Proto-Nastowic and the Nastowic Language Family

You may remember one of my other languages, Swira. The Swira people are barbarians living north of Tepat. They belong to a larger language family, the Nastowic language family. The family is customarily divided into 3-5 branches:

• Wepum
• Nasic
• 'Core' Languages
• Towic
• Para-Towic
• Swiric

This protolanguage is known as Proto-Nastowic.

Phonology

Consonants:

Vowels

In addition to the long vowels /e o/, there are short, weak [e o] that are allophones of /i u/ next to uvular or labiouvular sounds.

Note, reconstruction is not completely settled. For example, the schwa appears, disappears, or moves predictably in some cases; /a:/ is rare; many cases of the long /e: o:/ originate from vowel mergers; and /u ɯ/ do not appear to contrast in most situations (Only /u/ next to labial and labialized consonants, only /ɯ/ next to plain velar / uvular consonants). Hence some linguists have tried to reconstruct as few as three vowels, /i a u/.

Schwa and /a/ alternate in some morphological forms, and less commonly, /e o/ alternate with /i u/. The vowels form a hierarchy from "strong"  to "weak" like so:

This is relevant for a number of processes, from stress to how morphemes combine. Stress usually falls on the strongest vowel in the stem (or first strong vowel). Strong vowels tend to displace weaker vowels when they collide. Weaker vowels disappear or coalesce with each other to form stronger vowels.

Combining Sounds

Syllables are V, CV, VC, or CVC. V-initial syllables only occur at the beginning of words. A few syllables start with a consonant cluster of the form /sC/ or /Cl/ - for example, /dl/ in *dladla 'grandfather' or *dle- '2nd-person prefix.'

There are some additional constraints on words and roots - for example, generally prohibiting the same consonant phoneme from occurring again in a root; and constraints on different kinds of dorsal consonants occurring next to each other. Another important constraint concerns the distribution of lenis and fortis sounds. Only lenis stops occur at the end of syllables; stops are always fortis next to /h/ or /ʔ/; and all stop-stop clusters are Lenis-Fortis. Hence */bt/ is an OK cluster, but not /bd/, /pd/, or /pt/.

Nouns

Inflection. Nouns do not really have declensions. However, most will have a combining form, or genitive form ending in -n, used when modifying a following noun. The "oblique" case, marked by a postpositional particle *ǝqi, marks all noun phrases which are not core arguments of the verb, while core arguments have no marking.

Although nouns do not have gender or much in the way of case and number, they are extensively marked for person, similar to verbs. Prefixes are used to mark the person of the possessor of a noun. E.g., qʷe-qinǝ 'my dog,' *dle-qinǝ 'your dog,' mi-qinǝ 'our dog.'

Kinds. Several kinds of nouns can be distinguished. Bare nouns consist of a bare root by itself; other nouns may have derivational affixes. Obligatorily-possessed nouns must always belong to someone or something, and cannot occur without possessive marking. On the other hand, some nouns are never possessed. Most can appear with or without person marking, although the sense may differ depending on whether it is possessed or not - for example, unpossessed *gʷiqa 'wind,' possessed *qʷegʷiqa 'my breath.' "Adjectival" nouns have some common qualitative meanings like old, small, dark, etc. and occur in front of other nouns to modify them; some also occur as independent nouns. Positional or locative nouns refer to places or parts and cover some of the meanings of prepositions and postpositions in other languages.

Verbs

Verbs have a very open-ended, expansive structure, and can be quite complex.

Grammatical Categories. They are sparse in typical TAM (tense-aspect-mood) categories. Verbs include marking for a lot of meanings other than the familiar TAM ones, though, for example:

• *-dǝt - plural - marks a plural number of transitive objects (or intransitive subjects).
• collective -
  
• distributive -
  
• * -ǝxʷpu- repetive action -
  

Applicatives allow a noun that would normally be an adjunct / peripheral noun phrase to become a core argument.

Personal Marking. All verbs take prefixes marking the person of their core arguments - except for some indefinite 3rd-person arguments, which are not marked. There may be only one prefix (for intransitive verbs) or up to the three (for verbs with 2 objects).

Compounding and Incorporation. Several verb roots (and also nouns) can be compounded together in a single lengthy inflected form. The verbal complex may also include incorporated noun roots, in front of the verbal roots. When a compound verb occurs, any inflection is marked only on one root - Prefixes are marked on the first root, suffixes on the last root, with no affixes intervening between the roots. (However, some sequences of sounds may be broken up by meaningless /ǝ/ or /n/.)

It is from verb compounding, in which some verbs became reduced and grammaticalized, that different tenses evolved in later languages. For example, the common perfective marker -li in Classical Swira evolved from a root *-dag-/-dǝg- meaning 'do.' Verbs have personal prefixes representing all kinds of persons, for both subject and object; by default, a lack of marking is interpreted as an indefinite third-person argument.

Particles

Particles are all enclitics, following words they are grammatically connected to. Particles are never inflected. Unlike affixes, they are usually not affected by nor do they affect the strong-weak pattern in the inflected word. They have a variety of roles, an important one being adding modal or evidential information to a proposition, or discourse functions.

Derivation

Derivational affixes include:

• -ud - (plural) - more than one of an object, or group of similar / associated objects.
• *nana 'mother,' *nanod 'mother's clan'
  
• -ʔi - nominalizes a verb phrase - referring to the event / state itself, an agent, or forming a relative clause
  
• -bi/-pi - forms nouns from verbs, usually referring to instruments; or diminutives of nouns
• *kanǝ- 'enter,' *kanǝbi 'receptacle, container'
  
• -da/-ta - turns nouns into verbs
  
• -xi - forms nouns referring to a substance
  

Syntax

Proto-Nastowic, like its offspring, tends to be a left-branching / head-final language. The most natural, neutral order of a sentences puts the verb last (excepting any particles), with its arguments in front, and subordinate noun phrases coming in front too. However, the order of noun phrases - subject or object - is very flexible. Inside the verb, the arrangement of roots follows a similar order; an incorporated noun root occurs in front of the verb root, and successive verb roots have scope over verb roots to the left.

Within the noun-phrase, words further to the left modify ones later. The possessor comes in front of the possessed word. (Possession of one noun is indicated by placing the possessor first, followed by the possessed noun with a possessive prefix.) However, when the modifier is verbal, then it usually comes after. In fact many modifiers are essentially verbal in Proto-Nastowic, and Proto-Nastowic relative clauses are internally-headed - the entire sentence is nominalized, and occurs in the place of the noun. Since the basic word order is verb-final, the verb follows the noun it modifiers. Optionally, the word that is considered the head in the matrix clause may be marked with *-əha to disambiguate potential interpretations.

