From FrathWiki

Common Kasshi is the partially-reconstructed, partially-recorded ancestor of Classical Kasshian and several other related (mostly extinct) languages. It is, in turn, descended from Proto-Kasshi-Oppai

Contents 1 Phonology 1.1 Consonants 1.2 Vowels 1.3 Syllables 1.4 Stress 2 Grammar 2.1 Nouns 2.1.1 Genders 2.1.2 Inflections 2.1.2.1 Number 2.1.2.2 Case 2.1.2.3 Postpositions 2.2 Verbs 2.2.1 Personal Clitics 2.2.2 Voice 2.2.3 Applicatives 2.2.4 Tense 2.2.5 Conditional 2.2.6 Aspectual Auxilaries 2.3 Pronouns 3 Syntax

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Syllables

Syllables were more restricted in Common Kasshi than in the Classical language. Syllables could start with:

• Any vowel
• Any consonant
• A stop followed by an l or r

Syllables could end with

• Any nasal
• Any voiceless fricative
• L or R

Stress

Any syllable could be stressed. The stressed syllable is indicated with an acute.

Grammar

Nouns

Genders

The "gender" system of Common Kasshi (more a classifier system, but Kasshi linguistics has traditionally used the same term), the ancestor of the gender systems of the Kassan branch, had considerably more distinctions than the gender system of Classical Kasshian, but also fewer morphological alternations.

	Singular	Dual	Paucal	Plural
Gender I	te	tel	tef	ten
Gender II	na	nal	naf	nan
Gender III	so	sol	sof	son
Gender IV	ki	kil	kif	kin
Gender V	rë	rël	rëf	rën
Gender VI	wa	wal	waf	wan
Gender VII	pi	pil	pif	pin
Gender VIII	hon	hol	hof	hona
Gender IX	la	lal	laf	lan
Gender X	qira	qiral	qiraf	qiran
Gender XI	tama	tamal	tamaf	taman
Gender XII	toka	tokal	tokaf	tokan
Gender XIII	tokan	tokanli	tokanëf	tokanna
Gender XIV	kula	kulal	kulaf	kulan
Gender XV	mani	manil	manif	manin

These markers functioned as both pronouns and a sort of article, being placed before the noun phrase. Adjectives were unmarked in Common Kasshi except, optionally, in the predicate. The classifiers agreed with their head in number and case.

Genders I-VII were very similar to their counterparts in the Classical language. Several additional genders existed:

• Gender VIII was for instruments and tools
• Gender IX was for weather phenomena, celestial bodies, and divinities
• Gender X was for round objects
• Gender XI was for long, narrow objects
• Gender XII was for most plants
• Gender XIII was for sacred things
• Gender XIV was for groups of humans, houses, items used in the context of trading, and other cultural artifacts not included in the above genders
• Gender XV was for body parts

Gender VI was considerably smaller in Common Kasshi than it was in the Classical language, consisting primarily of liquids and fire. Genders VIII-XV have been merged into the other genders, mostly VI and VII.

Genders IV and V were also somewhat different in Common Kasshi. The distinction there was one of "useful" vs. "non-useful" animals.

Inflections

Number

Common Kasshian had four numbers, singular, dual, paucal, and plural, with the following suffixes:

• Dual: -ri
• Paucal: -(ë)f
• Plural: -na

Case

• Absolutive: No suffix
• Ergative: -arë, -ka
  • -arë was used on nouns and adjectives, -ka on pronouns and articles
• Genetive: -afë
• Dative: -azë
• Postpositional: -ë

Postpositions

These postpositions had case-like functions. In the earliest form of the language, they were placed at the end of the entire noun-phrase (which was typically in the postpositional case). In later forms, they became clitics on the head noun, eventually evolving into full-blown cases, being duplicated on dependent adjectives

• Instrumental: li
• Benefactive: na
• Commitative: ran
• Locative: qavë
• Ablative: ta
• Allative: së
• Perlative: ne
• Inessive: ka
• Elative: do
• Illative: ba
• Perillative: baba
• Circumlocative: de
• Circumablative: gos
• Circumallative: ma
• Circumperlative: mama

Verbs

Personal Clitics

These were prefixed either to verb or the auxilary, if any.

	Singular	Dual	Paucal	Plural
1st	hë (later qo-)	lofë	taqe	ne
2nd	fen	feni	fenëf	fana
3rd rational	tasë	tehi	taf	tan
3rd non-rational	lë	li	lëf	lëna

Voice

• Passive: që-
  • Passive was a vestige of an earlier accusative stage
• Reflexive: ko-

Applicatives

Applicatives transform an intransitive verb into a transitive one, or a transitive verb into a ditransitive verb. They have the effect of adding an additional argument to the verb phrase, as an absolutive, with the original absolutive being incorporated into the verb.

• Dative: pë-
• Commitative: ran-
• Instrumental: so-

Tense

• Past: fa-
• Future: naqe-

Conditional

• If: ve(h)-
• Counter-factual: gula-
• Then: hos-

Aspectual Auxilaries

These could occur either in pre-verbal position, in which case the personal clitics were attached to them, or in post-verbal position.

• Prospective më
• Inceptive to
• Progressive ke
• Habitual vë
• Cessative rë
• Perfective no

Pronouns

	Singular	Dual	Paucal	Plural
1st	Qo	Sa	Ëná	Ti
2nd	Gel	Dre	Gélëf?	Gélna

In addition, the gender-markers listed earlier were used as 3rd person pronouns These pronouns took the following cases

• Nominative: no suffix
• Accusative: -he
• Genetive: -wa
• Dative: ?
• Postpositional: ?

Third person pronouns took null for absolutive and -ka for ergative

Syntax

Common Kasshian was strictly verb-final, with modifiers generally preceding their head, though they could also occur after.