Proto-Imigh

This lang was started in answer to this small challenge on the ZBB.

I took the liberty of adding /s/ as an extra phoneme because having only /ɸ h/ stroke me as kind of weird. I'm also not sure I complied to the rules of "simple pronouns" and "few inflections" ;)

In the end, I'll use this lang as the basis for a family on Imigh, one of the continents of my conworld.

Phonology

	Bilabials	Alveolars	Glottals
Nasals	m	n
Plosives	p	t	ʔ
Fricatives	ɸ	s	h
Flaps		ɾ

Front	Back
i	u
e	o
ɛ	ɔ
a

The structure of a syllable is (C)V(h) where C can be any consonant. Two or more syllables in a row use this exact structure, for example in words such as mihʔahʔɛ́.

Stress is entirely irregular and must be known for each word. Most words have a single stress, even monosyllabic ones, but some have a secondary stress (which I have to work out before I can describe!). Stress is noted with an acute mark on the vowel, see the word above.

Allophony

Intervocalic consonants are voiced if none of them is h.
Intervocalic h is palatalized as [hj].
Word-final h is realized as [x].
hh and h after ʔ are realized as [ħ].
hʔ is realized as [q], [k] or [c] depending on the person and if front vowels are adjacent.
t, s, n are realized as [c ʃ ɲ] in the vicinity of i and e and as [ɟ ʒ ɲ] if intervocalic.
Stressed ɛ, ɔ are respectively realized as [e: o:].

Nominal morphology

Declensions

There is a set of 6 suffixes used to mark cases on both nouns and pronouns; spare a little complication, they are strictly regular.

Nom	Acc	Erg	Abs	Dat	Gen
-0	-ta	ʔ- -a	-i	-ʔu	-ɸe

The ergative prefix isn't realized if the word starts with a consonant already. However, if this consonant is h, it is replaced by the prefix.

The only exception to these affixes lies in the declension of the third person pronoun, mu which goes this way:

Nom	Acc	Erg	Abs	Dat	Gen
múhna	múta	múa	mu	múʔu	múɸe

There are other cases which shifts the alignment from nominative-accusative to ergative-absolutive -- they'll be described below.

Following is the declensions of the two other pronouns:

	Nom	Acc	Erg	Abs	Dat	Gen
1	ɛmá	ɛmáta	ʔɛmáa	ɛmái	ɛmáʔu	ɛmáɸe
2	pɛ́he	pɛ́heta	pɛ́hea	pɛ́hei	pɛ́heʔu	pɛ́heɸe

And examples with three nouns, ʔího "woman", noʔé "spouse" and esí "tree":

	Nom	Acc	Erg	Abs	Dat	Gen
woman	ʔího	ʔíhota	ʔíhoa	ʔíhoi	ʔíhoʔu	ʔíhoɸe
spouse	noʔé	noʔéta	noʔéa	noʔéi	noʔéʔu	noʔéɸe
tree	esí	esíta	ʔesía	esíi	esíʔu	esíɸe

Definiteness and demonstratives

Nouns can be made definite (DEF) by suffixing the third person pronoun mu before suffixing the noun case declension, not the pronoun one:

ɛmá	ʔíhota	ʔɔɾɛto
1.NOM	woman-ACC	to_greet
I greet a woman
ɛmá	ʔíhomuta	ʔɔɾɛto
1.NOM	woman-DEF-ACC	to_greet
I greet the woman
ʔího	mɔ́hmuta	ʔɔɾɛto
woman.NOM	child-DEF-ACC	to_greet
A woman greets the child
ʔíhomu	mɔ́hmuta	ʔɔɾɛto
woman.NOM-DEF	child-DEF-ACC	to_greet
The woman greets the child

Suffixing the other pronouns is used to form demonstratives. ɛmá is used for "close to me" or proximal while pɛ́he is used for "close to you" or medioproximal. Whenever something distal would be referenced, the definite construction is used.

ʔíhoɛma	eɾiníh
woman.NOM-PRX	to_sing_sadly
This woman sings sadly
ɛmá	ʔíhopɛheta	ɾihsáh
1.NOM	woman-MPRX-ACC	to_like
I fancy that woman

Possession

There are three different possession constructions, most using the genitive.

ɛmamɔ́h
1.POSS-child
my child
ʔíhoɸe	pímoh
woman-GEN	circlet
a woman's circlet
pɛ́heɸe	mɔ́hʔu
2-GEN	child-DAT
your late child

The first one is the close possession form, made by prefixing a pronoun on a noun. While it bears some meaning of inalienable property, it is not strictly needed to use this form for such cases. Register dictates that this form is better left to children or to denote particularly emotional links. Otherwise, the second form is the most used.

The second one is the general possession form, made by inflecting the possessor with the genitive case and following it by the possessed noun, inflected according to its role in the sentence. As said above, this form is the formal / high register one. It is expected that adults use this form most of the time except for some cases such as when referring to a newborn.