Grammar

All Nastowic languages are polysynthetic and agglutinative, but much of the verbal inflectional grammar is characteristic of later daughter languages, with suffixation arising from grammaticalized roots in verb-verb compounds. Proto-Nastowic seems to have been more flexible than its descendants in its morphological template, with some forms having variable positions, which became fixed in later languages.

Affixes

Affixes divide into 3 groups based on phonological behavior - specifically, whether or not their stress or vowel pattern changes, or causes changes in the stress and vowel pattern of roots to which they attach.

l Neutral affixes, have only one form. They do not affect the shape of the root they attach to, and are unaffected by its shape. Personal / pronominal prefixes are usually neutral.

l Weak affixes, including most other verbal inflectional affixes, have at least two forms, depending on the word to which they are attached, and alternate to fit the phonological shape of the word.

l Strong affixes, including a few derivational affixes, have generally one form, and may force changes in the phonological shape of a root to which they are attached.

Whether weak or strong, many affixes have alternate forms, especially forms alternating between fortis and lenis consonants. The fortis form of the affix appears after a root ending in a lenis consonant. The lenis form appears elsewhere.

Nouns and Noun Modifiers

Ancient nouns had no obligatory bound markers identifying them as nouns. Most seem to be bare roots, or roots with personal prefixes. The majority of nouns could take a personal prefix, identifying the possessor of the noun.

Noun Modifiers

Additionally, there were noun modifiers, which had a similar function to attributive adjectives. They cover a number of basic descriptive meanings, such as colors, size, and shape, round, flat, etc., and some value judgments such as good / bad. They may have simply been plain nouns, but in many languages they have become refined into a distinct and sometimes closed class, or have become prefixes.Some of them also exist as independent nouns with related meanings:

They are quite distinct from stative verbs which also are translatable as adjectives, and have some overlap in meaning. Noun-modifiers (or modifier nouns) cannot be conjugated like verbs. Some verbs have the same meaning, but the root is a completely different form from the synonymous noun, and they have different syntactic distribution. The attributive nouns might not have been able to be predicates, unlike verbs. Also, they preceded nouns they modified, whereas verbs (relative clauses) usually followed nouns.

In any case, whether they were a separate class or simply nouns acting as modifiers to other nouns, they formed part of a noun phrase with those nouns, and came in front of the noun they modified. As part of a phrase, personal prefixes might be attached to the head noun, or to the beginning of the phrase (hence, to the modifier), or they might be repeated. This may be the origin of prefixal agreement in the Nasic languages.

Locative Nouns

Another class of nouns worth mentioning are *‘locative’ nouns*. Other nouns may not generally be used in locative expressions, except that they were compounded with ‘locative’ nouns to indicate specific placement. Locative nouns were also used alone, as adjuncts to a verb phrase, to indicate location or motion in an adverbial fashion. These have sometimes evolved into adpositions. At least one such noun, */qɯd/, has become a very general indicator of location. Other examples include */glɯn/ ‘(in) shade (of), under, around,’ /ɯqi/ ‘place, home,’ and /k//ɯʔ//an/ ‘edge.’

            *Alienable and Inalienable***

Additionally, it is important to note the difference between *alienable and inalienable* nouns. Inalienable nouns always have a personal prefix, and include names of body parts and relatives. Alienable nouns may occur with or without personal prefixes. A few seem to never have prefixes. Generally, there is no overt difference between alienable and inalienable nouns, other than the presence or absence of personal prefixes.

Some nouns may appear with or without prefixes, but with a shift in meaning, with one of the senses always requiring personal prefixes. For example, **/gʷiqa/* means ‘wind,’ and **/qʷi/**/gʷiqa/* means ‘my breath.’ In the sense of ‘breath,’ it must always belong to someone, and must have prefixes; without prefixes it is interpreted as ‘wind.’

            *Derived nouns***

Derived nouns are formed from other nouns or from verb roots by adding a suffix or prefix. Hence, their identity as nouns is clearly marked. Common markers of derived nouns are suffixes like *-/ʔi/ or *-/bi/; see the section on derivation.

            *Genitive / Connective form***

Many nouns have a ‘genitive’ or ‘connective’ form when followed by another noun in a noun phrase. It is generally marked by an -/n/ suffix, an -/ǝ/, or an -ǝn/-nǝ suffix. It may also be marked by a final glottal stop.

It also includes not just nouns in a genitive relationship - with one governing the other - but also often ones in a coordinate relationship. However, these nouns may be found unmarked as well, perhaps separated by a pause, as in many modern languages.This generally excludes ‘noun modifiers,’ which are unmarked in for

It is not sure whether this should be considered a morphological or phonological phenomenon - whether this is an actual genitive /form/, or whether this is just insertion of a phonetic bit to separate two juxtaposed roots.

(((In Swira, *-/n//ǝ/ form of connective on final-C nouns - leveled with plain *-/n/ on almost all nouns)))

            *Other **forms***

Nouns do not have obligatory declensions for case, number, or gender, as in some languages. Grammatical gender is not a category at all in Proto-Nastowic. Most nouns can form a plural with the suffix *-/ud/, although this is not necessary and often omitted even on obviously plural references. Although there are not different case forms either, nouns can be marked as non-core arguments with the oblique case particle */əqi/.

            *Demonstratives etc.***

Functioning similar to locative AND modifiers, are the demonstratives / interrogatives:

/t//ǝdǝ//n/here

/s//ǝ//d//ǝ//n/there

/n//ǝ//d//ǝ//n/where

These can be used by themselves with locative meaning, or be placed in front of a noun with the meanings ‘this / that / which…’:

/t//ǝ//d//ǝ//n qin//ǝ/this dog

To form /pronouns/ like ‘this (one), that (one),  what,’ add the suffixes -/pi/ or -/k//ǝ//g/.

Evidence from some languages points to additional demonstratives referring to very near things:

/q//ʷ//itt//ǝ//n/here (near me)

/dlitten/there (near you)

          */Numbers/**//*

Lower numbers have bare root-forms, which function as noun modifiers do. They are placed directly in front of the noun.. Nouns do not need a plural form after a number.

*/əmpi//(d) pihi/one sun

*/kʷu//t(//ə//) qidi/two legs

*/məg// //ǝ//me/three salmons

*/nuqʷ// k//ɯ//s/four children

*/səb// nuqsi/five stars

Several suffixes can be added to turn numerals into independent words, functioning as nouns. The suffix *-/kǝg/, which has several other uses, can be used to numbers that function as nouns. The suffix *-/lag/ forms numbers which function as verbal phrase modifiers or collective numerals.

