Proto-Yarkhic

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Uvular
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ		(ɴ)
"Clear" plosive	p b	t d	c ɟ	k g		q ɢ
Aspirated plosive	pʰ bʰ	tʰ dʰ	cʰ ɟʰ	kʰ gʰ		qʰ ɢʰ
Ejective plosive	pʼ	tʼ	cʼ	kʼ		qʼ
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ	ʄ	ɠ		ʛ
Fricative		s
Trill		r				(ʀ)
Approximant		l	j		w

Spelling

• /p t c k q/ p t c k q
• /pʰ tʰ cʰ kʰ qʰ/ ph th ch kh qh
• /pʼ tʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ/ p̕ t̕ c̕ k̕ q̕
• /b d ɟ g ɢ/ b d j g ġ
• /bʰ dʰ ɟʰ gʰ ɢʰ/ bh dh jh gh ġh
• /ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ/ b̕ d̕ j̕ g̕ ġ̕
• /s/ s
• /m n ɲ ŋ~ɴ/ m n ṇ ŋ
• /r~ʀ l/ r l
• /j w/ y w

Vowels

	Front	Central		Back
		Unrounded	Rounded
Close	iː			uː
Near-Close		ɪ	ʊ
Mid-Close	eː	ɘ	ɵ	oː
Mid-Open	ɛː	ɜ	ɞ	ɔː
Open		ä äː

Spelling

• /iː uː/ í ú
• /eː oː/ é ó
• /ɛː ɔː/ ê ô
• /äː/ a

• /ɪ ʊ/ i u
• /ɘ ɵ/ e o
• /ɜ ɞ/ è ò
• /ä/ a

Phonotactics

(C)(C)V(ː)(R/s)(C)

Accent

• Acute accent on initial syllable.

Grammar

Nouns

• nominative-accusative alignment with marked nominative
• 3A secundative alignment (S/A = Nominative, D = Pegative, P/R = Accusative, T = Instrumental)
• 8 cases (suffixal): Nominative, Pegative, Accusative, Instrumental, Genitive, Ablative, Allative, Benefactive
• noun class system (suffixal): Animate, Inanimate
• number combined with noun class: singular, paucal, plural
• definiteness (articles): Gnomic, Indefinite, Definite proper, Definite distant
• nominal tense (suffixal): past, present, future

Definiteness + [Root + Root extension(s) + (Noun class + Number) + Case + Nominal tense]

Noun class and number

	Animate			Inanimate
Singular	-ar- / -r-	banura	man	-	tkacʼa	stone
Paucal	-akʼ- / -kʼ-	banuakʼa	few men	-akʼ- / -kʼ-	tkacʼakʼa	few stones
Plural	-it- / -t-	banuita	men	-es- / -s-	tkacʼesa	stones

Declension

Nominative	-a	wolqhara	wolf
Pegative	-e	wolqhare
Accusative	-	wolqhar
Instrumental	-ní	wolqharní	by/with wolf
Genitive	-yò	wolqharyò	of wolf
Ablative	-tʼo	wolqhartʼo	from wolf
Allative	-ôs	wolqharôs	to wolf
Benefactive	-dʼa	wolqhardʼa	for wolf

Nominal tense

Past	-li	kʼámarali	ex-wife
Present	-	kʼámara	wife
Future	-sú	kʼámarasú	future wife

Definiteness

Gnomic	-	banu	man
Indefinite	ês	ês banu	a man
Definite proper	da	da banu	the man
Definite distant	qhá	qhá banu	yonder man

Verbs

• aspects (suffixal): Perfective-Imperfective + Frequentative, Momentane
• voices (infixal): Active, Reflexive vs Causative
• three subjective and objective persons (suffixal)
• three moods (cliticized): Indicative, Conditional, Subjunctive
• negative verb

(Root + Voice) + Root extension(s) + Aspect + Subject + Object + Mood

Aspect

	Main form			Frequentative			Momentane
Imperfective	-	swél-	to shine	-né-	swélné-	to glisten	-
Perfective	-ri-	swélri-	to lighten	-yu-	swélyu-	to glisten (as fully executed, ended series)	-tò-	swéltò-	to glint (as momentaneous event)

