Proto-Southern Upic language

Proto-Southern Upic (PSUp) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Southern Upic branch of the Upic languages.

Phonology
Below are the reconstructed phonemes of Proto-Southern Upic.

Consonants
The sibilants *ts *tsʼ *s are believed to have had palatalised allophones [tʃ tʃʼ ʃ] before the close front vowels *i *ī, which were varyingly phonemicised in daughter languages.

Evolution
The Southern Upic languages exhibit four characteristic sound changes which distinguish them from the other Upic languages. These changes are reconstructed to have occurred roughly in the order presented, during the evolution of Proto-Southern Upic from Proto-Upic.

Merger of *r and *ħ
Proto-Upic's *ħ merged with *r into a consonant which can be reconstructed as uvular *ʁ with some certainty:


 * ħ > ʁ —
 * r > ʁ —

Merger of onset clusters
Upic onset clusters consist of any consonant plus a medial R (*w, *l, *y or *r). In the Southern Upic languages, these were merged into a single consonant with the place of articulation assimilated to the medial R and the manner of articulation corresponding to the initial consonant:


 * Nw Nl Ny Nʁ > m n n ŋ —
 * Pw Pl Py Pʁ > p tɬ c q —
 * Pʼw Pʼl Pʼy Pʼʁ > pʼ tɬʼ cʼ qʼ —
 * Fw Fl Fy Fʁ > ɸ ɬ ç χ —
 * Rw Rl Ry Rʁ > w l y ʁ —

Affrication of coronal plosives
Alveolar plosives *t *tʼ were affricated to *ts *tsʼ respectively before close vowels (*i *ī *u *ū), while palatal plosives *c *cʼ became *ts *tsʼ in all environments:


 * t tʼ > ts tsʼ before *i *ī *u *ū —
 * c cʼ > ts tsʼ —

Spirantisation of coda plain plosives
Plain plosives in coda position were lenited to fricatives or affricates:


 * p t k q > ɸ tɬ x χ in coda position —