Proto-Pulchric
Introduction
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Dorsal | Laryngeal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | phar. | plain | phar. | plain | phar. | ||||
| Nasal | m /m/ | M /mˁ/ | n /n/ | N /nˁ/ | ng /ŋ/ | NG /ɴ/ | |||
| Stop | tenuis | p /p/ | P /pˁ/ | t /t/ | T /tˁ/ | k /k/ | q /q/ | ||
| voiced | b /b/ | B /bˁ/ | d /d/ | D /dˁ/ | g /ɡ/ | G /ɢ/ | |||
| Fricative | h /h/ | ||||||||
| Trill/Tap | r /ɾ/ | R /ɾˁ/ | |||||||
| Approximant | w /w/ | l /l/ | L /lˁ/ | y /j/ | |||||
Every consonant except /w j h/ can occur geminated between vowels.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i /i/ | i: /iː/ | u /u/ | u: /uː/ | ||
| Mid | e /e/ | e: /eː/ | o /o/ | o: /oː/ | ||
| Open | a /a/ | a: /aː/ | ||||
Diphthongs: /ai/ /au/ (written ai au respectively)
Phonotactics
Only CV syllables are allowed, except:
- a geminate consonant can begin a non-initial syllable (gemination is indicated in the orthography by doubling the consonant letter; geminate ng and NG are written nng and NNG respectively)
- CVC is allowed as the last syllable
Stress
Stress is almost always on the first long syllable, or if no syllable is long, the last syllable in the Rencadic dialect and the first syllable in the Luminese dialect.
Morphophonology
Morphology
Proto-Pulchric has an extremely simple morphology, almost completely isolating.
Nouns
| Baira "leaf" | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Baira | Baira emmi |
| Accusative | Baira ta | Baira emmi ta |
| Genitive | Baira i | Baira emmi i |
Proto-Pulchric has other postpositions as well: mi (in), ro (with), po (like), ...
Verbs
| qi:To- "to think" | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| First person | qi:Ton | qi:Tome |
| Second person | qi:Tod | qi:Tote |
| Third person | qi:Tob | qi:Towa |
Proto-Pulchric often uses verbal nouns, which use the suffix -a:t or -or depending on the verb.
Verbs do not inflect for tense in general. There are a few exceptions though. The copula 'to be' inflects as follows in the present tense:
| "to be" | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| First person | qor | qore |
| Second person | qod | qote |
| Third person | qob | qowa |
In the past tense:
| "to be" | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| First person | pem | peme |
| Second person | pen | pet:e |
| Third person | pem | pewa |
In the future tense:
| "to be" | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| First person | ki:nan | ki:name |
| Second person | ki:nad | ki:nate |
| Third person | ki:nab | ki:nawa |