Proto-Ndere

Proto-Ndere Vocabulary

=Phonology=

Phonotactics
Syllable structure

(C1)V(C2)(C3)

(R)V(C2)(C3)


 * C1: Any consonant
 * R: /m n ɲ l j v/
 * V: Any vowel
 * C2: /m n ɲ ŋ ʑ z/ or any ejective
 * C3: Any unrounded consonant that isn't uvular or one of /b d ʑ/

Allophony


 * Mid vowels /ɪː e(ː)/ become [iː æ(ː)] before a semivowel. If also after a consonant then /eː/ becomes [æi̯]
 * /t ɾ ʑ/ become [tʲ ɾʲ ʑʲ] before a palatal consonant or word-finaly.
 * Consonants that aren't [ɟ j w] assimilate in palatalisation with the following consonant. Before palatal and velar consonants.
 * Alveolar taps [ɾ ɾʲ] become [l lʲ] before [l lʲ].
 * The vowels and semivowels [j w {i æ}] become [e̯ o̯ e] after a non-near high vowel. If word final then /æ/ becomes [i].
 * Non-ejective obstruents assimilate in voicing with a following obstruent.
 * The semivowels [j w] become lax [æ̯ ø̯] before a lax vowel.
 * When before a nasal consonant or word finally before a word intiial /b/, plosives have a nasal release except /t/ which becomes the geminate version of said nasal consonant.
 * When after a vowel that may or may not be followed by a fricative, the plosives /p b t d c k g ʔ/ lenite into [ɸ β θ ð x ŋ h]. In the same conditions /ɟ c/ and /ɟ/ become [ɕ] and [ʑ] around high vowels and [x] [ɣ] elsewise.

Morphophonology

When a stem ending in /ɲ/ takes on a suffix begining with a front vowel, then the final consonant becomes /ʑ/:
 * *śøñ- ("sand") + -iu ("singulative suffix") > *śø̄źiu- ("grain of sand").

There is a productive albeit deep lenition system where consonants lenite when post-vocalic. As this process is very old, sound changes have obscured some of the lenition patterns. The lenition patterns are as follows:


 * From PNS *q

Examples:
 * *pant- ("to drop") > *lefant- ("dropping")
 * *buc'l- ("to decorate") > *levuc'l- ("decorating")
 * *tìmpan- ("to swim") > *leþìmpan- ("swimming")
 * *dirl- ("to throw") > *leðirl- ("throwing")
 * *cuzdanx- ("to influence") > *leśuzdanx- ("influencing")
 * *ġūm- ("to insert") > *leśūm- ("inserting")
 * *ceiź- ("to want") > *leoeiź- ("wanting"), *þōeiź- ("to reject, to refuse")
 * *ġīri- ("to climb") > *leźīri- ("climbing"), *þoñīri- ("to descend")
 * *ġūpaś- ("to render, to cause to be") > *þoñūpaś- ("to prevent")
 * *gī̀taz- ("to think") > *leŋī̀taz- ("thinking")
 * *ʔamjuc- ("to suck") > *lehamjuc- ("sucking")

Phonological History

 * {t͡s ɬ} {d͡z ɮ} → ɕ ʑ
 * ɣ ʁ→ŋ ɴ
 * q ɢ χ ʁ → c ɟ ɕ ʑ/_E, E_
 * {ĩ ɪ̃ ẽ} æ̃ ɵ̃ {ũ ʊ̃ õ} ʌ̃ → e a ɞ o ʌ
 * V1V2 →V1ː (when both vowels are of the same height)
 * w→v
 * ɵ(ː) {ɜ ɞ(ː))→ ø(ː) æ(ː)
 * ɴ q’ q ɢ χ ʁ ŋ k’ k g gʷ x ɣ→ ŋ k’ k g x ɣ ɲ c’ c ɟ ɟʲ ɕ ʑ
 * B{x ɣ} → Bː
 * i(ː){x ɣ} ɪ(ː){x ɣ} {e ø}(ː){x ɣ} {æ ɞ}(ː){x ɣ}→ i(ː)u ɪ(ː)ʊ {e ø}(ː)o {æ ɞ}(ː)ʌ
 * ɟʲ→ɟi
 * C1C2 → C1ː
 * Fː → F
 * l ɾ→l̩ r̩/_C, C_

=Nouns=

Grammatical Number
Count nouns in Proto-Ndere are made plural with the suffix -øf or -ø̄n for human nouns.

Examples:


 * *iźokk- ("stick") > *iźokkøf- ("sticks")
 * *løŋiŋŋ- ("leaf") > *løŋiŋŋøf- ("leaves")
 * *vōmaź- ("mountain") > *vōmaźøf- ("mountains")
 * *ġijuzuñ- ("spear") > *ġijuzuñøf- ("spears")
 * *jaŋŋan- ("bowl") > *jaŋŋanøf- ("bowls")
 * *bōź- ("son") > *bōźø̄n- ("sons)
 * *ġiesoź- ("fish") > *ġiesōźøf- ("fish.")
 * *źøðði- ("wolf") > *źøððiøf- ("wolves")
 * *źeze- ("god") > *źezeøf- ("gods")
 * *źieź ("daughter") > *źieźø̄n ("daughters")
 * *ø̄neź- ("person") > *ø̄neźø̄n- ("people")

Some nouns experience an irregular change in the final vowel of the stem.
 * *ceññaź- ("pouch") > *ceññeźøf- ("pouches")
 * *vōlliś- ("whip") > *vōllijśøf- ("whips")
 * *beñiś- ("eagle") > *beñijśøf- ("eagles")

Mass nouns avoided the shift from collective singulative > singular plural as they are still collective by default. There are four suffixes which turn collective mass nouns into singulative count nouns which are as follows:


 * *śøñ- ("sand") > *śøźiu- ("grain of sand")
 * *tiź- ("cud") > *tizġiaŋŋ- ("drop of cud")
 * *śuz- ("mud") > *śuzaź- ("drop of mud")
 * *mazl- ("water") > *mazlŋai- ("drop of water")

=Determiners=

Personal Pronouns
The anaphoric pronouns in Proto-Ndere are rarely used, being mostly used for emphasis. They come from the Proto-Koigus-Ndere pronouns compounded with *tuʔg- ("self"). The third person comes from the demonstrative pronoun.

