Proto-Himalo-Auspik

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Proto-Himalo-Auspik is the supposed beginning of a vast array of languages that covers most of the population of Himalia, about half of its area, along with a great number of languages to the south in Snavwxniik-Nakwn, Wyverncliff, and Auspikitan.


Phonology

The reconstructed consonant inventory of Proto-Himalo-Auspik contains seventeen distinct consonants. Phoneticians also often note a separate series of geminated fricatives which occurs on all of the fricatives except for /ɕ/, as the geminate versions of the fricatives are rarer than their short counterparts with the exception of /vv/. They are unusual compared to most language's geminated consonants in that they act almost identical to the short version in the phonotactics of the language.

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Stops Plosives
p b
t d
k g
q
ʔ
Affricates
tɕ dʑ
Fricatives
f v
s z
ɕ
x
Nasals
m
n
Sonorants
l
j

The reconstructed Proto-Himalo-Auspik vowel system has eight vowels. Unclear realizations of the two sounds notated here as u¹ and u² exist, especially of u² which has been proposed as being /y/, /ʉ/, a lax /u/, or even /u/ with u¹ being /uː/. The current most accepted theory is the /ʉ/ realization.

Vowels
Front Central Back
High
i
ɨ u²
Mid
ɛ
ə
o
Low
a

Orthography

The orthography of Proto-Himalo-Auspik is entirely phonemic and follows closely the IPA, but has a few minor differences outlined in the table below.

Orthographic Representations
IPA Spelling IPA Spelling
a a m m
ɛ e n n
i ii l l
w j y
u f f
o o v v
ə ë/é s s
p p z z
b b ɕ ć
t t x h/x
d d c
k k j
g g ɨ i
q q ʔ ʔ/'

The alternate variations of ë/é as well as h/x are in free variation, the former being more common than the latter. However, the system for representing the glottal stop uses ʔ as its majuscule version and ' as the minuscule version in most texts. Some will use ɂ for the minuscule version instead.

Nominal and modifier morphology

bleak except when modifiers become stative verbs

Verbal morphology

extremely heavy and where everything goes on

Syntax

SOV

Noun Incorporation

Himalian is relatively free with noun incorporation, incorporating the object or other part of the sentence into the verbal complex. The main uses of incorporation in Himalian are to express an object or what in less synthetic languages would be expressed with a prepositional phrase.

Modifiers

Daughter language groupings