Roshterian/Proto-Roshterian
Old Roshterian is the reconstructed intermediate stage between Proto-Talmic and Roshterian. It was spoken approximately at the same time Thensarian was spoken.
Some words
- φlat-nəm "seed" > Old Roshterian *ḽatnə > laaṉ "child (offspring)"
- tekts "child" > Old Roshterian *tejṱ, tejs- > ṯeit, ṯeis- "child (young human)"
- bonditejṱiə, bondejṱiə, bnejṱiə "child-bearer, child-rearer, babysitter" > bleit, bleiti- "woman"
- soliθe > OR höḽiṱe "5" > helit, lite-
- kabnənts > OR kabrəṋs "woman" > (lost)
- snuwem "round" > OR nǖ "fat" > ṉii "big"
- mārom "tree" > OR miəro "tree" > miar
- dēdī > dēdii "tears" > ḏeeḏ
- gwaθwā > baṱu "throat" > batu
- nā > ṋiə "I" > nia
- som, sam > hum "he"
- sausmam > haufa "moon" > hoof
- sk, st > ść, st > OR sṱ, st > st, s̱ṯ
- Final -s, -m, -r had been deleted in endings
Phonology
Vowels
a e i o u ə ö ü ā ē ī ō ū ȫ ǖ iə uə aj ej öj uj iw
ȫ > aa in later Roshterian; aa also emerges from CL
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Medial | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | *m | *ṋ | *n | ||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | *p | *ṱ | *t | *k | *q | |||
| voiced | *b | *ḓ | *d | *g | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | *s | *σ | *h | |||||
| voiced | *ζ | *ʁ | |||||||
| Resonant | *w | *ḽ | *l, *r | *y | |||||
The "medial" consonants were retroflex, sje-like or bunched.
Stress
The initial stress in Proto-Talmic had shifted to penultimate by Pre-Roshterian. (becomes ultimate stress in Roshterian after final vowels are deleted)
Morphology
Nouns
Case? Maybe just absolute/construct
| Construct | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| ḽatnai | ḽatnə | hēḽatnə |
Nouns also have an incorporated form, used when the noun is used in noun incorporation.
Verbs
Verbs have absolute and conjunct stems, much like in Old Irish. With a preverb or an incorporandum (incorporated noun stem), the conjunct form is used.
The process of attaching preverbs such as prepositions to verbs was productive in Proto-Talmic, which then was repurposed for applicatives and for noun incorporation in Old Roshterian [unlike in Thensarian which took a path more akin to IE languages].
The forms came from the following stress pattern:
| preverb | first | ... | penult | final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolute | - | secondary | unstressed | primary | unstressed | |
| Conjunct | secondary | unstressed | unstressed | primary | unstressed |
Handwave: This creates a succession of unstressed syllables in the conjunct form which gets smooshed together in Old Roshterian. Or maybe no syncope, but some sort of vowel harmonization
Examples:
| Person | ṋoṱiəṋi "I rest" (independent) | mī-ṋṱiəṋi "I do not rest" (dependent) |
|---|---|---|
| 1SG | ṋoṱiəṋi | mī-ṋṱiəṋi |
| 2SG | ṋoṱiəri | mī-ṋṱiəri |
| 3SG.M | ṋoṱiəmi | mī-ṋṱiəmi |
| 3SG.F | ṋoṱiəsi | mī-ṋṱiəsi |
| 3SG.N | ṋoṱiə | mī-ṋṱiə |
| 1EX | ṋoṱiəmē | mī-ṋṱiəmē |
| 1IN | ṋoṱiəṋṱi | mī-ṋṱiəṋṱi |
| 2PL | ṋoṱiəsṱi | mī-ṋṱiəsṱi |
| 3PL | ṋoṱiəbi | mī-ṋṱiəbi |
For verbs that already have a preverb, this works a little differently. For example, consider the verb hē-poldəṋi "I praise", an applicative verb formed with hē- 'about' + poldəṋi 'sing':
| Person | hē-poldəṋi "I praise" (independent) | mīs-epoləṋi "I do not praise" (dependent) |
|---|---|---|
| 1SG | hē-poldəṋi | mīs-epoləṋi |
| 2SG | hē-poldəri | mīs-epoləri |
| 3SG.M | hē-poldəmi | mīs-epoləmi |
| 3SG.F | hē-poldəsi | mīs-epoləsi |
| 3SG.N | hē-poldə | mīs-epolə |
| 1EX | hē-poldəmē | mīs-epoləmē |
| 1IN | hē-poldəṋṱi | mīs-epoləṋṱi |
| 2PL | hē-poldəsṱi | mīs-epoləsṱi |
| 3PL | hē-poldəbi | mīs-epoləbi |
In Modern Roshteriann these stems are cited as heepoḻyn, -epryn.
Pronouns
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | *ṋiə | *iəm |
| 1 + 2 | ??? | |
| 2 | *wēr | ??? |
| 3 (masculine) | *hum | ??? |
| 3 (feminine) | *hī | |
| 3 (inanimate) | *he | |
| 4 (obviative) | *pī | |