Proto-Quame

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Proto-Quihum/Lexicon

Proto-Quihum/Swadesh list

Proto-Quihum is the reconstructed common ancestor of all Quihum languages. It's inspired by Proto-Indo-European. It's thought to have been spoken 6000 years before present. The main source languages for the reconstruction of PQ are Thensarian, Wibian, and Sjowaazheñ.


Todo

Overview

Phonology

Consonants

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

Labial Coronal Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
plain labialized plain labialized
Nasal *m *n
Plosive plain *p *t, *c *k *kʷ *q *qʷ
voiced *b *d, *dz *g *gʷ *ɢʷ
breathy voiced *bʰ *dʰ, *dzʰ *gʰ *gʷʰ *ɢʰ *ɢʷʰ
Fricative *s *x *xʷ *x̌ /χ/ *x̌ʷ /χʷ/ *h
Resonant *l, *r *y /j/ *w

Vowels

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

Suprasegmentals

Stress was phonemic.

Phonotactics

Rules:

  • When initial reduplication occurs, glottalized initials deglottalize.

Grammar

Typology

The basic word order was V2, modifier-modified (like German).

Ablaut

Much like in PIE, PQ had an ablaut system where roots (usually of 2 or 3 consonants) were inflected in different ablaut grades.

Functions of ablaut

  • Noun inflections
  • Verb inflections
  • Verb "binyanim"
  • Deriving nouns and verbs

Ablaut grades

  • a-grade: present tense
  • e-grade: ?
  • i-grade: preterite tense
  • ə-grade: bare verbal noun
  • u-grade: passive for verbs?
  • -grade: derivations
  • lengthened grades: various verb aspects/voices

Nominals

Nouns had:

  • two genders: animate, inanimate.
    • There were also honorific forms which worked like a gender somewhat.
  • two states: absolute and construct.
  • two cases: nominative and genitive.
  • two numbers: singular and plural. There was also a third number, the collective, formed by reduplication of the first syllable.

Possible declensions:

  • a-stems
  • x̌-stems
  • i-stems
  • u-stems
  • consonant stems
  • heteroclitic stems: r/s

Verbs

Verbs were conjugated for subject, object, aspect, and mood (but not for voice).

Should be Native American-ish

  • Subject agreement: For each pronoun, and gender in 3rd person
  • Aspects: present, preterite, stative
  • Moods: indicative, subjunctive, jussive, imperative
  • Finite voiced verb forms cannot be reconstructed; only participles can.

Object affixes

Object affixes
Singular Plural
1 n-
1 + 2 -
2
3 bi-

Some etyma

  • wel-í- = name
    • Possible ablauted stems: wel-ə́y-/wel-yə́-
  • stup- = fire
  • wjénəqʷ- = water
  • -əx̌- = causative or intensive of a verb
    • Verbalizer -ā- in Talmic

References