Kijeb (Sohlob)
The Kijeb (Proto-Sohlob) sound system
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
| High | i | u | |
| Low | a |
Consonants
| Labial | Dental or Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | |
| Voiceless stops | p py | t ty | k ky | kw | |
| Voiced stops | b by | d dy | g gy | gw | |
| Voiceless fricatives | f fy | s sy | x xy | ||
| Nasals | m my | n ny | ŋ | ŋw | |
| Liquid | r ry | ||||
| Semivowels | y (IPA [j]) | w wy |
Palatalization
An y after a consonant or cluster is realized as palatalization of the consonant, or all consonants throughout the cluster.
Assimilations
There were some assimilatory changes that probably applied synchronically in Kijeb:
| Underlying | Condition | Result | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| t | before voiced stops and nasals | d |
*kitbyu > *xidbyu > CS: xefd, K: sijd, L: xirz "heart" |
| s | before voiced stops | [z] | |
| n | before p, b, f, m | m | |
| n | before k, g, x, ŋ | ŋ | |
| mm | in inflection | mb | |
| nn | in inflection | nd | |
| ŋŋ | in inflection | ŋg | |
| rr | in inflection | dr |
Root structure
A Kijeb nominal or verbal root has the following structure:
- (s) (C) (r) V (D) C (r)
where
- slots in parentheses are optional
- V is any vowel (a, i, u)
- C is any consonant
- D is any dental (t/d, n, s, r)
There are some restrictions on possible phoneme sequences, including:
- Geminates do not occur. Thus e.g. if there is an s in a C slot there can be no s in the preceding s or D slot, resulting in an ss, and similarly no rr, ww, yy, tt. dd, nn.
- n + a nasal does not occur (no nn, nm, nŋ).
- Labial + w does not occur.
- None of yi, iy, wu, uw can occur.
- Palatalization or y may occur either in the consonant(s) before the V or in the consonant(s) after the V or not at all, but not both before and after the V. A cluster is either palatalized throughout or not at all.
- In nominal and verbal roots
- the same consonant may not occur twice,
- no two stops or fricatives (other than s) at the same point of articulation may occur within a single root,
- no two nasals may occur within a single root.
- The nominal stems mama "mother" and papa "father" are the only known exceptions to these restrictions among nominal and verbal roots. In pronoun and determiner stems, on the other hand, shapes like tat, kak, nan, sas are allowed and even favored. (There is also the numeral stem sas "one", but this may be a determiner in origin.) It may be that these stems were originally CV stems that became reduplicated.
- Roots consisting only of VC are extremely rare.
- Roots with a heavy cluster both before and after the V are rare.
In order to function as a stem such a root must be followed by a vowel. In nouns (including adjectives) this second vowel is a random extension, while in verbs it is an inflectional morpheme.
Morphology
Unlike the daughter languages, which are split-ergative, Kijeb is entirely nominative-accusative.
Nominal morphology
Core cases
| Singular | Animate plural | Inanimate plural | |
| Nominative | -∅ (unmarked) | -n | -r |
| Accusative | -s | -ns | -rs |
| Dative | -t | -nt | -rt |
(In the daughter languages the accusative is derived from *-si and the dative from *-tu.)
Other cases
| Singular | Animate plural | Inanimate plural | |
| Locative | -tyu | -ntyu | -rtyu |
| Allative | -sya | -nsya | -rsya |
| Ablative-Genitive | -yu | -nyu | -ryu |
| Instrumental | -ri | -nri | -dri |
The ergative of the daughter languages derives from *-rya and is certainly derived from the instrumental.
Pronouns
Personal and demonstrative pronouns
First and second person
| Singular | Plural (animate) | |||||
| Clitic | Emphatic | Clitic | Emphatic | |||
| First person | -ta | tata | "I" | -di | didi | "we (exclusive)" |
| -pu | pupu | "we (inclusive)" | ||||
| Second person | -ba | baba | "thou" | -ŋu | waŋu | "you (pl.)" |
Third person clitic pronouns
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | -na | -nda |
| Feminine | -mi | -mbi |
| Rational | -ŋka | |
| Irrational | -ŋu | -ŋgu |
| Inanimate | -ru/-ur | -dru |
Third person emphatic pronouns
| Proximal "this" | Medial "that" | Distal "yon" | ||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | ina | inda | ana | anda | una | unda |
| Feminine | imi | imbi | ami | ambi | umi | umbi |
| Rational | iŋka | aŋka | uŋka | |||
| Irrational | iŋu | iŋgu | aŋu | aŋgu | uŋu | uŋgu |
| Inanimate | iru | idru | aru | adru | uru | udru |
Possessive pronouns
There are no special clitic forms for possessive pronouns. The clitics listed above have a possessive meaning when attached to nouns.
Third person emphatic
| Proximal "of this" | Medial "of that" | Distal "of yon" | ||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | inya | indya | anya | andya | unya | undya |
| Feminine | imya | imbya | amya | ambya | umya | umbya |
| Rational | iŋkya | aŋkya | uŋkya | |||
| Irrational | iŋwa | inŋgwa | aŋwa | aŋgwa | uŋwa | uŋgwa |
| Inanimate | irwa | idrwa | arwa | adrwa | urwa | udrwa |
Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are formed by adding the clitic -ŋi to the personal and demonstrative pronouns, e.g. tataŋi "myself" anaŋi "himself". There is also a possessive version -ŋya, e.g. tataŋya "my own", anaŋya "his own". These clitics can also be attached to nouns, e.g. snupuŋi "the man himself", snupuŋya "the man's own".
Interrogative pronouns
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Animate | gwigi "who?" | gwigya "of whom? | gwiŋgi | gwiŋgya |
| Inanimate | gugu "what?, which?" | gugwa "of what?, of which?" | guŋgu | guŋgwa |
Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are formed by adding the clitic -fu to the interrogatives: gwigifu "someone" gugufu "something". This clitic can also be attached to nouns, e.g. snupufu "some man".
