Proto-Ngkasan

Previous adjectives become abstract nouns, stative verbs are derived by placing the high pitch on the first syllable.

-make > active verb infinitive (-az)

-be > stative verb infinitive (-oz)

PITCH ACCENT:

On nouns it is mobile and always goes to the penultimate syllable. Expect if there is a long vowel in which case the pitch is fixed on the leftmost long vowel

On verbs it always goes on the initial vowel of the verb stem. Except when the affix has a long vowel, then the long vowel takes the pitch

Proto-Ngkasan Vocabulary

=Phonology=

Consonants
Morphophonology

When a stem ending in /n/ takes on a suffix begining with a front vowel, then the final consonant becomes /s̻/:
 * *zin- ("sand") + -iu ("singulative suffix") > *zī́ziu- ("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:

Phonological History

 * ø(ː) ɪ(ː) → i(ː)
 * ʊ → o
 * æ(ː) ʌ → ɑ
 * p b t d c ɟ k g → pʰ p tʰ t cʰ c kʰ k
 * h → ɦ/V_V, C_, _C
 * j → Ø
 * θ ð → ɬ Ø
 * r → Ø/C_, _C, _$
 * r → l/V_V
 * V → V́/[+penultimate, +long], _# (for nouns)
 * V → V́/$_ (for verbs)
 * {s z} {ɕ ʑ} → s̺ s̻
 * v → β
 * ɲ → n

=Nouns=

Grammatical Number
Count nouns in Proto-Ngkasan are made plural with the suffix -if or -īn/-ī́n for human nouns.

Examples:


 * *ízokkʰ- ("stick") > *izókkʰif- ("sticks")
 * *líŋiŋŋ- ("leaf") > *liŋiŋŋif- ("leaves")
 * *vṓmaz- ("mountain") > *vṓmazif- ("mountains")
 * *ciúsun- ("spear") > *ciusúnif- ("spears")
 * *áŋŋan- ("bowl") > *aŋŋanif- ("bowls")
 * *pṓz- ("son") > *pṓzīn- ("sons)
 * *ciésoz- ("fish") > *ciesṓzif- ("fish.")
 * *zī- ("wolf") > *zīf- ("wolves")
 * *zése- ("god") > *zeséif- ("gods")
 * *zíez ("daughter") > *ziezī́n ("daughters")
 * *ī́nez- ("person") > *ī́nezīn- ("people")
 * *vṓlliz- ("whip") > *vṓllizif- ("whips")
 * *péniz- ("eagle") > *penízif- ("eagles")

Some nouns experience an irregular change in the final vowel of the stem.
 * *cʰénnaz- ("pouch") > *cʰennézif- ("pouches")

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:


 * *zin- ("sand") > *zī́zu- ("grain of sand")
 * *tʰiz- ("cud") > *tʰizciaŋŋ- ("drop of cud")
 * *zus- ("mud") > *zusaz- ("drop of mud")
 * *mazl- ("water") > *mazlŋai- ("drop of water")

=Determiners=

Personal Pronouns
The anaphoric pronouns in Proto-Ngkasan 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.

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 13 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

 * iueɬ "where"
 * ī́ŋas "when"
 * iúzef "why"
 * ī́ŋŋuŋŋ "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.

*ī́ŋez in particular means "who, which person".

=Verbs=

Proto-Ngkasan verb's are distinguished from its contemporary sister languages by the prescence of verb infinitives and stative verbs. In the shift from Proto-Ndere to Proto-Ngkasan, all adjectives became abstract nouns from which stative verbs may be derived by changing the nominal pitch pattern to a verbal one (i.e placing the high pitch on the first syllable of the stem or the leftmost long vowel in the stem if there is one) for example:


 * *es- ("size, bulk") > ésoz ("to be big")

The infinitive suffixes; *-az for active verbs and *-oz for stative verbs were grammaticalised from the verbs *az- ("to do") and *oz- ("to be") respectively.

Proto-Ngkasan 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. Unlike other Ndere languages there is no verb agreement for the 15 different semantic classes. Instead all of the singular agreement suffixes derive from the plural and new plural endings were derived with the addition of typical plural suffixex.

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 an unaspirated plosive, the prefix is *cʰe- and the plosive becomes an ejective:
 * *pókʰaz ("to sink") > *cʰep'ókʰ-
 * *pénaz ("to open") > *cʰep'én-

When the verb begins in a vowel the prefix is cʰah-:
 * *íc'az- ("to win, to beat, to overcome") > *cʰahíc'-

When the verb begins in a vowel or lateral fricative/approximant, the prefix is cʰa- and the plosive lenites:
 * *cʰeízaz- ("to want") > *cʰaoeíz-
 * *cʰíʔ- ("to bend") > *cʰazíʔ-

Present

 * When the verb begins in an unaspirated plosive, the prefix is la- and the plosive becomes an ejective. If the verb begins in CV then the prefix is le-:
 * *pókʰaz ("to sink") > lap'ókʰ-
 * *pénaz ("to open") > lep'én-


 * When the verb begins in a vowel, the prefix is leh-:
 * *íc'az ("to win, to beat, to overcome, to defy") > lehíc'-


 * When the verb begins in a plosive followed by a vowel, the prefix is le- and the plosive lenites:
 * *cʰeízaz ("to want") > leoeíz-
 * *cʰíʔ- ("to bend") > lezíʔ-

Negative Present
The negative present is formed with the prefix *kʰe- before the prefix *la-/leh-/le-
 * *pókʰaz ("to sink") > kʰelap'ókʰ-
 * *pénaz- ("to open") > kelep'én-
 * *íc'az ("to win, to beat, to overcome, to defy") > lehíc'-
 * *cʰéizaz- ("to want") > kʰeleoéiz-
 * *cʰíʔaz ("to bend") > kʰelezíʔ-

Past

 * When the verb begins in a vowel the prefix is ṓz-
 * *ózaz ("to choose") > *ṓzoz-
 * *íc'az ("to win, to beat, to overcome, to defy") > ṓzic'-
 * When the verb begins in a lateral the prefix is oz-
 * *lánnaz ("to drink") > ozlánn-
 * When the verb begins in a voiced consonant the prefix is okʰ-. 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
 * *cíeaz ("to eat") > occíe-
 * When the verb begins in a voiceless consonant the prefix is okʰ-. 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
 * *cʰíʔaz ("to bend") > occíʔ-

Negative Past
The negative past tense is formed with the prefix okkʰeiz-:
 * *cíeaz ("to eat") > *okkʰeizcíe- ("didn't eat")
 * pṓz okkʰeizcíe ciésoz ("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 cʰeiz-:
 * *pókʰaz ("to sink") > cʰeiźpokʰ-
 * *íc'az ("to win, to beat, to overcome, to defy") > cʰeizíc'-
 * *cʰéizaz- ("to want") > cʰeizcéiz-

Negative Near Future
The negative future is marked with the prefix *kʰeoeiz-
 * *pókʰaz ("to sink") > kʰeoeizpokʰ-''
 * *íc'az- ("to win, to beat, to overcome, to defy") > kʰeoeizíc'-
 * *cʰéizaz ("to want") > kʰeoeizcéiź-

Near Future
The near future tense is marked with the prefix *lecʰeiz-:
 * pṓz lecʰeizcíe ciésoz ("the son will eat the fish soon")

Negative Near Future
The negative near future is marked with the prefix *leoc-:
 * pṓz leoccíe ciésoz ("the son won't eat the fish soon")