Ancient Siloki

=Phonology=

Phonotactics

 * When in the onset of an open syllable, /z/ becomes [ʒ].
 * When in the coda of a stressed syllable or in the onset following a stressed syllable, /p t k/ become [mb nd ŋg] which are written as

Lenition

Phonological History

 * {E V[+central]}{x ɣ} → Eu!_V
 * V{x ɣ} → Vː
 * x ɣ → j
 * ʕ → ħ
 * b d g → pː tː kː
 * pʼ tʼ → p t
 * d͡ʒ → ʒ
 * ɜ(ː) ɘ(ː) ɨ̞(ː) ɨ →ɘ(ː) ɨ̞(ː) ɨ(ː) ɨː
 * ɘ ɘː → ɪ i
 * ɨ̞(ː) → ɨ(ː)
 * ɪ ɪː ʊ → e i u
 * z → r
 * ʒ→z!_$[+open]
 * wːE → uje
 * wː→uː
 * w→v
 * {p b} {t d} {k g} → mb nd ŋg/$[+stress]_
 * Vħ→Vː
 * ħ→∅
 * ħː→ħ

=Nouns=

Grammatical Number
Nouns are made plural with the suffix -yf (from Proto-Koigus-Ndere *ùp- "all"). When the nouns ends in a vowel then the final vowel is elided and the vowel in the suffix is lengthened. Nouns which denote humans however take the plural suffix -ýn (from Proto-Koigus-Ndere *wun- "people". Compare PNS *ýnez- "person").

Examples:


 * qýzaz- ("sack") > qýzezyf- ("sacks")
 * óliš- ("tail") > ólíšyf- ("tails")
 * irzoqi- ("stick") > irzoqryf- ("sticks")
 * léiʯš- ("leaf") > léiʯšyf- ("leaves")
 * yʯmazi- ("mountain") > yʯmazryf- ("mountains")
 * gujurjú- ("spear") > gujurjúyf- ("spears")
 * jaʯyn- ("bowl") > jaʯynyf- ("bowls")
 * bnéz- ("son") > bnézýn- ("sons)
 * úesoz- ("fish") > úesózyf- ("fish.")
 * zeðmi- ("wolf") > zeðmýf- ("wolves")
 * béic- ("eagle") > béícyf- ("eagles")
 * zjyzuje- ("god") > zjyzujyf- ("gods")
 * znéz ("daughter") > znézýn ("daughters")
 * ýnez- ("person") > ýnezýn- ("people")

Mass nouns avoided the shift from collective singulative > singular plural as they are still collective by default. Nouns that have had productive singulatives derived from them are regular but some noun may have irregular singulative forms.


 * *cmyu- ("sand") > *cmýzí ("grain of sand")
 * *tliz- ("cud") > *tlizujaʯt- ("drop of cud")
 * *jurg- ("mud") > *jurgazi- ("drop of mud")
 * *marnl- ("water") > *marnlje- ("drop of water")

=Determiners=

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

The divine form of the second person singulative is used when addressing gods in prayers or when speaking to shamans.

Demonstrative Pronouns
Ancient Siloki has no proximal-distal distinction of any kind in it's demonstratives, having only *izez for human nouns, *izuje for divine nouns and *izjú for any other nouns. The demonstratives do not agree with the number of the noun.


 * izjú béic ("this/that eagle") - izjú béícyf ("these/those eagles")
 * izez bnéz ("this that son") - izez bnézýn ("these/those sons")
 * izuje zjyzuje ("this/that god") - izuje zjyzujýf ("these/those gods")

Interrogative Pronouns

 * iʯeþ "where"
 * íar "when"
 * ícef "why"
 * írú "how"

There are three words for "what" which correspond to human, divine and everything else. Respectively they are íez, iúje and íú.

=Adjectives=

Adjectives always follow the noun that they modify. If the noun ends in a vowel, or a vowel followed by the fricatives /s ħ/ or by /r/, then it triggers lenition on the adjective:


 * *zeðmi- ("wolf") + *blé- ("small") > zeðmi vlé ("small wolf")
 * *áú- ("season") + *tengk- ("cold") > áú þengk ("cold season")

=Definiteness=

Definiteness is marked not on the nouns but rather on its modifers (so adjectives and prepositions) with the suffix *-izi which is from the Proto-Ndere-Siloki demonstrative *iɮx- ("this, that"). Note that if the adjective or preposition ends in a vowel, then said vowel will be dropped before the definite suffix which would then become *-ízi. Here are some examples:


 * béic blé ("small eagle") > béic blízi ("the small eagle")
 * ál zeðmi ("in front of a wolf") > álizi zeðmi ("in front of the wolf")

After a definite preposition, lenition may be caused in the noun:


 * ál gujurjú ("in front of a spear") > álízi vujurjú ("in front of the spear")

=Verbs=

-úy verb infinitive from preposition úy "for"

Imperative
The imperative is formed by placing the prefix *auc- on the verb with a null subject. The negative is formedwith the negative form of the prefix kāuc-:


 * aucan (“declare!”) - kāucan (“don’t declare”)
 * aucarz ("sit!”) - kāucarz (“don’t sit!”)

When the main verb begins in a nasal then the prefix is *auNN- (where NN is a geminate version of the following nasal). When the verb begins in /b/ then the prefix becomes *aunn-/kāunn-:


 * aunnime (“ask!”)
 * aummer (“listen!”)
 * aunnbe ("open!")

=Loanwords=