*/ǝ//mpidk//ǝ//g/one*/ǝ//mpidlag/once / alone

/*k//ʷ//udk//ǝ//g/two

*/m//ǝ//kk//ǝ//g/three

*/nuq//qʷ//ǝ//g/four

*/səb//k//ǝ//g/five

An interesting feature of the numeral system is that some numbers appear to undergo a form of reduplication to form the names of their multiples.

*/məg/three*/m//ǝ//mg//ǝ//g/six

*/nuqʷ/four*/nu//n//q//ʷuqʷ/eight

*/səb/five*/sə//sp//ǝ//b/ten

Other numbers include:

*/nigutə///seven

*/gəba/nine

*/manəg/many

Numbers such as eleven are formed by adding lower numbers after the higher number:

*/s//ǝ//sp//ǝ//b //ǝ//mpid/eleven

*/s//ǝ//sp//ǝb kʷutǝ/twelve

Tens are formed by adding the lower number in front of the higher number:

/*m//ǝ//g s//ǝ//sp//ǝ//b/thirty

/*nuq//ʷ// s//ǝ//sp//ǝ//b/forty

With the exception of fifteen and twenty, which form a reduplicated pair, even though they are not multiples:

*/q//ǝ//d/fifteen*/q//ǝ//qt//ǝ//d/twenty

          */Pronouns and Pronominal Affixes/**//*

Proto-Nastowic expressed pronominal meanings primarily by prefixes. Personal or pronominal forms distinguished first, second, and two third persons. The first and second persons distinguished singular and plural, and the first person also distinguished inclusive and exclusive plural. Additionally, there were several kinds of prefixes with other meanings such as indefinite, interrogative, and reflexive, which fit together with the pronominal paradigm.

*Series.* Prefixes differed for subject, object, and possessive. There were probably four series of pronouns: subject, object I, object II, and nominal (possessive) - also called S-, O1-, O2-, and N-series. The subject pronouns mostly show ‘strong’ vocalism (a/e/o vowels), whereas Object I forms have mostly schwa, and lenis consonants. Object II forms are similar to O1 forms, with a -/g/ extension. The pronominal prefixes on nouns generally have the theme vowel /i/.

Some of the possibilities are absent. Some of the pronominal forms are only acceptable for subject position on verbs.

Position. Personal prefixes occur first in the verb complex. It is possible that the position of pronouns was not fixed, and they were not necessarily incorporated into the verb complex. Only subject forms are fully incorporated into the verb in Nasic.

Object Prefixes. The differences between Object I and II prefixes are unclear; depending on the language, one or the other paradigm has been obliterated, or they alternate by either phonological or grammatical criteria - i.e., one is reserved for short vowel-initial stems versus consonant initial, or for direct versus indirect objects.

Because the DO prefixes end in a lenis consonant, they force lenis-initial verb stems to switch to the fortis equivalent. Due to analogical leveling, this has disappeared in some verbs or languages - but in others, this change has been extended to occur in in even verbs without any overt object marking (as in, verbs with an indefinite third-person object.) This has resulted in some verbs in some languages having different transitive and intransitive stems, differing in the initial consonant. For example:

Proto-Nastowic Swira

*Mispi te-dabǝ. Mitsi telau. The rope is tangled.

*Mispi te-sǝg-tabǝ. Mitsi tesitau. He tangled the rope.

*Mispi te-dabǝ. Mitsi tetau. He tangled [it].

This has accompanied the decay of object prefixes and other valency-marking strategies.

Third Person. Proto-Nastowic had four possible ways of marking third-person arguments - with an *s- prefix, with a *t- prefix, with a vowel prefix, and with no prefix at all. The s- prefix is not used in the subject, and the vowel prefix is only found in the subject. The exact difference among all of them in the proto-language is not clear. Zero-suffix seems to be preferred for indefinite noun arguments, t- for definite ones, and s- for disambiguating situations with multiple third-person arguments. Not all daughter languages use all the possibilities. Their usage also varies among daughter languages - with some the distinction depends on topicality, proximate / obviative, animacy, definiteness, or something else. The last two, vowel prefix and no prefix, alternate with each other and have fallen together into the same pattern in many modern languages - partly due to sound changes such as deletion of initial vowels, and metathesis bringing vowels to the front of the root.

Reflexives and Switch reference. The prefix marked ‘other’ in the table stands for ‘other subject.’ It is found only on subordinate verbs with a third-person subject, indicating that its subject is a different one than the subject of the main verb. The reflexive subject marker is only found on subordinate verbs, when their subject is the same as the main verb. Otherwise, in main verb clauses, the reflexive pronoun is only found in the object forms. Similarly, on nouns, the reflexive prefix is found on non-subject nouns.

Free Pronouns. There were also free, emphatic pronouns, in addition to the bound ones. Independent pronouns in Nastowic languages have several sources - often from possessed nouns, such as *qʷi-qalɯ ‘my flesh’ > ‘I.’ One form, going back to the protolanguage, attaches N-prefixes to the form *ga or *gǝ. For example, *qʷiga ‘I,’ *dliga ‘thou,’ etc.

Example Conjugation

At the most basic, the pronominal prefixes described above divide verbal roots into consonant-initial forms, and vowel initial forms. The subject forms listed above end in vowels, and that form holds true when they are added to a form beginning with a consonant. When added to a form beginning with a vowel, things get complicated.

Following the rules for strong/weak vowels, if the root / stem begins with /ə/, then /ə/ disappears completely.

*qʷo-ǝna > *qʷona ‘I crush’

If the root / stem begins with a strong vowel, then the root vowel replaces the vowel of the prefix, or a glide is inserted between them. 

*qʷo-ex > *qʷex OR *qʷoyex ‘I eat’ *dle-ex > *dlex, *dleyex ‘thou eatest’

*qʷo-oʔ > *qʷoʔ OR  *qʷowoʔ ‘I rot’ *dle-oʔ > *dloʔ, *dlewoʔ ‘thou rottest’

Hence, there tends to be a consistent vowel in the initial syllable, throughout the paradigm.

If the root / stem begins with /a i u ɯ/, these vowels generally disappear after strong vowel, but if the prefix vowel is not strong, then they merge according to the rules of vowel contraction:

-ɯxʷi-

This results in a variable vowel. If the root vowel is /u/, then the resulting vowel is generally /o:/ except in the second person singular and te-form. If the root vowel is /i/, it generally becomes /e:/, except in the first-person singular and plural. If the root vowel is /a/, then the prefix vowel varies more. These conjugations only apply to subject prefixes. When there are object prefixes as well, the object prefixes end with consonants, and so all the subject prefixes in front of them take ‘regular’ forms, and the initial vowel of the root appears. However, the initial consonant of a root may change, if it is lenis.

