| Proto-Elcassa | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Agglutinative | ||||||||||||
| Alignment | Oblique-absolutive | ||||||||||||
| Head direction | Head-initial | ||||||||||||
| Tonal | No | ||||||||||||
| Declensions | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Conjugations | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Genders | None | ||||||||||||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||||||||||||
| Case | Number | ||||||||||||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||||||||||||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||||||||||||
| Voice | Mood | ||||||||||||
| Person | Number | ||||||||||||
| Tense | Aspect | ||||||||||||
| Meta-information | |||||||||||||
| Progress | 17% | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Creator | [[User:|]] | ||||||||||||
General information[]
Proto-Elcassa is the reconstructed version of Elcassa. It was emerged in 1000B.C., and then later than begin to develop to Old Elcassa. Its grammar and phonology featured the following characteristics, no labials, no inflections for tense nor aspect, very limited syllable structure, a plain-aspirated-inaudible stop/affricate distinction and consonant harmony.
Phonology[]
Consonants[]
| Dental | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | *n | *ñ /ɲ/ | *m /ŋ/ | *ṇ /ɴ/ | |
| Plosive | plain | *d /t/ | *j /c/ | *g /k/ | *ġ /q/ |
| asp. | *t /tʰ/ | *c /cʰ/ | *k /kʰ/ | *q /qʰ/ | |
| inaudible | *ṭ /t̚/ | *ċ /c̚/ | *ḳ /k̚/ | *q̇ /q̚/ | |
| Fricative | *s | *ś /ɕ/ | *h /x/ | *ḣ /χ/ | |
| Affricate | plain | *z /ts/ | *ǵ /tɕ/ | *ğ /kx/ | *ḡ /qχ/ |
| asp. | *ts /tsʰ/ | *ć /tɕʰ/ | *ǩ /kxʰ/ | *ḵ /qχʰ/ | |
| inaudible | *ṭs /ts̚/ | *ĉ /tɕ̚/ | *ḳ̌ /kx̚/ | *ḵ̣ /qχ̚/ | |
| Approximant | *r /ɹ/ | *y /j/ | *w /w̜/ | *ģ /ʁ̞/ | |
| Lateral | *l | *ł /ʎ/ | *ll /ʟ/ | ||
The stops with no audible release might have been ejectives.
Vowels[]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | *i *ü /y/ | *e /ɨ/ | *o /ɯ/ *u |
| Low | *a |
The weak vowel counterpart of the front vowels were *y, the central vowels *ģ and the back vowels *w.
Consonantal harmony[]
Proto-Elcassa exhibited consonantal harmony, this is divided into three groups: +inaudible (consonants with no audible release), ±inaudible (plain consonants) and -inaudible (aspirated consonants). This phenomena happened to all stops and affricates in suffixes, when following a syllable and its stop/affricate. For example:
| *-Da '1st declension, comitative marker' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Example | *juġu + *-Da = *juġuda | *katso + *-Da = *katsota | *heṭse + *-Da = *heṭseṭa |
| Gloss | house.COM | bone.COM | king.COM |
| Translation | with the house | with the bone | with the king |
Phonotactics[]
The phonotactics of PE is very limited, with only CV(n) allowed.
Grammar[]
Phonetic abbreviations[]
When transcribing sets of PE consonants, the following symbols are used:
- D stands for a dental stop
- J stands for a palatal stop
- G stands for a velar stop
- Q stands for an uvular stop
- Z stands for a dental affricate
- Ć stands for a palatal affricate
- Ǧ stands for a velar affricate
- Ḡ stands for an uvular affricate
Nouns[]
Proto-Elcassa nouns were the most simple, with inflections only regarding case and possession. Number, definiteness and gender are not termed as grammatical categories. The word *gu can either mean "dog", "dogs", "the dog", "a dog" "the dogs", "some dogs" and so on, depending on context.
Cases[]
There were four cases in Proto-Elcassa, absolutive, oblique (ergative-dative), ablative and comitative.
Absolutive[]
The absolutive case is used for:
- the subject of an intransitive verb
- the object of a transitive verb
- the donor of a ditransitive verb
- all oblique phrases except honorifics
- some adverbs
Oblique[]
The oblique case is used for:
- the subject of a transitive verb
- the theme of a ditransitive verb
- the recipient of a ditransitive verb
- most adverbs
Ablative[]
The ablative case is used for:
- movement away from a noun
- certain time prepositions (e.g. *noǧe (before))
- most distance adverbs
Comitative[]
The comitative case is used for:
- accompaniment of nouns
- possession of nouns
- some distance adverbs
Declension[]
Proto-Elcassa had no distinctions of number. It also had a set of three declensions depending on ending phoneme.