Voice

	Performative			Causative
Active	-	yôdh-	to see	-ra-	yôradh-	to show
Reflexive	-si-	yôsidh-	to see self	-ṇi-	yôṇidh-	to show self

Person

Subject / Agent / Donor

	Singular		Plural
1.	-en / -n	I	-erò / -rò	We, but not you
			-emò / -mò	We, together with you
2.	-es / -s	Thou	-etò / -tò	You all
3.	-ey / -y	He / she / it	-eyò / -yò	They all
4.	-ek / -k	Someone / something

Object / Recipient

	Singular		Plural
1.	-na	me	-ra	us, but not you
			-me	us, together with you
2.	-sa	thee	-ta	you all
3.	-ya	him / her / it	-yak	them all
4.	-ka	Someone / something

Theme

	Singular		Plural
1.	-n	I	-l	we, but not you
			-w	we, together with you
2.	-s	Thou	-th	You all
3.	-j	He / she / it	-j	They all
4.	-kh	Someone / something

Mood

Indicative	-	êd	to go
Conditional	-dô	êddô	would to go
Subjunctive	-phú	êdphú	may to go

Non-finite verbs

Action noun	-ló	yôdhló	vision, seeing
Participles
Adjectival	-l-	yôdhl-	seeing
Adverbial	-l-oŋ	yôdhloŋ	seeing

Adjectives

• adjectives are replaced by stative verbs and describing nouns.
• degrees of intensify are instead degrees of comparison.

Numerals

Cardinal numerals

1.	bhyêr
2.	dow
3.	térs
4.	cereth
5.	pèc
6.	sèth
7.	sèdír
8.	athôr
9.	dembhi
10.	déth
11.	déthirbhyêr
12.	déthirdow
20.	dowirdéth
21.	dowirdéth bhyêr
30	térsirdéth
100.	thiti
101.	thiti bhyêr
120.	thiti dowirdéth
121.	thiti dowirdéth bhyêr
200.	dowthit
1.000.	túskhat
10.000.	déth túskhat

Derived numerals

	Ordinal	Multiplicative	Reproductive	Distributive	Fractional
	-[noun class]-i	-yáls	-sôkh	-pá	-rídʼ
1.	bhyêrri / bhyêri	bhyêryáls	bhyêrsôkh	bhyêrpá	bhyêrrídʼ
10.	déthri / dethi	déthyáls	déthsôkh	déthpá	déthrídʼ
11.	déthirbhyêrri / déthirbhyêri	déthirbhyêryáls	déthirbhyêrsôkh	déthirbhyêrpá	déthirbhyêrrídʼ
20.	dowirdéthri / dowirdéthi	dowirdéthyáls	dowirdéthsôkh	dowirdéthpá	dowirdéthrídʼ
21.	dowirdéth bhyêrri / dowirdéth bhyêri	dowirdéth bhyêryáls	dowirdéth bhyêrsôkh	dowirdéth bhyêrpá	dowirdéth bhyêrrídʼ
100.	thitiri / thitiyi	thitiyáls	thitisôkh	thitipá	thitirídʼ
101.	thiti bhyêrri / thiti bhyêri	thiti bhyêryáls	thiti bhyêrsôkh	thiti bhyêrpá	thiti bhyêrrídʼ
120.	thiti dowirdéthri / thiti dowirdéthi	thiti dowirdéthyáls	thiti dowirdéthsôkh	thiti dowirdéthpá	thiti dowirdéthrídʼ
121.	thiti dowirdéth bhyêrri / thiti dowirdéth bhyêri	thiti dowirdéth bhyêryáls	thiti dowirdéth bhyêrsôkh	thiti dowirdéth bhyêrpá	thiti dowirdéth bhyêrrídʼ
200.	dowthitri / dowthiti	dowthityáls	dowthitsôkh	dowthitpá	dowthitrídʼ
1000.	túskhatri / túskhati	túskhatyáls	túskhatsôkh	túskhatpá	túskhatrídʼ
10.000.	déth túskhatri / déth túskhati	déth túskhatyáls	déth túskhatsôkh	déth túskhatpá	déth túskhatrídʼ

Pronouns

• clusivity in 1. person
• obviative

Adpositions

• prepositions

Syntax

• SOV
• head-final