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.

Alveolar affricates
Proto-Upic's palatal plosives *c *c' are believed to have been reflected by sibilant affricates [ts tsʼ] in Proto-Southern Upic, which along with *s likely had palatalised allophones [tʃ tʃʼ ʃ] before the close front vowels *i *ī. These allophones were varyingly phonemicised in daughter languages. Additionally, *t *t' became *c *c' before Proto-Upic close vowels *i *u.

The lateral affricates *tl *tl' are a unique development in Southern Upic. There was no phonemic lateral fricative at this stage, but the plain affricate *tl may have had an alternate fricative pronunciation [ɬ] in certain environments or free variation.

Dorsal obstruents
The dorsal obstruents *k *k' *x were almost certainly velar, but likely had some palatalisation or advanced articulation, perhaps to help distinguish them from *q *q' *h, which were likely either retracted velars or uvulars. The fricative *x in particular may have been a true palatal [ç].

Vowels
Proto-Southern Upic is reconstructed with a simple five-vowel system, with two additional syllabic consonants *r̩ *l̩.

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 was lost in onset clusters and merged into *r elsewhere, a consonant which at this stage can be reconstructed as uvular [ʁ~ʀ] with some certainty:

* ħ was also deleted following any approximant, including the syllabic forms *ew *ey *er *el *r̩ *l̩:
 * ħ > ∅ in onset clusters — *ħwac > *wac "far"; *ħlap > *lap > laf "star cluster"
 * *ħaw > *raw > *ro "seasonal wind"; *pyaħ > *pyar > *car "probable"


 * ħ > ∅ after approximants — *eyħ > *ey > *e "enter, doorway"; *erħ > *er > r̩ "opening, cave"; *tl̩ħ > *tl̩ "sour"

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. Clusters with initial sonorants *m *n *w *l *y *r (← *ħ) underwent a different change to those with initial obstruents, but the result in both changes was the total elimination of onset clusters.

Initial sonorants
Nasal consonants in onset clusters were dropped completely, leaving only the medial consonant:


 * N > ∅ in onset clusters — *mwi > *wi "similar, near"; *nyiw > *yiw > *yu "twist, twine"

The loss of *ħ in onset clusters can be explained by its shift to a sonorant *r and being affected by the same sound change as nasals. This change would likely have affected other sonorant-sonorant clusters too. Only one such cluster is tentatively reconstructed, but it does follow the expected change:


 * *wlix > *lix "sacred, relating to light in spiritual contexts"

Initial obstruents
Obstruents assimilated to the place of the medial R and the manner of articulation corresponding to the initial consonant:

This change is of particular importance to the reconstruction of Proto-Southern Upic and the relative order of sound changes, since several features of consonants can be assumed from the effects of this change:
 * Pw Pl Py Pr > p tl c q — *twuk > *puk > *pux "hook, snag"; *pluk > *tluk > *tlux "caniform"; *pyaħ > *pyar > *car "probable"
 * P'w P'l P'y P'r > p' tl' c' q' — *q'win > *p'in "dark, dull"; *p'las > *tl'as "sparkle, shine"
 * Fw Fl Fy Fr > f tl x h — *hwit > *fit > *fitl "joint, angle"; *xlic > *tlic "writhe"; *hyac' > *xac' "jump"


 * *r was already uvular at this stage
 * *c *c' were palatal consonants, so this change must have taken place before their affrication to [ts tsʼ]
 * some or all instances of *tl may have originally been a fricative [ɬ], at least in some circu

Affrication of coronal plosives
Alveolar plosives *t *t' merged with *c *c' respectively before close vowels *i *u. This is not necessarily palatalisation, but rather affrication, since *c *c' are believed to have shifted to [ts tsʼ] in Proto-Southern Upic.


 * t t' > c c' before *i *u — *tis > *cis "bright red/yellow"; *t'iq > *c'iq > *c'ih "egg"; *tur > *tul > *cul "lead, direct, front"; *t'u > *c'u "meat"

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


 * p t k q > f tl x h in coda position — *c'ewp > *c'ewf > *c'of "peel"; *hwit > *fit > *fitl "joint, angle"; *pluk > *tluk > *tlux "caniform"; *t'iq > *c'iq > *c'ih "egg"

Monophthongisation
Proto-Upic diphthong forms *ew *ey *er *el monophthongised in Proto-Southern Upic, generating two new mid vowels *e *o. In addition, sequences of vowels and coda glides were also reduced to single vowels:


 * ay ey > e — *kay > *ke "support, balance"; *eyħ > *ey > *e "enter, doorway"
 * iy uy > i — *k'uy > *k'i "below"
 * aw ew > o — *ħaw > *raw > *ro "seasonal wind"; *c'ewp > *c'ewf > *c'of "peel"
 * iw uw > u — *nyiw > *yiw > *yu "twist, twine"; *q'uw > *q'u "storm"
 * er > r̩ — *cerk > *cerx > *cr̩x "tear off, apart"
 * el > l̩ — *elp > *elf > *l̩f "flat surface"

Nouns

 * Absolutive: -(a)
 * Ergative/Genitive: -i
 * Syntactic noun phrases are always marked with =n
 * Dative receives function of patient marker, marker of standard of comparison and marker of alienable possession: a(CC)- it triggers gemination on the following consonant