Proto-Sato-Lhedh

General information
Proto-Sato-Lhedh is the proto-language of the Sato-Lhedh language family. It evolved into Proto-Sattic, Proto-Lhedh and Proto-Eltic amongst other families. It uses a syntactical order of SVO though as it is inflected this can vary. It was spoken mainly in the Lhedronna and Marsheic areas from around -6000al to -4200al (according to the most widely accepted theory). The speakers are believed to have originated in the region of modern Ságalasz to Ðelsola.

Consonants
1 - The syllables qua, quä, que, quë, qui, quo and quö all realise qu as /kʷw/. However, the cluster quu (sometimes just qu) realises it as /kʷu/.

2 - This can appear as an allophone of many occurences of h.

Note that sounds in brackets only appear in dialects. When letters are doubled, they are lengthened e.g. /ss/ = [s:]. The letters that can be doubled are m, n, p, t, d, k, s, š and l. Stress is always placed on the first syllable of a word without exception.

Alphabet
As an extinct proto-language no written PSL exists. However, the standard way of transliterating it (when differing from the IPA) is as follows (note that /a/ and /æ/ are represented by the same character; PSL did not distinguish them from one another). A number of notable linguists object to the use of single characters (c and z) as representing affricates as those letters are not used in the same way in all Sato-Lhedh languages, nonetheless they shall be used here as a matter of convenience.

Phonotactics
(s)(C)(r, l, ʲ)V(V)(r, l)(C)(C) e.g. sḳäirc (blood)

When two vowels occur together in this way, there is a slight glide that barely realises the second consonant. This is often thus considered either a single vowel or a diphthong, i.e. monosyllabic. When adjacent vowels are in separate syllables they are separated by a glottal stop.

Dialects
Pronunciation of certain sounds changes depending on the main locations in which PSL is spoken, the North, West and South.

Sandhi
Proto-Sato-Lhedh has strict sandhi which causes assimilation towards the second consonant in a pair, both in terms of articulation and voicing. This is rarely reflected in writing. An example is ranpuore, pronounced ['rɑmpu:oɾe]. There are some exceptions to this rule: the letters s, š, p, k and v will never change their voicing, but can cause voice change in the following sound (e.g. sd > st). The letters c and č also do not except in Southern dialects. The letter v never causes a change in place of articulation except with k (vk > sk), and excluding Western dialects. The main complication is that the sandhi occurs across word boundaries.

Declensions - Cases

 * Nominative: Subject or following the verb nahkeṭ (to be).
 * Accusative: Object, and used with most adpositions.
 * Genitive: Showing possession (of...).
 * Dative: Indirect object (to... or for...).
 * Lative: Showing motion towards or into.
 * Ablative: Showing motion away from or out of, or an instrumental.

First Declension
Consonant-final. Model noun = sat, water.

Second Declension
ä-final. Model noun = valä, head.

Third Declension
e-final. Model noun = puore, grass.

Fourth Declension
o-final. Model noun = tahno, finger. 1) If the final consonant in the root here is any of t, d, l or k, it is palatalised in the lative singular.

2) In the accusative and genitive, the final consonant of the root is doubled if possible.

Articles
There are no indefinite articles in Proto-Sato-Lhedh. There are four definite articles which change based on declension and number of the noun.

Adjectives
Adjectives function exactly like nouns. They are placed before the noun that they agree with in number and case. There is no gender; each adjective has a given declension.

e.g. so kalëram tane. The wise man.

the.34.s wise-nom.s man-nom.s

se kalëramal taneș. The tall men.

the.34.pl wise-nom.pl man-nom.pl

Adverbs
to convert an adjective into an adverb one must simply suffix to the adjective. Which suffix is used depends on the declension.

Pronouns
Personal Interrogative Demonstrative

Pro-particles
aḳelu is a pro-verb. It stands in place of a verb used before it; which verb it refers to is determined by context. harkkan is a pro-adjective. This stands in place of an adjective.

e.g. čöiter nallu ki sän aḳelu. He left and so did I.

leave-inf be.3ps.past and I.nom prover

kalëram nah ki harkkan nuḷ. He is wise and I am also.

wise-nom.s be.3ps.pres and proadj be.1ps.pres

Prepositions
The vast majority of adpositions in PSL are postpositions, such as ja (in), due to the language being head-final. However there are a small number of prepositions. These are vai (on top of), quu (beneath) and tollë (to one side of).

parter namuḷquu äk. We live beneath the sky.

live-inf be.1pp.pres beneath sky-acc.s

Verbs
Formation of verbs is simple as only two conjugate: to be - nahkeṭ, and the negative verb - säreṭ. Other verbs occur as an infinitive which is placed before the appropriate form of a conjugating verb. Note that all other verbs end in -er.

e.g. teler nuḷ (säräḷ). I (don't) go.

go-inf be.1ps.pres (not.1ps)

kalëram neda (säräd). You are (not) wise.

wise-nom.s be.2ps.pres (not.2ps)

To Not...
Other verb forms do exist and are simple to form. The participle is formed by suffixing -e to the infinitive (telere, nahkeṭe) and the imperative by suffixing -av (telerav! nahkeṭav!).

Note that people in the South would be more likely to use the suffix -(u)tve or something with a similar effect than the negative verb, e.g. althisutve neda = You are without knowledge = You are not wise.

