Old Shár language

Old Shár was the stage of the Shár language between 3500 BEKE and around 100 AEKE.

Syllable structure
In Old Shár, a syllable normally consisted of:
 * (Optionally) An initial consonant, or a consonant + glide cluster.
 * The velar glide /w/ could only exist after the velar consonants /kʰ k x ɣ/
 * The palatal glide /j/ could exist after any consonant
 * (Mandatory) A vowel
 * (Optionally) A final glide /j w/ or a coda-consonant /m n ŋ p t k ʔ s ɻ/

Initials

 * The actual status of /r/ is unknown. It could have been an alveolar trill [r], alveolar approximant [ɹ] or retroflex approximant [ɻ] like in most current variants of Shár. Most likely, it was a trill in an early stage of the language, but became an approximant later.
 * The voiced fricative /β/ was probably much more approximant-like, as it later on merged with /w/
 * /ɸ/ was bilabial. It later became a labiodental [f].

Between Early Old Shár and Late Old Shár, various initials have changed:
 * Voiced and unaspirated voiceless stops merged, yielding one unaspirated series that is voiceless initially, voiced medially.
 * At the time, medial /k/ was still a voiceless [k]. It gained the intervocalic voicing only after the Old Shár period has ended.
 * The postalveolar series /t͡ʃʰ tɹ dɹ/ and palatal series /t͡ɕʰ d͡ʑ/ merged, yielding a new shibilant affricate series /t͡ʃʰ t͡ʃ/
 * /ɕ/ became /ʃ/
 * /β/ merged with /w/
 * /βj/ became /ɣj/ instead
 * /ɸ/ became /f/

Finals
In Old Shár, every final consisted of a vowel (chart below), and optionally a glide /j w/ or a coda-consonant /m n ŋ p t k ʔ s ɻ/. After the Old Shár period ended, the finals /ʔ s/ became tones, for example, /iʔ is/ became [i˩˥ i˥˩].