Proto-Onpotcor

Proto Onpotcor
Family	Onpotcor-Qhalqon Languages
Spoken in:	Northern Intacar
Minority speakers in:	none known
Native speakers:	500,000

see also: Proto Onpotcor-Qhalqon Swadesh Lists
The Proto Onpotcor language is a mutually intelligible mix of dialects, spoken by the On, with the main differences occurring between the island and the mainland, with each landmass speaking mostly the same dialect. The mainland dialects, in particular, have a tendency to turn plosives into fricatives intervocaly. The language is a mainly prefixing OVS language, with a (C)V(V)(C) syllable structure. The language can be written using the Oncor writing system, a quite basic logographic script. The language is descended from the Proto-Onpotcor-Qhalqon language.

Phonomes

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p b	t d	k g	ʔ
Fricative	f v	s z
Approximant		l
Flap		ɾ

/ɾ/ is written as <r>, /ʔ/ as <q>, and /k/ as <c>.

Note that nasals match the position of any stops of other nasals that follow them (except for the glottal stop, which can only appear intervocally.)

Doubled consonants are geminates, and act as the initial to the second syllable they are in.

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Plosive	e		o
Low		a

Vowels become lax in open syllables, including when followed by geminates, as follows: a becomes [ə], e becomes [ɛ], i becomes [ɪ], o becomes [ɔ], u becomes [ʊ]. This only occurs to the second vowel in a diphthong.

• an [an] central
  
• map [map] clothing
  
• anmap [ə.'mːap] dress

The Onpotcor language has the following diphthongs:

• ae [ae]
• ai [ai]
• ao [ao]
• ea [ea]
• ia [ia]
• io [jo]
• ou [ou]
• ua [wa]
• ue [we]
• ui [wi]

Dialects

There are only 2 major dialects, Insular Onpotcor and Mainland Onpotcor, with the main distinction being that Mainland Onpotcor fricatizes non-nasal stops intervocally.

For example, with the word Bacar, the name for the mainland, and daoqon, or shaman.

• (Insular) Bacar [bak.'ar]
  
• (Mainland) Bachar [bax.'ar]
  
• (Insular) Daoqon [daɔ.'ʔon]
  
• (Mainland) Daohon [daɔ.'hon]

In theis article, all words are spelled according to the Insular pronunciation, and ignore minor dialects.

Word Order

Proto-Onpotcor is primarily prefixing with an OVS word order.

• Boc pun et.
  
• rock hold 3
  
• He holds the rock.

Note that Proto-Onpotcor has 5 verb class: (1) intransitive, (2) transitive, (3) reflexive, (4) adjective, and (5) nominal. However, out of the first three 3 usages, only with class 2 is the usage consistent with the name, as there are some verbs that can take objects when in class 1, and both class 1 and class 2 verbs can be reflexive, while not all class 3 verbs strictly are reflexive. In these cases, word order changes so that the verb remains recognizable as being used according to its class. Classes 1-3 are indicated by changes in word order of the sentence, while classes 4 and 5 are indicated by suffixes on the verb.

Class 1 verb usage with objects places the object after the subject:

• Pun et boc.
  
• feel 3 rock
  
• He feels the rock.

Similarly, class 1 or 2 verb reflexive usage places the reflexive pronoun after the subject. Class two verb usage retains an object in the normal position, even if it is only the dummy pronoun cu.

• Pun caret zigcaret.
  
• feel PLR-3 REF-PLR-3
  
• They feel each other.

• Cu pun caret zigcaret.
  
• 4 hold PLR-3 REF-PLR-3
  
• They hold each other.

Normal reflexive verb usage has the reflexive pronoun in the normal location, and it matches the subject pronoun (which can be dropped as it is now understood.)

• Zigcaret pun (caret).
  
• REF-PLR-3 pleasure
  
• They pleasure each other.
  
• They pleasure themselves.

Verb classes 4 and 5 indicate that something is something in particular, and is used instead of a copula.

• Puna et.
• hand-VC4 3
• It is hand-like.

• Punrai et.
• hand-VC5 3
• It is a hand.

Verbs

Mood	Meaning	Example	Translation
∅	indicative	Cu danas et.	He is creating something.
nu	potential	Cu nudanas et.	He might create something.
zi	abilitative	Cu zidanas et.	He can create something.
ca	permissive	Cu cadanas et.	He is allowed to create something.
li	conditional	Cu lidanas et lug...	He would create something if...
mu	optative	Cu mudanas et.	I want him to create something.
ri	relative	Cu ridanas et...	that he creates something...
ro	dubitative	Cu rodanas et.	he may or may not create something. (I don't know which)
gu	inferential	Cu gudanas et.	He is creating something. (But I don't know for sure) I think he is creating something.
ni	desiderative	Cu nidanas et.	He wants to create something.
cu	necessitative	Cu cudanas et.	He needs to create something.
fa	generic	Cu fadanas et.	He generally creates something.
-reduplication	imperative	Cu danasas et.	He must creates something!

All moods can be stacked if necessary, particularly the necessitative, desiderative, and relative moods.