Naengic languages

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The Ashanic languages form a subbranch of the Lakovic languages. It includes some of the most spoken Lakovic languages, such as Windermere.

Proto-Ashanic phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Domed Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ŋ /ŋ/
Stop plain p /p/ t /t/ k /k/ ʔ /ʔ/
voiced b /b/ d /d/ g /g/
Fricative s /s̻/ ś /s̺/ š /ʃ/ h /h/
Affricate c /ts̻/ ć /ts̺/ (č /tʃ/)
Approximant w /w/ l /l/ r /r/ y /j/

Vowels

Proto-Ashanic had 6 vowels and register tone:

i ü u e o a = /i y u e o a/

ì ǜ ù è ò à = /i y u e o a/ + breathy voice

Phonotactics

Final consonant clusters were allowed, unlike in Windermere; they are the source of final voiced stops in Windermere.

Prefinal syllables only allowed the vowels /a i u/.

Stress

Stress was likely on the final syllable.

Grammar

Both the trigger system, gender, and TAM were still productive. Windermere and Ciêng both fossilized all of this morphology, but in a different order.

  • Classical Windermere fossilized the trigger system first.
  • Ciêng lost the aspect inflections first and the remaining morphology was quickly lost (and tonogenesis happened easily), as it was derivational.