Verse:Mwail/Classical Thean

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Verse:

Mwail/Classical Thean

• Mwail/Classical Thean/Lexicon

Verse talk:

Classical Thean
Setting	Verse:Angai
Native speakers	975 million (2025)
Language family	Theic Classical Thean
Official status
Official language in	Thea, Qualand, the Alliance

Classical Thean was the most spoken language of Angai Europe before the timeline split. With 975 million L1 and L2 speakers worldwide, Thean was the fourth-most spoken language in 2025.

In Timeline 1 of Angai, Classical Thean evolves into highly tonal languages.

Todo

• Make change-of-state verbs (e.g. 'to die', 'to ripen') the basic lexical items
• What does kʼ- mean? ƛʼu 'to hunt'; kʼƛʼu 'tooth'

Gibberish

təčʼay ʔəmʼarʼ ʔənkał xʷkʸiš
ǯun gǯed ʔəšo nəyiš
kʔan tnʼoh kʼlir ʔəlšey
łuy sca tweł knal ʔərgʷiš

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 and the rhyming prose tales of [author]. This switch to a phonetic orthography was incentivized by the introduction of the printing press.

Diachronics

Consonants

• Proto-Theic k g kʼ -> kʸ gʸ kʸʼ
• Proto-Theic kʷ gʷ kʷʼ -> č ǯ čʼ
• Proto-Theic q ɢ qʷ -> k g kʼ
• Proto-Theic qʷ ɢʷ qʷʼ -> kʷ gʷ kʷʼ

Stressed vowels

• Proto-Theic a -> o after kʷ-series consonants, e after kʸ-series ones, a otherwise
• Proto-Theic ã -> a
• Proto-Theic i -> e
• Proto-Theic ī -> i
• Proto-Theic u -> o
• Proto-Theic ū -> u

Classical Thean phonology

Initials

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
				central	lateral			plain	labialized
Stop	tenuis	/p/ p	/t̪s̪/ c	/t/ t		/ts̠/ č	/c/ kʸ	/k/ k	/kʷ/ kʷ	/ʔ/ ʔ
	voiced	/b/ b	/d̪z̪/ ʒ	/d/ d		/dz̠/ ǯ	/ɟ/ gʸ	/g/ g	/gʷ/ gʷ
	ejective	/pʼ/ pʼ	/t̪s̪ʼ/ cʼ	/tʼ/ tʼ	/tɬʼ/ ƛʼ	/ts̠ʼ/ čʼ	/cʼ/ kʸʼ	/kʼ/ kʼ	/kʷʼ/ kʷʼ
Fricative			/s̪/ s		/ɬ/ ł	/s̠/ š	/ç/ xʸ	/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 xey
• 2sg mo
• 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)

Classical Thean auxiliary constructions (V = verb)

→ Person		1sg	2sg	3	1pl	2pl
present	affirmative	xco xey gʷer V	(rəco) mo gʷer V	la šru gʷer V	łco tli gʷer V	nəco tna gʷer V
	interrogative	xgʷay xey gʷer V	rəgʷay mo gʷer V	gʷay šru gʷer V	łgʷay tli gʷer V	nəgʷay tna gʷer V
	negative	xgʷay xey wa gʷer V	rəgʷay mo wa gʷer V	gʷay šru wa gʷer V	łgʷay tli wa gʷer V	nəgʷay tna wa gʷer V
past	affirmative	xʒe xey V	rəʒe mo V	ʒe sru V	łʒe tli V	nəʒe tna V
	interrogative	ʔəxʒe xey V	ʔərʒe mo V	ʔəʒe sru V	ʔəłʒe tli V	ʔənʒe tna V
	negative	ʔəxʒe xey wa V	ʔərʒe mo wa V	ʔəʒe sru wa V	ʔəłʒe tli wa V	ʔənʒe tna wa V
future	affirmative	xʔal xey V	rəʔal mo V	ʔal sru V	łʔal tli V	nəʔal tna V
	interrogative	ʔəxda xey V	ʔərda mo V	ʔəda sru V	ʔəłda tli V	ʔənda tna V
	negative	ʔəxda xey wa V	ʔərda mo wa V	ʔəda sru wa V	ʔəłda tli wa V	ʔənda tna wa V
conditional/subjunctive	affirmative	xdo xey V	rədo mo V	do sru V	łdo tli V	nədo tna V
	interrogative	ʔəxdo xey V	ʔədo mo V	ʔədo sru V	ʔədol tli V	ʔədon tna V
	negative	ʔəxdo xey wa V	ʔədo mo wa V	ʔədo sru wa V	ʔəłdo tli wa V	ʔəndo tna wa V

Todo: Add more forms, look at Welsh

Derivational morphology

• kʼ- (allomorph of k-?) derives agent or instrument nouns
  • ƛʼu 'to hunt', kʼƛʼu 'tooth'

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