| 3 (feminine) | *hī | |
| 3 (inanimate) | *he | |
| 4 (obviative) | *pī | |