Further language development Q's

Hey!

I still don't get the hang of developing Ayeri into (a)
daughter language(s), but if I should ever do this, there
are two things that I'm wondering about:

1)   How can I get from [4] to /R/, i.e. [X, R]? [4] is
     alveolar, and /R/ uvular, so at the opposite end of
     the mouth. Are there any steps in between that justify
     this change? OTOH, I've heard dialects that use [4]
     instead of [R]. I've learnt that it's always dialects
     that develop into another daughter languages.

2)   Ayeri is a trigger language, that means fluid-S AFAIK.
     The topic of a sentence can be any argument of a verb.
     So is it possible, that one daugher language can
     develop an nom/acc system and another one an abs/erg
     system? I haven't found a tendency in Ayeri to one
     of both ends yet, though. But I think because at least
     the one standard version I have until now has no real
     passive construction, it would tend to be accusative,
     although there is a causative that makes some kind of
     passive constructions possible: manáo -> manaisa
     (to invent, v. -> invented, adj.)

3)  OFF-TOPIC as for the topic of this thread, but ON-TOPIC
    as for languages: What does "deictic" mean? I haven't
    found it in my dictionary.

Thanks,
   Carsten

NB:  I have started reading _Describing Morphosyntax_, and I
     have immediately discovered some interesting things
     that still have to be done.
     It will take a while until I start the back-translation
     of the Ayeri grammar into English.


--
Eri silveváng aibannama padangin.
Nivaie evaenain eri ming silvoieváng caparei.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince
  -> http://www.beckerscarsten.de/?conlang=ayeri

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