Proto-Alfnehr language
Proto-Alfnehr is a reconstructed language, descended from Proto-ʔināši. It was notable for its radical restructuring of the verbal system, with tense, aspect, and mood being primarily indicated through auxiliary verbs and particles. Its phonology also underwent a substantial transformation, chiefly marked by the loss of voiced stops and the transition of interdental fricatives to stops.
The language's evolution led to an array of vibrant daughter languages, each carrying unique distinctions in their grammatical structure and phonetics. Here is a brief description of these daughter languages:
1. Hud: Hud developed a unique morphological structure with strong emphasis on auxiliary verbs.
2. Yā: The language has rich verb inflection, with tense and mood primarily conveyed through auxiliary particles.
3. Kuvaf: This language exhibits a complex verb system, heavily reliant on tense and mood particles.
4. Nār: Nār's verbal system has been greatly simplified through the use of auxiliary verbs and particles to express tense, aspect, and mood.
5. Hihak: It has an intricate verb system, with tense, mood and aspect conveyed mainly by auxiliary verbs and particles.
6. Arkh: The language has gone through extensive nasal assimilation and is known for its streamlined verb system with auxiliary verbs indicating tense, mood and aspect.
7. Jazzr: Characterized by the simplification of the original phonetic system and an extensive use of auxiliary verbs in its verb system.
8. Oher: Known for the deletion of final nasals and a shift towards the use of auxiliary verbs and particles to convey tense, aspect, and mood.
9. Sai: emphasis has shifted away from the original phonetic system, with heavy reliance on auxiliary verbs and particles to express tense, mood and aspect.
10. Ytāt: Its verbal system, like its sibling languages, primarily indicates tense, aspect, and mood through auxiliary verbs and particles.
Each of these languages evolved from Proto-Alfnahr while developing their own unique phonetics and grammatical structures, demonstrating the dynamism and diversity inherent in the linguistic evolution.
Sound changes
- Loss of voiced stops /b/, /d/, /g/.
- Interdental fricatives /θ/, /ð/ shift to stops, becoming /t/, /d/ respectively.
- Voiceless uvular stop /q/ shifts to /k/.
- Glottal stops /ʔ/ are lost in all positions.
- The semivowels /w/, /j/ merge with the closest vowel, creating long vowels.
- Velar nasal /ŋ/ shifts to /n/ in all positions.
- Pharyngeal fricatives /ħ/, /ʕ/ merge with /h/.
- Nasals /m/, /n/ are lost in word-final position.
- Voiced fricatives /v/, /ð/ devoice to /f/, /θ/ in word-final position.
- Gemination (doubling) of consonants is lost.
- Final short vowels are deleted.
- Emphatics /ṭ/, /ṣ/, /ḍ/, /ḏ/ merge with their non-emphatic counterparts.
- Vowels /i/, /u/ become /e/, /o/ in closed syllables.
- Vowel /a/ is raised to /e/ in unstressed syllables.
- Nasal assimilation: Nasals assimilate in place to a following stop or nasal.
- Insertion of /i/ before word-final voiceless stops.
- Insertion of /u/ between two voiceless fricatives.
- Insertion of /e/ between two nasals.
- Insertion of /o/ after word-initial lateral approximant.
- The uvular fricative /χ/ shifts to /h/ in all positions.
Root Languages
Successor Languages
Spoken by