Hence, words can be arranged into several ‘conjugations’ based on the vowel appearing in subject prefixes.  Here is a comparison of the subject conjugation of several verbs:

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated with (usually mandatory) pronominal prefixes expressing the subject, and optionally a variety of other prefixes and suffixes. The simplest kind of verb is a bare root, which usually expresses a third-person indefinite subject. The next simplest kind is a root with one personal prefix, such as *qʷo-χʷǝna ‘I give.’ However verbs can potentially tack on many extra parts and become quite long.

Tepekǝxagǝkʷulubustiqʷǝxpudǝd.

Te- pi- ekǝ- xag- kʷu- lubu- stiqʷ- ǝxpu -dǝt.

3p REFL DIST rock APPL head strike ITER PLUR

They each struck each other on the head repeatedly with rocks.

The verb can be divided into three “domains”: first (prefixes), middle (mostly roots), and final (suffix) domains. Clitics may be added for a ‘fourth domain.’ This is a rough outline of the verb. Affixes were fluid, with some changing position to indicate scope.

Tense, mood, aspect, and voice. Proto-Nastowic did not have morphological tenses, and little marking of aspect or mood - most “mood” was probably expressed by separate particles. As there is no morphological tense, almost any verb can be interpreted as a past, present, or future event unless context provides otherwise. It had several valency-changing inflections, and other inflections with “adverbial” meaning. While modern languages have a variety of voice, mood, and tense conjugations, they can rarely be reconstructed back to the protolanguage. 

Main and subordinate verbs. An important distinction is made between independent (main, free) and subordinate / dependent verb forms. “Main” verbs can occur in the main clause of a sentence, and can form a sentence by themselves. Dependent verb refers to the verbs used in dependent verb phrases / subordinate clauses, aside from the main clause. Verbs with a converb suffix or particle are considered subordinate verbs, while main verbs have no particular suffix. Otherwise, the main difference is they differ in which personal prefixes they take: dependent verbs can have the iqu-prefix, or can use the reflexive prefix in the subject position; main verbs cannot do this.

Prefixes

The very first affixes in the verbal complex are pronominal prefixes. These are followed by a group of collective / distributive prefixes, and phasal prefixes.

Collective / distributive

These are a couple of prefixes used to indicate that a group of multiple subjects or objects act together / simultaneously, or separately. They are the collective *-oti- (‘altogether, to all of them’), the distributive *-ekǝ- (‘each one, to each one’), and the mutual / reciprocal *-ɯkɯ- ‘each other, one another,’ which also patterns with them. 

Points:

l These prefixes displace the vowel of the personal prefix, after subject prefixes.

n *te- + -oti- + -ke --> totike
‘They unloaded (everything together).’

l In the object, these prefixes always occur after the plain O2 prefixes.

n *Dle-mǝ-ekǝ-χʷǝna --> *Dlemekǝχʷǝna
‘Thou gavest [it] to each of us.’

l These prefixes are incompatible with singular personal prefixes. They only occur after plural prefixes. The third-person prefixes are considered number-neutral though, so they can occur after them, with plural meaning. Hence,

Merger and loss of the reciprocal. The distributive also, together with reflexive object personal prefixes, conveys reciprocal meaning; hence the dedicated reciprocal marker has been sidelined in many languages. The reciprocal suffix is similar to the collective suffix, and has merged with it in most languages. It survives in only a few relic forms. Hence the modern distributive form often also has a reciprocal meaning, or can mean reciprocal or distributive. In reciprocal meanings, it occurs with reflexive personal markers.

Phasal Prefixes

…convey some ‘adverbial’ meanings, particularly related to time. These are optional, unlike tenses in most languages with obligatory tense on verb. Thus they help encode aspect - although this can be done other ways, too.

Roots

After all of these, come the roots: this includes not only the main verb root, but sometimes multiple verb roots, and noun roots. Virtually all Nastowic languages allow stringing verb roots one after the other in multi-root compounds which all share the same pronominal prefixes. Old verb roots that have become fossilized are an important source of new suffixes in later languages. They also allow noun incorporation - the insertion of a noun root into the verb itself, compounded with the verb root. Some languages allow only one noun (usually the verb’s direct object), while others allow more complex arrangements. Additionally, a verb may consist of a noun root with an added derivational suffix such as *-da. Incorporated nouns are typically the grammatical objects of verbs, but examples exist of incorporated subjects of intransitive verbs.

Applicative / Valency

Although they are considered prefixes too, the applicatives are also included in the root domain, because they are more closely associated with it, and in some languages they may be interspersed between incorporated roots.

Applicatives are mostly used to turn an oblique noun phrase into an argument of the verb. These are the closest prefixes to the root. The affixes in this slot include four affixes adding objects with various kinds of relationships to the action of the verb, thereby increasing the valency - and also one antipassive affix decreasing the valency of the verb. While some remain productive, many have disappeared or fused with verb roots in lexicalized phrases.

l Patient: *-b- / -bə- / -ba- / -pə- / -pa- (adds a direct object to an intransitive verb). Commonly found added to speaking / mental state verbs, where they specify a referent / cause / interlocutor.

Ø *-ulig- ‘cry’ > *-baulig- > *-bolig- ‘mourn (someone).’

Ø *ŋan‘be soft’ > *bǝŋan ‘be soft to someone’ > ‘be lenient, permissive, indulge someone’

l Antipassive / Generic object: *-in- / -un- (removes a direct object, making the verb intransitive)

Ø *-dag- ‘do, make’ > *-in-dag- ‘work (make something)’

Ø *-in-iga- ‘go somewhere / move’ (“go” without particular goal)

l Ablative: *-agʷu-

l Instrumental: *-kʷ(u)-

l Benefactive / Dative: *-niχi-

l Locative: *-əli-

Ø *-hos- ‘sit’ > *ǝlihos ‘sit on, ride’

The ‘internalizing’ prefix - There is one more affix, generally fitting with the applicatives, which has a somewhat niche meaning, and is sometimes called the ‘internalizing’ prefix. This is *isa-/isǝ-, and is related to the independent word *isa ‘blood,’ from which it evolved by noun incorporation. It is often used to form verbs of mental states, from verb roots referring to external actions. For example, *ugʷa ‘jump, dance,’ becomes *isogʷa or *isogʷǝ ‘be excited, happy’ - imagine someone dancing around gleefully in their head (or in their ‘blood,’ as the etymology implies).

Suffixes

Main verbs (forming a clause by their own, not dependent clauses) do not obligatorily have suffixes. Several may be added to indicate valency, aspect, mood, negation, etc. However, dependent clauses may take converb suffixes. There may be enclitic partlces after the suffixes.

