Classical Thean

Old Thean is the oldest attested language of Æm Múr and the earliest attested Trans-Sarnathian language. It 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.

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'

Textual witnesses

Early Old Thean (perceived as a poetic register during the Late OTh period)

• The Tale of the Alchemist (the alchemist travels the world in search of ingredients for his elixir of life)
• An Odyssey analogue

Late Old Thean (basis of Literary Thean)

• The Code of Queen Naa¹³-Xay¹¹ (<- Tentative ModThean reading)

Early Old Thean should actually use quantitative meter but the way they write it in Old Thean logographs should make them Late Old Thean speakers assume Early Old Thean poetry was rhymed prose

Late Old Thean Phonology

Simple initials

• /m n l r/ m n l r
• /(p) t ts̪ ts̠ tʃ k kʷ/ p t tz ts tx k kw
• /(bʰ) dʰ dz̪ʰ dz̠ʰ dʒʰ gʰ gʷʰ/ bh dh dzh dsh dxh gh gwh
• /(pʼ) tʼ ts̪ʼ ts̠ʼ tʃʼ kʼ kʷʼ/ b d dz ds g gw
• /s̪ s̠ ʃ x xʷ ʔ/ z s x xw 2
• /z̪ z̠ / zz ss γ γw R Rw
• /j w/ y w

/p bʰ pʼ/ is found in loanwords from Kuamic and Rieng-Chrâtt.

Nuclei

/i e a o u iː eː aː oː uː ai au ei eu oi/

Finals

/-m -n -l -r -j -w -mʔ -nʔ -lʔ -rʔ -jʔ -wʔ -ʔ -t -k -kʷ, -s, -Cs/

Grammar

Pronouns

• 1sg xay
• 2sg mu:
• 1pl li:
• 2pl: na:

The Early Old Thean auxiliary

The Early Old 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 Old Thean, T2 becomes cliticized or lost. In Early Old Thean, T1 is the only word that inflects in a sentence.

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