Proto-Uralic

Facts

  • Language: Proto-Uralic
  • Alternate names: Uralilainen kantakieli
  • Language code: xurap
  • Language family: Uralic (SIL classification)
  • Number of speakers: Extinct
  • Script:

More information:

    Introduction

    Proto-Uralic (Finnish: Uralilainen kantakieli) is a reconstructed language, which was the predecessor of all Uralic languages, such as Finnish.

    Latest lingistical and archeological evidence support the theory that speakers of Proto-Uralic lived on the shores of Volga river in today's Southern Russia.

    From Proto-Uralic language evolved a number of younger Uralic languages, such as Early Proto-Finnic.

    The Verb

    The verb was inflected for tense-aspect (*-pa indicated "nonpast", *-ka indicated "perfect nonpast; imperative", *-ja indicated "past") and mood (*-ne indicated "conditional-potential"). The use of auxiliary verbs to indicate tenses was unknown, although Sami, Baltic-Finnic, and Hungarian now have essentially a Germanic-type tense system, with perfect formations based on the "be" verb; e.g., Finnish mene-n 'I go', ole-n men-nyt 'I have gone' ('be-I go-[past participle]'), men-i-n 'I went', ol-i-n men-nyt 'I had gone', men-isi-n 'I would go', ol-isi-n men-nyt 'I would have gone'.

    *toli- to come

    Sg1*tolim
    Sg2*tolit
    Sg3*toli
    Du1*tolimajn
    Du2*tolitajn
    Du3*toliki
    Pl1*tolimat
    Pl2*tolitat
    Pl3*tolit