Valency suffixes

A second, smaller set of valency affixes occurs after the verb root. They are used (optionally) to mark verbs as transitive or intransitive. 

l *-es- ~ -is- intransitive, passive

l *-o- ~ -u- transitive, causative

Although the transitive suffix is not specifically a causative suffix, it can have causative meaning when attached to roots with already-transitive meaning. Similarly, the intransitive suffix can function situationally as a passive. The ‘weak’ forms (with i and u) are used when attached to a root where the previous vowel is a strong vowel e or o. However, these weak forms themselves merge with previous vowels to form strong vowels, which has lead to the strong forms being generalized for all verbs.

*sinti-es- > sintes > sinde(s-) > sire(sǝ) ‘die’

*sinti-o- > sinto > sindo > siro ‘kill’

Aspectual Suffixes

The iterative suffix *-(ə)xpu refers to an intensive or repetitive performance of an action. For example, distinguishing ‘beat, hit’ from ‘fight (hit repeatedly).’ A shortened form *-pu occurs in some verbs. Another aspectual suffix is the inchoative *-gɯ/-kɯ, marking the beginning or imminent beginning of an action. The suffix *-mal(ǝ) / mǝl(ǝ) represents incompletion, or approach to a state, such as “eating (of…),” “peck (at…).” E.g. *qʷi-ex-mǝl ‘I peck at [the food].’

Plural

The plural suffix -dət /dət/ marks verbs with a multitude of participants. (A few verbs have suppletive plural forms.) The plural is redundant with first and second-person markers, but it can distinguish singular and plural in third persons, since the third-person prefixes do not distinguish this. In transitive verbs, the plural suffix refers to the number of objects, not subjects. It has many allomorphs:

In many languages, one or a couple of these forms have been regularized for most verbs.

Mood

The irrealis suffix *-(ə)b, with varying functions such as expressing probability, volition, and the imperative, has remained in trace forms in most languages. One of its functions was to express commands, or an exhortative (‘Let’s X!’). It survives also in some combinations with other suffixes or clitics, such as conditional constructions in Nastowic languages.

The negative -mu- negates the verb, obviously.

Converbs

‘Converb’ suffixes - these suffixes, or arguably clitics, mark verb phrases as subordinate verb phrases, and may indicate the relation of the subordinate phrase to the main phrase. They are called converbs because the verbs so marked occur together with (con) another, main verb. They include -ǝnə- / -anə- / -ǝna-, and -te-.

The -ǝna suffix is the continuative converb, which generally marks simultaneity with the action of the main verb, or some kind of overlap. The -te converb is the perfective converb, which presents its action as a completed fact, relative to the action of the main verb.

Copula and Existence

No verb meaning ‘to be’ as a copula is reconstructed for Proto-Nastowic. Some languages now use the existential verb (‘there is / are’), or use a particle as a copula, or else simply juxtapose noun phrases together, like so:

*Qinǝ qʷiga

dog I

I am a dog.

This can be negated by adding -mu directly to the noun (*Qinǝ qʷigamu ‘I am not a dog.)

One distinctive verb of Proto-Nastowic is *adlǝ, the existential verb meaning ‘there is / are, exists.’ It is distinctive in having many variable forms, unlike most roots, shifting between weak and strong forms, and sometimes having no inherent vowel. Hence it may also appear in the forms *-ədla-, *-ədlə-, and more. It may also sometimes appear with the consonant cluster simplified to either just /d/ or just /l/. Like many modal particles, it may have changed form for emphasis, or due to prosodic requirements. Some examples (with Swira developments):

Personal conjugation:

Other forms:

l Inchoative *-adlə-ku > -ədku- / -əlku- > -aku/uku ‘become’

l Applicatives

n Pat *ub-adlǝ- > *uwalǝ, *uwa > wa:

n Inst *kʷ(u)-ad(lǝ)

u *kʷad(lǝ) kʷa, kʷal-, kʷalǝ

u *kʷod(lǝ) kʷo, kʷolǝ

u *kʷud(lǝ) kʷu, kʷulǝ, kʷula

n Locative: *li-adlə- > -led(lə)-

u -li-əd(lə)- / -lidla- > rira / rura / -reru > -erru / -ru ‘be at, be located at; exist’

n Comitative *-COMIT-adlə- > ‘have’

u *t-ad(lǝ) talǝ, tarǝ

l Plural *-aldǝt > -alu(t-) > -alu, -atlu

l Irrealis *-ədla-b > -əro / -əlo --- ‘might be’
> potential / possible form of verbs ‘might [do x]’

l Converbs:

n *-ǝn/-an/-ǝnǝ/-ǝna/-anǝ

u *aldǝn > arun

u *ǝldan > ǝlan, ǝran

n *-te

u *-alte, atte > -ate

u *-ǝlte, ǝtte > -ute

Negative: The existential verb is also special in that the negative suffix *-mu can be used by itself as the opposite of *-adlǝ - it doesn’t need to be added to the root *-adlǝ.

Additionally, *-adlǝ has a few unique prefixes indicating direction:

l -t-adlǝ ‘be here’

l -s-adlǝ ‘be there’

l -n-adlǝ ‘be where?’

These prefixes are also found on the verb *-iga ‘go,’ but otherwise restricted to those verbs.

Particles

Particles are short (usually one-syllable) non-inflected words with an  abstract, grammatical meaning. They express a function, rather than referring to a thing or action.  They are not inflected, unlike nouns and verbs. All modern Nastowic languages have an array of particles. Particles are usually clitics - they attach to another content word. All Nastowic clitics are enclitic - they attach to the end of words. They may be associated with either nouns or verbs (or sentences), although some may attach to either. Like sentence order, their placement may be changed sometimes to shift emphasis or simply for smoother sound.

Compared to affixes, their location is more flexible, and particles are more independent of the phonology of the root to which they attach. Some have alternate ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ forms, but the alternation may be used for emphasizing the particle and not necessarily influenced by root-word phonology. The line between particles and affixes is not watertight, and some have jumped the line - some modern inflections derive from eroded particles.

Case Particles

Although Nastowic nouns are not inflected for case, the ‘oblique’ particle *(ǝ)ʔqi follows noun phrases which are not core arguments of the verb, i.e., not the subject or object, not one of the noun phrases marked on the verb with a pronominal prefix. It can be translated as many different prepositions in English - to, for, in, at, on, etc. (However, note that many nouns with these relations can be turned into a core argument by applicatives, and then do not take the oblique particle.) It can also be attached to verb phrases, particularly subordinate / nominalized verb phrases, and this itself has been grammaticalized with various functions in daughter languages.

The particle *-ahǝ / *-ǝha does not mark case as such, but rather the head of a relative clause, or sometimes the topic of a sentence. Its function will be clearer when relative clauses are discussed. It is occasionally used like a conjunctive particle, attached to converb phrases.

