Proto-Macro-K!asic language

To Be Continued... Rorschach is still working on this article. The contents are incomplete and likely to undergo changes.

Scratch space for the Proto-Macro-K!asic language.

Proto-Macro-K!asic
Period	c. -3000 YP
Spoken in	Extreme southern Zeluzhia and northern Antarctica
Total speakers
Writing system
Classification	Macro-K!asic
Typology
Basic word order	TVC
Morphology	Isolating
Alignment	Direct-inverse
Credits
Created by	Linguifex

Phonology

Consonants

		labial	linguolabial	coronal	retroflex	palatal	velar	glottal
nasal		m	n̼	n	ɳ	ɲ	ŋ
stop	voiceless	p	t̼	t	ʈ	c	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d̼	d	ɖ	ɟ	g
	prenasalized	mb	n̼d̼	nd	ɳɖ	ɲɟ	ŋg
affricate	voiceless		t̼θ̼	ts	ʈʂ
	voiced		d̼ð̼	dz	ɖʐ
	prenasalized		n̼d̼ð̼	ndz	ɳɖʐ
fricative				s		ʃ	x
liquid				l		j
click	tenuis	kʘ	kǀ̼	kǃ · kǁ	k!!
	voiced	gʘ	gǀ̼	gǃ · gǁ	g!!
	nasal	ŋʘ	ŋǀ̼	ŋǃ · ŋǁ	ŋ!!

• *n̼ *t̼ *d̼ *n̼d̼ *t̼θ̼ *d̼ð̼ *n̼d̼ð̼ *kǀ̼ *gǀ̼ *ŋǀ̼ are written ṋ ṱ ḓ ṋḓ ṱð ḓð ṋḓð k| g| n|.
• *ɳ *ʈ *ɖ *ɳɖ *ʈʂ *ɖʐ *ɳɖʐ are written ṇ ṭ ḍ ṇḍ ṭṣ ḍẓ ṇḍẓ.
• *ɲ *c *ɟ *ɲɟ *ʃ *j are written ń c j ńj ś y.
• *ŋ *ŋg are written ñ ñg.
• Nasal clicks are written with n preceding the click grapheme; a sequence *n + click will not be ambiguous because the non-nasal clicks are written with k or g preceding, as appropriate.

Allophony and phonological processes

• *c *ɟ apparently became *j before back rounded vowels; *ɲɟ in this position became *ɲ. These allophones are written y ń, respectively.
• *g *ŋg appear to have become *h *h̃ before *a. This is reflected in the orthography as h hn, respectively.
• Nasals became their corresponding voiced stop if a velar nasal appeared previously in the word (the velaric mechanism of nasal clicks did not appear to trigger this process) and are so written in the appropriate circumstances.

Vowels

	front	central	back
high	i		u
mid	e		o
low		a

Additionally, diphthongs *ja *aj *ej (written ya ay ey) and a triphthong *waj (written way) are reconstructed.

Allophony and phonological processes

• *e lowered to *a before a velar nasal and is so written when appropriate; clicks and prenasalized stops did not seem to trigger this.
• A tautosyllabic *ij sequence becomes *aj and is written ay. Similarly, back vowels plus *j became the triphthong *waj (way).

Syllable Structure

The reconstructed syllable structure is (C)(N)V(m/n/ŋ/k/ʔ/l/j), where the only allowable initial clusters were of the form velar + nasal.

Personal Pronouns

1SG	*nǁa
1PL	*ṋḓðag!a
2	*kmaha
3.PERS	*kǁwayʔ
3.OBJ	*e

Number system

Proto-Macro-K!asic is reconstructed as having counted in base twelve.

• 1 *sa
• 2 *kni
• 3 *niʔañ
• 4 *pa
• 5 *xok
• 6 *gʘiñ
• 7 *g!!an
• 8 *nǁihna
• 9 *ek
• 10 *xal
• 11 *ḍi
• 12 *ńo

Morphology/Typology

Proto-Macro-K!asic is reconstructed as having mostly been isolating in nature.

Causatives

One of the few actual affixes in the language was the causative prefix *u-. The *u- prefix lent itself to a number of constructions with varying degrees of idiomatic meaning.

• *u- CAUS + *dobway 'avoid' > *udobway 'threaten, scare, put fear into, warn away'
• *u- CAUS + *g!!ya 'cook, prepare (food)' > *ug!!ya 'acquire food, as by harvesting, picking, or slaughtering'
• *u- CAUS + *nʘik 'hit, strike beat' > *unʘik 'instigate, rile up'
• *u- CAUS + *tsikǁom 'shake, tremble' > *utsikǁom 'shake, rock, buffet'
• *u- CAUS + *ṭṣolnǁi 'germinate, grow, take root' > *uṭṣolnǁi 'plant, put seeds in the ground'

Reduplication

Proto-Macro-K!asic appears to have had productive full and partial reduplication.

Perfective Verbs

Full reduplication was used to mark the past tense on a verb.

• *lohnal 'steal' > *lohnal~lohnal 'stole'
• *ndudzak 'obey' > *ndudzak~ndudzak 'obeyed'

Nominal Plurals

Partial reduplication (of the onset and syllable nucleus, but not the coda) was employed to denote plural nouns. Where the onset was null, the vowel fortited to a voiced stop at the same place of articulation (or, in the case of *a, to *h).

• *aylsiʔ 'well, watering hole' > *a~aylsiʔ > *haylsiʔ 'wells'
• *iḓðik 'pinecone' > *i~iḓðik > *jiḓðik 'pinecones'
• *k!aʔok 'leaf' > *k!ak!aʔok 'leaves'
• *tsyakle 'knife' > *tsyatsyakle 'knives'

Locative Nouns

Full reduplication was used with nouns to indicate a place where the given noun could be found in abundance.

• *iḓðik 'pinecone' > *iḓðik~iḓðik 'coniferous forest'
• *kniktañ 'tall grass, grain' > *kniktañ~kniktañ 'cultivated field'
• *k!ektuñ 'spring, watering source' > *k!ektuñ~k!ektuñ 'river delta'
• *piʔkik 'roof, covering' > *piʔkik~piʔkik 'town, settlement'
• *yagiʔ 'yurt, hut' > *yagiʔ~yagiʔ 'nomadic group'

Prebases

Proto-Macro-K!asic appears to have featured a number of lexical "prebases" that attached to the beginning of a word, altering the meaning. The altered meaning could have various nuances and connotations but occurred with central themes.

See here.

Grammar

Copula

The word *kǁiʔ (which also had the meaning 'to live') was employed as a copula:

K!añ

k!añ

man

ńje

ńje

DEF

oway

oway

with

ʔiṱðek

ʔiṱðek

tent.peg

kǁiʔ

kǁiʔ

live

The man has a tent peg.

Possession

Proto-Macro-K!asic appears to have used a with-possessive construction:

K!añ

k!añ

man

ńje

ńje

DEF

oway

oway

with

ʔiṱðek

ʔiṱðek

tent.peg

kǁiʔ

kǁiʔ

live

The man has a tent peg.

Lexicon

See here.