Zamanic

Zamanic is a fictional branch of the Indo-European family that is an ongoing joint project of Jörg Rhiemeier and Juho Pystynen. It is part of the League of Lost Languages.

Proto-Zamanic developed out of the easternmost part of the Corded Ware horizon and is most closely related to Balto-Slavic, though it also shows some affinity to its former southern neighbour, Iranian. An early stage of Zamanic may be the source of some Indo-European loanwords in Uralic such as *aja- 'to drive' and *porćas 'pig'. The language was later in turn influenced by Uralic and Turkic languages.

The name "Zamanic" is derived from the reconstructed word for 'human being', *zaman < PIE *dhǵhom-on-.

Phonology

Zamanic is a satem group (i.e. PIE palatovelars developed into palatals and later into sibilants, and the labiovelars merge with the plain velars) with the RUKI rule (i.e., *s was backed to *š after *r, high vowels and velars).

Consonants

Proto-Zamanic is reconstructed with the following consonants:

	Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar/ Palatal	Velar
Voiceless stops/ affricates	*p	*t	*č	*k
Voiced stops/ affricates	*b	*d	*dž	*g
Voiceless fricatives	*f	*s	*š	*x
Voiced fricatives	*v	*z	*ž
Nasals	*m	*n
Liquids		*l *r
Semivowel			*j

Vowels

The Proto-Zamanic vowel system consists of full vowels, which may be stressed, and reduced vowels, which never bear the stress.

Full vowels

	Front		Back
	Unround	Round	Unround	Round
High	*i	*ü	*ï	*u
Mid	*e	*o	*ë	*o
Low	*ä		*a

Reduced vowels ("yers")

Front	Back
*ь	*ъ

Vowel harmony

A noncompound word contains either only front or back vowels, not both. The first vowel of the word determines the harmony class.

Accent

A stress accent falling on the first full vowel of the word can be reconstructed. The PIE mobile accent is only indirectly preserved in the lengthening of accented vowels (later shortened again) in open syallables.

Sound changes

Merger of voiced aspirates and plain voiced stops

• Dʰ > D

"Thorn" clusters

• TK > K (dental is lost)

Satemization

• ḱ > ć, later > s
• ǵ > dź, later > z

• kʷ > k
• gʷ > g

RUKI rule

• s > š /(i,u,r,k)_

Laryngeals

• Syllabic laryngeals become *i before a high vowel in the next syllable, otherwise *a
• VH > V: (as usual)
• Other laryngeals are lost (as usual)

Syllabic resonants

• R. > iR

Palatalization

• k > č /_V[+front]
• g > dž /_V[+front]
• kj > č
• gj > dž
• tj > č
• dj > dž

Lengthening of vowels in accented open syllables

• V > V: /_(C)(V,#) accented

Accent retraction

• The accent is retracted to the first syllable.

Assorted vowel changes

Short vowels:

• i > ь (ultrashort lax front vowel)
• u > ъ (ultrashort lax back vowel)
• e > ä
• o > a

Long vowels are shortened.

Vowel harmony

• V > [+front] /first vowel is [+front]
• V > [-front] /first vowel is [-front]

This remains a synchronically productive process in some languages. The vowel classes are:

• Front: i e ä ö ü ь
• Back: ï ë a o u ъ

Second accent shift

• Accent shifts rightward to next full vowel is the first syllable contains a reduced vowel.

Fortition of *w

• w > v

Cluster reduction

• pr > f
• br > v
• tr > č
• dr > dž
• sr > š
• zr > ž
• kr > č
• gr > dž

• pl > f
• bl > v
• tl > č
• dl > dž
• sl > š
• zl > ž
• kl > č
• gl > dž

• sp > f
• sf > f
• st > s
• zd > z
• sč > š
• sk > x

• C > 0 /C_#

Morphology

The Zamanic languages are morphologically fusional, like the Balto-Slavic languages, with some agglutinating traits that evolved under the influence of their Uralic and Turkic neighbours.