Focus Particles

Include meanings such as ‘also, too,’ ‘and,’ ‘even,’ ‘only,’ ‘about,’ ‘exactly,’ etc. Reconstructible to the protolanguage are:

l *pi(d) - ‘only’

l *kʷud / *kʷəd - ‘also, both’ - conjoining particle, pluralizer

l *tib - ‘only’

l *tiqmu / teqmu / tiqmo - ‘also, even, both…and’

l *gul - ‘around, about’ - the 'fuzzy' approximate scalar particle.

l *tǝli, tǝda ‘until, at most’

l *ǝdlu / ǝʔlu ‘more than, at least, too much’

- Conjunctive Particles

…attach to subordinate verb phrases to mark their relationship with the main clause, such as relations of time or reason. Optionally attached to a converb suffix.

l *pus ‘because’

l *la / lǝ ‘if / when’ - conditional / temporal particle. When used in the hypothetical sense of ‘if,’ it follows the irrealis form.

Modal / Evidential particles

…on final verbs (or nouns), indicating some attitude or modality. Modern languages have many sentence-final particles of this type, and Proto-Nastowic likely did too. While proto-Nastowic verbs are poor in time and mood distinctions, modal meanings are generally shifted to following particles. Some have become grammaticalized as suffixes. In general, they could also appear on nouns or other phrases in certain circumstances - such as vocatives, to create focus, or when nouns were used in predicated position with an implied copula. Particles could express speech acts, or convey information about evidentiality, speaker attitude, or in general the subjective experience of the speaker and relationship to the statement. Particles were also used for forming questions, and these particles often attached to free question words instead of verbs. Final particles included:

l *enə / ina / inǝ - possibility / doubt / wonder / wishes

l *sud - supposition / inference

l *lu - assertion of fact or identity

l *(ə)ŋa - hearsay or reported events - events which none of the discourse participants have personally experienced or witnessed.

l *baʔ / bǝʔ / paʔ / pǝʔ -  marks a question

l *be / bi / me / mi - marks a question which includes a content-question word / Wh-word / Wh-morpheme.

l *(ʔ)ab - contrast marker, marks a contrast, also possibly concessive. Similar to Japanese ga.

l *uki.- ‘even though, although. - concessive.  Occasionally found on nouns, with a similar meaning to ‘but.’ Hence it is similar to *ʔab.

Derivation

There are many derivational mechanisms.

Compounding

Is obviously a big one. Roots may be stuck together arbitrarily inside verb complexes (to a lesser degree, in nouns), but sometimes an empty ‘connecting’ morph may inserted between roots. An /ə/ is inserted between a root ending in a consonant and one beginning with a consonant, to prevent phonotactic changes been the consonants, such as the lenis --> fortis rule. Less commonly, /n/ is inserted between vowels, but sometimes /ʔ/ is used, and sometimes there is no buffer, and the vowels elide or contract as necessary.

In addition to the hierarchical compounds of English, compounds where the terms are of equal status, having a coordinate relationship, or exocentric compounds, are also common.

Examples of compounds:

…...

…...

Verbalization

l -da-/-ta-/-na- - a weak verbal affix. Found on many verbs, which were originally derived from nouns.

Ø -da-: after vowels and some stems ending in nasals, when no /a/ occurs earlier in the word

² Swi –la-

² Nas –t(e)-

Ø -də-: after stems ending in a vowel, when the vowel /a/ occurs earlier in the word

² Swi –lə-

² Nas –t-

Ø -ta-: after stems ending in a consonant, when no /a/ occurs earlier in the word

² Swi –ta-

² Nas –t(e)-

Ø -tə-: after stems ending in a consonant, when the vowel /a/ occurs earlier in the words

² Swi –tə-

² Nas –t-

Ø -na-: after /m/, when no /a/ occurs earlier in the word

² Swi –na-

² Nas –n(e)-

Ø -nə-: after /m/, when the vowel /a/ occurs earlier in the words

² Swi –nə-

² Nas –n-

Nominal derivation

There is a nominal plural *-ud. Plural does not need to be automatically marked; an unmarked noun is ambiguous as to number. This plural is also an associative plural, not simply an additive one, as in English. It can refer to a group of associated things, represented by the root to which it is attached. This can be illustrated by some kinship words. The plural nanod / nənod of nana ‘mother’ is used to mean not ‘mothers,’ but rather ‘mother’s relatives, mother’s side of the family.’ The derivative dlədlod of dladla ‘grandfather’ means ‘ancestors, clan.’

In addition to simply a group of multiple things, it also refers to a single thing which contains or possesses multiple similar things. E.g., the word *piguq meaning ‘spine’ or ‘bristle’ gives *piguqud, which is the source of the word for hedgehog or porcupine in many languages, such as Swira pyo:ko(l-).

In contrast to the plural, there is sometimes a singulative suffix -kǝg- - cognate with *kag ‘person.’ This suffix can also have a diminutive sense, or indicate a member of a group. Ex.: *migʷa ‘water’ --> *migʷakǝg ‘drop of water.’

The form *-tab- also refers to a person, or to a group of people, and often occurs in the personal-plural form *-tabud or *tǝbud. It can form names of clans, tribes, or nations. It also occurs by itself meaning ‘the people’ (i.e., ‘our people’) and is the basis of the word ‘Towic’ and various words that Nastowic speakers use for themselves.

The diminutive / nominalizer *-bi (-pi) is used to derive mostly names of small, inanimate objects from verbs, including many names of tools or human products; also, diminutives from noun roots. It may also be found on words referring to a product created by the action of a verb. The augmentative *-kuba becomes *-kʷa in some languages. It also nominalizes, less commonly than *-pi.

*-ʔi forms nominalizations of verbs. It probably the most common, and general mechanism of nominalizing verbs. In contrast to *-pi, it is more abstract, and *-pi is concrete. It refers to the name of an action, an event or the person who engages in an action.

The ‘habitual’ suffix *-(s)tub denotes things which are characterized by a thing. For example,  *χʷǝna-stub > onato ‘generous, giving.’ This can be used as a stative adjective indicating a trait, or sometimes a noun representing a person with the trait. There is also a nominalized form *-(s)tup-ʔi, referring to a person who possesses a characteristic.

*-pa is a ‘characterizer’ suffix found in some words apparently meant to mark a central or prototypical member of of a group. E.g., *ugipa ‘wife’ from ugi- ‘wife’s family.’

*-xi ‘stuff; material’ forms nouns from other nouns, such as  *humi-xi > *uy-Hi > wii; wisi, witi ‘wood’ from *humi ‘wood, tree.’ It is also used to form possessive verbs (to be mine / yours etc.) from nouns - e.g., *qinə qʷe-xi-al > *qinə qʷexel ‘(the) dog is mine.’ This form could potentially merge with *-ʔi.

