Eta-Talmic
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Proto-Talmic is a descendant of Proto-Quihum and the last common ancestor of all Talmic languages (including Thensarian, Tíogall, Nurian, Rostherian, ...). It was a fusional, head-initial language with a number system consisting of singulative, collective and plurative numbers.
Diachronics
Wackernagel's Law?
Some sound changes from Proto-Quihum:
- Early rhotacization: lʼ, nʼ, yʼ > r
- y > h? (get PTal *j from other sources)
- Ejectives become voiced stops:
- cʼ z > z
- ƛʼ λ > ɮ
- qʼ qʷʼ > ɢ ɢʷ > ʁ ʁʷ
- xʷ > w (at least word initially before a vowel; also in Proto-Pfeunic)
- ƛ > t
- Late rhotacization: z > r (s in unvoiced environments)
- lenition of p > φ
- Cluster simplifications
- tk, tq > rk, rq
- pt-, kt-, qt- > φl-, kl-, ql-
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Uvular | Labiouvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | *m | *n | ||||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | *t | *k | *kʷ | *q | *qʷ | ||||
| voiced | *b | *d | *g | *gʷ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | *ɸ | *θ | *s | *h | |||||
| voiced | *δ | *ʁ | *ʁʷ | |||||||
| Resonant | *l | *r | *j | *w | ||||||
Vowels
a e i o u ə ā ē ī ō ū
Diphthongs:
ai ei oi ui əi aw ew iw ow əw
Thensarian reflexes
PTal reflexes in bold
- *a > o > o
- *ax̌, əx̌, ax̌ʷ > ā > ā
- *aʔ, əx̌ʷ > ō > ō
- *ə > e > e
- *i > i > i
- *u > u > u
- *ay > oi > ȳ
- *əy > ai > ae
- *iy > ei > ē
- *uy > ui > ui
- *iʔ, ix > ī > ī
- *aw > ow > ao
- *əw > ew > iō
- *iw > iw > iū
- *uʔ, ux, uxʷ > ū > ū
- *uw > ou > ao
- *Cx̌, Cx̌ʷ > Ca > Ca
- *Cxʷ > Co > Co
- *Cx > Cə > Cy
- *əʔ, əx, ix̌ > ē > ē
- *ux̌, x̌u > ō > ō
- *axʷ, ax̌ʷ > aw > ao
- *ixʷ, ix̌ʷ > ew > iō
- *ux̌ʷ > ō > ō
- *iyx̌, iyx̌ʷ > ija > iā
- *əyx̌, əyx̌ʷ > eja > eā
- *iy(ə)x > ije > iē
Morphology
Proto-Talmic needs "ingredients" for Roshterian polysynthesis.
Nouns
Proto-Talmic has innovated a sex-based gender system with masculine, feminine, and neuter genders:
- Proto-Quihum had a gender system of common and neuter genders, and also had an honorific distinction which required agreement in verbs and adjectives.
- In Pre-Talmic, the honorific developed into its own gender, often being used for big, sacred, specialized, or abstract things, in addition to people of high social status.
- The word for "lady", kabnas, became the normal word for "woman" (like how Frau, formerly "lady", became the normal word for "woman" in German).
- Thus, the former honorific agreement analogized to all women.