The third one is the revoked possession form, made by inflecting the former possessor with the genitive case, following it by the formerly possessed noun, inflected with the dative case. It is used to mark the separation between possessor and possessed where there was a link previously. Usually implies the link has been broken by death, thievery, accident, etc. Geographical separation isn't enough to warrant the use of this form.

Instrumental construction

The instrumental construction is made by inflecting a noun to the absolutive case. When it occurs with another noun at the absolutive case actually being a core verbal argument, the instrumental is placed after it.

ɛmá	pɛ́heta	íɸehi	óhmi
1.NOM	2-ACC	knife-ABS	to_kill
I kill you with a knife
ʔíhoa	mu	ɛmáɸe	íɸehi	óhmipɔ
woman-ERG	3.ABS	1-GEN	knife-ABS	kill-PAST
A woman killed him/her/it with my knife

There is a construction promoting the instrumental into the subject core argument (NOM/ERG) using the ergative case in all contexts and switching the former subject into the dative case. It is used to bring focus on the instrumental noun.

ʔíɸeha	pɛ́hei	(ɛmáʔu)	saʔóhmi
knife<ERG>	2-ABS	(1-DAT)	INSTR-to_kill
lit. With a knife, you are being killed (by me)
ɛmáɸe	ʔíɸeha	mu	(ʔíhoʔu)	saʔóhmipɔ
1-GEN	knife<ERG>	3.ABS	(woman-DAT)	INSTR-kill-PAST
With my knife, he/she has been killed (by a woman)

Comitative construction

The comitative construction is very similar to the instrumental one in that it use a standalone noun inflected to the genitive without another noun following it:

ɛmanoʔé	tɔúta	múɸe	ɾítɛ
1.POSS-spouse	tou-ACC	3-GEN	to_hunt
My spouse hunts a tou with him/her

Plural formation

There is no morphological plural in Proto-Imigh. A way to form plural is to use the ɾah or túoh adjectives:

ɾah	tɔú	ɛɸóhpɛheita	ʔohóhmi
PLUR	tou.NOM	man-DEF-ACC	INTENS-to_kill
Many tous are massacring that man
ʔɛmáa	túoh	esíi	ʔaáhʔɔhpɔ
1<ERG>	PAUC	tree-ABS	to_carve_pictures-PAST
I carved pictures in a few trees

Numbers

Plural is also markable through the use of numbers. Like many languages of this species, the number system uses a base 6:

1 pi
2 nu
3 sɔh
4 ɛ́e
5 ɸu
6 paíh (also meaning "fist")
7 paíh ai pi ("6 and 1")
8 paíh ai nu
9 paíh ai sɔh
10 paíh ai ɛ́e
11 paíh ai ɸu
12 núpa ("2-6")
13 núpa ai pi ("2-6 and 1")
18 sɔ́hpa
24 ɛ́epa
30 ɸúpa
36 ɾahʔépe ("plural hand")
37 ɾahʔépe ai pi
44 ɾahʔépe ai paíh ai nu
50 ɾahʔépe ai núpa ai nu
72 nuɾahʔépe
100 nuɾahʔépe ai ɛ́epa ai ɛ́e ("2-36 and 4-6 and 4")

They can be used the same way adjectives are:

ʔɛmáa	sɔh	ɸánɔhi	ʔáhihpɔ
1<ERG>	three	fanor-ABS	to_find-PAST
I found three fanors

Lexicon

ʔaáhʔɔh	nom. v. v.	to carve pictures (intrans.) to carve pictures in something, to tattoo someone (trans.)
ʔáhih	nom. v. v.	to search + target as DAT (intrans.) to find something (trans.)
ʔího	n.	woman
áhʔɛh	abs. v. v.	to get high, to experience great pleasure (intrans.) to have sex with someone (trans.)
eɾiníh	nom. v.	to sing with sorrow
esí	n.	tree
ɛ́piɾɛh	v.	to whisper jokes to someone
ɛɸóh	n.	man
íɸeh	n.	knife, blade
mihʔahʔɛ́	v.	to greet someone improperly
méɔh	abs. v.	to sleep (at night)
mɔh	n.	child
noʔé	n.	spouse
óhmi	abs. v. v.	to die (intrans.) to kill (trans.)
pi	adj.	1
pímoh	n.	circlet, bracelet
poɸé	nom. v.	to sing with joy
ɸánɔh	n.	a fanor, a clam of western Imigh
ɸɛtɛh	abs. v.	to sleep (during the day)
ɾah	adj.	plural adjective
ɾihsáh	v.	to like something, to fancy someone
ɾítɛ	nom. v. v.	to walk around impatiently (intrans.) to hunt, to run after (trans.)
tɔú	n.	a tou, a big forest predator
túoh	adj.	paucal adjective