*-lka - ‘all over the place, covered with, full of’ - *gʷiʔqi-lka ‘dirty,’ *uχʷaʔku-lka ‘greasy.’

Some derivational patterns are fossilized relative clauses. For example, a common pattern for tools combines the diminutive-nominalizer *-pi with the instrumental applicative *kʷu - for example, *(a-)kʷu-sili-pi ‘cutting tools, knife’ (> Swira *kʷusippi). A similar pattern is used for locations with the locative applicative prefix.

Examples of derivation

To illustrate, here are some examples of the ways the root *-dle- ‘be aware, awake, conscious’ may be extended or modified:

l bǝ- (object applicative) + dle- > ‘to know (something)’

l bǝ- (object applicative) + dle- + ɯkɯg ‘again’ > qʷob(ǝ)dlekɯg ‘know again, remember’ > Swi kʷouleki > kʷu:leki; Nas *qʷovtlikǝʕ

l *dle(y)-o ‘to inform, remind’

l *dle-kǝg, *dle-bi ‘a thought, a memory’

Possession-marking

Alienable possession. While there are possessive personal prefixes, these are only clearly known for inalienable possession in many languages. Some languages use a different expression for alienable possession - i.e., possession where the object can be separated from the possessor, and possessed by someone else. There is a great variety of these expressions. E.g.,  “[where] I ride” or “[where] I sit” = “I have” for land, other large, immoveable property. “I take” or “I hold” = “I have” for small, moveable objects. Another expression uses sǝbi ‘hand’ : *qʷisǝbin igʷpi ‘my home; the home at my hand.’

Predicative possession. Predicative possession, like “This is mine,” used an expression like “my stuff” - here, usually the personal prefix was attached to the *-xi ‘stuff’ suffix mentioned above. Another expression used the -kǝg suffix:

*Qinǝ qʷi-kǝg.

dog 1SG-thing

The dog is mine.

Syntax

Like most descendant languages, Proto-Nastowic was probably left-branching and head-final, with phrase-final verbs, but a fair amount of flexibility in constituent order. Wepum seems to display Pron-V S, Pron-V O, Pron S V and Pron O V orders, and less commonly S/O Pron-V. Old Nasic sources display evidence of being able to use person marking to mark the object rather than the subject on the verb, when the subject is in focus to convey contrast, and occurs in a free form. This forms the basis of the nominative form in modern Nasic languages.

Relative clauses. Like many modern languages, relative clauses probably FOLLOWED nouns, BECAUSE of the generally SOV syntax. Essentially, whole clauses were nominalized, using -ʔi, and the head of the relative clause was determined from context or marked with a particle, *-ahǝ / *-ǝha.

Noun phrases. Noun phrases could be arranged in any order, regardless whether they were subject or object. Proto-Nastowic likely could have allowed multiple object phrases without clear marking of which was direct or indirect, depending on context to disambiguate. Languages have a tendency to move long phrases away from the verb. Although there is no case marking, the reflexive prefix pi- cannot be used on subject phrases.

Conjoining Phrases. Particles are in some cases equivalent to English prepositions, adverbs, and conjunctions - but of less frequent use than English in joining sentences and clarifying their relationships. As a completely oral language, with no written tradition, all language was spoken, thus containing prosodic elements and subject to interpretations based on prosody and intonation. Hence, there seem to be many ‘gaps’ where important binding elements such as conjunctions seem to be missing. As in some modern Nastowic languages, they were often simply missing; however, there were often meaningful pauses between, say, conjoined elements. The pause, or intonation, alone, suggested how the relationship between words was to be interpreted, or was left to the speaker. So, for example, a phrase like *nana tata ‘mother [and] father’ might occur without any overt marker joining the words - but it would be understood. In other cases, a plural marker on the final noun also functioned as an ‘and.’

An example of a longer sentence:

Sǝdǝn dladla xaxod-ǝha nix(ǝ) glɯn oŋkʷən te-bakɯ-dǝt-ʔi  pi-glǝdkɯ-dǝt-te pi-adɯlpu-dǝn-nǝ te-gini-dǝd.

those grandpa grandma-PLUR-TOPIC tree shade cranberry 3P-pick-PLUR-NOM REFL-get.up-PLUR-CONV REFL-dance-PLUR-CONV 3SG-sing-PLUR

Those old men and women who were picking cranberries in the shade got up and danced and sang.

Kinship Terms

Although society has evolved and gotten more complex, of course, like their ancestors the Swira nomads are largely migratory and live in small groups, but have shifted from primarily hunting to herding.

The proto-Nastowic most likely migrated in small bands - becoming larger bands throughout history. The group could be seasonal, with people gathering in larger groups at certain times. Within bands, people lived in small family groups, sharing one dwelling, the *igʷpi. This would include parents and any unmarried children. Married children often stayed nearby but moved into a separate dwelling.

Thus the nuclear family was prominent, as in modern industrial societies. But unlike American/European families there was an additional consideration for age that sometimes overrode characteristics such as gender, generation, and so on.

In Proto-Nastowic, we can reconstruct words for parents and other family members - many have a reduplicated form which is otherwise unusual in Proto-Nastowic: *nana ‘mother,’ *tata ‘father,’ *xaxa ‘grandmother,’ and *dladla (or *dlada or *dlala) ‘grandfather.’ Parents were also known as *qʷabtoʔi ‘one who sent me down’ i.e., gave birth to me. Common terms for siblings were divided by relative age. Older brother was *ɯχʷa, and older sister *ini, but younger siblings were *lig regardless of gender. Siblings in general could be called *tampid(-ʔi) ‘father [is] one’ or *nampid(-ʔi) ‘mother [is] one,’ regardless of age or gender. The whole nuclear family, parents and siblings, was *igʷǝmpitʔi ‘house [is] one.’

The reduplicated family terms were often possessed, and often occurred in non-reduplicated form when they were possessed: *qʷitata or *qʷita ‘my father,’ *qʷina ‘my mother,’ *dlina ‘your mother, etc. The simple forms of the terms were also used as suffixes, for example on names: *-ta for men, *-na for women, and *-(d)la for old people. Depending on the overall word, they might have reduced forms *-tǝ, *-nǝ, and *-lǝ.

A son was *mu and a daughter *mag, but children overall could be called *kɯs, which also meant ‘small,’ and there were also compound terms, *mukɯs and *makkɯs.

