Proto Attran

Purpose

A proto-language that will be put through evolution to make more complex conlangs for my story.

Creative Constraints

Aesthetics are for the weak. Leave poetry and idioms to the descendants.

Before fancy sacred bowls comes basic pottery. Before basic pottery you have clay. Before clay you have mud. Before mud you have dirt. This is the dirt. We'll get to sacred bowls eventually, but we're a long way off.

Avoid inflection at all costs. Create roots, and string roots to make more complex words. Create words using existing roots whenever possible.

Ignore naturalism, nobody alive is actually going to speak this. The people who used it are all long gone.

Create nouns, numerals, verbs, a few basic pronouns, and modify them with another noun or verb. If you want dedicated adjectives, adverbs, more pronouns, etc, then evolve them in the daughter langs.

Intended Use

A proto lang to evolve into the elder tongues.

Phonology

Attrans lack lips, so their language has no labials.

Inventory

Consonants

	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasals	n	ɲ	ŋ
Stops	t	c	k	ʔ
Ejective Stops	t'	c'	k'
Affricates	ts
Fricatives	s		x	h
Approximant	ɹ	j
Lateral Approximant	l		ʟ

Clicks

Proto Attran has an extensive click inventory, with almost all consonant sounds having a click or click sequence equivalent. They occur only word initially, and only in names. In names derived directly from words, the click may be the only thing distinguishing them.

Consonant	Click
n	ᵑǃ
ɲ	ᵑǂ
ŋ	ᵑʞ
t	ǃ
t'
c	ǂ
c'
k	ʞ
k'
ts	ǀ or ǃ
s	ǀ
x	ʞˣ
h	ʞˀ
ɹ	ǃ˞
j	ǂʲ
l	ǁ
ʟ	ʞˡ

The dental click ǀ will appear as l' from here on. On my computer it looks too similar to l, and there is no ejective l in Proto-Attran, so it saves me a squint-induced headache.

A pulmonic shares its ejective equivalent, if it has one, with its click twin, if it has one.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i
Close-mid			o
Open		ä

Syllable Structure

((C1)(C2))V1(V2)(C3)

C1:n, ᵑǃ, ɲ, ᵑǂ, ŋ, ᵑʞ, t, t', ǃ, c, c', ǂ, k, k', ʞ, ʔ, ts, s, l', x, ʞˣ, h, ʞˀ, ɹ, ǃ˞, j, ǂʲ, l, ǁ, ʟ, ʞˡ

no C2 if C1 is n, ᵑǃ, ɲ, ᵑǂ, ŋ, ᵑʞ, ʔ, ɹ, ǃ˞, j, ǂʲ, l, ǁ, ʟ, ʞˡ

C2: n, ɲ, ŋ, ɹ, j, l, ʟ

V1: i, iː,o, oː, ä, äː

no V2 if V1 is  iː, oː, äː

V2: i, o, ä

Sequences of the same vowel become one long vowel; ii becomes iː, etc.

Sequences of t and s become ts

C3: n, ɲ, ŋ, ɹ, l, ʟ

VʔV only

Sequences

Consonant clusters

	t	t'	ǃ	c	c'	ǂ	k	k'	ʞ	ts	s	l'	x	ʞˣ	h	ʞˀ
n	tn	t'n	ǃn	cn	c'n	ǂn	kn	k'n	ʞn	tsn	sn	ǀ'n	xn	ʞˣn	hn	ʞˀ
ɲ	tɲ	t'ɲ	ǃɲ	cɲ	c'ɲ	ǂɲ	kɲ	k'ɲ	ʞɲ	tsɲ	sɲ	ǀ'ɲ	xɲ	ʞˣɲ	hɲ	ʞˀɲ
ŋ	tŋ	t'ŋ	ǃŋ	cŋ	c'ŋ	ǂŋ	kŋ	k'ŋ	ʞŋ	tsŋ	sŋ	ǀ'ŋ	xŋ	ʞˣŋ	hŋ	ʞˀŋ
ɹ	tɹ	t'ɹ	ǃɹ	cɹ	c'ɹ	ǂɹ	kɹ	k'ɹ	ʞɹ	tsɹ	sɹ	ǀ'ɹ	xɹ	ʞˣɹ	hɹ	ʞˀɹ
j	tj	t'j	ǃj	cj	c'j	ǂj	kj	k'j	ʞj	tsj	sj	ǀ'j	xj	ʞˣj	hj	ʞˀj
l	tl	t'l	ǃl	cl	c'l	ǂl	kl	k'l	ʞl	tsl	sl	ǀ'l	xl	ʞˣl	hl	ʞˀl
ʟ	tʟ	t'ʟ	ǃʟ	cʟ	c'ʟ	ǂʟ	kʟ	k'ʟ	ʞʟ	tsʟ	sʟ	ǀ'ʟ	xʟ	ʞˣʟ	hʟ	ʞˀʟ

...

this is gonna get pruned *big time* later on

Diphthongs

	i	o	ä
i	iː	oi	äi
o	io	oː	äo
ä	iä	oä	äː

this, however, is ok

Stress

Penultimate, unless the last syllable has a long vowel or a diphthong, in which case it's ultimate.

Syntax

SOV word order

Head-final

Adjective-Noun

Adjective-Pronoun

Adverb-Verb

Possessor-Possessed

Root List

Nouns

Basic Roots

Proto-Attran	English
tsɹoil	ball, rounded object, non-egg orb

Common Dual Compounds

First Root	Second Root	Compound Form	English

Common Trial Compounds

First Root	Second Root	Third Root	Compound Form	English

Pronouns

Proto-Attran	English

Verbs

Basic Roots

Proto-Attran	English

Common Dual Compounds

First Root	Second Root	Compound Form	English

Common Trial Compounds

First Root	Second Root	Third Root	Compound Form	English

Numerals

the Attrans use heximal, duodecimal, and hexadecimal systems. Of these, the duodecimal is the most widely used. Heximal is used exclusively in religious ceremonies, and hexadecimal is mostly used in 'step counting' for dances (they have 8 walking legs), with some regular counting usage in the southeastern part of the archipelago, especially the smaller islands and atolls. Duodecimal is the easiest for them to count on their fingers, since they have three (if you count the thumb) on all four hands.

Romanization

Protto-Attran has no written form, so it's transcribed phonetically.

IPA	Letter(s)

The dental click ǀ is written as l'. There is no ejective lateral of any kind in Proto Attran, ever.

Other clicks are written as their pulmonic equivalent, followed by #.

Ejectives are written as their pulmonic equivalent, followed by '.