Proto-Ragbrenan

Proto-Ragbrenan vocabulary

Proto-Ragbrenan affixes

Proto-Ragbrenan is a Jaronic language, being a direct descendant of Proto-Jaronic.

=Name= The name used for Proto-Ragbrenan was given by scholars as it is the reconstruction of the name of ???place???. The resconstructed name being *ragbrenan (< PJ *regʷbráynan, < *rágʷan bráynan "big island"). =Phonology=

Consonants

 * Liquids and laterals cannot occur after voiceless plosives or /s/.
 * Two plosives of different voicing may not cluster. Should they come together, then the first plosives takes on the voicing of the second.
 * Two of the same consonant may not cluster. An exception is geminate *rr and *ll
 * If two of the same nasal/fricative/approximant come together then they merge into a short nasal/fricative/approximant.:
 * If two of the same rhotacized plosive come together then the optional r becomes mandatory and syllablic.
 * If two of the same voiceless/voiced plosive come together then the first becomes a nasal of the same PoA:
 * If two of the same labialised plosive come together then the first becomes *m:
 * If *t or *th come before *yu, it voices to *d:
 * *pethan ("rope") > *pidyuran ("of ropes")

Stress
Proto-Ragbrenan shifted the mobile stress of Proto-Jaronic to fall on the initial syllable only, becoming fixed. Before doing so it lenitied *t to the dental fricative *th when in the coda of a stressed syllable: *gʷéydes > *gítas > *githas.

Ablaut

 * The first grade is default for all bare stems and in active nouns.
 * The second grade is used when root has a prefix attached or is the second element of a compound.
 * The third grade is used when a suffix containing a nasal is attached (unless the nasal or another consonant is in the onset in which case the zero-grade occurs).
 * The 4th grade is used when a root is the first element of a compound or when a suffix beginning in a consonant is attached. It is also the grade used in infinitive verbs

Beyond these conditions there are certain grammatical affixes which cause a root to take a certain grade.

Phonological History
{ʔl lʔ} {ʔr rʔ}→lː rː!#_

ɡ gʷ→ju g

bʷ dʷ →b d →p t (b d→p t !_r,l,N, r,l,N_)

o e > a

ey oy ay > i u e

{ew ow} aw > u o

ŋ > n

m̩ n̩ r̩ l̩ ʎ̩ l̴̩ ʟ̩ > am an ar al il ol ul

C1...ʔ>C1...C1

ʎ l̴ ʟ > j w ɰ/#_

ʎ {l̴ ʟ} > el ol/V_

ʎ {l̴ ʟ} > il ul/C_

ʔ>Ø/C_C

t>θ/$[+stress]_

stress moves to initial syllable

p t k > b d g/_r,l,N, r,l,N_

ʔ>k/#_

= Noun Phrase =

Noun class
Proto-Ragbrenan had two noun classes which were active and passive. Active nouns denote something that is typically an agent of a verb and passive nouns typically denote the patient but also many inanimate objects. The division is not an animate-inanimate split for animate beings can be referred to by passive nouns if they are the typical recipients of an action and inanimate things can be referred to by active nouns if they are viewed as being enactors of actions (such as tools but also "dynamic" things such as water, wind, fire etc that move without influence from an animate being). The majority of nouns are derived from verbs using the noun class suffixes (although core vocabulary tends to be purely nominal stems), the suffixes are -es for active nouns (in the 1st grade) and -on for passive nouns (in the 3rd grade). Active nouns derived from verbs that are tools or any inanimate object used to perform an action may also take on the prefix *ya- to distinguish it from an active noun performed by an animate agent, this triggers the 2nd grade. Note that subjects of stative verbs take on the absolutive case.

