Proto-Zanahic

Introduction

Proto-Zanahic is the reconstructed ancestor of Zanahi and other Zanahic languages.

Phonology

Consonants

Reconstructed consonant phonemes of Proto-Zanahic

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/
Stop	voiceless	p /p/	t /t/		k /k/	’ /ʔ/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d/		g /ɡ/
	ejective	ṗ /pʼ/	ṭ /tʼ/		ḳ /kʼ/
Affricate	voiceless		s /ts/
	voiced		z /dz/
	ejective		ṣ /tsʼ/
Fricative			ś /s/	š /ɕ/		h /h/
Trill			r /r/
Approximant			l /l/	y /j/	w /w/

Vowels

Reconstructed vowel phonemes of Proto-Zanahic

	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close	i /i/	u /u/	ī /iː/	ū /uː/
Mid	e /ɛ/		ē /ɛː/
Open	a /a/	o /ɒ/	ā /aː/	ō /ɒː/

Reconstructed diphthongs of Proto-Zanahic

	Short		Long
	/i/	/u/	/i/	/u/
/ɛ/	ey /ɛi/	ew /ɛu/	ēy /ɛːi/	ēw /ɛːu/
/a/	ay /ai/	aw /au/	āy /aːi/	āw /aːu/
/ɒ/	oy /ɒi/	ow /ɒu/	ōy /ɒːi/	ōw /ɒːu/

Additionally, the following syllabic consonants are reconstructed: /m̩, n̩, r̩, l̩, m̩ː, n̩ː, r̩ː, l̩ː/.

Reconstructed syllabic consonants of Proto-Zanahic

Corresponding consonant	Short	Long
/m/	m̥ /m̩/	m̥̄ /m̩ː/
/n/	n̥ /n̩/	n̥̄ /n̩ː/
/r/	r̥ /r̩/	r̥̄ /r̩ː/
/l/	l̥ /l̩/	l̥̄ /l̩ː/

Note that *i and *u (and their long forms *ī and *ū) are considered the syllabic counterparts of *y and *w respectively.

Syntax