Arguments
Sentences can appear different depending on the number of arguments in them. A sentence with no arguments, unlike in English, does not take a dummy subject; instead one must use the participle of a verb.

e.g. ḳusatere. It's raining.

Intransitive clauses take a syntactical order of SV. Transitive clauses take an order of SVO. Ditransitive clauses have an order of SVÓO, where Ó is an indirect object in the dative case.

e.g. valt mater nallu sänu panjent sata. He gave water to my mother.

he-nom give-inf be.3ps.past I-gen mother-dat.s water-acc.s

Tritransitive clauses' structures vary depending on whether the fourth argument is a causative or a beneficiary. If it is a causative the structure is (CAO1-dat)V-partÓO2, where C is the causative and A is an auxiliary verb (stender, to make to do).

e.g. kur stender nähta valtah matere sänu panjent sata. You made him give water to my mother.

you-nom.s auxmake-inf be.2ps.remp he-dat give-part I-gen mother-dat.s water-acc.s

If the fourth argument is a beneficiary the structure is SBVÓO where B is the beneficiary in the dative case.

e.g. valt valtu moḷent mater nallu sänu panjent sata. He gave water to my mother for her sister.

he-nom she-gen daughter-dat.s give-inf be.3ps.past I-gen mother-dat.s water-acc.s

Derivational Morphology
1 - If the following word begins with a vowel the prefix ends with a glottal stop '.

2 - if the previous word starts with a vowel the suffix starts with a.

3 - If the previous word ends with a vowel the suffix starts with u.

Questions
The focus of a question suffixes -(o)šu, essentially a marker of topic. The final word in the question clause is val.

e.g. nah sto. He is tall.

be.3ps.pres tall-nom.s

nah stošu val? Is he tall?

be.3ps.pres tall-nom.s-''? quer''

nahošu sto val? Is he tall?

be.3ps.pres-? tall-nom.s quer

Responses are either repetition of the main verb or otherwise use of the negative verb.

e.g. nah stošu val? -nah. Is he tall? -Yes. (lit. He is)

Sentential Arguments
Sentential arguments are formed roughly as 'for O Ving... ʔ S V.'

e.g. valṭo nahkeṭe kalëram '(sän) quecer nuḷ. I think that she is wise. (lit. for her being wise ʔ I think)

she-lat be-part wise-nom.s '(I-nom) think-inf be.1ps.pres

Relative clauses work like English but use reflexive pronouns.

e.g. so tane raḍe salakser nallu kamaträk. The man who hated elks.

the.34.s man-nom.s refl-nom.s hate-inf be.3ps.past elk-acc.p

Kinship System
This works in a similar way to, say, Swedish.

e.g. Grandmother (father's mother) = tapanje

Grandmother (mother's mother) = papanje

Uncle (father's brother) = taquoḷe

Uncle (mother's brother) = paquoḷe

Numbers
PSL uses a Base12 numeral system, thus there are separate numbers up to twelve and anything beyond is a compound of it and numbers below. Separate words exist for 120, 1200, 12000 etc, though the highest of these numbers were never used (thus mišancak is listed as the final number here).

Example text
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

ki hu kunä ö' nählam asu dromiṭänu.

and the.12.s all-nom.s world-nom.s be.3ps.remp one-gen.s tongue-gen.s

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

ki mutter lassë usunder nählam, ruṭ telere curi'ek, iskunier nahläm acikkäk ö'a *šinara ja; ki parter nahläm dentek ja.

and come-inf iot pass-inf be.3ps.remp while go-part east-abl.s find-inf be.3pp.remp plain-acc.s in land-acc.s shinar-acc.s and live-inf be.3pp.remp in there-acc.s

'''And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.'''

'ki tolier as aso nahläm: "telerav. uiserav risnäna lassë strailer naromul *priki ki torhella änsledder raḍä." ki vralit stranker nahläm *priki u'aräšä ki *släjäma satah.'

and speak-inf one-nom.s one-lat.s be.3pp.remp go-impr allow-impr we-acc iot make-inf be.1pp.fut brick-acc.p and thorough-adv burn-inf refl-acc.p and they-nom have-inf be.3pp.remp brick-acc.p stone-dat.p and slime-acc.s water-dat.s

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

ki tolier nahläm: "telerav, uiserav risnäna lassë strailer *siti'a ki *täväk, so passo raḍiṭ teler noroh passo'; ki uiserav risnäna lassë strailer risnänah jenkura ëhur naromul neșrumi'äcanja kunnäk ö'a ja.

and speak-inf be.3pp.remp go-impr allow-impr we-acc iot make-inf city-acc.s and tower-acc.s the.34.s top-nom.s refl-gen.s go-inf be.3ps.fut top-lat.s and allow-impr we-acc iot make-inf we-dat name-acc.s unless be.1pp.fut apart-nom.p-very in whole-acc.s world-acc.s

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

ki so norvo mutter asto' nuhrä lassë ḳapper hu *siti'a ki hu *täväk, raḍä sinteș tanelä strailer nahläm vraliti.

and the.34.s master-nom.s come-inf here-lat.s be.3ps.remp iot see-inf the.12.s city-acc.s and the.12.s tower-acc.s refl-acc.p child-nom.p man-gen.p make-inf be.3pp.remp they-acc.p

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.