Proto-Naukl

Proto-Naukl vocabulary

=Phonology=

Notation
In this article several symbols will be used to represent groups of sounds which are as follows:


 * V = vowel
 * X = chaotic vowel

Chaotic Vowel
uite often in nouns, certain vowels will surface throughout a paradigm but not in the nominative singular. It is completely unpredictable as to what the quality of the vowel will be so if a noun has a chaotic vowel then it must be memorised along with the noun. In the tables below, "X" is used as a stand in notation for a chaotic vowel.

Orthography
Proto-Naukl is transcribed using the Nebyetic Phonetic Alphabet.

Both long vowels and geminates are written as doubled.

Summary of Proto-Naukl sound changes

 * ʂ ʐ → t͡s d͡z
 * r → ʒ/E_
 * s z → r̥͡s r͡z/V_C
 * V →∅/_#!#C_#
 * t → t͡s/_{i e}
 * ç ʝ → ɕ ʑ /(E)_(E)
 * ç ʝ →x ɣ/(B)_(B)
 * ð →∅/t͡s_, d͡z_
 * iw aw → ɛø
 * z → r/V_
 * ɑ a ɔ→ ɤ e u/_K, _C[+palatal], _Q
 * æ → e
 * ʊ ɪ ɘ → ɤ i ø
 * ɔ ə → ɑ
 * ʉ → y
 * o u → ɵ ʉ → ø y/_{r l}
 * r l n m→ dr dl dn bm/V[+stress]_! _#, _C
 * lt → tl (resisted when the /t/ is ni the infinitive suffix)
 * f v → ∅
 * Vh → Vː
 * F → Ø/_h
 * Ch → Cʰ/_$
 * β ɸ > b p

Morphophonology

 * When a fricative comes before the glottal fricative /h/, it is elided:
 * *maδ- ("crumb") → *mah ("crumb.PAU")

=Nouns and Adjectives=

Proto-Naukl nouns are split into two genders which are animate and inanimate, with the gender being assigned rather semantically based on whether the referred to noun is alive or not (based on if the Proto-Naukl speakers viewed something as alive. Plants and fungi are not seen as sentient and so are classed as inanimate). There are three numbers which are singular, paucal and plural. Proto-Naukl differs from other Sumro-Naukl languages in that it only has one paucal instead of two. Adjectives in Ethogiath inflect in the same way as nouns and like nouns they belong to one of the three declensions.

1st Declension
The 1st declension is made up of nouns whose stems end in a consonant with no resurfacing chaotic vowels. The 1st declension is distinguished by the fact that all cases in the animate singular have merged.

Animate

 * *apin- ("orca")
 * *aaižokot- ("octopus")

Example:

Inanimate
Example:


 * *ejöġat- ("knife")
 * *ġejǎs- ("sea")

2nd Declension
The 2nd declension is made up of nouns that end in the vowels i and u.

Animate

 * *aupi- ("raptor, chaotic vowel: u)

Inanimate

 * *ausegi- ("fire, chaotic vowel: a)

3rd Declension
The 3rd declension is made up of nouns and adjectives whose stems end in a consonant in the nominative but with a chaotic vowel that resurfaces throughout the paradigm. An exeption is the adjection etsõ ("prominant") which ends in a vowel.

Examples:

Verbs
Proto-Naukl verbs inflect for seven tenses which are Present, Last Night, Yesterday, Near Past, Immediate Future and Future. Verbal morphology is mostly agglutinative but some endings show signs of becoming fusional such as the second person plural ending -is becoming -irs before tense suffixes that end in consonants, plus vowels lost in the 3rd.sg.inanimate, 1st.pl.exclusive and 3rd.pl.inanimate present resurfacing in the past and futre tenses. First the person suffixes attach to the verb stem followed by the tense suffixes.

NEGATION FORMED WITH THE SUFFIX -M AFTER ANY OTHER VERB ENDING

Person suffixes
When the verb stem ends in a vowel, the 3rd.pl endings have a long vowels instead of h.

Fusional Elements
The person and tense suffixes work mostly in an agglutinative fashion but some person and tense combinations have fused due to sound changes. The combinations are listed below.


 * In the 3rd.sg.inanimate and 3rd.pl.inanimate the vowel ǎ is placed after the person suffix and before the tense suffix in every tense except for the present:
 * *aaixekdoǎts ("it hangs") → *aaixekdoǎtsǎb ("it hung last night")
 * *aaixekdooyr ("they hang") → *aaixekdooyrab ("they hung last night")
 * In the 1st.pl.exclusive the vowel ee is placed after the person suffix and before the tense suffix in every tense except the present:
 * *aaixekdoěöġ ("we hang") → *aaixekdoěöġeeb ("we hung last night")
 * In the 2nd.pl the suffix -is becomes -irs before all past tense suffixes and before the immediate future suffix:
 * *aaixekdois ("you hang") → *aaixekdoirsb ("you hung last night")

Infinitive stems vs Inflectional Stems
Some verbs have two different stems: an "infinitive stem" and an "inflectional stem". The infinitive stem is that which is used to derive the infinitive form of the verb with the suffix -ta. The inflectional form is that which is used to conjugate for person and tense. The differences between the two stems is not a predictable one. Below are some examples of infinitive stems followed by the inflectional stem in the first person singular present:


 * *pǎtlta ("to hew"), *pǎls ("I hew") < *pǎtl- vs *pal-
 * *aaixekta ("to hang"), *aaixekdos ("I hang") < *aaixek- vs *aaixekdo-

The imperative form of the verb is formed from the infinitive stem without the infinitive suffix: *patl! ("hew!)

Preplosion in verbs
There is also a predictable alternation where if a verb has the r, l, n or m after the intial stressed vowel then an epenthetic plosive will be inserted: r, l, n, m → dr, dl, dn, bm. This does not occur if r, l, n or m is word final or if it is in a consonant cluster.

Some examples:
 * *pǎtlta ("to hew") → *pǎdlǎts ("it hews")