Proto-Chevin

General Information
Proto-Chevin (riksu Gēfī) is one of several descendants of Proto-Edalith. It was spoken by the early migrants into the Chevi (Gēfi) peninsula, extending north from the greater Edalith (Aidālīt) peninsula. The Edalith peninsula extends northeast from the equator on the east side of Chiwar, the largest continent of the planet Patrona (Bārtona), home of the alien Patronans (bēlsa Bārtonai).

Classification
Proto-Chevin diverged into the Chevin language family. The Chevin people stayed in the sub-peninsula and spread island-ward, with their language becoming Proto-Alemar-Barejine. The Chevin people also spread back into the main Edalith peninsula and across the Chevi-Holkey strait.


 * Chevin (Proto-Chevin)
 * True Chevin (Proto-Alemar-Barejine)
 * Eastern Chevin (Alemarese)
 * Western Chevin (Barejine)
 * Southern Chevin (Proto-Southern Chevin)
 * Holkeyan Chevin (Proto-Holkeyan Chevin)

Consonants
The traditional classification and symbols are shown below.
 * The column labeled 'alveolar' was most likely laminal dentialveolar.
 * /f/ was almost certainly bilabial [ɸ].
 * /r/ could have been nearly any rhotic consonant, but it is currently constructed as an alveolar approximant, in line with other early Edalith languages.
 * /h/ was most likely a voiceless velar fricative [x].
 * /q/ was most likely farther back in the mouth than velar, possibly pharyngeal/epiglottal. It could have been a stop, fricative, approximant, or even a trill. There is simply no way to know given its diverse reflexes in descendant languages.
 * /v/ was almost certainly a labiovelar approximant [w].

Vowels

 * The vowel length distinction may have been accompanied by a tense/lax distinction.
 * The only diphthongs were /ei/, /oi/, /ai/, and /eu/, /ou/, /au/. Combinations of /u/ and /i/ with /y/ and /v/ in the morphology cause the vowels to lower.

Therefore, korēm* "guideline, rule" may have been pronounced [kɔˈɹeˑm].

Phonotactics
(C)V(C)


 * Word-initial clusters: /km/, /kn/, /kt/, /ks/, /nv/, /pr/, /br/, /tr/, /dr/, /kr/, /gr/, /sr/, /hr/, /pl/, /bl/, /tl/, /dl/, /kl/, /gl/, /sl/, /hl/, /py/, /by/, /ty/, /dy/, /ky/, /gy/, /sy/, /hy/, /pv/, /bv/, /tv/, /dv/, /kv/, /gv/, /sv/, /hv/, /ps/, /qr/, /qv/, /kmv/, /knv/, /ktv/, /ksv/, /psv/
 * Intervocalic clusters: word-initial clusters plus /mp/, /mb/, /mf/, /nt/, /nts/, /nd/, /ns/, /nr/, /nl/, /nk/, /ng/, /nh/, /nq/, /ny/, /rm/, /rp/, /rb/, /rf/, /rn/, /rt/, /rts/, /rd/, /rs/, /rl/, /rk/, /rg/, /rh/, /rq/, /ry/, /rv/, /lm/, /lp/, /lb/, /lf/, /ln/, /lt/, /lts/, /ld/, /ls/, /lk/, /lg/, /lh/, /lq/, /ly/, /lv/, /hn/, /qn/, /tn/, /mpv/, /mbv/, /mfv/, /ntv/, /ntsv/, /ndv/, /nsv/, /nrv/, /nlv/, /nkv/, /ngv/, /nhv/, /nqv/, /rmv/, /rpv/, /rbv/, /rfv/, /rnv/, /rtv/, /rtsv/, /rdv/, /rsv/, /rlv/, /rkv/, /rgv/, /rhv/, /rqv/, /lmv/, /lpv/, /lbv/, /lfv/, /lnv/, /ltv/, /ltsv/, /ldv/, /lsv/, /lkv/, /lgv/, /lhv/, /lqv/, /hnv/, /qnv/, /tnv/
 * The vowel can be any short or long monophthong or a diphthong.
 * Vowel hiatus is not permitted.
 * Word-final codas can be any consonant or cluster except for the semivowels /y/ and /v/, though word-final clusters are rare except in nominative singular forms of third declension nouns (where an epenthetic /e/ is inserted before final /y/ or /v/ after a consonant).

