Proto-Razaric

Proto-Razaric is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Razaric languages. It is estimated to have been spoken around 4000 BC.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal
		Sibilant	Flat	Lateral
Nasals	*m	*n				*ng
Voiceless stops	*p	*t				*k
Voiced stops	*b	*d				*g
Voiceless affricates		*ts	*tr	*tl
Voiced affricates		*dz	*dr	*dl
Voiceles continuants		*s	*rh	*lh
Voiced continuants	*w	*z	*r	*l	*j		*3

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	*i		*u
Mid	*e		*o
Low		*a

Syllable structure

The maximal syllable structure is CVC. Affricates may not occur in codas, but all consonants may occur in onsets.

Accent

The accent falls on the first syllable of the word.

Morphology

Proto-Razaric is an agglutinating language with both prefixes and suffixes.

Root structure

A Proto-Razaric root has the shape CVC or CVCVC; in the latter case, both vowels are the same.

Word formation

Word formation works mostly by prefixes and head-initial compounds.

Noun-forming prefixes

Nouns are derived from verbs by these prefixes:

• *ra- agent: *drel 'to hunt', *radrel 'hunter'.
• *tli- instrument: *tlam 'to hammer', tlitlam 'hammer'.
• *ke- action: *kedrel 'a hunt'.
• *za- object/product: *zadrel 'venison'.

Nouns

Nouns in Proto-Razaric are either masculine or feminine. The gender is not overtly marked on the noun, but a feminizing prefix *ma- exists: *radrel 'hunter', *maradrel 'huntress'.

There is no case system; grammatical relations are expressed by word order (V-S-DO-IO), verb agreement (in person, number and if 3rd person, gender) with subject if intransitive, with object if monotransitive, with indirect object if ditransitive; and prepositions and relational nouns. A possessive relationship is simply expressed by placing the possessor after the possessum: *Mimir Razar 'the People of Razar, the Dwarves'.

There is a sort of two-dimensional number system. The plural is expressed by the suffix *-tla: *mir 'person', pl. *mirtla. The collective is marked by reduplication of the initial CV: *mimir 'people'. Collectives are grammatically singular, and can themselves be pluralized: *mimirtla 'peoples'.

There is a definite article preceding the noun: uninflecting *ta.

Adjectives

Adjectives are inflected in three categories: gender, number and degree of comparison. Gender is expressed by a prefix: *3o- masculine, *ma- feminine. Number is expressed by a suffix: *-tla plural, singular is unmarked. Collective plays no role with adjectives. The degrees of comparison are positive (unmarked), comparative (prefix *ni-), superlative (prefix *nini-) and equative ('as X as'; prefix *rha-).

Examples:

• *ta radrel 3odir 'the brave hunter'
• *ta radreltla 3odirtla 'the brave hunters'
• *ta maradrel madir 'the brave huntress'
• *ta radrel 3oninidir 'the bravest hunter'

Relationals

The Razaric languages are, as expected from VSO languages, prepositional. While modern Razaric languages have true prepositions, their antecedents in Proto-Razaric are actually nouns and verbs that express relationships and are thus called relational nouns and relational verbs.

The main relational verbs are:

• *dim 'to accompany; with (comitative)'
• *drak 'to use; by, with (instrumental)'
• *min 'to stay at; at'
• *leng 'to reach; to'
• *pal 'to leave; from'

The main relational nouns are:

• *3ar 'inside'
• *dram 'outside'
• *kor 'top'
• *leb 'bottom'
• *pin 'left'
• *mal 'right'
• *kim 'front'
• *dlang 'back'

Examples of usage:

*3otapim ta muruk leng 3ar ta sisir.
3SG:M-PFV-flee the deer reach inside the COLL-tree
'The deer fled into the forest.'

*3otatram ta radrel ta muruk drak ta pinis.
3SG:M-PFV-kill the hunter the deer use the spear
'The hunter killed the deer with the spear.'

