Proto-Cardial
Proto-Huamish is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Huamish languages. It is estimated to have been spoken around 5.500 BC.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Sibilants | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Back | |||||||
| Stops and affricates |
"Emphatic" | *pʰ | *tʰ | *(tʃ) | *(tʃ) | *kʰ | ||
| Fortis | *p | *t | *ts | *(tʃ) | *k | |||
| Lenis | *b | *d | *dz | *(tʃ) | *g | |||
| Fricatives | Fortis | *f | *s | *(ʃ) | *x | *h | ||
| Lenis | *z | *(ʃ) | ||||||
| Nasals | *m | *n | ||||||
| Laterals | Fortis | *ɫ | ||||||
| Lenis | *l | |||||||
| Rhotics | Fortis | *r | ||||||
| Lenis | *ɾ | |||||||
| Semivowels | *w | *j | ||||||
Emphatic Stops
The exact quality of "emphatic stops" is difficult to determine. For a time it was proposed to give ejective values, the comparison of cognates with Kartvelian and Tommian show correspondences affirmatives. Apparently the Macro-Kartvelian ejectives would be conserved like the "emphatic stops" that reconstructed for Proto-Huamish. Originally they would have values of "fortis"
Originally voiceless and voiced stops merged into voiced stops (Originally "lenis"), so that voiceless stops are a later development to avoid the loss of the final consonants after the vowel readjustment.
In the descendant languages there are no remains of "emphatic", but they show different reflexes depending on the language, and it is speculated that in Proto-Huamish they could have aspirated values.
The matter of "ʃ" and "tʃ"
It seems that the readjustment of vowels caused the sibilants to palatizate in final position so as not to get lost and these words acquired a diminutive sense. The words that did not adopt a diminutive meaning, reversed the change becoming * z < *ʃ and * ts < *tʃ.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | *i | *u | |
| Mid | *e | *ə | *o |
| Low | *a |
The middle vowel reflexes
The *ə phoneme is marginal and seems to be the cause of vowel readjustment. In the different groups it has the following reflexes:
| IPA | North-West | North-Central | Central-West | Central-Central | Central-East | South-Central | South-east |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *ə | *o > *u | *e | *u | *e > *∅ | *e | *u | *a |
Morphology
Nominal declension
| Case | Singular | Plural | Indefinite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | *-(a) | *-n(a) | *-r(a) |
| Vocative | *-fo | *-no | *-ro |
| Ergative | *-m(a) | *-tʰ(a) | *-k(a) |
| Genitive | *-z(a) | *-pədz(a) | *-xəz(a) |
| Dative | *-i(a) | *-bi(a) | *-xi(a) |
| Inesive | *-s(a) | *-pəs(a) | *-xəs(a) |
| Allative | *-kʰ(a) | *-pəkʰ(a) | *-xəkʰ(a) |
| Locative | *-x(a) | *-pəx(a) | *-xə |
| Instrumental | *-ts(a) | *-pəts(a) | *-xəts(a) |
| Comitative | *-u(a) | *-bu(a) | *-xu(a) |
| Adverbial | *-t(a) | *-pət(a) | *-xət(a) |
The *(a) can be eliminated for convenience, it is commonly used to give importance to the subject, although its use is not completely clear. It is only conserved in the north group and bastuli, the central group shows it in residual state in the reconstruction. Bastuli uses it with an emphatic value.
The declension mark includes case and number, and lacks distinction between masculine and feminine, (although some daughter languages will develop this distinction), it adheres to the stem (usually noun) in the form of a suffix and the agreement between nouns and adjectives is not necessary.
The indefinite number also functions as honorific and polite if this is requires.
Numerals
Numeral declension
| Case | Singular |
|---|---|
| Nominative | *-(u) |
| Vocative | *-(u)ru |
| Ergative | *-(u)ku |
| Genitive | *ər- |
| Dative | *ir- |
| Locative | *kʰi- |
| Instrumental | *uts- |
| Adverbial | *-(u)tu |
The nominative case is the cardinal form.
The vocative case also is used to represent the ordinal form.
Numeral system
| Cardinal | Ordinal | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | *ərtʰu | *pʰiru |
| 2 | *ju | *juru |
| 3 | *sum | *sumuru |
| 4 | *ja | *jaru |
| 5 | *hustʰu | *hustʰuru |
| 6 | *sam | *samru |
| 7 | *samtʰu | *samtʰuru |
| 8 | *jo | *joru |
| 9 | *tʰusa | *tʰusaru |
| 10 | *hastʰu | *hastʰuru |
| 100 | *əz | *əzuru |
Clearly can see the lack of numerals that are not developed from others, and at a glance can reconstruct values for a previous system. It is as if the first speakers had arrived in the peninsula with a poor number system and developed a larger one later (See below: Bastuli System).
Bastuli system
Although it is called "Bastuli system", the characteristics of this system are found in form residual in other languages, especially in Turduli.
| Numerals | Development in Proto-Huamish | |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 (half) | *hwərtʰu | *tʰu has the meaning of 1, *hw-ər (meaning: "Half of"); Conserved in *ər-tʰu literally "genitive-one" |
| 1 | *pʰi | It is preserved as "first" |
| 2 | *ju | Will form a apophonic dual for 4 and this in turn another for 8 |
| 3 | *sum | Will form a apophonic dual for 6 and this in turn another for 12 |
| 4 | *hus | Preserved as *hus-tʰu (4+1=5) that will form a apophonic dual for 10 and this in turn another for 20 |
| 5 | *mətʰu | It is reconstructed as *mə-tʰu (4 + 1 = 5), but this remains very uncertain and has only been found in ancient inscriptions with votive value in bastuli. Presumably *mə, it would be a variant of 4, we would expect *mi with a value of 2 found in Tiburi as *bi. |
| 10 | *sa | Preserved only in 9 as *tʰu-sa (1-10) |
| 50 | *iz | Will form an apophonic dual, only preserved in *əz as 100 |
The ancient numeral system is predictable because it is present in Bastuli (South-east), perhaps it was separated before the group, because forms the numbers in a different way. Three options are speculated:
1. The Bastuli system gave rise to the Proto-Huamish system.
2. The Bastuli system is an archaism that is preserved while the other languages developed a later system together.
3. Both numerical systems coexisted together and only one is preserved in bastuli
The most likely hypothesis is the 2 or the 3, but it is not yet fully tested. because some digital systems mix both in an indirect way.
