Proto-Cardial
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 | *ŋ | |||||
| Stops | Ejective | *p' | *t' | *k' | *q' | |||
| Voiceless | *p | *t | *k | *q | *ʔ | |||
| Voiced | *b | *d | *g | *ɢ | ||||
| Affricates | Ejective | *ts' | *tʃ' | |||||
| Voiceless | *ts | *tʃ | *tɬ | |||||
| Voiced | *dz | *dʒ | ||||||
| Fricatives | *s ~ *z? | *ʃ ~ *ʒ? | *x | *χ | *h | |||
| Liquid | *l | *r | *ɬ | *ɫ | ||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | *i | *ɨ | *u |
| Mid | *e | *ə | *o |
| Low | *æ | *ɐ | *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/ | *ɨ | *ʷɨ /u/ |
| Mid | *ʲə /e/ | *ə | *ʷə /o/ |
| Low | *ʲɐ /æ/ | *ɐ | *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? | |
Verbal paradigm
Class I
Subject is marked with: Nominative
Object is marked with: Absolutive
Class II
Subject is marked with: Nominative
Object is marked with: Absolutive
Class III
Subject is marked with: Ergative
Object is marked with: Absolutive
Class IV
Subject is marked with: Nominative
Object is marked with: Absolutive
Class V
Subject is marked with: Nominative
Object is marked with: Absolutive
