Proto-Quame

Proto-Quihum/Lexicon

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

Phonology

Consonants

The following inventory of consonants is reconstructed for PQ and is now accepted by the majority of scholars. Languages such as Adetsib have the most archaic consonant inventories.

		Labial	Coronal		Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
			central	lateral		plain	labialized	plain	labialized
Nasal		*m	*n
Plosive	plain	*p	*t			*k	*kʷ	*q	*qʷ	*ʔ
	voiced	*b	*d			*g	*gʷ
	ejective	*pʼ	*tʼ			*kʼ	*kʷʼ	*qʼ	*qʷʼ
Fricative			*s	*ł /ɬ/	*š	*x	*xʷ	*x̌ /χ/	*x̌ʷ /χʷ/	*h
Affricate	plain		*c /ts/	*ƛ /tɬ/
	voiced		*dᶻ /dz/	*λ /dɮ/
	ejective		*cʼ /tsʼ/	*ƛʼ /tɬʼ/
Resonant			*r	*l	*y /j/	*γ /ɣ/	*w	*ʕ	*ʕʷ

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	*i		*u
Mid		*ə
Open		*a

Suprasegmentals

Stress was phonemic.

Phonotactics

Rules:

• When initial reduplication occurs, glottalized initials deglottalize.

Grammar

Typology

The basic word order was V2, modifier-modified.

Ablaut

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

Roots:

• ł-x̌ʷ = 'be'
• x̌-nʼ = 'live'
• k-p = 'eat'
  • Haft < kapdxʷ could mean 'bread'
• ƛ-y = 'grab, capture'
  • Wb. Seime = hand < ŝīmō < ƛəy-m-aʔ
  • Wb. Sette = property < ŝedō < ƛyədxʷ (**ƛy-dxʷ)
• n-kʷ = 'up'
• q-x̌ = 'accompany'

Ablaut grades

• a-grade: present tense
• i-grade: preterite tense
• ə-grade: verbal noun
• u-grade
• ∅-grade: verbal noun; many derived stems
  • e.g. Wiebian mit 'if, given that' < meiten 'give'

Determiners

The characteristic inflection of determiners could be a relic of an older word order where prepositions were inserted between an adjective and the following noun (cf. magnā cum laude).

Should have some syncretism

can spam laryngeals and clusters

• r < PQ nʼ, wʼ, lʼ, l (+clusters)
• m < PQ m, mʼ (+clusters)
• n < PQ n (+clusters)
• s < PQ tʼ, s, c, cʼ
• e < PQ laryngeals, -ł, -i, -p, u?
• -0 < PQ -0, -p, -a, -ə

Ahn 'father' - masculine
	Singular	Plural
Indef. nom.	eine Ahn	einen Ahn
Def. nom.	ein Ahn	einer Ahn
Indef. acc.	ein Ahn	einer Ahn
Def. acc.	einem Ahn	eines Ahn
Indef. gen.	*-əm	eines Ahn
Def. gen.	eine Ahn	einen Ahn

Mahl 'mother' - feminine
	Singular	Plural
Indef. nom.	einem Mahl	eines Mahl
Def. nom.	eine Mahl	einen Mahl
Indef. acc.	*-x̌	einen Mahl
Def. acc.	ein Mahl	einer Mahl
Indef. gen.	ein Mahl	einer Mahl
Def. gen.	einem Mahl	eines Mahl

Ŧeib 'chalice' - neuter
	Singular	Plural
Indef. nom.	ein Ŧeib	einer Ŧeib
Def. nom.	einem Ŧeib	eines Ŧeib
Indef. acc.	einem Ŧeib	eines Ŧeib
Def. acc.	eine Ŧeib	einen Ŧeib
Indef. gen.	eine Ŧeib	einen Ŧeib
Def. gen.	ein Ŧeib	einer Ŧeib

Nominals

Collectives were formed by reduplication (like the plural in Salish languages).

Plural: káwʼqs 'raven' > káwʼkəwʼqs or kəwʼkáwʼqs 'ravens, all ravens' (the former is thought to be the older form)

Verbs

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

• Subject agreement: For each pronoun, and 3rd person m/f/n, and perhaps collective
• Aspects: present, preterite, stative
• Moods: indicative, subjunctive, jussive, imperative

TAM affixes

• -x - 2sg imperative
  • *miydx = 'give!'

Tense/Agreement suffixes

Subject markers:

• 1sg: -n
• 2sg: -y'
• 3sg.m: -m
• 3sg.f: -cm
• 3sg.n: -0
• 1pl.ex: -məʔ
• 2pl: -skʷ
• 3pl: -ƛ

Object markers:

• 1sg: n-
• 2sg: l'-
• 3 (animate): b-
• 3 (neuter): k-
• 1pl.ex: m-
• 1pl.in: d-
• 2pl: c'-

Some etymologies

• 1: *x̌əmʼ; *kʷi-x̌əmʼ- 'only one'
  • kʷíx̌əmʼ or kʷix̌ə́mʼ?
• 2: *tił-x̌ulʼ
• 3: *nadᶻg
• 4: *λawpʼ
• 5: *calił
• 6: *sta-x̌əmʼ 'one more'; *qʷ’əl’
• 7: *nʼəxʷd
• 8: *lx̌ʷdᶻitʼ
• 9: *pʼalʼgʷ
• 10: *q’əyʼ-x̌ulʼ
• step/level: *naycʼ ('20' in Talsmic)
• stone: *ƛʼecqʷ
• water: *yənqʷʼ
• day: *m’ul