Proto-Dalian

Proto-Dalian
Created by	–
Ethnicity	Dalic peoples
Era	5,000 – 3,000 years ago
Language family	Dalic Proto-Dalian

Proto-Dalian was a language spoken 5000 years ago, being the common ancestor of the Dalic languages, including Andalian. Proto-Dalian possessed a writing system, but only few written examples of Proto-Dalian are extant, primarily in stone and bronze, with a few examples of speleography (cave writing). In this article, attested forms are unmarked, while reconstructed forms are marked with an asterisk (*).

Phonology

Phonemes

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar		Back
		-v	+v	-v	+v	-v	+v
Nasal			m		n		ŋ
Stop	Plain	p	b	t	d	k	g
	Prenasalised	mp	mb	nt	nd	ŋk	ŋg
	Aspirated	pʰ	bʰ	tʰ	dʰ	kʰ	gʰ
Fricative		f	v	s	z	h₁	h₂
Liquid				ɬ r̥	l r

Vowels: Proto-Dalian has a classic 5 vowel system (a, e, i, o, u) with a length distinction.

Morphology

Determiners

Proto-Dalian has a definite article which precedes the noun:

Animate	Singular	Dual	Plural
nom	to	ti	tis
acc	no	*ni	nis
dat / all	do	*di	*dis
gen / abl	o	i	is
loc / ptv	so	*si	*sis
ins	*ro	*ri	*ris

Inanimate	Generic	Singulative
nom	*sa	*san
acc	ta	*tan
dat / all	ga	*gan
gen / abl	va	van
loc / ptv	na	nan
ins	*ra	ran

Proto-Dalian does not have an indefinite article.

Writing system

Main article: Dalian runes

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar		Back
		-v	+v	-v	+v	-v	+v
Nasal			ᚾ		ᛁ		ᛅ
Stop	Plain	ᚫ	ᛚ	ᚠ	ᚴ	ᚻ	ᚺ
	Prenasalised	ᚾᚫ	ᚾᛚ	ᛁᚠ	ᛁᚴ	ᛅᚻ	ᛅᚺ
	Aspirated	ᛚ᛬	ᛚ᛫	ᚴ᛬	ᚴ᛫	ᚺ᛬	ᚺ᛫
Fricative		ᚭ	ᚿ	ᚥ	ᚢ	᛬	᛫
Liquid				ᛒ ᛣ	ᚹ ᛉ

Vowels

a	aː	e	eː	i	iː	o	oː	u	uː
ᛖ	ᛗ	ᛋ	ᛋᛌ	ᛇ	ᛇᛌ	ᛕ	ᛕᛌ	ᚷ	ᚸ