This is a short survey of the mother language of the Steppe family of languages, part of the Shiffaractean superfamily. The most northerly of the Shiffaractean branches, they inherited nearly all the features of their ancestral speech, along with the momentum of a once-isolating language gradually becoming more complex in its morphology, which it has been claimed they represent the culmination thereof.

The Steppe Family

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
plosive	p b	t d	ṯ ḏ	č ǰ	k g
	mb	nd		nǰ	ŋg
fricative	f v	þ ð	s z	š ʝ	x	h
nasal	m	n			ŋ
liquid		l			ɫ
rhotic		r
approx	w			j	ġ

Ŋg was probably rounded, given its Kerinid reflection m. Ġ's descendants in the daughter languages are ambiguous between a velar approximant [ɰ] and the more 'typical' fricative [ɣ]. In many cases it is lost completely, though not before affecting some sounds adjacent to it (a behavior found primarily in Drydo-Udraþ), in others may vocalize (Kerinidoi), and in some it even keeps its original forms (Drîdic, Central).

Vowels

	front	central	back
high	i ī y		u
mid-high	e		o
mid-low	æ ǣ		ọ
low		a ā	ạ
		—
diphthongs	ei eu	ai au	oi ou ại

Some instances of ū occur, but they are rare and analyzable as two instances of u.