Proto-East

Classification and Dialects
Proto-East is the ancestor of most of the languages from Jamania to the Atalan Waters. It was spoken around 6-7,000 years ago south of Mt. Isati and east of the Atalan waters. Its hypothetical Urheimat, backed up by the religious theories of the Prolefisians, is the plains and hills around the current city of Tas. Over time, the language split into the current ones spoken today. The migration of speakers caused lexical divergence, morphological change and sound shifts in Proto-East's dialects.

Proto-East had a relatively complex noun declension, differentiating two genders, 7-9 cases and three numbers. Verbs only distinguished between two numbers, two aspects, reflexive and active voice, four moods, and two tenses.

Consonants
Proto-East also had the fricative /ts/ in its inventory as an allophone of /k/ between vowels, and as one of /s/ before /n/ or /l/.

/s/ world medially was likely voiced, especially due to the fact that it was written sometimes geminated.

Proto-East also had a set of syllabic consonants, which were /l, s, n/. These will be distinguished with an acute accent (ń).

/q/ could have been a theoretical voiceless labialized aspirated dorsal stop, but was frequent enough and had its own character that suggests otherwise.

Vowels
Proto-East differentiated vowel length.

Allowed diphthongs include /au/ /a:u/, /ai/ /a:i/, /ui/, and /oi/. The status of /ui/ as a diphthong is uncertain, and could have been /ɥ/.

Phonotactics
Proto-East allows a basic C(C)VC syllable structure. Between syllables, a geminated /s/ is possible and is phonemic (word with gemination vs. no gemination).
 * 1) Onset
 * 2) The first consonant can be syllabic, but it is in accordance with place of articulation. For example, /m/ can be onset if the next consonant is a labial stop, /n/ with coronals, /l/ can be with dorsals or uvulars. Note that if there is a syllabic consonant in an onset cluster, the next part must be a stop, whether it be plain, labialized, aspirated, (un)voiced. /s/ can be in an onset cluster, but it is not syllabic and can only be followed by voiceless stops.
 * 3) The cluster /hw/ is also allowed, as well as any dorsal stop followed by /r/ or /l. The dorsal stop cannot be labialized.
 * 4) Simple onsets (of one consonant) can be any other consonant.
 * 5) Nucleus
 * 6) The nucleus of a syllable can be any vowel or a syllabic consonant. It can only be one if the onset is simple.
 * 7) Coda
 * 8) All consonants are allowed.

Writing System
The people who spoke Proto-East did not have a writing system, as it had not been invented yet. Instead, modern linguists have come up with a simple Romanization describing the ancient language.

Syllabic consonants are marked with an accute accent over them, such as <ś>.

Stress
Stress in Proto-East is regular, and not phonemic. It can be determined by sets of rules.

If a syllable has a long vowel or a diphthong, that syllable is always stressed. If a word has two or more of a long vowel or diphthong, the one closer to the end of the word is stressed. Otherwise, there are two types of words in Proto-East, oxytones and paroxytones. Words are oxytones (stressed on the final syllable) if they end in /n/ or /s/. Paroxytones end in /t/ or /h/, or a simple vowel.

Grammar
- we have to write some fun things here once we have actual words

Pronouns
Pronouns in Proto-East are highly inflectional, but less so than ordinary nouns. There are two types of personal pronouns: full and reduced. There are more than 60 full forms.

The genitive form is more accurately analyzed as a possessive determiner (similar to English my, your), but it can also be used as a full pronoun (as in English mine, yours).

The reduced pronoun forms of pronouns are attached to several words to convey meaning.
 * To the end of prepositions as an object of them (to me, during it)
 * To the end of certain verb forms as an object of them (this mainly happens in the reflexive voice or some subjunctive usages)
 * To the end of certain conjunctions when the pronoun is the subject (I know it because I did it)

The nominative and accusative forms are the same. Plurals follow a similar pattern generally as well.

Some of the clitic forms are clearly related to the full forms.

Verbs
Verbs in Proto-East are built of a root. While some forms of ablaut are exhibited in the pronouns, there is none in verbs. The system is generally one of: The Proto-East root is generally monosyllabic, but can be duosyllabic. The prefix and the root create a stem, and this stem is either perfective or imperfective. From there, the different tenses are built.
 * Prefix (imperfective or perfective)
 * Infix (derivational)
 * Root
 * Verb ending

For example, the root rot, to see, is combined with the imperfective prefix of ra to create rarotatń, the stem from which the present and past imperfect are built. Various infixes can change the meaning from to see to to gaze, etc.

All verb infinitives end in -atń.

Voice
Proto-East verbs have two voices, an active and a reflexive. Some verbs have active morphology but reflexive meaning, and other have reflexive morphology but active meaning.