Oqomur

The southwesternmost Persian' language, Oqomur has one of the longest written histories on Earth'. Archaic Oqomur emerges near the Persian Gulf around -4.4ka (for long attested only in Tsonboran records). Middle Oqomur is a stage with a considerable corpus, when the language expands both north and west starting around -2.9ka and flourishing around -2.2ka to -1.7ka. The western dialect ends up substratal to Åzuli; the central dialect enjoys wide currency as a lingua franca in Indic seatrade, and has exerted much influence on the native languages of the Arabic peninsula, in particular. Its descendant New Oqomur goes finally extinct around -1ka under its distant East Persian' relatives.

Grammatically, Oqomur retains the West Persian' initial mutation system rather well and has even expanded it; original prefixes are eventually lost eventually, leaving a partly fusional typology. Suffixal derivational morphology remains, however, leading even to minor grammaticalization (in the verbal aspect system and nominal declension). The latest stages of the language show major development towards an isolating type.

Development

Proto-Tsonboid to Archaic Oqomur

• *ɸ *β > h w
• *θ *ð > h j
• *hF *Fh > *Fː
  • *xs *χs > *Xː
  • (*ɸθ *θɸ >) *hh > *xː
• Compensatory lengthening:
  • *Fː from all sources > ːF
  • (*θp *θK >) *hp *hK > ːp ːK
• *z > j / _F (counterfeeds retroflexion)
• Retroflexion:
  • *z > *ʐ > ɣ / _u_
  • (*hs > *sː >) *s > *ʂ > x / _u_
• *kʷ *gʷ *xʷ *w > p b f ʋ (including coda *kʷ xʷ!)
• *tw *dw > tp db

Archaic to Old Oqomur

• tj > t, dj dr > d, kr kl > k, qr ql qj > q
• Frication contrasts among voiced consonants collapse for good: ɣ > g, ɢ > ʁ
• Rise of nasal vowels

Old Oqomur is left with these consonants:

/m n              /
/b d dɮ    dʒ g ʁ  /
/p t tɬ ts tʃ k q  /
/f    ɬ  s  ʃ x χ h/
/ʋ    l  r  j     /

[z], though rare by now, remains analyzable as the intervocalic allophone of /s/. /f ɬ/ also do not occur intervocally.

Old to Middle Oqomur

• Nʁ → ŋ
• z → ð
• j → ð, ∅
• tʃ dʒ ʃ → ts z s
• ð → ɦ / V_V (allophonic with /h/)
• m n ŋ → ɓ ɗ ɠ / _V[-NAS]

late: ð → ʋ / #_