Proto-Skomi
| Proto-Skomi | |
|---|---|
| Language Code | PS |
| Language Family | Skomi |
Proto-Skomi is the ancestral language of the Skomi people and used to be spoken around 6000 to 10000 years ago in the Proto-Skomi Urheimat (exact location still be worked on).
Compared to its descendants, Proto-Skomi has a relatively simple phoneme inventory of 20 consonants and 6 vowels. Notably, plosives have a 3-way contrast between tenuis (/p/, /t/, /k/), voiced (/b/, /d/, /g/) and aspirated (/pʰ/, /tʰ/, /kʰ/). Vowels are the usual 5-vowel system (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/) plus the schwa vowel (/ə/).
Proto-Skomi grammar is characterised by its SOV word order and predominantly head-initial preference. It also does not exhibit mutations present in the Tersamian languages, but some of the inflections in Proto-Skomi did result in those same mutations. Proto-Skomi is Nominative-Accusative just like its descendants, with 6 cases and 3 grammatical numbers. Verbs can carry one of three tenses, and mark for evidentiality.
Phonology
Consonants
| Consonants | Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Dorsal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ <ŋ> | |||
| Plosive | Tenuis | p | t | k | ʔ <q> | |
| Aspirated | pʰ <ph> | tʰ <th> | kʰ <kh> | |||
| Voiced | b | d | g | |||
| Fricative | Voiceless | s | h | |||
| Voiced | ɣ ~ ɦ <ħ>² | |||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||
| Trill | r | |||||
- When /p/, /t/ and /k/ come before /h/, they become /pʰ/, /tʰ/ and /kʰ/ respectively. In short: {p,t,k}h > {pʰ,tʰ,kʰ}
- In broad transcription, <ħ> is rendered as /ɦ/.
Vowels
| Vowels | Front | Centre | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə <y> | o |
| Low | a |
- Vowels immediately before or after /ʔ/ are pronounced ~30% shorter and are slightly creaky.
Phonotactics
Proto-Skomi has a maximum syllable structure of CCVCʔ like in “ksímq” /ˈksimʔ/ but only the following combinations are allowed in the onset:
| Notation | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| ∅ | Null onset. | áda |
| C | Any one consonant in the onset. | júno |
| C-{j,w}{j,w} | All consonants except /j/ or /w/, then /j/ or /w/. | djána |
| Ps | Any plosive, then /s/. | ksímq |
| FN | Any fricative, then /n/. | snyhóm |
| PW or FW | Any plosive or fricative, then /r/, /l/, /j/ or /w/. | khrády, thlérty |
Prosody
Proto-Skomi has phonemic stress, which usually results in the vowel being pronounced with more force and for longer. Stress is marked by an accent on the relevant vowel, and does not move about even as affixes are added to the root word.