Proto-Razaric

Proto-Razaric is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Razaric languages. It is estimated to have been spoken around 4000 BC.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal
		Sibilant	Flat	Lateral
Nasals	*m	*n				*ng
Voiceless stops	*p	*t				*k
Voiced stops	*b	*d				*g
Voiceless affricates		*ts	*tr	*tl
Voiced affricates		*dz	*dr	*dl
Voiceles continuants		*s	*rh	*lh
Voiced continuants	*w	*z	*r	*l	*j		*3

Vowels

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

Syllable structure

The maximal syllable structure is CVC. Affricates may not occur in codas, but all consonants may occur in onsets.

Accent

The accent falls on the first syllable of the word.

Morphology

Proto-Razaric is an agglutinating language with both prefixes and suffixes.

Root structure

A Proto-Razaric root has the shape CVC or CVCVC; in the latter case, both vowels are the same.

Word formation

Word formation works mostly by prefixes and head-initial compounds.

Noun-forming prefixes

Nouns are derived from verbs by these prefixes:

• *ra- agent: *drel 'to hunt', *radrel 'hunter'.
• *tli- instrument: *tlam 'to hammer', tlitlam 'hammer'.
• *ke- action: *kedrel 'a hunt'.
• *za- object/product: *zadrel 'venison'.

Nouns

Nouns in Proto-Razaric are either masculine or feminine. The gender is not overtly marked on the noun, but a feminizing prefix *ma- exists: *radrel 'hunter', *maradrel 'huntress'.

There is no case system; grammatical relations are expressed by word order (V-S-DO-IO), verb agreement (in person, number and if 3rd person, gender) with subject if intransitive, with object if monotransitive, with indirect object if ditransitive; and prepositions and relational nouns. A possessive relationship is simply expressed by placing the possessor after the possessum: *Mimir Razar 'the People of Razar, the Dwarves'.

There is a sort of two-dimensional number system. The plural is expressed by the suffix *-tla: *mir 'person', pl. *mirtla. The collective is marked by reduplication of the initial CV: *mimir 'people'. Collectives are grammatically singular, and can themselves be pluralized: *mimirtla 'peoples'.

There is a definite article preceding the noun: uninflecting *ta.

Adjectives

Adjectives are inflected in three categories: gender, number and degree of comparison. Gender is expressed by a prefix: *3o- masculine, *ma- feminine. Number is expressed by a suffix: *-tla plural, singular is unmarked. Collective plays no role with adjectives. The degrees of comparison are positive (unmarked), comparative (prefix *ni-), superlative (prefix *nini-) and equative ('as X as'; prefix *rha-).

Examples:

• *ta radrel 3odir 'the brave hunter'
• *ta radreltla 3odirtla 'the brave hunters'
• *ta maradrel madir 'the brave huntress'
• *ta radrel 3oninidir 'the bravest hunter'

Relationals

The Razaric languages are, as expected from VSO languages, prepositional. While modern Razaric languages have true prepositions, their antecedents in Proto-Razaric are actually nouns and verbs that express relationships and are thus called relational nouns and relational verbs.

The main relational verbs are:

• *dim 'to accompany; with (comitative)'
• *drak 'to use; by, with (instrumental)'
• *min 'to stay at; at'
• *leng 'to reach; to'
• *pal 'to leave; from'

The main relational nouns are:

• *3ar 'inside'
• *dram 'outside'
• *kor 'top'
• *leb 'bottom'
• *pin 'left'
• *mal 'right'
• *kim 'front'
• *dlang 'back'

Examples of usage:

*Tapim ta muruk leng 3ar ta sisir.
PFV-flee the deer reach inside the COLL-tree
'The deer fled into the forest.'

*Tatram ta radrel ta muruk drak ta pinis.
PFV-kill the hunter the deer use the spear
'The hunter killed the deer with the spear.'