Verse:Mwail/Classical Thean

In Timeline 1 of Angai, Classical Thean forms the basis of Literary Thean which was used as a literary language of Thea for over 2000 years before the emergence of Modern Standard Thean.

History

The oldest attested stage of Thean, called Old Thean, uses a logography. The history of Classical Thean begins with the publication and spread of [some religious text; some form of Buddhism I guess] in a phonetic orthography (a translation of a Dylathian religious text) and the rhyming prose tales of [author].

Example sentences

• dhat muː gwhaː xay 'I am your father'
• mu: kwel (or tso: mu: kwel) 'you are eating'
• təkwle:ns xwaː (gwher) 2lar (teacher AUX.REL.3SG (LOC) breathe) 'the teacher that is breathing'

Lexicon

• kʼa 'crow'
• kʷał '(esp. good or evil) deed; karma'
• walʼ '0'
• ša '1'
• gʒer '2'
• ʔəlnox '3'
• gled '4'
• ʔuł '5'
• tmarʼ '6'
• ktelʼ '7'
• nəķʼit '8'
• ʔərčʼa '9'
• mliʔ '10'
• xʷčʼaš '100'
• kʼcu '1000'
• ʔəǯiš '10000'
• təgʷid '10⁸'
• xʷlenʼ '10¹²'

Classical Thean phonology

Simple initials

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
							plain	labialized
Stop	tenuis	/p/ p	/t̪s̪/ c	/t/ t	/ts̠/ č	/c/ ķ	/k/ k	/kʷ/ kʷ	/ʔ/ ʔ
	voiced	/b/ b	/d̪z̪/ dz	/d/ d	/dz̠/ dž	/ɟ/ ģ	/g/ g	/gʷ/ gʷ
	ejective	/pʼ/ pʼ	/t̪s̪ʼ/ cʼ	/tʼ/ tʼ	/ts̠ʼ/ čʼ	/cʼ/ ķʼ	/kʼ/ kʼ	/kʷʼ/ kʷʼ
Fricative			/s̪/ s		/s̠/ š		/x/ x	/xʷ/ xʷ	/h/ h, /ɦ/ ɦ
Sonorant	plain	/m/ m		/n/ n, /l/ l	/r̠/ r	/j/ y		/w/ w
	glottalized	/mˀ/ mʼ		/nˀ/ nʼ, /lˀ/ lʼ	/r̠ˀ/ rʼ	/jˀ/ yʼ		/wˀ/ wʼ

/p bʰ pʼ/ are found in loanwords.

Nuclei

/i e a o u/ i e a o u, unstressed /ə/ ə

Finals

(Codas in parentheses are only found in loanwords)

• Tone A: null -n -y -l -r -d(soft d) (-m -w)
• Tone B: -ʔ -nʼ -lʼ -rʼ -yʼ -dʼ (-mʼ -wʼ)
• Tone C: -h -ł -š -x -s (-ms -ns -ls -rs -ys -ws -ps -ts -ks)
• Tone D: -k -t (-p)

Stress

Very strong final stress

Grammar

Pronouns

• 1sg xay
• 2sg mu
• 1pl tli
• 2pl: tna

The Classical Thean auxiliary

The Classical Thean clause-initial auxiliary was inflected for subject agreement, tense, mood, and independent vs. dependent clauses in a system about as complex as Colloquial Welsh. In subordinate clauses, the auxiliary often cliticized to the subordinating conjunction used.

The auxiliary had a zero form for the 2nd person present independent. (Cf. Welsh zero for 2sg present)

• Present tense affirmative: 1sg tsoi, 2sg tso: (or zero), 3sg laː, 1pl.ex, tsol, 2pl tson, 3pl lar
• Present tense interrogative, negative: bhə-gwhai, bhə-gwhau, bhə-gwhaː, bhə-gwhal, bhə-gwhan, bhə-gwhar
• Present tense relative: xwiː, xuː, xwaː, xol, xon, xor
• Focused: gwhaː
  • (dhat muː gwhaː xay 'I am your father')
• Past tense affirmative: dzhei, dzhu:, dzheː, dzhel, dzhen, dzher
• Past tense interrogative, negative: 2ə-dzhei, 2ə-dzhu:, 2ə-dzheː, 2ə-dzhel, 2ə-dzhen, 2ə-dzher
• Future tense affirmative: 2ai, 2au, 2aː, 2al, 2an, 2ar
• Future tense interrogative, negative: 2ə-dhai, 2ə-dhau, 2ə-dhaː, 2ə-dhal, 2ə-dhan, 2ə-dhar
• Conditional/subjunctive: dhoi, dho:, dhoː, dhol, dhon, dhor

Syntax

The Proto-Trans-Sarnathian word order was T1 S T2 V O. In Classical Thean, T2 becomes cliticized or lost, and T1 is the only word that inflects in a sentence.

In later OTh, T1 becomes an invariable tense or discourse particle