Numerals

The Proto-Razaric numeral system was base 20, with the numerals '11' to '19' derived from '1' to '9' by means of a prefix which appears to be etymologically connected with '10'. A word for '100' can also be reconstructed.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
*kit	*tsang	*maj	*dlom	*sam	*nek	*trak	*sat	*mek	*pik
11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	100
*pikit	*pitsang	*pimaj	*pidlom	*pisam	*pinek	*pitrak	*pisat	*pimek	*nat	*trang

Compound numerals are formed like this:

*maj nat ka pidlom '3*20+14' = '74'

The cardinal numbers precede the nouns. Ordinal numbers are formed with the prefix *mek-, e. g. *mektsang '2nd', and behave like regular adjectives.

Pronouns

The following pronouns can be reconstructed for Proto-Razaric.

		Singular	Plural
1st person	Exclusive	*ki	*kintla
	Inclusive	*wa [*]	*wantla
2nd person	Familiar	*ne	*nentla
	Polite	*ga	*gantla
3rd person	Masculine	*3o	*3otla
	Feminine	*ma	*matla
Demonstrative	"This"	*taw	*tatla
	"That"	*tsar	*tsatla
Interrogative	"Who"	*se	*setla
	"What"	*so	*sotla

[*] *wa is of course dual 'Thou and I', not singular; however, it is used with 1st person singular verb forms.

Verbs

There are basically two kinds of verb forms: finite verbs and verbal nouns. Verbal nouns are easy: they consist of the bare stem of the verb without any affixes. So it is the finite verbs where things get interesting.

Proto-Razaric is an ergative-dechticaetiative language. That means that the absolutive argument is:

1. In an intransitive clause, the subject.
2. In a monotransitive clause, the object.
3. In a ditransitive clause, the indirect object.

The structure of the Proto-Razaric finite verb is thus:

Person

Mood

Tense/Aspect

STEM

Plural

(Ergative enclitic)

"Person" and "Plural" indicate the person and number of the absolutive argument. The plural suffix is *-lha, the singular is unmarked. The person prefixes are:

1st person		*ki-
2nd person		*ne-
3rd person	Masculine	*3o-
	Feminine	*ma-

Examples:

*Mapim ta limin leng dram ta tamar. 'The cat (fem.) flees out of the house.'

*3odrellha ta radrel ta muruktla. 'The hunter hunts the deer (masc. pl.).'

*3omil ta majan ta radrel ta pinis. 'The girl gives the spear to the hunter (masc.).'

If the absolutive argument is pronominal, the pronoun can be dropped:

*Kidrel ta radrel. 'The hunter hunts me.'

There are two moods: realis (unmarked) and irrealis (prefix *rhi-).

Example:

*Marhipim ta limin leng dram ta tamar. 'The cat would flee out of the house.'

The tense/aspect forms are present (unmarked), imperfective past (prefix *do-), perfective past (prefix *ta-).

Finally, if the ergative argument (subject of a mono- or ditransitive subject) is a pronoun, this is encliticized to the verb.

*3otadrellha-kintla muruktla. 'We hunted deer.'

Vocabulary

Abbreviations

• adj. adjective.
• adv. adverb.
• conj. conjunction.
• f. feminine noun.
• m. masculine noun.
• vd. ditransitive verb.
• vi. intransitive verb.
• vt. transitive verb.

3

• *3ar f. inside.

D

• *dim vt. to accompany.
• *dir adj. brave.

Dl

• *dlang f. back.

Dr

• *drak vt. to use.
• *dram f. outside.
• *drel vt. to hunt.

K

• *kedrel f. a hunt.
• *kim f. front.
• *kor f. top.

L

• *leb f. bottom.
• *leng to reach.
• *limin f. cat.

M

• *majan f. girl.
• *mal f. right.
• *mimir m. people.
• *min vt. to stay at.
• *mir m. person.
• *muruk m. deer.

P

• *pal vt. to leave.
• *pim vi. to flee.
• *pin f. left.
• *pinis m. spear.

R

• *radrel m. hunter.

S

• *sir m. tree.
• *sisir m. forest.

T

• tamar m. house.

Tl

• *tlam vi. to hammer.
• *tlatlam m. hammer.

Tr

• *tram vt. to kill.

Z

• *zadrel f. venison.