Pataxea
Proto-Azkali is the reconstructed ancestor of the modern Azkali language. No direct evidence of Proto-Azkali's existance exist. Practically all of the information on Proto-Azkali is based on internal reconstruction. Along with Proto-Ukilen, the reconstruction on Proto-Azkali is one of the most extensive compared to other languages. The first reconstructions of Proto-Azkali started in 1500 AD, leading to the establishment of many modern linguistic reconstruction techniques.
History
There is no direct evidence of the existance of Proto-Azkali as a language.
Phonology
Consonants
The consonants of Proto-Azkali are, in standard notation:
| Consonants | Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alveolar | Palatal | |||||
| Nasals | *m
/m/ |
*n
/n/ |
*ng
/ŋ/ |
|||
| Plosives | voiceless | *p
/p/ |
*t
/t/ |
*c
/c/ |
*k
/k/ |
|
| voiced | *b
/b~p'/ |
*d
/d-t'/ |
*g
/g~k'/ |
|||
| Fricatives | voiceless | *s
/s/ |
*ch
/ç/ |
*x
/x~χ/ |
*h
/h/ | |
| voiced | *z
/z~s'/ |
|||||
| Semivowels | *l
/l/ |
*y
/j/ |
||||
| Rhotic | *r
/ɹ/ |
|||||
Nasal sounds could not appear word initially, nor it appears could *s or *z. The rhotic *r /ɹ/ possibly could have been a trill /r/ word initially.
Vowels
The vowels of Proto-Azkali are, in standard notation:
| Front | |
|---|---|
| Close | *i
/i~ɪ/ |
| Mid | *e
/e~ɛ/ |
| Open | *a
/a/ |
Morphology
Nouns
Nouns in Proto-Azkali declined for 6 cases: the Nominative, marking the object of a transitive or intransitive verb, the Ergative, marking the subject of a transitive verb, the Accusative marking the direct object of a transitive verb and in past clauses, the subject of intransitive verbs and the direct objects of transitive verbs, the Genitive, marking a relationship between two nouns, the Privative, marking the lack of ownership specifically on a marked noun, and the Instrumental, marking the noun as being the instrument by which the verb was accomplished (this can be a physical object or a concept).
Proto-Azkali had a split-ergative morphosyntactical alignment. In the future and present tenses, the nominative and accusative cases were used; in past tenses, the ergative case was used, and the accusative case acted as the absolutive case. Case marking appeared to have been conveyed via particles, shown below:
| Nominative | Ø |
|---|---|
| Ergative | *ne |
| Accusative | *ka |
| Genitive | *kaca |
| Privative | *za |
| Instrumental | *gazi |
Contrasting with regular nouns, pronouns had distinct forms based on their case:
Verbs
Lexicon
| No. | Gloss | Proto-Azkali
(Nora 1960) |
Notes | Modern Azkali |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I | *ke | (or possibly *ki) | go |
| 2 | you (singular) | *te | te | |
| 3 | he | *bai | mei | |
| 4 | we | *an | oen | |
| 5 | you (plural) | *ean | uen | |
| 6 | they (plural) | *en | ein | |
| 7 | this | *anazgeri | nazkuriz | |
| 8 | that | *keri | kauli | |
| 9 | here | *on | hon | |
| 10 | there | heri | ||
| 11 | who | *gamea | amori (interrogative) | |
| 12 | what | *gamera | amozeri (interrogative) | |
| 13 | where | *gachera | amicheri (interrogative) | |
| 14 | when | *gesera | isari (interrogative) | |
| 15 | how | *kea | amera (interrogative) | |
| 16 | not | *ga(n)- | hu- | |
| 17 | all | *ke(n)- | gen- | |
| 18 | many | *gazg(i)- | asti- | |
| 19 | some | *eze(n)- | sen- | |
| 20 | few | *-(n)an | irria- | |
| 21 | other | gou- | ||
| 22 | one | *chat | at | |
| 23 | two | *chatei | aitei | |
| 24 | three | *charei | iriu | |
| 25 | four | *chamadei | madhet | |
| 26 | five | *chakei | kaizo | |
| 27 | big | motzi | ||
| 28 | long | zogi | ||
| 29 | wide | sogi | ||
| 30 | thick | astsathi | ||
| 31 | heavy | |||
| 32 | small | |||
| 33 | short | |||
| 34 | narrow | |||
| 35 | thin | |||
| 36 | woman | *chemega | kuiga | |
| 37 | man (adult male) | *chamiga | maiga | |
| 38 | man (kali being) | *echalia | (either *echalia or
*egalia were likely used) |
kali |
| 39 | child | *sachigi | atsini | |
| 40 | wife | *chetaz | eitoiz | |
| 41 | husband | paotoiz | ||
| 42 | mother | *mama | mama | |
| 43 | father | *papa | papa | |
| 44 | animal | *chitzaga | isana | |
| 45 | fish | |||
| 46 | bird | |||
| 47 | dog | |||
| 48 | louse | |||
| 49 | snake | |||
| 50 | worm | |||
| 51 | tree | *gra | (almost certainly derived
from Mallo-Brausian) |
zamait |
| 52 | forest | *grablia | (almost certainly derived
from Mallo-Brausian) |
zamaikon |
| 53 | stick | |||
| 54 | fruit | |||