Proto-Cardial

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Proto-Cardial is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Cardial languages. It is estimated to have been spoken around 6.200 BC, and it's asociated to Cardium pottery.

Phonology

Consonants

  Labial Dental Alveolar Velar Uvular Glottal
Sibilant Lateral
Nasals *m *n
Stops Ejective *p' *t' *k' *q'
Voiceless *p *t *k *q
Voiced *b *d *g
Affricates Ejective *ts' *tʃ'
Voiceless *ts *tʃ *tɬ
Voiced *dz *dʒ
Fricatives *s ~ *z? *ʃ ~ *ʒ? *x *h
Liquid *l *r

Vowels

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

The vowel system shows serious difficulties to be reconstructed, many authors have proposed a system of three central vowels that affect the consonants and that alternate between them in patterns of allophony and ablaut, this is compounded by the lack of data and extreme vocalic changes in the daughter languages.

  Palatized Central Labialized
High *ʲɨ /i/ *ʷɨ /u/
Mid *ʲə /e/ *ʷə /o/
Low *ʲɐ /æ/ *ʷɐ /a/

Morphology

Pronouns

  Singular Plural
1st person Exclusive *ʔɐgɐ ~ *ʔɐkɐ *ŋɐ
Inclusive - *bɐ
2nd person Casual *t'u *χa
Polite *si *χæ
3rd person *sɐ *sɐ?
Demonstrative Proximal *ʔi *hi
Medial-proximal *ʔe *he
Medial-distal *ʔu *hu
Distal *ʔa *ha
Indeterminate *t'ɐ *t'ɐ?
Interrogative/relative Thing (What) *mɐ *mɐ?
Person (Who) *ŋɨʃɐ *ŋɨʃɐ?

Phrase and Verbal paradigm

The type of verbal conjugation varies according to the type of phrase you want to build, only the following sentences are allowed.

Class I

  • Subject is marked with: Nominative; Subject is allowed optionally
  • Object is marked with: Absolutive; Object is allowed optionally
  • Articles, relatives and postpositions are allowed optionally
  • Verb is allowed; Mostly Intransitive
  • Word Order: OSV

Class II

  • Subject is marked with: Nominative; Subject is allowed optionally
  • Object is marked with: Absolutive; Object is allowed optionally
  • Articles, relatives and postpositions are prohibited
  • Verb is allowed; Mostly Transitive
  • Word Order: OVS

Class III

  • Subject is marked with: Ergative; Subject is allowed optionally
  • Object is marked with: Absolutive; Object is obligatory
  • Articles, relatives and postpositions are allowed optionally
  • Verb is obligatory; Only Transitive
  • Word Order: SOV


Class IV

  • Subject is marked with: Nominative; Subject is allowed optionally
  • Object is not marked; Object is allowed optionally
  • Articles, relatives and postpositions are allowed optionally
  • Verb is allowed; Mostly Intransitive
  • Word Order: SVO

Class V

  • Subject is marked with: Nominative; Subject is allowed optionally
  • Object is prohibited
  • Articles and postpositions are prohibited; Relatives are allowed optionally
  • Verb is allowed; Only Intransitive
  • Word Order: VSO

Lexicon