First delcension[]
The first declension included nouns that mostly ended in front and transparent vowels. It is sometimes called the front declension. The declensions of the nouns *tugi (pig), *kü (ice) and *llaṭe (smoke) are shown on the table below.
| Suffix | -inaudible | ±inaudible | +inaudible | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form | Translation | Form | Translation | Form | Translation | ||
| Absolutive | Ø | *tugi | pig (S or O) | *kü | ice (S or O) | *llaṭe | smoke (S or O) |
| Oblique | *-Je | *tugije | pig (A) | *küce | ice (A) | *llaṭeċe | smoke (A) |
| Ablative | *-Zi | *tugizi | from the pig | *kütsi | from ice | *llaṭeṭsi | from smoke |
| Comitative | *-Da | *tugida | with the pig | *küta | with ice | *llaṭeṭa | with smoke |
Second delcension[]
The second declension included nouns that mostly ended in back vowels. It is sometimes called the back declension. The declensions of the nouns *gu (dog), *macu (plant) and *yaḳo (snow) are shown on the table below.
| Suffix | -inaudible | ±inaudible | +inaudible | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form | Translation | Form | Translation | Form | Translation | ||
| Absolutive | Ø | *gu | dog (S or O) | *macu | plant (S or O) | *yaḳo | snow (S or O) |
| Oblique | *-Ći | *guǵi | dog (A) | *macući | plant (A) | *yaḳoĉi | snow (A) |
| Ablative | *-Qa | *guġa | from the dog | *macuqa | from the plant | *yaḳoq̇a | from snow |
| Comitative | *-Do | *gudo | with the dog | *macuto | with the plant | *yaḳoṭo | with snow |
Third delcension[]
The third declension included nouns that mostly ended in *-n. It is sometimes called the nasal declension. The declensions of the nouns *jedon (stick), *tin (flower) and *neq̇on (milk) are shown on the table below.
| Suffix | -inaudible | ±inaudible | +inaudible | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form | Translation | Form | Translation | Form | Translation | ||
| Absolutive | Ø | *jedon | stick (S or O) | *tin | flower (S or O) | *neq̇on | milk (S or O) |
| Oblique | *-Gi | *jedongi | stick (A) | *tinki | flower (A) | *neq̇onḳi | milk (A) |
| Ablative | *-Ko | *jedongo | from the stick | *tinko | from the flower | *neq̇onḳo | from milk |
| Comitative | *-Ju | *jedonju | with the stick | *tincu | with the flower | *neq̇onċo | with milk |
Possession[]
Possession of nouns only decline by person. The possession suffixes of the nouns *gu (dog), *tin (flower) and *riḳe (sheep) are shown on the table.
| Suffix | -inaudible | ±inaudible | +inaudible | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form | Translation | Form | Translation | Form | Translation | ||
| 1st person | *-Di | *gudi | my dog | *tinti | my flower | *riḳeṭi | my sheep |
| 2nd person | *-Ǧa | *guǧa | your dog | *tinǩa | your flower | *riḳeḳ̌a | your sheep |
| 3rd person | *-Zü | *guzü | his dog | *tintsü | his flower | *riḳeṭsü | his sheep |
Pronouns[]
Personal pronouns[]
Proto-Elcassa had only first and second person personal pronouns, for the third person, the demonstrative *he was used. They also didn't inflect for number and gender, and they only inflected for case.
| 1st person | 2nd person | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pronoun | Translation | Pronoun | Translation | |
| Absolutive | *wa | I (S)
me (O) |
*sa | thou (S)
thee (O) |
| Oblique | *wen | I (A) | *san | thou (A) |
| Ablative | *won | from me | *sun | from thee |
| Comitative | *weko | with me | *sino | with thee |
Demonstrative pronouns[]
Proto-Elcassa demonstratives had a proximal-medial-distal distinction, and they were taken in use of the third-person pronouns.
| Proximal | Medial | Distal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demonstrative | Translation | Demonstrative | Translation | Demonstrative | Translation |
| *ya | this | *la | that (by you) | *he | that |
Verbs[]
Proto-Elcassa verbs are the most complex part of speech, and they replace adjectives. They decline for mood, voice, evidentiality, polarity and person, but not for tense, aspect nor number.