Proto-Central (Pencilcosmos)

Proto-Central was the first language to develop in the central regions of the Pencilcosmos. Once serving as the general lingua franca of the area, the language broke up into two other languages, ancient Whag and ancient Freeglian. Most of what is known about Proto-Central comes from writings in other languages describing Proto-Central, as Proto-Central did not have its own writing system.

Classification and Dialects
Proto-Central is generally very analytical, with declining completely absent and only limited verb conjugation. Grammatical case/derivational methods are generally shown via particles.

Consonants
* The glottal stop, as it was very rare, was lost in ancient Whag, although it appeared in ancient Freeglian later on.

Phonotactics
Any consonant followed by a glottal stop turns into their ejective form (voiced consonants also become unvoiced)

The language has a very simple CV/CVC syllable structure. Glottal stops are not permitted as onset or coda.

Allowed onset sounds: /p/, /n/, /d/, /s/, /k/, /g/, /q/, /x/, /ç/, /w/, /ʍ/

Allowed coda sounds: /p/, /b/, /s/, /d/, /g/, /r/, /i/, /u/, /ɑ/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /oʊ/

/ɒ/ turns into /oʊ/ if it is in coda position.

Romanization

 * /x/ will be romanized as kh
 * /ç/ will be romanized as c
 * /ʍ/ will be romanized as wh
 * /ɑ/ will be romanized as a
 * /ɒ/ will be romanized as o
 * /ʊ/ will be romanized as eu
 * /ɪ/ will be romanized as i
 * every other sound is spelled via their IPA equivalents.

Writing System
Proto-Central does not have a writing system. The language broke apart into other languages before any writing system was created/adopted.

Nouns
Nouns take absolutely no marking. There is no person marking, and thus word order is strictly enforced.

To show possession, the possessed thing has a particle (sas) come after it. the possessor is shown after.

Locative case is expressed via a particle (qi) that comes after the locator.

Instrumental case is expressed via a particle (ki).

Verbs
Verbs inflect for tense, aspect, and voice (there is no distinction between past tense and perfective aspect). The inflectors will be demonstrated via the verb for "see" (kab). Imperfective aspect is left unmarked.

Verbs are used with the copula (ca) to show that the action has definitely happened. The copula comes after the verb. A phrase still makes grammatical sense if it is missing the copula (such as in "pa kheus" (gloss: 1 exist); which means something along the lines of "I apparently exist" or "maybe I exist").

Relative clauses are created by making the verb preceed the noun (if there is an object the object comes before the verb).

Adjectives are treated the same way as verbs.

To show that the action is able to be performed, a particle (cawhap) is added after the verb.

Irregular Conjugation
The Proto-Central copula has a couple different irregular conjugated forms. The perfective form of the copula was derived from an old form of the word for "to experience", and the future tense form was derived from an old word meaning something along the lines of "to resemble". As of now, it is the only irregular conjugation that has been discovered.

However, the irregularity somehow disappeared in Ancient Whag for unknown reasons.

Syntax
The word order is SOV. Adjectives come after the head. In the beginning, the language was head-final, although the increased amount of verbs being treated more and more as adjectives caused the head direction to shift to head-initial. Remnants of the old head-final system remained in the grammar such as relative clauses being formed by moving the verb before the noun (making the verb become an adjective).