Verse:Mwail/Alliance Neo-Thean

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This concerns one of many timelines for Angai.

In Angai, Thean (/ˈθiːən/, natively shre̬n Thídh) or Theic is a family of analytic monosyllabic tonal languages. Thean is head-initial and SVO. Timeline 1's European Neo-Thean is inspired by Northern Athabaskan languages.

Thean is derived from Zzea /θīə/, the Qua pronunciation of the place name Thídh.

Thean is natively written in a deep orthography reflecting Classical Thean pronunciation.

Phonology of Alliance Neo-Thean

Alliance Neo-Thean is one of the more conservative varieties of Modern Thean. Other Thean lects have lost some or all finals.

Initials

Labial Inter-
dental 		Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
plain sibilant lateral plain labialized
Stop /p/ b /tθ/ ddh /t/ d /ts/ dz /tɬ/ dl /ʈʂ/ dr /tʃ/ j /k/ g /kw/ gw /ʔ/
Fricative /f/ f /θ/ th /s/ s /ʂ/ shr /ʃ/ sh /x/ x /xw/ xw /h/ h
Sonorant /m/ m /n/ n /l/ l /ɻ/ r /j/ y /w/ w

Nuclei

i, e, a, o, u /i e a o u/

Finals

-p -t -k -m -n -dh -l -y -r /-p̚ -t̚ -k̚ -m -n -ŋ -ð̠˕ -l -j -ɻ/ (null is allowed)

-p and -m finals are only found in words that don't go back to Proto-Trans-Sarnathian.

Tone

Alliance Neo-Thean has 9 phonemic tones (shamelessly stolen from Kam):

Rom. IPA English name Example Description
ā /˥/ (55) high
a /˧/ (33) mid
a̱ /˩/ (11) low
a̗ /˩˧/ (13) low-rise
á /˧˥/ (35) mid-rise
à /˥˧/ (53) high-fall
a̖ /˧˩/ (31) mid-fall
a̬ /˧˨˧/ (323) dip
â /˦˥˧/ (453) peak

Tone diachronics

Tone chart
syllable type→
initial↓ 		A (null or resonant final) B (glottal stop final) C (fricative final) D (stop final)
glottalized initial 55 (ā) 323 (a̬) 53 (à) 55 (āk)
modal initial 35 (á) 13 (a̗) 453 (â) 33 (ak)
breathy initial 11 (a̱) 31 (a̖) 33 (a) 11 (a̱k)
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