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Meskangela: Difference between revisions
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Historically Meskangela had always been the language of the mountainous islands. Its origin, however, is obscure, as all documentations of the previous eras were lost, and local folklore only briefly mentions an ancient journey to the west, called ཨཱགརྭཾཏུ ''Āgërwatu''. Little is known about the language of that period itself, its phonology is the only part that is well understood, which allows to reconstruct many Proto-Meskangela words. By around 1300 BNE, the Meskanel people had a many chiefdoms in all of the three main islands. During that period the written language rose to prominence and was standardised for the first time (300 BNE). Later, Meskangela Proper became a prestige language after being adopted as a lingua franca between its various dialects. The dialects themselves had already developed their distinctive features by the classical period, and Meskangela Proper was not a common ancestor of those dialects, instead it was a standardised variety of the '''Central Syörilā''', which comprises Western and Eastern ''Tūŋëdēla'' (“Innersea”) group. During the New Era Meskangela is still often referred as a single language, even though by the end of the classical period it had already been a group of closely related languages. The most accurate term to describe Meskangela as a whole is a [[w:Dialect continuum|dialect continuum]]. | Historically Meskangela had always been the language of the mountainous islands. Its origin, however, is obscure, as all documentations of the previous eras were lost, and local folklore only briefly mentions an ancient journey to the west, called ཨཱགརྭཾཏུ ''Āgërwatu''. Little is known about the language of that period itself, its phonology is the only part that is well understood, which allows to reconstruct many Proto-Meskangela words. By around 1300 BNE, the Meskanel people had a many chiefdoms in all of the three main islands. During that period the written language rose to prominence and was standardised for the first time (300 BNE). Later, Meskangela Proper became a prestige language after being adopted as a lingua franca between its various dialects. The dialects themselves had already developed their distinctive features by the classical period, and Meskangela Proper was not a common ancestor of those dialects, instead it was a standardised variety of the '''Central Syörilā''', which comprises Western and Eastern ''Tūŋëdēla'' (“Innersea”) group. During the New Era Meskangela is still often referred as a single language, even though by the end of the classical period it had already been a group of closely related languages. The most accurate term to describe Meskangela as a whole is a [[w:Dialect continuum|dialect continuum]]. | ||
==Geographic distribution== | ==Geographic distribution== | ||
The Meskangela language is spoken on three main landmasses, which are used to group its dialects: འས྅རིཀཿ ''Hasörikā'' “Westland”, སྱཾརལིངཿ ''Syarëliŋā'' “Eastland” and མྸཾགཾརིཀཿ ''Mágårikā'' “Southland”, as well as on many islands surrounding the landmasses. There are also some small communities in the southern continent ''Lyökimëranā'', but most of those settlements are recent, and for the most part originate from the Southland. | The Meskangela language is spoken on three main landmasses, which are used to group its dialects: འས྅རིཀཿ ''Hasörikā'' “Westland”, སྱཾརལིངཿ ''Syarëliŋā'' “Eastland” and མྸཾགཾརིཀཿ ''Mágårikā'' “Southland”, as well as on many islands surrounding the landmasses. There are also some small communities in the southern continent ''Lyökimëranā'', but most of those settlements are recent, and for the most part originate from the Southland. | ||
===Dialects=== | ===Dialects=== | ||
[[File:Meskangela_dialects.png|thumb|Seven main dialects of Meskangela: | [[File:Meskangela_dialects.png|thumb|Seven main dialects of Meskangela: | ||
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{{legend|#eef5fb|sparsely populated or uninhabited}}]] | {{legend|#eef5fb|sparsely populated or uninhabited}}]] | ||
Linguistically speaking, Meskangela is not a single language, but a group of closely related languages, divided into three subgroups: Western, Eastern and Southern, based on their relative location. Some dialects within one subgroup may differ more from each other than other dialects belonging to different subgroups, which mostly depends on their geographic isolation and influence of the standard language. Some dialects are mutually intelligible, whereas others are not, not unlike the situation of a typical dialect continuum. Several varieties still use different names for themselves: a relatively divergent far Eastern variety is called ''Khīmła'' [ˈkʰiː.wɑ], Southeastern dialects – ''Majäg'' [ˈma.jɛɣ], Southwestern – ''Gakhō Łatem'' [ɣa.ˈkʰy. ʟa.ˈteʊ]. Most dialects can be described as either "Western", "Eastern" or "Southern", which corresponds to three main islands. It is also important to draw a distinction between later dialects of the New Era (often called "New Meskangela"), the classical variety used as a written, but not a spoken language, and those that are extinct. Thus, it is convenient to classify these dialects as "Modern", "Middle" or "Classical", and "Old", alongside the classification, based on geograhic areas. | Linguistically speaking, Meskangela is not a single language, but a group of closely related languages, divided into three subgroups: Western, Eastern and Southern, based on their relative location. Some dialects within one subgroup may differ more from each other than other dialects belonging to different subgroups, which mostly depends on their geographic isolation and influence of the standard language. Some dialects are mutually intelligible, whereas others are not, not unlike the situation of a typical dialect continuum. Several varieties still use different names for themselves: a relatively divergent far Eastern variety is called ''Khīmła'' [ˈkʰiː.wɑ], Southeastern dialects – ''Majäg'' [ˈma.jɛɣ], Southwestern – ''Gakhō Łatem'' [ɣa.ˈkʰy. ʟa.ˈteʊ]. Most dialects can be described as either "Western", "Eastern" or "Southern", which corresponds to three main islands. It is also important to draw a distinction between later dialects of the New Era (often called "New Meskangela"), the classical variety used as a written, but not a spoken language, and those that are extinct. Thus, it is convenient to classify these dialects as "Modern", "Middle" or "Classical", and "Old", alongside the classification, based on geograhic areas. | ||
==Writing system== | ==Writing system== | ||
[[File:Meskangel_cursive.png|thumb|''“Mëskangelā”'' in the cursive script.]] | [[File:Meskangel_cursive.png|thumb|''“Mëskangelā”'' in the cursive script.]] | ||