Old 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)

Late Old Thean phonology

Simple initials

• /m n l r/ m n l r
• /(p) t ts̪ ts̠ tʃ k kʷ/ p t tþ ts tš k kw
• /(bʰ) dʰ dz̪ʰ dz̠ʰ dʒʰ gʰ gʷʰ/ bh dh dðh dzh džh gh gwh
• /(pʼ) tʼ ts̪ʼ ts̠ʼ tʃʼ kʼ kʷʼ/ b d dð ds dž g gw
• /s̪ s̠ ʃ x xʷ ʔ/ þ s š x xw 2
• /z̪ z̠ ʒ ɣ ɣʷ/ ð z ž γ γw
• /j w/ y w

/p bʰ pʼ/ are found in loanwords from Kuaic 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/

Stress

Very strong final stress

Grammar

Pronouns

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

The Early Old Thean auxiliary

(Todo: Undo vowel reduction, which shouldn't occur before Late Old Thean)

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