Aunts and uncles could be specified by compound terms (notice the non-reduplicated form):

*tan ini ‘father’s older sister’

*tan ɯχʷa ‘father’s older brother’

*tan lig ‘father’s younger sibling’

*nan ini ‘mother’s older sister’

*nan ɯχʷa ‘mother’s older brother’

*nan lig ‘mother’s younger sibling’

However the words for older siblings could also be used generically to refer to older relatives, of any generation. So a person could say *ɯχʷa to his older brother, but also an older male cousin, or an uncle, and *ini to an older sister, older cousin, or aunt.

Conversely, the words for grandparents might also be used for older siblings of the parents, especially if the speaker was young. A term such as *dladla or *xaxa might have been used politely to address any old man or old woman.

Cousins - people in the same generation - were also distinguished by age, with older cousins being *iksi (female) and *utsu (male). All younger cousins, however, were lumped together with younger siblings as *lig. If necessary they could be specified as *iksinlig or *utsunlig, which evolved into terms of their own.

Beyond *dla ‘grandfather,’ there are words for further generations. The third generation above a person was known as *sab, and the fourth one is *gʷin. The female counterparts were *xa sab/sab xa and *xa gʷin/gʷin xa. Further generations might be indicated by compounding or reduplication. However the compound form *sab(ǝ) gʷin, as well as the plural forms *dlalod, *sabud, and *gʷinɯd, could all refer to ancestors collectively, or to the clan or tribe.

Going the other direction, *kɯs meaning both ‘small’ and ‘child’ generally could be appended to the grandparent terms to indicate grandchildren. Hence a grandchild is *dla kɯs, great-grandchild *sab kɯs, great-great-grandchild *gʷin kɯs etc.

Returning to the plural form, , this plural is not strictly a plural in the English sense, but also referred to collective groups, typified by one member. So the plural form of ‘mother,’ *nanod or *nǝnod, did not mean that Heather had two mommies; it meant ‘mother and women of her generation, aunts,’ or even more broadly ‘maternal relatives.’ In parallel, *tatod/tǝtod was ‘uncles’ or ‘father’s relatives,’ or simply ‘clan, tribe,’ among groups with paternal descent. Paternal relatives / clan were also called  *ahimud / *isod ‘bloods,’ and maternal relatives / clan were *χʷəlod ‘bones,’ reflecting the belief that one inherited one’s ‘bones’ from the mother, and ‘blood’ from the father, while either kin group might be *qalod ‘fleshes.’

The oldest male in a group was the *axʷǝn ‘chief’ or ‘master.’ Hence the *igʷ-axʷǝn or ‘home-master’ was ‘father’ or ‘husband’ - but also the *axʷǝn kɯs referred to the oldest son.

Upon marriage, the bride usually moved to the groom. The *akanisʔi or *akǝnesʔi was the bride or ‘one who is brought in [to the house].’ (Becoming enetsi.) The one who brought her in, her father, was *akanuʔi or *akǝnoʔi (> *eno’i). The mother-in-law was *akǝnoʔina, and the brother-in-law to the groom was *akǝnesʔin ɯχʷa or lig.

*Dibil referred to a variety of inlaws, including brother-in-laws. The basic meaning was related to ‘succeed,’ ‘inherit,’ ‘replace,’ or ‘exchange.’ It could refer to a youngest son - the youngest son was often the ‘heir’ of a family. In some historical Nastowic families, older children would receive gifts on marriage and move away, while the last child would stay with the parents and receive whatever they had left. Dibil could also mean the son-in-law of a family without sons. But it could also refer to other in-laws, such as a brother-in-law. Many tribes had a custom of levirate marriage, where a man would marry a deceased brother’s widow, as a second wife if need be, and among later tribes where chiefs had multiple wives, whoever succeeded the chief, including his son, might marry the former chief’s wives (excluding his own mother).

The word *qɯd ‘part, side, half’ plays two different, important roles. In western languages, it evolved into a prefix or modifier in front of kinship terms, referring to more distant, thinner relationships, such as distant cousins, or to inlaws. Hence,  *qɯd ɯχʷa ‘brother in law,’ *qɯd ini ‘sister in law.’ (E.g. > Swiric kulini ‘sister in law.’) In Nasic languages, it referred to a side of one’s family, such as mother’s side, father’s side, becoming a suffix -χt forming words for groups of people.

Aside from the terms above, Proto-Nastowic had several prefixes referring to particular categories of kinship, which could be added to some of the same terms to create several sets of other terms for kinds of relatives, such as in-laws, etc.

*Proto-Nastowic > *Old Swiric reflex

*O- paternal relatives (with vowel reduction)

l *o-tǝb *otu father’s family / clan

l *o-kǝg *oki paternal relative; father

l *o-dlǝ *olǝ grandfather

l *o-lig *ore uncle (father’s younger brother)

l *o-χʷǝ *owo > o: father’s older brother

l *o-xǝ *o: paternal grandmother

l *o-ni *oni father’s older sister

*NA- maternal relatives (with vowel reduction)

l *na-tǝb *natu mother’s family / clan

l *na-kǝg *naki maternal relative; father

l *na-dla *nala maternal grandfather

l *na-lig *nare uncle (father’s younger brother)

l *na-χʷǝ *nawo mother’s older brother

l *na-xa *na: maternal grandmother

l *neni *neni mother’s older sister

*IB- husband’s relatives

l *ib-pa *ipa husband

l *ib-xa *ipa maternal grandmother

l *ib-kǝg *yuki

l *ib-lig *yure

l *ib-ta *yuta

l *ib-ini *iwini > wi:ni , yu:ni

l *ib-uχʷǝ *iwuwo > yu:wo, i:wo, i:gʷo, yu:gʷo

l *ib-dla *yura, era, yuta

*UGI- wife’s relatives

l *ugi-pa wi:pa wife

l *ugi-kǝg wi:ki wife

l *ugi-ta wi:ta father-in-law

l *ugi-na wi:na mother-in-law

l *ugi-xa wi:ha > u:ya, uya: maternal grandmother

l ugi-dla wi:ra grandfather in law

l *ugi-tab wi:to in-laws

l *ugi-lig wi:re wife’s younger siblings

l *ugoχʷǝ uyowo > uyu:, uyo: wife’s older brother

l *ugeni uyeni wife’s older sister

*SO- younger in-laws (with vowel reduction)

l *so-kɯs soku

l *so-mǝg somi

l *so-mu somu

l *so-mǝg-kɯs somuku > sonku

l *so-mu-kɯs somuku > sonku

l *so-dlǝ-ku soruku

Poetry

Poetry, relating tales of ancestors and heroes, is the chief reservoir of knowledge in the nomadic peoples into which Nastowic people evolved, and from this we can guess about how these people saw the world. We can also guess about the prosodic preferences of ancient people. There were generally a strict number of syllables within a poetic form. However, this could be met by adding particles, or by cutting schwas to fit the count. Alliteration was used instead of rhyme.