Stress
Stress was fairly regular, appearing on the final syllable of the root. ex. fetútya "tree" and bārúm "mountain"

Gender
Proto-Chevin had three gender classes: animate, lustrous, and dull, shown in fusional suffixes and agreement with adjectives.

Examples
 * Animate: luqa "spinnerfly"
 * Lustrous: dōhi "gold"
 * Dull: qvert "house, home"

Cases
There are six cases. Proto-Chevin retained all but the locative and ablative of Proto-Edalith.
 * Nominative: The dictionary form of a word. Used for the subject of verbs and as the object of a select few prepositions. It’s descended from the Proto-Edalith nominative case.
 * Accusative: Used for the object of a transitive verb, and the indirect object of a ditransitive verb, as well as the object of locative prepositions. It’s descended from the Proto-Edalith accusative case.
 * Instrumental: Used for instruments used to do an action and the direct object of a ditransitive verb. It’s descended from the Proto-Edalith instrumental case.
 * Allative: Used to indicate movement towards something. It’s descended from the Proto-Edalith allative case.
 * Genitive: Used to indicate movement away from something. Also used in compounds, compositions, and possession. It’s descended from the Proto-Edalith genitive and ablative cases.
 * Vocative: Used to directly address a noun. It’s descended from the Proto-Edalith vocative case.

Animate declension
Animate nouns have the nominative ending -a. These are mostly people and animals. It also contains all diminutives, some body parts, and generally helpful or beautiful plants.

ex. qrenta 'person'

Lustrous declension
Lustrous nouns have the nominative ending -i. These are mostly inanimate reflective items and abstractions, but it also contains the occasional body part or animate noun.

ex. kāsi 'light, brightness'

Dull declension
Dull nouns have the nominative ending -0. These are mostly inanimate non-reflective items, but it also contains the occasional body part or abstraction. It also contains all augmentatives.

ex. usin 'bowl, cup, pot'

Full table

 * The dull genitive plural is -ou if -vou would violate phonotactics.

Personal
The personal pronouns are shown in pairs, the first being the nominative and the second the accusative. Where the roots differ, the other cases are built on the nominative root.

Demonstratives

 * qede PROX
 * sole MED
 * tvele DIST

Adjectives
Adjectives decline similarly to and agree with nouns, though they have their own declension classes.


 * The dull genitive plural is -ou/eu if -vou/veu would violate phonotactics.

Proto-Chevin also had a morphological comparative in -is- which agreed with the superior noun, with the inferior noun following in the genitive.

Verbs
Verbs are exceedingly regular, as there are only a dozen or so irregular verbs. There are four conjugation classes (or themes) based on four thematic vowels: a, e, u, and o. Conjugation is based on suffixes. U verbs lower their theme vowel to o when diphthongized with a following i or u.

Conjugation tables
V stands in for a thematic vowel in the following tables. Participles are first declension adjectives. Negation was shown with negative adverbs including īs.

Example
ex. puvagi sevo "I do."

Syntax
The typical sentence structure in Proto-Chevin was V-X-F, that is, the verb was placed first and the focus was placed last, with everything else in between.

Anatomy

 * harkūha "body"
 * kali "skin"
 * drahni "hair"
 * firūna "head"
 * meutsuma "face"
 * polduva "mouth"
 * pusya "lip"
 * okta "tongue"
 * itsi "tooth plate"
 * qei (acc. qeyu) "head ridge"
 * otvankr "nose"
 * kēra "outer ear"
 * yeiksaira "inner ear"
 * rituri "eye"
 * qamusi "neck"
 * foleq "throat"
 * delgeteu (acc. delgetvu) "shoulder"
 * qoisl "lower back"
 * sunti "tail"
 * limuqa "buttock"
 * mana "chest"
 * qvadla "belly"
 * vulsa "arm"
 * faudra "hand"
 * tseiteu (acc. tseitvu) "back of the hand"
 * eutansa "digit"
 * līf "nail"
 * saka "leg"
 * hamba "foot"

Colors

 * kindi "red, purple"
 * plāfi "yellow, white"
 * qvoiki "gray"
 * arīti "black, blue"
 * pvarsi "green, cyan"

Numbers
All numbers were exclusively nouns, some of which were animate nouns.


 * 1) hem
 * 2) dins
 * 3) qvor
 * 4) mir
 * 5) dorsa
 * 6) seksa
 * 7) dveya
 * 8) om
 * 9) gem
 * 10) enqa