Proto-Quame
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, Wiobian, and Sjowaazheñ.
Todo
Overview
Phonology
Consonants
The following inventory of consonants is reconstructed for PQ and is now accepted by the majority of scholars.
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | labialized | plain | labialized | ||||||
| Nasal | *m | *n | |||||||
| Plosive | plain | *p | *t, *c | *k | *kʷ | *q | *qʷ | *ʔ | |
| voiced | *b | *d, *dz | *g | *gʷ | *ɢ | *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 | *ə | |
| 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
- i-grade: preterite tense
- ə-grade: verbal noun
- u-grade
- ∅-grade: verbal noun; many derived stems
- lengthened grades: various verb aspects/voices
Nominals
Nouns had:
- 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.
There was a noun class system with 10 noun classes.
Possible declensions:
- -o- stems
- -x̌-stems
- -i- stems
- -u- stems
- consonant stems
- heteroclitic stems: r/s?
Noun class 1
Noun class 2
Noun class 3
Noun class 4
Noun class 5
Noun class 6
Noun class 7
Noun class 8
Noun class 9
Noun class 10
Verbs
Verbs were conjugated for subject, object, aspect, and mood (but not for voice).
- Subject agreement: For each pronoun, and gender in 3rd person
- Aspects: present, preterite, stative
- Moods: indicative, subjunctive, jussive, imperative