Proto-Samoyedic language

Ancestor of the Samoyedic languages

Proto Samoyedic, or Proto Samoyed, is the reconstructed ancestral language of the Samoyedic languages: Nenets (Tundra and Forest), Enets, Nganasan, Selkup, as well as extinct Kamas and Mator. Samoyedic is one of the principal branches of the Uralic language family, and its ancestor is Proto Uralic. It has been suggested that Proto Samoyedic greatly influenced the development of Tocharian, an Indo European language.

As in Proto Uralic, words could begin with a maximum of one consonant: initial consonant clusters were not allowed. Another phonotactic constraint inherited from Proto Uralic was that the consonants *r and *ŋ were not allowed word initially. Proto Samoyedic had, however, innovated final consonant clusters in a few words. In all of them, the first consonant in the cluster was the semivowel *j, as in *wajŋ 'breath'. Thus, the syllable structure of Proto Samoyedic was altogether (C)V(j)(C). Inside words, clusters of two consonants were common. Clusters of three consonants were again possible only if the first consonant of the cluster was *j, as in *wajkkə 'neck'.

Palatalization of consonants, most prominently *k, has occurred in all recorded Samoyedic languages. This is however a post Proto Samoyedic development, as the details differ in each branch due to vowel developments. The Nenets Enets group palatalizes both *k and *s to /sʲ/. Nganasan, Selkup and Kamassian palatalize *k to a distinct /ʃ/. Nganasan also palatalizes *s to /sʲ/. Mator appears to have no palatalization of *k; however, *s is, somewhat unusually, velarized to /k/. Nenets Enets and Nganasan have prominent palatalization of other consonants as well, leading to contraction of the vowel system. Other widespread developments include prothesis of *ŋ, initial lenition of *p, and fortition of the semivowels *w, *j. In Nganasan, Nenets and Enets, PS vowel initial words gain an initial /ŋ/ via rhinoglottophilia (which may be subsequently palatalized to /nʲ/). This is occasionally found in other Samoyedic languages as well, usually with the exception of Mator. PS initial *p is lenited to /f/ in Enets, /h/ in Mator and Nganasan. (/f/ still appears in the oldest Nganasan records.) PS initial *w remains only in Nenets. In Selkup, it becomes /kʷ/; all other varieties shift it to /b/. PS initial *j remains in both Nenets and Enets. It becomes /tʲ/ in Selkup, and /dʲ/ in other varieties. In Mator and Kamassian, /b/, /dʲ/ are furthermore nasalized to /m/, /nʲ/ preceding a word internal nasal. This has been an areal change, shared also with Siberian Turkic languages such as Khakas.