Apophony
| Original | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| *? | *u | *a | - |
| *? | *i | *ə | - |
| *a | - | *o | - |
It seems that many words lost their thematic vowel to adopt an apophonic system used to indicate the number. This system is clearly seen in the evolution of the numeral system, but it can be seen in other words.
The plural number is used as something immeasurable or very large.
Verbs
The structure of the polysynthetic verb is:
| (Negation | Adverb) | - | Preverb | Subject | Tense 1 | VERB STEM | Tense 2 | Object | - | (Subject | Case) |
The mark of tense 1 and tense 2, are the two types of morphemes that mark the tense (See below: Mark of tense).
The parts of the verb after the hyphens and between parenthesis can be eliminated and exchanged, the VERB STEM and its complements must always be obligatory.
Mark of subject
| Casual | Polite | Honorific | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | First person | *f- | *f- | *m- |
| Second person | *kʰ- | *k- | *g- | |
| Third person | *i- | *i- | *u- | |
| Plural | First person | *f- | *f- | *gu- |
| Second person | *kʰ- | *k- | *g- | |
| Third person | *i- | *i- | *u- | |
Mark of tense
If this category do not have a mark of subject or object, it can also assimilate as participle or infinitive, marks the tense and the courtesy (See below: Honorific Speech)
| CASUAL | Perfective (Realis) | Imperfective (Realis) | Neutral (Irrealis) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Past | *ənami-∇-ola | *ənami-∇-oli | *əname-∇-ol |
| Present | *əmi-∇-ala | *əmi-∇-ali | *əme-∇-al |
| Future | *əsami-∇-ela | *əsami-∇-eli | *əsame-∇-el |
| POLITE | Perfective (Realis) | Imperfective (Realis) | Neutral (Irrealis) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Past | *inami-∇-olakʰopʰəna | *inami-∇-olikʰopʰəni | *ename-∇-olkʰopʰən |
| Present | *imi-∇-alakʰopʰəna | *imi-∇-alikʰopʰəni | *eme-∇-alkʰopʰən |
| Future | *isami-∇-elakʰopʰəna | *isami-∇-elikʰopʰəni | *esame-∇-elkʰopʰən |
| HONORIFIC | Perfective (Realis) | Imperfective (Realis) | Neutral (Irrealis) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Past | *inami-∇-ola | *inami-∇-oli | *ename-∇-oli |
| Present | *imi-∇-ala | *imi-∇-ali | *eme-∇-ali |
| Future | *isami-∇-ela | *isami-∇-eli | *esame-∇-eli |
The symbol ∇, represents the verb stem. The negation of the participle, is formed with *-u-, which is added just before verb stem.
Mark of object
It is only used in verbs to refer to the object, also in the majority of daughter languages articles will be developed from them.
| Casual | Polite | Honorific | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Proximal" | Singular | *-afar | *-əməs | *-əs |
| Plural | *-afarətʰ | *-əmətʰ | *-atʰ | |
| "Medial" | Singular | *-kʰar | *-əməs | *-əp |
| Plural | *-kʰarətʰ | *-əmətʰ | *-ətʰ | |
| "Distal" | Singular | *-əs | *-əməs | *-a |
| Plural | *-fənən | *-nən | *-es | |
The Proximal deictic form is used for first and second person.
Pronouns
The following pronouns can be reconstructed mostly as suffixes for the verbs, as much as objects as subjects in the daughter languages, but is speculated that in Proto-huamish it was not like that, and they existed as independent words.
Personal pronouns
Only has two persons, the rest are named as a personal demonstrative pronoun (see below: Demonstrative pronouns) according to the distance of the subject or object.
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | Exclusive | *me | *tsi |
| Inclusive | - | *na | |
| 2nd person | Casual | *zi | *zin |
| Polite and honorific | *si | *tʰi | |
A differentiation is presupposed as "polite and honorific" and "casual" for Proto-Huamish, but no descendant language shows this differentiation although depending on the group loses one of these two pronouns. Know the value of the ancient "polite and honorific" and "casual", because the daughter languages that have conserved the second person as "polite and honorific", also conserve an honorific speech (See below: Honorific Speech).
Demonstrative pronouns
Some linguists include them in the system of personal pronouns, but to avoid an uncomfortable system of five grammatical persons, they separate. They also show the declination characteristics for an indefinite number, used as an interrogative. In the daughter languges the demonstrative pronouns will evolved to articles.
| Singular | Plural | Indefinite/Interrogative | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Person" | "It" | *he | *hen | *ma |
| "Thing" | "This" | *hi | *hin | *su |
| "That" | *xa | *xan | *sa | |
What is referred to as "person" or "thing" is no more than an adaptation to the English language this differentiation only exists in Proto-huamish for the interrogatives as "Who" (Person) and "What" (Thing).
Honorific speech
The honorific speech, can be of two different forms, refer to them as polite and honorific. They differ among themselves and among the casual, in the form of conjugating verbs, declensions, pronouns and in some specific words. It is speculated if in Proto-Huamish the derogatory form existed, because it is only found in Turduli, and it can not be reconstructed. (See above: Mark of tense)
