protoTelgean

protoTelgean is the reconstructed ancestor of the Telgean language family, a hypothetical group of related languages spoken in the vicinity of the fictional Telgean homeland. It is inferred through the comparative method from systematic correspondences among its descendant languages. Reconstructed data place protoTelgean as diverging into several daughter languages by the early first millennium BCE, with further splits in later centuries. The geographic origin and exact dating remain subjects of scholarly debate within the fictional setting.

Phonology: The reconstructed consonant inventory typically includes voiceless and voiced stops p t k b d g, nasals m n, a liquid l r, a fricative s, and a glottal stop. Vowels are a e i o u, with occasional vowel length indicated in reconstruction as contrastive. ProtoTelgean is generally thought to have had a simple syllable structure (C)V or (C)(C)V, with stress likely on the first syllable or a fixed position.

Grammar: ProtoTelgean is reconstructed as having a largely analytic-to-synthetic morphology with a predominantly SOV (subject–object–verb) word order. Nouns show case and number, with likely nominative and accusative distinctions and optional demonstrative or possessive clitics. Verbs encode tense and aspect through affixes or periphrastic markers and may reflect evidentiality or mood. Adjectives appear with nouns, usually in pre- or post-nominal position, and derivational morphology creates noun and verb forms.

Writing and evidence: No direct protoTelgean inscriptions survive. Knowledge rests on comparative reconstructions from Telgean languages, cognate sets, and internal phonological changes inferred from regular correspondences. The lexicon reconstructed for protoTelgean includes basic terms for family, nature, body parts, and social relations, which in turn illuminate the semantic shifts found in its descendant languages.