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

Non-finite verbs

Action noun	-ló	yôdhló	vision, seeing
Participles
Adjectival	-l-	yôdhl-	seeing
Adverbial	-l-oŋ	yôdhloŋ	seeing

Adjectives

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

Degrees of intensify

Very strong	bʼá	bʼá qtèbʼ	to be strong very strongly
Strong	gʼò	gʼò qtèbʼ	to be strong strongly
Average / Normal	-	qtèbʼ	to be strong
Weak	tʼe	tʼe qtèbʼ	to be strong weakly
Very weak	yú	yú qtèbʼ	to be strong very weakly

Numerals

Cardinal numerals

1.	bhyêr
2.	dow
3.	térs
4.	cereth
5.	pèc
6.	sèth
7.	sèdír
8.	athôr
9.	dembhi
10.	déth
11.	déthirbhyêr
12.	déthirdow
20.	dowirdéth
21.	dowirdéth bhyêr
30	térsirdéth
100.	thiti
101.	thiti bhyêr
120.	thiti dowirdéth
121.	thiti dowirdéth bhyêr
200.	dowthit
1.000.	túskhat
10.000.	déth túskhat

Derived numerals

	Ordinal	Multiplicative	Reproductive	Distributive	Fractional
	-[noun class]-i	-yáls	-sôkh	-pá	-rídʼ
1.	bhyêrri / bhyêri	bhyêryáls	bhyêrsôkh	bhyêrpá	bhyêrrídʼ
10.	déthri / dethi	déthyáls	déthsôkh	déthpá	déthrídʼ
11.	déthirbhyêrri / déthirbhyêri	déthirbhyêryáls	déthirbhyêrsôkh	déthirbhyêrpá	déthirbhyêrrídʼ
20.	dowirdéthri / dowirdéthi	dowirdéthyáls	dowirdéthsôkh	dowirdéthpá	dowirdéthrídʼ
21.	dowirdéth bhyêrri / dowirdéth bhyêri	dowirdéth bhyêryáls	dowirdéth bhyêrsôkh	dowirdéth bhyêrpá	dowirdéth bhyêrrídʼ
100.	thitiri / thitiyi	thitiyáls	thitisôkh	thitipá	thitirídʼ
101.	thiti bhyêrri / thiti bhyêri	thiti bhyêryáls	thiti bhyêrsôkh	thiti bhyêrpá	thiti bhyêrrídʼ
120.	thiti dowirdéthri / thiti dowirdéthi	thiti dowirdéthyáls	thiti dowirdéthsôkh	thiti dowirdéthpá	thiti dowirdéthrídʼ
121.	thiti dowirdéth bhyêrri / thiti dowirdéth bhyêri	thiti dowirdéth bhyêryáls	thiti dowirdéth bhyêrsôkh	thiti dowirdéth bhyêrpá	thiti dowirdéth bhyêrrídʼ
200.	dowthitri / dowthiti	dowthityáls	dowthitsôkh	dowthitpá	dowthitrídʼ
1000.	túskhatri / túskhati	túskhatyáls	túskhatsôkh	túskhatpá	túskhatrídʼ
10.000.	déth túskhatri / déth túskhati	déth túskhatyáls	déth túskhatsôkh	déth túskhatpá	déth túskhatrídʼ

Pronouns

• clusivity in 1. person
• obviative

Personal pronouns

	Singular		Plural
1.	nêkʼ	I	ròs	We, but not you
			mòs	We, together with you
2.	sún	Thou	tòs	You all
3.	ya	He / she / it	yòs	They all
4.	ka	Someone / something

Possessive pronouns

	Singular		Plural
1.	neyi	my	ròsi	our, but not your
			mòsi	our, together with you
2.	súni	thy	tòsi	your all
3.	yayi	his / her / its	yòsi	their all
4.	kayi	someone / something else's

