Proto-Alpianic
| Proto-Alpianic | |
| Spoken in: | Switzerland, ca. 1000 BC |
| Conworld: | League of Lost Languages |
| Total speakers: | extinct (reconstructed) |
| Genealogical classification: | Hesperic
|
| Basic word order: | V2; SOV in subclauses |
| Morphological type: | fusional |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | accusative |
| Created by: | |
| Jörg Rhiemeier | 2013 |
Proto-Alpianic is the common ancestor of the Alpianic branch of the Hesperic language family in the League of Lost Languages. It is currently being created by Jörg Rhiemeier.
Proto-Alpianic probably was spoken in central Switzerland around 1000 BC. The language is about as closely related to Old Albic as Greek is to Latin.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Laryngeal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral stops | *p | *t | *k | |
| Aspirated stops | *ph | *th | *kh | |
| Affricates | *pf | *ts | *kx | |
| Fricatives | *f | *s | *x | *h |
| Nasals | *m | *n | *ń | |
| Laterals | *l | *ĺ | ||
| Rhotics | *r | *ŕ | ||
| Semivowel | *j |
The dorsal nasal *ń almost certainly was a velar nasal [ŋ]. The phoneme *ĺ probably was a velarized alveolar lateral [ɫ], the phoneme *ŕ a uvular trill [ʀ].
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | *i î | *u û | |
| Mid | *e ê ẽ | *o ô õ | |
| Low | *a â ã |
The circumflex accent marks a long vowel; nasal vowels (with tilde) are always short.
Syllable structure
The maximum syllable structure is (s)C(R)V(L) with the following values:
- C is any consonant.
- R is any nasal, liquid or *j; if present, C must be an obstruent.
- V is any vowel.
- L is any nasal or liquid, or gemination of the following consonant. May not be present in a syllable with a long or nasal vowel, and not in final syllables.
Accent
The accent, which probably was stress, falls on the first syllable of the word.
Morphology
Proto-Alpianic is a fusional-synthetic language.
Nouns
Nouns are divided into three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and are inflected for two numbers (singular, plural) and four cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative). There are several declension classes that inflect differently; these cut across the genders, but neuters always decline differently from non-neuters of the same declension class.
A-stems, non-neuter
The a-stems are the most productive declension class for non-neuter nouns.
Example: *phassa 'person'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | *phassa | *phassi |
| Genitive | *phasse | *phassi |
| Dative | *phasso | *phasso |
| Accusative | *phassã | *phassẽ |
A-stems, neuter
Neuter a-stems are not as predominant as non-neuter a-stems, but still frequent as many basic vocabulary items fall into this class.
Example: *kxara 'stone'
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom.-acc. | *kxara | *kxaro |
| Gen.-dat. | *kxaro | *kxaralo |
