Proto-Yarkhic

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Uvular
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ		(ɴ)
"Clear" plosive	p b	t d	c ɟ	k g		q ɢ
Aspirated plosive	pʰ bʰ	tʰ dʰ	cʰ ɟʰ	kʰ gʰ		qʰ ɢʰ
Ejective plosive	pʼ	tʼ	cʼ	kʼ		qʼ
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ	ʄ	ɠ		ʛ
Fricative		s
Trill		r				(ʀ)
Approximant		l	j		w

Spelling

• /p t c k q/ p t c k q
• /pʰ tʰ cʰ kʰ qʰ/ ph th ch kh qh
• /pʼ tʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ/ p̕ t̕ c̕ k̕ q̕
• /b d ɟ g ɢ/ b d j g ġ
• /bʰ dʰ ɟʰ gʰ ɢʰ/ bh dh jh gh ġh
• /ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ/ b̕ d̕ j̕ g̕ ġ̕
• /s/ s
• /m n ɲ ŋ~ɴ/ m n ṇ ŋ
• /r~ʀ l/ r l
• /j w/ y w

Vowels

	Front	Central		Back
		Unrounded	Rounded
Close	iː			uː
Near-Close		ɪ	ʊ
Mid-Close	eː	ɘ	ɵ	oː
Mid-Open	ɛː	ɜ	ɞ	ɔː
Open		ä äː

Spelling

• /iː uː/ í ú
• /eː oː/ é ó
• /ɛː ɔː/ ê ô
• /äː/ a

• /ɪ ʊ/ i u
• /ɘ ɵ/ e o
• /ɜ ɞ/ è ò
• /ä/ a

Phonotactics

(C)(C)V(ː)(R/s)(C)

Accent

• Acute accent on initial syllable.

Grammar

Nouns

• nominative-accusative alignment with marked nominative
• 3A secundative alignment (S/A = Nominative, D = Pegative, P/R = Accusative, T = Instrumental)
• 8 cases (suffixal): Nominative, Pegative, Accusative, Instrumental, Genitive, Ablative, Allative, Benefactive
• noun class system (suffixal): Animate, Inanimate
• number combined with noun class: singular, paucal, plural
• definiteness (articles): Gnomic, Indefinite, Definite proper, Definite distant
• nominal tense (suffixal): past, present, future

Definiteness + [Root + Root extension(s) + (Noun class + Number) + Case + Nominal tense]

Noun class and number

	Animate			Inanimate
Singular	-ar- / -r-	banura	man	-	tkacʼa	stone
Paucal	-akʼ- / -kʼ-	banuakʼa	few men	-akʼ- / -kʼ-	tkacʼakʼa	few stones
Plural	-it- / -t-	banuita	men	-es- / -s-	tkacʼesa	stones

Declension

Nominative	-a	wolqhara	wolf
Pegative	-e	wolqhare
Accusative	-	wolqhar
Instrumental	-ní	wolqharní	by/with wolf
Genitive	-yò	wolqharyò	of wolf
Ablative	-tʼo	wolqhartʼo	from wolf
Allative	-ôs	wolqharôs	to wolf
Benefactive	-dʼa	wolqhardʼa	for wolf

Nominal tense

Past	-li	kʼámarali	ex-wife
Present	-	kʼámara	wife
Future	-sú	kʼámarasú	future wife

Definiteness

Gnomic	-	banu	man
Indefinite	ês	ês banu	a man
Definite proper	da	da banu	the man
Definite distant	qhá	qhá banu	yonder man

Verbs

• aspects (suffixal): Perfective-Imperfective + Frequentative, Momentane
• voices (infixal): Active, Reflexive vs Causative
• three subjective and objective persons (suffixal)
• three moods (cliticized): Indicative, Conditional, Subjunctive
• negative verb

(Root + Voice) + Root extension(s) + Aspect + Subject + Object + Mood

Aspect

	Main form			Frequentative			Momentane
Imperfective	-	swél-	to shine	-né-	swélné-	to glisten	-
Perfective	-ri-	swélri-	to lighten	-yu-	swélyu-	to glisten (as fully executed, ended series)	-tò-	swéltò-	to glint (as momentaneous event)

Voice

	Performative			Causative
Active	-	yôdh-	to see	-ra-	yôradh-	to show
Reflexive	-si-	yôsidh-	to see self	-ṇi-	yôṇidh-	to show self

Person

Subject / Agent / Donor

	Singular		Plural
1.	-en / -n	I	-erò / -rò	We, but not you
			-emò / -mò	We, together with you
2.	-es / -s	Thou	-etò / -tò	You all
3.	-ey / -y	He / she / it	-eyò / -yò	They all
4.	-ek / -k	Someone / something

Object / Recipient

	Singular		Plural
1.	-na	me	-ra	us, but not you
			-me	us, together with you
2.	-sa	thee	-ta	you all
3.	-ya	him / her / it	-yak	them all
4.	-ka	Someone / something

Theme

	Singular		Plural
1.	-n	I	-l	we, but not you
			-w	we, together with you
2.	-s	Thou	-th	You all
3.	-j	He / she / it	-j	They all
4.	-kh	Someone / something

Mood

Indicative	-	êd	to go
Conditional	-dô	êddô	would to go
Subjunctive	-phú	êdphú	may to go

Adjectives

• adjectives are replaced by stative verbs and describing nouns.
• degrees of intensify are instead degrees of comparison.

Pronouns

• clusivity in 1. person
• obviative

Adpositions

• prepositions

Syntax

• SOV
• head-final