Proto-Tim Ar-O is one of my crowning achievements in conlanging. To arrive at it, I took two previously-unconnected languages--Classical Ĝare n Tim Ar and O--and worked backwards to create an ancestral language from which both would be consistent in having developed. I've revisited the concept of the language on occasion, most recently to add in a series of voiceless continuants to help explain the abundance of resonant-plus-high-tone sequences in CT, and it is well possible that this language may undergo further significant updates.
The ancestral tongue of both Classical Ĝare n Tim Ar (CT) and the O language, the ancestors of the speakers of those language used Proto-Tim Ar-O (PTO) around 2000 BC.
PTO is reconstructed as having had the following consonant phonemes:
| LABIAL | DENTAL | ALVEOLAR | PALATAL | VELAR | UVULAR | GLOTTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NASAL | *m | *n | *ŋ | ||||
| STOP | *p *b | *t̪ *d̪ | *t *d | *tj *dj | *k *g | *q *ɢ | *ʔ |
| CONTINUANT | *θ *ð | *s *ɹ | *ʃ *j | *x *w | *χ *ʁ | ||
| LATERAL | *ɬ *l |
PTO possessed a standard seven-vowel system, with the addition of five diphthongs beginning with *i:
| FRONT | CENTRAL | BACK | |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIGH | *i | *u | |
| MID-HIGH | *e | *o | |
| MID-LOW | *ɛ | *ɔ | |
| LOW | *a |
There was also a series of diphthongs, namely *ia *iɛ *ie *iɔ *io.
PTO exhibited a somewhat complex syllable structure. A consonant obligatorily started the syllable (there were no null onsets), but the picture quickly assumes more complexity:
That is, a vowel alone could stand as the nucleus of the syllable, or a sequence of *e plus one of the indicated continuants could stand there (but only with *e, not with any other vowel). An example of the maximal syllable is *ktmewlʔ 'anchor weight'.