Demonstrative pronouns

	Definite proper		Definite distant		Indefinite
Place	dalòpʼ	here	qhálòpʼ	there	êslòpʼ	somewhere there
Source	dalòpʼtʼo	from here	qhálòpʼtʼo	from there	êslòpʼtʼo	from somewhere there
Purpose direction	dalòpʼôs	to here	qhálòpʼôs	to there, so far	êslòpʼôs	to somewhere there
Path	dajhémo	this way	qhájhémo	that way	êsjhémo	some way
Time	datháth	now	qhátháth	then
Method	datʼríp	in this way	qhátʼríp	in that way	êstʼríp	in some way
Quantity	dagôl	so much
Qualify	buda	like this here	buqhá	like that	bwês	like something there
Reason	dastháy	for this reason	qhástháy	for that reason	êstháy	for some reason

Interrogative, relative, indefinite and unlimited pronouns

	Interrogative / Relative		Indefinite		Unlimited
Person / Animate object	kʼa	who ? which ?	kʼate	someone	alíkʼa	anyone
Inanimate object	cʼa	who ? which ?	cʼate	someone	alícʼa	anyone
Place	kʼaġʼo	where ?	kʼaġʼote	somewhere	alíkʼaġʼo	anywhere
Source	tʼokʼaġʼo	whence ?	tʼokʼaġʼote	from somewhere	alítʼokʼaġʼote	from anywhere
Purpose direction	ôskʼaġʼo	whither ?	ôskʼaġʼote	to somewhere	alíôskʼaġʼote	to anywhere
Path	kʼajhémo	which way ?	kʼajhémote	via some way	alíkʼajhémo	via any way
Time	kʼatháth	when ?	kʼatháthte	once	alíkʼatháth	ever
Method	kʼatʼríp	how ?	kʼatʼrípte	somehow	alíkʼatʼríp	anyhow
Quantity	kʼagôl	how much ?	kʼagôlte	somehow much	alíkʼagôl	anyhow much
Qualify	bukʼa	which one ?	bukʼate	some	alíbukʼa	any
Reason	kʼadʼa	why ?

Negative, universal and alternative pronouns

	Negative		Universal		Alternative
Person / Animate object	èlkʼa	nobody, nothing	bhêskʼa	every	ninkʼa	anyone else
Inanimate object	èlcʼa	nobody, nothing	bhêscʼa	every	nincʼa	anyone else
Place	èlkʼaġʼo	nowhere	bhêskʼaġʼote	everywhere	ninkʼaġʼo	elswhere
Source	tʼoêlkʼaġʼo	from nowhere	tʼobhêskʼaġʼote	from everywhere	tʼoninkʼaġʼo	from elswhere
Purpose direction	ôsêlkʼaġʼo	to nowhere	ôsbhêskʼaġʼote	to everywhere	ôsninkʼaġʼo	to elswhere
Path	êljhémo	through no way	bhêsjhémote	through all ways	ninjhémo	which way else
Time	êltháth	never	bhêstháth	always	nintháth	when else
Method	êltʼríp	nohow	bhêstʼríp	in all methods	nintʼríp	otherwise
Quantity	êlgôl	nothing	ningôl	otherwise than so many
Quality	êlbu	neuter, indistinct	bhêsbu	any	ninbu	other

Numeral pronouns

Interrogative / Relative	kʼagôl	how much ?
Indefinite	kʼagôlte	write a number
Unlimited	alíkʼagôl	however many
Negative	êlgôl	nothing
Alternative	ningôl	otherwise than so many

Reflexive, reciprocal and cooperative pronouns

Reflexive	kho	oneself
Reciprocal	tʼakho	each other
Cooperative	úkho	together cooperatively

Prepositions

Spatials, ablatival and allatival directionals

ú	in, inside	Accusative
	from inside	Ablative
	to inside	Allative
al	on	Accusative
	from on	Ablative
	to on	Allative
alaŋ	above	Accusative
	from above	Ablative
	to above	Allative
udʼu	under	Accusative
	from under	Ablative
	to under	Allative
kʼete	beside	Accusative
	from beside	Ablative
	to beside	Allative
tóq	away	Accusative
	from away	Ablative
	to away	Allative
údow	between	Accusative
	from between	Ablative
	to between	Allative
tʼawkh	behind	Accusative
	from behind	Ablative
	to behind	Allative
bè	out	Accusative
	from out	Ablative
	to out	Allative
úgál	around	Accusative
	from around	Ablative
	to around	Allative
trôs	before, opposite to	Accusative
	from before, from opposite to	Ablative
	to before, to opposite to	Allative
útháth	during, in time of	Accusative
	from time of	Ablative
	to time of	Allative
ká	after	Accusative
	from after	Ablative
	to after	Allative

