Quame languages

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Quame languages/Lexicon

Quame languages/Swadesh list

Quame
Naquo-Talmic
Created byIlL
Geographic
distribution
Txapoalli, Talma, Etalocin; today worldwide
Linguistic classificationOne of Tricin's primary language families
Proto-languageProto-Quame

The Quame languages (Eevo: brits Cłem, from *kʷēm-, the reconstructed word for 1), also known as Naquo-Talmic, are a major language family in Tricin. It is well-established that that Naquic and Talmic form a Naquo-Talmic family; the relationship of other languages to Naquo-Talmic is conjectured by some but not well-established.

The Quame urheimat is surmised to be somewhere in Etalocin (the union of Clofabolocin and Dodellia). Proto-Quame was spoken 3000 years ago.

Proto-Quame phonology is inspired by classical IE languages (esp. Greek and Proto-Celtic) and Tsez.

Family tree

Phonology

Consonants

The following inventory of consonants is reconstructed for PQ and is now accepted by the majority of Trician scholars.

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
plain labialized plain labialized
Nasal *m *n
Plosive plain (asp.) *t *T *k *kʷ *q *qʷ
ejective *tʼ *Tʼ *kʼ *kʷʼ *qʼ *qʷʼ
voiced *b *d *D *g *gʷ *ɢʷ
Fricative *s
Resonant *l *r *y /j/ *w

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close *i *ī *u *ū
Mid *e *ē *o *ō
Open *a *ā

Suprasegmentals

Stress was phonemic.

Phonotactics

Rules:

  • Grassmann's Law operates in many descendants.

Grammar

Typology

No case, number + classifier marking articles, clusivity (very un-IE)

OVS; focus prominent; Wackernagel clitics

Classifiers

  • ne, pl. stae = animates (humans, more "animate" animals like pets)
  • tja, pl. jes = honorific form of ne
  • kveo, pl. fli = organisms not viewed as sentient: plants, fungi, bacteria, "lower" animals, pests
  • mi, pl. min = tiny, point-like objects; mass nouns
  • oets, pl. al = long, thin objects
  • hy, pl. zoe = flat sheets
  • gi, pl. kru = food items
  • raev, pl. sja = abstractions; intellectual works such as art, books, ...
  • mo, pl. lu = manmade structures: houses, buildings, cities; toolsUnits of measurement do not take classifiers with numerals.

Derivations