The divine form of the second person singulative is used when addressing gods in prayers or when speaking to shamans. In place of third person pronouns, Proto-Ndere uses the demonstrative pronoun.

Demonstrative Pronouns
Proto-Ndere has no proximal-distal distinction of any kind in it's demonstratives, having only *iź- ("those, these") and it's various singular forms. There are 15 singular forms which are assigned based on the shape and form of the noun, or type of animals when the noun is animate.

Interrogative Pronouns

 * iueþ "where"
 * īŋaz "when"
 * iuśef "why"
 * īŋŋuŋŋ "how"

The words for "what, which" must agree to one of the 15 semantic groupings when its class is known. When the class is unknown the pronoun *iŋ- alone is used.

*īŋeź- in particular means "who, which person".

=Verbs=

Proto-Ndere verbs are polypersonal and inflect for three tenses and one aspect. Aspects are marked via a prefix to the verb while person agreement is marked via suffixes. The three tenses are "present", "future" and "past", and the aspect is the gnomic aspect. The word order of Proto-Ndere is SVO but the ordering of its person marking suffixes are a remnant of Proto-Koigus-Ndere's VSO order.

Non-polypersonal suffixes
Non-polypersonal are used when there is no direct object.

Gnomic
The gnomic aspect is zero marked.

Negative Gnomic
When the verb begins in a voiced plosive, the prefix is *ce- and the voiced plosive becomes an ejective:
 * *bok- ("to sink") > *cep'ok-
 * *beñ- ("to open") > *cep'eñ-

When the verb begins in a vowel the prefix is cah-:
 * *ic'- ("to win, to beat, to overcome") > *cahic'-

When the verb begins in a vowel or lateral fricative/approximant, the prefix is ca- and the plosive lenites:
 * *ceiź- ("to want") > *caoeiź-
 * *ciʔ- ("to bend") > *caśiʔ-

Present

 * When the verb begins in a voiced plosive, the prefix is la- and the voiced plosive becomes an ejective. If the verb begins in CV then the prefix is le-:
 * *bok- ("to sink") > lap'ok-
 * *beñ- ("to open") > lep'eñ-
 * When the verb begins in a vowel, the prefix is leh-:
 * *ic'- ("to win, to beat, to overcome, to defy") > lehic'-
 * When the verb begins in a plosive followed by a vowel or a lateral fricative/approximant, the prefix is le- and the plosive lenites:
 * *ceiź- ("to want") > leoeiź-
 * *ciʔ- ("to bend") > leśiʔ-

Negative Present
The negative present is formed with the prefix *ke- before the prefix *la-/leh-/le-
 * *bok- ("to sink") > kelap'ok-
 * *beñ- ("to open") > kelep'eñ-
 * *ic'- ("to win, to beat, to overcome, to defy") > lehic'-
 * *ceiź- ("to want") > keleoeiź-
 * *ciʔ- ("to bend") > keleśiʔ-

Past

 * When the verb begins in a vowel the prefix is jōś-
 * *oź- ("to choose") > *jōśoź-
 * *ic'- ("to win, to beat, to overcome, to defy") > jōśic'-
 * When the verb begins in a lateral the prefix is joś-
 * *laññ- ("to drink") > joślaññ-
 * When the verb begins in a voiced consonant the prefix is jok-. If the verb begins in a palatal or velar plosive then the final plosive of the prefix assimilates in terms of voicing ad place or articulation
 * *ġie- ("to eat") > joġġie-
 * When the verb begins in a voiceless consonant the prefix is jok-. If the verb begins in a palatal or velar plosive then the final plosive of the prefix assimilates in terms of voicing ad place or articulation
 * *ciʔ- ("to bend") > jocciʔ-

Negative Past
The negative past tense is formed with the prefix jokkeiź-:
 * *ġie- ("to eat") > *jokkeiźġie- ("didn't eat")
 * bōź okkeiźġie ġiesoź ("the son didn't eat the fish")

Future
There are two future tenses which are "near future" and "future"

Future
The future tense is marked with the prefix ceiź-:
 * *bok ("to sink") > ceiźbok-''
 * *ic'- ("to win, to beat, to overcome, to defy") > ceiźic'-
 * *ceiź- ("to want") > ceiźceiź-

Negative Near Future
The negative future is marked with the prefix *keoeiź-
 * *bok ("to sink") > keoeiźbok-''
 * *ic'- ("to win, to beat, to overcome, to defy") > keoeiźic'-
 * *ceiź- ("to want") > keoeiźceiź-

Near Future
The near future tense is marked with the prefix *leceiź-:
 * bōź leceiźġie ġiesoź ("the son will eat the fish soon")

Negative Near Future
The negative near future is marked with the prefix *lejoġ-:
 * bōź lejoġġie ġiesoź ("the son won't eat the fish soon")