Masculine nouns
(Just one paradigm)
| ɮoirom 'bird' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singulative | Collective | Plurative | |
| Indefinite | ɮoirom | ɮeɮoirom | ɮoirīs |
| Definite | ɮoirai | ɮeɮoirai | ɮoirinnə |
| Possessed forms of ɮoirom - 'bird' | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number→ State↓ |
Singulative | Plurative |
| Construct | ɮoirot | ɮoirinnət |
| 1sg possessor | ɮoiron | ɮoirinnən |
| 2sg.m possessor | ɮoirossi | ɮoirinnəssi |
| 2sg.f possessor | ɮoirossiu | ɮoirinnəssiu |
| 3sg.m possessor | ɮoirotiu | ɮoirinniu |
| 3sg.f possessor | ɮoirotī | ɮoirinnī |
| 3sg.n possessor | ɮoirota | ɮoirinna |
| 1exc possessor | ɮoirosmə | ɮoirinnəsmə |
| 1inc possessor | ɮoiroswi | ɮoirinnəswi |
| 2pl possessor | ɮoiroka | ɮoirinnəka |
| 3pl possessor | ɮoirotōr | ɮoirinnətōr |
Feminine nouns
| gʷondā 'body' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singulative | Collective | Plurative | |
| Indefinite | gʷondā | gegʷondā | gʷondār |
| Definite | gʷondām | gegʷondām | gʷondās |
| Possessed forms of gʷondā - 'body' | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number→ State↓ |
Singulative | Plurative |
| Construct | gʷondat | gʷondāsat |
| 1sg possessor | gʷondan | gʷondasan |
| 2sg.m possessor | gʷondassi | gʷondasassi |
| 2sg.f possessor | gʷondassiu | gʷondasassiu |
| 3sg.m possessor | gʷondatiu | gʷondasiu |
| 3sg.f possessor | gʷondatī | gʷondasī |
| 3sg.n possessor | gʷondata | gʷondasa |
| 1exc possessor | gʷondasmə | gʷondasasmə |
| 1inc possessor | gʷondaswi | gʷondasaswi |
| 2pl possessor | gʷondaka | gʷondaseka |
| 3pl possessor | gʷondatōr | gʷondasōr |
Neuter nouns
| tektəs 'child' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singulative | Collective | Plurative | |
| Indefinite | tektəs | tetektəs | tektəen |
| Definite | tektəes | tetektəes | tektəer |
| Possessed forms of tektəs - 'child' | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number→ State↓ |
Singulative | Plurative |
| Construct | tektət | tektəerət |
| 1sg possessor | tektən | tektəerən |
| 2sg.m possessor | tektəssi | tektəerəssi |
| 2sg.f possessor | tektəssiu | tektəerəssiu |
| 3sg.m possessor | tektiu | tektəeriu |
| 3sg.f possessor | tektī | tektəerī |
| 3sg.n possessor | tektəta | tektəera |
| 1exc possessor | tektəsmo | tektəersmo |
| 1inc possessor | tektəswi | tektəerswi |
| 2pl possessor | tektəka | tektəerka |
| 3pl possessor | tektōr | tektəerōr |
| jenaqʷs 'water' (n.) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singulative | Collective | ||
| Indefinite | jenaqʷs | jenenaqʷs | |
| Definite | jenaqʷes | jenenaqʷes | |
| stuφs 'fire' (n.) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singulative | Collective | ||
| Indefinite | stuφs | stestuφs | |
| Definite | stuφes | stestuφes | |
Adjectives
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Masculine:
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Feminine:
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Neuter:
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Verbs
Object markers
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ni- | mē- |
| 1 + 2 | - | ɬē- |
| 2 | ti- | sē- |
| 3 | bi- | nē- |
TAM + subject markers
Collective subjects agree with singular (subject or object) verb affixes.
Root ablaut occurs in some stems in verbs and derived nouns. Ablauting verbs follow one of the patterns below (modulo compensatory lengthening); the present stem is in what is called the "a-grade" in Quihum linguistics, and the preterite stem has the "i-grade". (Also cf. Ancient Wiebian.)
- present stem a - preterite stem e
- present stem ā - preterite stem ē
- present stem o - preterite stem i
- present stem ō - preterite stem ī
- present stem ō - preterite stem ē
- present stem oi - preterite stem ei
- present stem ou - preterite stem iu
- present stem au - preterite stem eu
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Derivational morphology
Ablaut patterns
Syntax
The emphatic particle *-is was commonly suffixed to the verb, as seen directly in Thensarian and the fact that Rostherian kept most verb affixes intact.