Proto-Quame
Overview
Phonology
Consonants
The following inventory of consonants is reconstructed for PQ. Languages such as Adetsib have the most archaic consonant inventories, whereas the Kammalic branch is the most innovative. m n l r could be syllabic.
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | plain | labialized | plain | labialized | |||||
| Nasal | plain | *m | *n | |||||||
| glottalized | *mʼ /mˀ/ | *nʼ /nˀ/ | ||||||||
| Plosive | plain | *p | *t | *k | *kʷ | *q | *qʷ | *ʔ | ||
| voiced | *b | *d | *g | *gʷ | *ɢ | *ɢʷ | ||||
| ejective | *pʼ | *tʼ | *kʼ | *kʷʼ | *qʼ | *qʷʼ | ||||
| Fricative | *s | *ł /ɬ/ | *x | *xʷ | *x̌ /χ/ | *x̌ʷ /χʷ/ | *h | |||
| Affricate | plain | *c /ts/ | *ƛ /tɬ/ | |||||||
| voiced | *z /dz/ | *λ /dɮ/ | ||||||||
| ejective | *cʼ /tsʼ/ | *ƛʼ /tɬʼ/ | ||||||||
| Resonant | plain | *l | *y /j/ | *w | ||||||
| glottalized | *lʼ /lˀ/ | *yʼ /jˀ/ | *wʼ /wˀ/ | |||||||
Vowels
Unlike many of its descendants, Proto-Pfeuno-K'aitian had a 4-vowel system /i u ə a/ with no vowel length.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | *i | *u | |
| Mid | *ə | ||
| Open | *a |
Suprasegmentals
No phonemic pitch, tone or stress existed in PQ.
Phonotactics
Consonant clusters were allowed and could become complex, as in the Salishan languages.
Grammar
Typology
The basic word order was V2, modifier-modified.
The morphological form of a typical PQ word can be described as root<infix>-suffix-ending.
Ablaut
Much like in PIE, PQ had an ablaut system where roots were inflected in different ablaut grades. The ablaut system became more complex in Quame languages as laryngeal infixes yielded new vowels.
Nominals
PQ did not distinguish between nouns and adjectives. They both inflected for:
- 5 cases: nominative, (definite) accusative, genitive, dative, predicative
- 2 genders: masculine, feminine
- 3 numbers: singular, dual, plural
Nouns minimally consisted of a root and an optional infix, case/number endings and a classifier suffix. The classifier suffixes play a role in gender assignment in daughter languages.
Declension
Masculine sg: nom. -0
- -0, -a, -ə, -i, -u, uncommonly -ā, -ī, -ū
Feminine sg: nom. -x̌
- -ax̌, -əx̌ > -ā
- -ix̌, -āx̌ > -ē
- -ux̌ > -ō
- -īx̌ > -ī
- -ūx̌ > -ū
- -Cx̌ > -Ca
Dual: nom. -x̌ur
Plural: kawʼqs 'raven' > kakawʼqs?
Pronouns
bi-: transitivizer? 3rd person object affix?
Verbs
Verbs were conjugated for subject, aspect, mood, evidentiality, and voice.
- Subject agreement: For each pronoun, and 3rd person m/f/n, and perhaps collective
- Aspects: present, preterite, stative
- Evidentiality: direct, hearsay, unclear memory, quotative, inferential
- Moods: {Indicative, desiderative, jussive, optative}, {mirative, subjunctive}, imperative
- Voices: Active, mediopassive, causative
Ablaut grades
- present: a-grade
- preterite: i-grade
- stative: zero-grade?
- verbal noun: u-grade
TAM affixes
- ⟨n⟩: aorist infix. (Wiobian preterite ⟨n⟩)
- -ƛ-: dynamic affix (progressive -tł- in Naquian, future -t- in Themsarian)
- -eʔ: stative affix
Tense/Agreement suffixes
| Imperfect suffixes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| 1.ex | -īn | -mēk̓ | |
| 1.in | - | ' | -nci |
| 2 | -z | ' | -lci |
| 3.animate | -m | -rih | |
| 3.inanimate | -ici | ||
| Aorist suffixes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| 1.ex | -īn | -mēk̓ | |
| 1.in | - | ' | -nci |
| 2 | -z | ' | -lci |
| 3.animate | -m | -rih | |
| 3.inanimate | -ici | ||
| Stative suffixes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| 1.ex | -nʔe | -moz | |
| 1.in | - | ' | -toz |
| 2 | -zʔe | ' | -li |
| 3.animate | -h | -woz | |
| 3.inanimate | -z | -toz | |
Derivational morphology
- ⟨l⟩ - ???
- ⟨r⟩ - ???
Some etymologies
- 1: *x̌əmʼ-; *kʷi-x̌əmʼ- 'only one'
- 2: *tił-x̌ur
- 3: *nazg-
- 4: *λawpʼ-
- 5: *calił
- 6: *sta-x̌əm- 'one more'; *qʷ’əl’
- 7: *yʼəxʷd
- 8: *lx̌ʷzitʼ
- 9: *pʼagʷz
- 10: *q’əyʼ-x̌ur
- step/level: *naycʼ ('20' in Talsmic)
- stone: *ƛʼecqʷa
- water: *yənʼq
- day: *m’ul
Sample text
On a hill, a sheep that had no wool saw horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a big load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: "My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses". The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see this: a man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself. And the sheep has no wool". Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain.