My Proto-Language and Where to Go from Here
Posted: 05 Jan 2021 04:51
Below is my naturalistic proto-language, as of yet unnamed, from which I want to derive three daughter languages. The phonology was inspired by Swahili, but the grammar is a hodgepodge of features I happen to like. First I'd like to know from the community what I've done well, what I can improve on, and what kind of sound changes I can apply and what kind of new grammar I can introduce to develop the daughter languages.
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PHONOLOGY
Consonants
m, n
p, b, t, d, k, g, ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ
tʃ, dʒ, ⁿdʒ
s, z, ⁿz
f, v, h, ᵐv
j, w
r
l
Vowels
i, u
e, o
a
(C)V syllable structure
Vowels must be separated by a consonant
[h] is inserted between vowels in compounds
Consonant clusters are forbidden
Penultimate stress
GRAMMAR
Agglutinative language
Adjectives are actually types of verbs
Verb-Subject-Object word order
Noun phrases are consistently head-initial
Adjectives follow nouns
Possessors follow possessees
Auxiliaries precede lexical verbs
Prepositions
Personal pronouns are distinguished by person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Person), number (Singular, Dual, Paucal, and Plural), and gender (Masculine, Feminine, Neuter) in the 3rd Person
Personal Pronouns
Singular Dual Paucal Plural
1st Person u udʒani uniⁿdi utʃupa
2nd Person ka kadʒani kaniⁿdi katʃupa
3rd Person Masculine wi widʒani winiⁿdi witʃupa
Feminine da dadʒani daniⁿdi datʃupa
Neuter po podʒani poniⁿdi potʃupa
Nouns are marked for plurality and possession
There are four grammatical numbers: Singular (one thing), which is unmarked; Dual (two things), which is marked with –dʒani; Paucal (between three to eight things), which is marked with -niⁿdi; and Plural (greater than eight things), which is marked with –tʃupa
Mass nouns are those to which adding more of the substance does not result in countably more of the substance, like liquids, gases, and abstractions, among other things
Possession is indicated by suffixing the personal pronoun of the possessor onto the noun being possessed; abi is “chest”; abihu is “my chest”, abika is “your chest”, abiwi is “his chest”, etc.
Case relationships are indicated with word order (in the case of subject and object) and prepositions (in the case of all other arguments); aᵑɡo bawu is “off the person”
Augmentatives are formed by suffixing –(h)esi onto the noun (the [h] being necessary to break up vowel sequences); dohu is “fire”, dohuhesi is “conflagration”. Diminutives are similarly formed by suffixing -puⁿda; dohupuⁿda is “spark, cinder”
Subject and object are marked on the verb in the order ROOT-SUBJECT PERSONAL PRONOUN – OBJECT PERSONAL PRONOUN
- dʒaᵐboᵐvi + (h)u = dʒaᵐboᵐvihu, meaning “I insist”
- emi + (h)u + ka = emihuka, meaning “I bother you”
- There are 400 possible combinations of subject and object on a verb
There are two tenses; Future (marked with the prefix ⁿdoᵐvu-) and Non-future (unmarked)
- fawohu means “I work”; ⁿdoᵐvufawohu means “I will work”
There is also the Infinitive, formed with the prefix ᵐba-. Note that subject and object marking does not appear on infinitives
- ᵐbafawo means “to work”
Further aspectual and modal distinctions are formed with auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary verbs receive all verb marking and the lexical verb follows that complex
- The Perfective is unmarked
- The Imperfective is marked by reduplicating the first syllable of the verb; gedo is “scream”, gegedo is “screaming”
- The Perfect is marked with the auxilliary verb ⁿdoⁿzu; ⁿdoⁿzuhu jaⁿdu means “I have listened”; when combined with the Future tense marker the Future Perfect is formed; ⁿdoᵐvuⁿdoⁿzuhu jaⁿdu means “I will have listened”
Verbs are negated by following the verb with howi; hohotʃehu is “I worship”; hohotʃehu howi is “I do not worship”
Reflexives are formed by possessing the word “self” ⁿdo with the pronoun doing the reflexive action. This is combined with the same pronoun appearing in the subject and object verb slots; idohuhu ⁿdohu means “I excite myself”. Saying idohuhu would be like saying “I excite me”
This is not the case for the third person, where the absence of the reflexive pronoun complex is interpreted as the presence of separate arguments; idowiwi by itself would mean “he sees him”, wherein the second third person personal pronoun is a different person than the first refers to
Adjectives act like verbs and are marked in the subject slot on the verb template for the personal pronoun of the noun they modify, though they do not take tense marking; dʒahaⁿdʒe ajipo means “tiny brain”
Nouns are distinguished by gender when combined with adjectives. Thankfully gender is totally semantic. When agreeing with the adjective in person and number, the subject marking slot in the adjective template must agree in gender with the noun it modifies
- Masculine nouns refer exclusively to nouns refering to male humans and their respective titles, occupations, etc as well as male animals. iti, meaning “man”; iti bawutafiwi meaning “free man”
- Feminine nouns refer exclusively to nouns refering to female humans and their respective titles, occupations, etc as well as female animals. esa meaning “woman”; esa bawutafida meaning “free woman”
- Neuter nouns refer to anything not included in the previous categories, including non-gendered human terms; bawu, meaning “person”; bawu bawutafipo meaning “free person”
Numbers are base-eight. Numbers greater than eight are formed with the sequence NUMBER + lo + uᵐbu up to the number fifteen; tʃedi lo uᵐbu means “fourteen”. Numbers do not agree in gender with numbers, and merely follow the noun they modify; eⁿdo aro means “one cat”
Comparatives are formed with fixed expressions
- ᵐboᵐvipahu iⁿdʒa means “I am tall”; ᵐboᵐvipahu iⁿdʒa he means “I am taller”
Articles follow the nouns they appear with; fitʃo ⁿdʒi is “the fish” (as well as “that fish”); fitʃo aro is “a fish” (as well as “one fish”)
Yes-no questions are formed by ending the question with either “yes” ewo or “no” howi, depending on what the expected answer is
- ⁿdoᵐvuhusokapo upipo, ewo? means “You will see the house, yes?”
All other questions are formed by plugging in the interrogative pronoun in the sentence wherever appropriate; usokapo bu? means “What do you see?” (literally “You see what?”)
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PHONOLOGY
Consonants
m, n
p, b, t, d, k, g, ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ
tʃ, dʒ, ⁿdʒ
s, z, ⁿz
f, v, h, ᵐv
j, w
r
l
Vowels
i, u
e, o
a
(C)V syllable structure
Vowels must be separated by a consonant
[h] is inserted between vowels in compounds
Consonant clusters are forbidden
Penultimate stress
GRAMMAR
Agglutinative language
Adjectives are actually types of verbs
Verb-Subject-Object word order
Noun phrases are consistently head-initial
Adjectives follow nouns
Possessors follow possessees
Auxiliaries precede lexical verbs
Prepositions
Personal pronouns are distinguished by person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Person), number (Singular, Dual, Paucal, and Plural), and gender (Masculine, Feminine, Neuter) in the 3rd Person
Personal Pronouns
Singular Dual Paucal Plural
1st Person u udʒani uniⁿdi utʃupa
2nd Person ka kadʒani kaniⁿdi katʃupa
3rd Person Masculine wi widʒani winiⁿdi witʃupa
Feminine da dadʒani daniⁿdi datʃupa
Neuter po podʒani poniⁿdi potʃupa
Nouns are marked for plurality and possession
There are four grammatical numbers: Singular (one thing), which is unmarked; Dual (two things), which is marked with –dʒani; Paucal (between three to eight things), which is marked with -niⁿdi; and Plural (greater than eight things), which is marked with –tʃupa
Mass nouns are those to which adding more of the substance does not result in countably more of the substance, like liquids, gases, and abstractions, among other things
Possession is indicated by suffixing the personal pronoun of the possessor onto the noun being possessed; abi is “chest”; abihu is “my chest”, abika is “your chest”, abiwi is “his chest”, etc.
Case relationships are indicated with word order (in the case of subject and object) and prepositions (in the case of all other arguments); aᵑɡo bawu is “off the person”
Augmentatives are formed by suffixing –(h)esi onto the noun (the [h] being necessary to break up vowel sequences); dohu is “fire”, dohuhesi is “conflagration”. Diminutives are similarly formed by suffixing -puⁿda; dohupuⁿda is “spark, cinder”
Subject and object are marked on the verb in the order ROOT-SUBJECT PERSONAL PRONOUN – OBJECT PERSONAL PRONOUN
- dʒaᵐboᵐvi + (h)u = dʒaᵐboᵐvihu, meaning “I insist”
- emi + (h)u + ka = emihuka, meaning “I bother you”
- There are 400 possible combinations of subject and object on a verb
There are two tenses; Future (marked with the prefix ⁿdoᵐvu-) and Non-future (unmarked)
- fawohu means “I work”; ⁿdoᵐvufawohu means “I will work”
There is also the Infinitive, formed with the prefix ᵐba-. Note that subject and object marking does not appear on infinitives
- ᵐbafawo means “to work”
Further aspectual and modal distinctions are formed with auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary verbs receive all verb marking and the lexical verb follows that complex
- The Perfective is unmarked
- The Imperfective is marked by reduplicating the first syllable of the verb; gedo is “scream”, gegedo is “screaming”
- The Perfect is marked with the auxilliary verb ⁿdoⁿzu; ⁿdoⁿzuhu jaⁿdu means “I have listened”; when combined with the Future tense marker the Future Perfect is formed; ⁿdoᵐvuⁿdoⁿzuhu jaⁿdu means “I will have listened”
Verbs are negated by following the verb with howi; hohotʃehu is “I worship”; hohotʃehu howi is “I do not worship”
Reflexives are formed by possessing the word “self” ⁿdo with the pronoun doing the reflexive action. This is combined with the same pronoun appearing in the subject and object verb slots; idohuhu ⁿdohu means “I excite myself”. Saying idohuhu would be like saying “I excite me”
This is not the case for the third person, where the absence of the reflexive pronoun complex is interpreted as the presence of separate arguments; idowiwi by itself would mean “he sees him”, wherein the second third person personal pronoun is a different person than the first refers to
Adjectives act like verbs and are marked in the subject slot on the verb template for the personal pronoun of the noun they modify, though they do not take tense marking; dʒahaⁿdʒe ajipo means “tiny brain”
Nouns are distinguished by gender when combined with adjectives. Thankfully gender is totally semantic. When agreeing with the adjective in person and number, the subject marking slot in the adjective template must agree in gender with the noun it modifies
- Masculine nouns refer exclusively to nouns refering to male humans and their respective titles, occupations, etc as well as male animals. iti, meaning “man”; iti bawutafiwi meaning “free man”
- Feminine nouns refer exclusively to nouns refering to female humans and their respective titles, occupations, etc as well as female animals. esa meaning “woman”; esa bawutafida meaning “free woman”
- Neuter nouns refer to anything not included in the previous categories, including non-gendered human terms; bawu, meaning “person”; bawu bawutafipo meaning “free person”
Numbers are base-eight. Numbers greater than eight are formed with the sequence NUMBER + lo + uᵐbu up to the number fifteen; tʃedi lo uᵐbu means “fourteen”. Numbers do not agree in gender with numbers, and merely follow the noun they modify; eⁿdo aro means “one cat”
Comparatives are formed with fixed expressions
- ᵐboᵐvipahu iⁿdʒa means “I am tall”; ᵐboᵐvipahu iⁿdʒa he means “I am taller”
Articles follow the nouns they appear with; fitʃo ⁿdʒi is “the fish” (as well as “that fish”); fitʃo aro is “a fish” (as well as “one fish”)
Yes-no questions are formed by ending the question with either “yes” ewo or “no” howi, depending on what the expected answer is
- ⁿdoᵐvuhusokapo upipo, ewo? means “You will see the house, yes?”
All other questions are formed by plugging in the interrogative pronoun in the sentence wherever appropriate; usokapo bu? means “What do you see?” (literally “You see what?”)