Verse:Mwail/Old Gloob: Difference between revisions

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|script=Themsaran script, Raxic script

Themsaran is my first constructed language, for my conworld of Hheergrem. It is intended to be a head-initial, head-marking language with a plausible development from an erstwhile dependent-/double-marking language. The grammar, syntax and morphology has been heavily influenced by Semitic and Celtic languages, with some drawing from Japanese. Aesthetically it has hints of [[w:Baltic languages|Baltic]], [[w:Germanic languages|Germanic]], [[w:Celtic languages|Celtic]], [[w:Semitic languages|Semitic]], [[w:Khmer language|Khmer]] and [[w:Gyeongsang dialect|Gyeongsang Korean]]. The main departure from Semitic grammar is that the language has been augmented with new features such as strict head-marking inflection utilizing two types of switch-reference on verbs, the applicative voice and borderline polysynthesis. So I guess it ends up a tad more like some Native American languages. Other purposes of my language include mixing in un-English verb syntax, such as the use of optatives  in subordinate clauses, and using principally non-finite subordinate clauses in the indicative.

The '''Themsaran''' (/ˈθɛmsɑɹən/) '''language''' (Themsaran: ''gávthȁ themsármā'' [gáʊ̯fθàː θè̞msármàː] "the Themsaran mouth") was traditionally classified into a [[Talsmic languages|separate subbranch]] of the [[Zachydic languages|Zachydic]] language family, along with other para-Themsaran languages which are/were natively spoken in the island of Tálsèm off the northeastern coast of the Zachydi subcontinent. (Since then, Talsmic's [[Raxo-Talsmic languages|close ties]] to Ractamic languages, such as Raxic, has gained widespread recognition.) Due to its long period of isolation and substrate influence, Themsaran was a typological and lexical outlier in its family, within which it was distinguished by its heavily head-marking inflection in both clauses and possessive NPs as well as its strongly head-initial syntax. It also notably employs a combination of tone changes and affixes to convey grammatical information. The language possesses mixed fusional and agglutinative inflection, and nominative-accusative morphosyntax (mostly). The name of the language comes from the Themsár region, from whose dialect arose the prestige language of the island. This elevated language existed in a state of diglossia with the diverse and often mutually unintelligible vernacular "dialects". High Themsaran was used as a living language by the ruling class for a period spanning 600 years until its demise in the year ca. 220 v.c., and was continued to be used as an important literary, academic and religious language on the island and surrounding mainland areas.