Case
Proto-Ragbrenan was an active-stative language, meaning that the sole argument of an intransitive clause was marked the same way as an an agent of a transitive clause (in the nominative case) but may be marked the same way as a patient (absolutive case) to mark an unwilling or unintending agent (i.e it implies a lack of volition):


 * drib-as tarn-gula

father-NOM.ACT cut-3S.ACT.PST

"father cut"


 * drib-as pith-∅ tarn-gula

father-NOM.ACT rope-ABS cut-3S.ACT.PST

"father cut rope"


 * drib-∅ pith-∅ tarn-gula

father-ABS rope-ABS cut-3S.ACT-PST

"father accidentally/was made to cut rope"


 * Nominative: Marks the sole argument of an intransitive clause and subject of a transitive clause
 * Abolutive: Marks the patient of a verb and involuntary agent of a verb, the predicate of the copula verb
 * Vocative: Marks a noun when referred directly to
 * Essive: A state of being, "as"
 * *drubmas ("as a father")
 * Relative: Regarding/concerning/about X, possessive
 * *dribas ("father's, about the father")

Each case triggers a grade on the preceding vowel. The grade-case matches are:

1st grade: act nom.sg, act/pass abs.sg, act/pass.voc.sg, act rel.sg

3rd grade: pass nom.sg, act/pass voc.pl, pass rel.sg

3th grade: act/pass nom.pl, act/pass ess.sg/pl, act/pass rel.pl

Suffixes which case the 4th grade cause stem final *th to become *t. *dribas ("father") + *pethan ("rope")

Demonstrative Pronouns
Proto-Jaronic makes no proximal distinction in its demonstratives.

The following demonstrative pronouns were made by compounding the interrogative pronouns with *gʳet- ("the stem used to form the demonstratives above).

Interrogative Pronouns
Active "what" (*yathas) is equivalent to "who" and passive "what" (*yathan) is equivalent to "what, which".

Adjectives
Adjectives in Proto-Ragbrenan agree with the head noun in gender and case but not in number. Agreement is made by attaching the same nominal suffixes to the adjective's stem (which will trigger the same grade as on the noun). Adjective in Proto-Ragbrenan can be placed either before or after the noun but they tend to be placed before:
 * *kanalg- ("old") > *kanalgas githas ("old warrior"), *kanalgmis gidmas ("as an old warrior")
 * *brin- ("big, solid, hard") > 'githas brinas ("big warrior"), bekan bren'an ("big rock")

The equative suffix *-ilas attaches to adjectives to denote "as X as". Such adjectives can be used either attributively or predictively. The compared to noun is placed in the essive case. When used attributively the compared to noun is compounded onto the adjective as a prefix and the subject is in the nominative case. No adjective with this suffix takes on any further inflection.


 * saru bith-aju brin-ilas mik-mas

dog-ABS be-3S.ACT big-EQ wolf-ESS

"the dog is as big as the wolf"


 * sarwas mik-mas-brin-ilas

dog-NOM wolf-ESS-big-EQ

"the dog which is as big as the/a wolf" =Verb Phrase=

Conjunction
The stative refers to an action having being done and is often used to create adjectives and adverbs e.g *pethan wothnawas ("the rope having been wound"). It is also used for inherently stative verbs that relate to a state of being ("I am tall") or experiencing ("I see") vs those which relate to physical actions ("I walk"). Subjects of stative verbs take on the absolutive case.

The middle voice is used when the agent of the clause is a passive noun as passive nouns are incapable of being active agents.


 * peth-an woth-nawa

rope-NOM.PASS wind-MID.3S.PASS

"The rope is being wound"


 * bek-an tes-nawula

rock-NOM.PASS kill-MID.3S.PASS.PST

"the rock killed (someone)"

Derivation from verbs
Verbal nouns are created with the suffix *-iyur. When the root ends in a voiceless plosive it voices before the suffix. The suffix triggers the 4th grade.


 * *gith- > *gidiyur

Active participles are derives with the suffix *-ad and middle participles with the suffix *-na (which triggers the 3rd grade).
 * *gith- > *githad, *gethna