Proto-Andem

Proto-Andem Bhaa’
Type
Agglutinative
Alignment
Accusative
Head direction
left
Tonal
No
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
No
Nouns decline according to...
Case	Number
Definiteness	Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice	Mood
Person	Number
Tense	Aspect

General Information

Proto-Andem (Andem comes from the Alemarese name for the region, the original speakers may have called their language *Bhaa‘ “speech") is the proto-language of the Andem language family, a rather large language family spoken by a large portion of the alien Patronans of the planet Patrona, specifically originating from the Andem subcontinent off the southwest coast of the largest continent, Chiwar. Andem languages spread along with the Djipirist religion.

Phonology

Consonants

	bilabial	laminal	apical	velar	glottal
nasal	m	n	ɳ	ŋ
stop	p b	t d	ʈ ɖ	k g	ʔ
aspirate	pʰ bʰ	tʰ dʰ	ʈʰ ɖʰ	kʰ gʰ
fricative			ʂ

m, p, b, ph, bh, n̠, t̠, d̠, t̠h, d̠h, n, t, d, th, dh, s, ŋ, k, g, kh, gh, ‘

• /ʂ/ was almost certainly voiced before voiced consonants.
• /d/ may have been a flap or trill in some environments, as it's reflexes in many daughter languages.
• The voiced aspirate series could have been murmured or breathy voiceless aspirates among other possibilities.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Low		ä

i, y, a, u

Phonotactics

CV(V)(C)

• There are no word-initial or word-final consonant clusters. Any potential illegal cluster is broken by an epenthetic /ɨ/.
• Geminates are suppressed.
• Any two vowels can occur together in a syllable, forming a diphthong or long vowel. Any additional vowels added onto a diphthong or long vowel will be separated with an epenthetic /ʔ/.
• Laminal consonants do not begin any native roots, though they may begin syllables otherwise, including suffixes.
• Legal words have a two-mora minimum, that is, the minimum word is CVV or CVN. An epenthetic /ɨ/ is added to any word which would fall short.

Grammar

Proto-Andem was an agglutinative language built on a system of roots and affixes (which are mostly suffixes). Roots have no innate part of speech and can alternate freely between verbal, nominal, and adjectival meanings, sometimes with no overt marking. Roots can also be combined to form impressive compounds, the primary method of derivation. Though extremely important and comprehensive, distinctions made via affixes are almost all optional, and affixes can be left out if context is enough to clear up ambiguities. The canonical order of affixes is very fluid, with the most salient affixes being last.

Word order was mostly head-final, though case markings probably made moving words around for focus possible.

Nouns

Nouns can take markings for: number, case, determiner, tense, diminutive/augmentative, & conjunctions.

Determiners (prefixes): this/here bha-, my/our ghi-, your ni-, his/her/its/their ‘i-, each phyu-, which ’adhy-, no pu-, few ’adpu-, many dyy-, all khama-

Number: collective -0, singular -is, dual -ia, plural -symi

Cases: nominative -0, accusative -u, genitive -i, instrumental -t̠a, comitative -byn, equative -sai, causative -daŋku, dative -ŋa, perlative -sas, ablative -ty, adessive -n̠a, inessive -du, superessive -dyy, subessive -kuph

Verbs

Verbs can take markings for: subject, object, voice, mood, aspect, tense, diminutive/augmentative, & conjunctions.

Subject (prefixes): first person ghy-, second person na-, third person 0-

Object: first person -d̠am, second person -na, third person definite -yt̠, third person indefinite -’i, propositional object -pham, interrogative object -adh

Voices (prefixes): active 0-, mediopassive bi-, causative ’id-, instrumental applicative ‘yt̠a-, comitative applicative byn-, dative applicative ghi-, perlative applicative sas-, ablative applicative ty-

Aspects: imperfective -0, momentane -syy, iterative -’a’y, generic -yn, continuative -mau, accidental -’u’a, inchoative -ium, cessative -iudh, resumptive -yst̠a

Moods: indicative -0, interrogative -adhy, presumptive -id̠, abilitative -syp, desiderative -a, necessitative -sam, negative -pu

Both nouns and verbs

Tense: present -0, past -ak, future -iph

Intensity: diminutive -khi, augmentative -’au

Conjunctions: concatenative -m, counterfactual -mby, causal -daŋku, after/since -baad̠, before/until -baaky, while -biphuṭ, conditional -gaa, relative -t̠hai

Sound changes and Descendants

Insular Andem

1. [+asp]>[+fric]
2. d/r/V_
3. ɖ/ɭ/V_
4. V//_#/V_
5. t(ɨ)/s/_#
6. ɣ(ɨ)/u/_#
7. ɣ/j/_
8. x/h/_
9. ɸ/w/_
10. h//_C
11. S//_C[-j]
12. ɨ/ɐ/_
13. au/o/_
14. ua/o/_
15. ai/e/_
16. ia/e/_
17. V//_²
18. b/ɖ/ɳ_
19. p/ʈ/ɳ_
20. jɐ/i/_
21. ʔɐ//#_C

Vocabulary

Numbers

1	’is
2	’ia
3	?
4	?
5	?
6	?

Miscellaneous

*’an̠d̠y "land"

*mut̠h "people"

*dha’ "shape"

*dauk "log, trunk"

*phaad̠ "run"

thuk-y, ’isph-y, dad̠-a, daghd̠-is, khyt̠ph-is, suŋ-is, tyn̠d̠-y, bygh-y, kypgh-y, dyt̠h-y, ’yd̠-y, mund-y, khat̠-a