Other postpositions

Companion, attributive object	tʼa	with	Instrumental
Lack	phá	without	Genitive
Alternative	úklotʼ	instead	Genitive
Contrary	trôtʼa	against	Allative
Resistance	bhisu	despite, though	Genitive
Stylization	údʼlêk	along to, according to	Instrumental

Particles

Conjunctions

Paratactical conjunctions
Copulative	é	and
Conjunctive	édhò	also
Disjunctive	cá	or
Contrastive, exceptional	éno	but
Consequentive	pʼe	so
Comparative	kuy	than
Hypotactical conjunctions
gwa		to, for
qúddhò		althought
yethrab		because
áchi		if
dhò		that, providing

Modifiers

Restrictive	bhyêro	only
Additive	yedhò	yet
Excessive	jó	too

Polarity particles

Affirmative	dʼê	yes
Negative1	lê	no

¹ Only in independent form.

Word formation

Derivation

Noun

Noun to noun

Diminutive	-lé-	tʼoghara → tʼoghléra	daughter → little daughter
Augmentative	-gʼan-	ġôbha → ġôbhgʼana	mountain → grand mountain
Contradiction	èl-	banura → èlbanura	human → non-human
Similarity	-khsak-	tuntua → tuntukhsaka	tree → pseudo-tree
Half	pʼala-	qutká → pʼalaqutká	dog → half-dog
Relational abstract	-ryáṇ	ghebʼera → ghebʼeryáṇa	brother → brotherhood
Related person	-chí-	báwbhura → báwbhuchíra	cow → cowman
Collective	-léga-	pʼethara → pʼetharléga	bird → birds (a a collective)
Place	-lòpʼ-	khepʼ → khepʼlòpʼa	fire → campfire
Art / Craft	-tkóyá	bʼormakh → bʼormakhtkóyá	war → craft of war
Knowledge	-kèndh-	jʼólyá → jʼólyakèndha	herb → herbalism
Expert	-chí-	jʼólyá → jʼólyachíra	herb → herbalist

Noun to stative verb

Similaritive	-khsak-	merkhara → merkhakhsak-	cat → felid
Feature	-oth-	ksílua → ksíluoth-	hair → hairy
Affiliative	-sidh-	ġôma → ġômsidh-	family → familiar
Privative	èl-...-oth-	kôlbha → èlkôlbhoth-	tooth → toothless

Verb

Verb to noun

Agentive	-chí-	tqúkh- → tqúkhchíra	(to) shoot → shooter
Experiencer, adressee	[Middle voice's stem]-chí-	dákʼ- → dásikʼchíra	(to) teach → learner
Result	-phál	badʼ- → badʼphála	(to) fall → (a) fall
Instance	-makh-	spʼél- → spʼélmakha	(to) speak → speech
Instrument	-qʼò-	bʼê- → bʼêqʼòa	(to) beat → whip
Place	-lòpʼ-	thèm- → thèmlòpʼa	(to) kill → slaughterhouse

Stative verb to noun

Abstract	-makh-	qtèbʼ- → qtèbʼmakha	to be strong → strength

Syntax

Word order

• SOV
• head-final

Copular verbs

	Positive		Negative
Translative	psá	became	lephá	don't became
Essive	ye	be	le	don't be
Excessive	kʼwô	cease to be	lwô	don't cease to be

Modal verbs

[Modal verb] + [Main verb]

Obligative	ġhart	to must
Jussive	láwd	to should
Optative	níkh	to wish
Desiderative	ktíkh	to want
Dubitative	phthòb	to doubt
Hypothetical	yámb	maybe, perhaps
Permissive	tôl	to let, to permit
Precative	slókh	to request, to please, to ask
Potentional	phêy	to may, to be able
Abilitive	dhul	to can