Varðinekvas/Old

So, yep, Old 'Nekvas that is. AKA Western dialect with less substrate.

Phonology

 * See Varðinekvas.

The phonology of Old Varðinekvas is largely the same, with a few exceptions:
 * 1) Some sounds and corresponding graphemes are absent because a substrate carried them over to the modern form of the language.
 * 2) é and ó are not only raised but also lengthened. In fact, <ó> represents [ʊ].

Features

 * PIE roots left almost unchanged
 * retained most of the endings
 * generally satem changes:
 * most aspirated plosives become their fricative counterparts
 * most palatalized velar plosives become retroflex fricatives, aspirated palatalized velar plosives behave in the same way as their plain counterparts
 * some vowels and /VS/ (vowel-semivowel) sequences become diphthongs
 * most /VSV/ sequences become diphthongs
 * laryngeals become /ɒ/ in most cases; rarely their realization depends on a neighboring vowel.
 * no defined infinitive
 * fronting of vowels after fricatives developed from (unaspirated) palatalized plosives

Examples
*h₁ > 0 /#_ ! /#_CC (*h₁lewdʰ- > lauðos) *h₁ > 0 /V_ (*dʰéh₁tis > ðetis) *h₁ > a (*h₂enh₁mos > enams) *h₂ > 0 /#_V (*h₂ówis > ovis) *h₂ > a /#_ (*h₂nḗr > anér) *h₂ > á (*h₂ḱrós > áš(ə)r-, ášro) *h₃ > o (*h₃dónts > odont) *h₃e > o (*h₃ekʷ- > ogu) *éh₂ > á (*bʰréh₂tēr > brát, brátas) *ew > au (*bʰewdʰ- > bauð-, béðai) *o, a > e /Cʲ_ (*ǵnéw- > žnevu) *Pʷ > Pu /_C (*h₁n̥gʷnis > agunis) *Pʰ > P /#_C (*bʰrem- > brem-, brimai) *bʰ > v (*bʰerǵʰ- > verɣa, verɣ-, verx) *bʰ > b /_D (*bʰewg- > baug-, bégai) *gʰ, ǵʰ > ɣ (*mréǵʰus > breɣ-) *gʰ, ǵʰ > x /_# (*mréǵʰus > *brex > brax (n.) *dʰ > ð (*dʰugh₂tḗr > ðauga) *Pʰ > P /#_e? ! *dʰ > d /#_e (*bʰer- > ber-, birai; *dʰegʷʰ- > ðeɣ-, žiɣai) *bʰ > b /C_? (*ǵómbʰos > žembas) *w > v (*h₂ōwyóm > ovio)

Grammar
The grammar of Old Varðinekvas is mainly fusional and marginally synthetic.

Pronouns
As you can see, the singular and plural pronouns are derived from Proto-Indo-European, like most of the language's lexicon, and the dual pronouns are formed by attaching the suffix -dve (reduced form of duve - two) to either the pronoun root (in 3rd person) or an inflected form of a plural pronoun.

The declension of pronouns is quite regular, although different from the noun declension. Usually it involves declining an "inflected root" by attaching similar suffixes for each pronoun.

The pronouns have two oddities, both grammatical: there is a dual number and a distinct locative, both absent in nouns and verbs.

Nouns
The nouns have 2 genders: common and feminine. Each gender has an inanimate/animate distinction and a variety of declensions.

-as declension
The -as declension is the most common subtype of the common gender and the 1st (masculine) declension which, as evident from the declension name, evolved from various PIE masculine declensions. It can be both ablauting and non-ablauting. The latter usually has long vowels í é ó' or one of i ö á in the last syllable of the root.

A common example of the non-ablauting -as declension is the word šlévas "(good) rumor", as it features a long vowel.

Ablaut in 'nekvas, although rare, is quite regular and same for each declension. Most of the ablauting nouns have a zero plural or are pluralia tantum (such as skát "warpaint").

The regular ablaut, based mainly on vowel rounding, will be demonstrated in the following table (incomplete at the moment):

Examples of ablauting -as nouns, with zero and marked plural respectively, are antras "man" and kambas "warehouse". The zero plural's declension is irregular for a lot of nouns, but generally it's similar to the 2nd type of common

-u declension
The -u declension is a subtype of common gender's 2nd (neuter) declension. It evolved from PIE neuter gender, but some nouns derived from masculine PIE nouns also have an -u ending. Like most declensions, the -u declension can be both ablauting and non-ablauting.

An example of the (non-ablauting) -u declension is the word tardu ("settlement, village")

-o declension
The -o declension is another common subtype of the 2nd common gender declension. Since it belongs to the same declension as the -u declension, most of the endings aren't very different from those of the -u declension.

An example of the -o declension is the word šinto - a crowd of hundred men (derivative of šinte - hundred)

As evident from the examples above, some cases use a -g- suffix in plural, origin of which is uncertain.