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| altname      = Themiclesian, Sinastani
| altname      = Themiclesian, Sinastani
| nativename    = 震旦語系
| nativename    = 震旦語系
| pronunciation = tjən˥˩.tɑn˥˩.ŋjɑ˩˥.ɣis˥˩
| pronunciation = tərt.tɑns.ŋɑq.giks
| states        = [[Themiclesia]]
| states        = [[Themiclesia]]
| ethnicity    = Themiclesian
| ethnicity    = [[Meng]]
| speakers      = 51,240,000
| speakers      = 51,240,000
| date          = 2010
| date          = 2010
Line 11: Line 11:
| familycolor  = Sino-Tibetan
| familycolor  = Sino-Tibetan
| fam1          = Menghic
| fam1          = Menghic
| ancestor      = Old Menggok language
| ancestor      = Proto-Meng
| ancestor2    =  
| ancestor2    = Old Meng language
| ancestor3    =  
| ancestor3    =  
| dialects      = See "dialects" below
| dialects      = See "dialects" below
| sign          =  
| sign          =  
| stand1        = T'owng-ngja'
| stand1        = l′wāng-ngan
| stand2        =  
| stand2        =  
| script        = {{wp|Hanzi|Mengja}}
| script        = {{wp|Hanzi|Mengja}}
| nation        = [[Themiclesia]]
| nation        = [[Themiclesia]]
| minority      = [[Menghe]], [[Dayashina]], [[Nukkumaa]] and [[Organized States|OS]]
| minority      = [[Menghe]], [[Dayashina]], and [[Nukkumaa]]
| agency        =  
| agency        =  
| iso1 = sh
| iso1 = sh
| iso2 = tem
| iso2 = tem
}} '''Shinasthana''' (震旦語系, ''tjens-tans-ngja'-ghis'') is a group of languages most widely spoken in Themiclesia, with 22 officially-recognized dialect groups.  It is a member of the Menghic language family, originally spoken in Menghe and introduced to Themiclesia by Meng merchants and settlers.  The variety of Shinasthana that is the official language in Themiclesia is ''towng-ngja', '' or the "Common Speech".  Language policy in Themiclesia had curtailed the dialectal variety present in the country, with several now critically endangered; modern efforts to preserve them are in effect.  Shinasthana has around 41 million native speakers, domestically and abroad, as well as several million second language speakers.  The language is widely taught and researched in foreign educational institutions.
}} '''Shinasthana''' (震旦言系, ''tert-tans-ngan-kiks'') is a group of languages most widely spoken in [[Themiclesia]], with 10 officially-recognized dialect groups.  It is a member of the Menghic language family, originally spoken in [[Menghe]] and introduced to Themiclesia by [[Meng]] merchants and settlers in several strata.  The variety of Shinasthana that is the official language in Themiclesia is ''l'wāng-ngan'', or the "common speech".  Language policy in pre-modern Themiclesia had curtailed the dialectal variety present in the country, with several now critically endangered; modern efforts to preserve them are in effect.  Shinasthana has around 41 million native speakers, domestically and abroad, as well as several million second language speakers.  The language is widely taught and researched in foreign educational institutions.


==Etymology==
==Etymology==
The word ''Shinasthana'' is from an early transliteration of ''Snjonh'' (name of a Themiclesian dynasty) into a Maverican Sanskrit, suffixing ''-sthana'', which means "place"; this term was later further transliterated by Casaterran scholars into ''Shinasthana'', ''Sinastana'', ''Xinastana'', ''Zenaktana'', ''Shenaclana'', and ''Themiclesia''.  Though technically the same word, ''Shinasthana'' is now exclusively used to refer to the language, and ''Themiclesia'' the country.
The word ''Shinasthana'' is from an early transliteration of Sjing (name of a dynasty) into Old Maverican, suffixing ''-sthana'', meaning "place"; this term was later further transliterated by Casaterran scholars into ''Shinasthana'', ''Sinastana'', ''Xinastana'', ''Zenaktana'', ''Shenaclana'', and also ''Themiclesia''.  Though technically the same word, ''Shinasthana'' is now exclusively used to refer to the language, and ''Themiclesia'' the country.


==History==
==History==
The phylogeny of Shinasthana was considered settled in the 19th century, as a branch of the Menghic languages, which is distributed in Menghe, Themiclesia, and communities outside them.  However, in 1935, Themiclesian scholar S. N. Kip discovered that the 22 dialects of Shinasthana do not form a monophyletic clade of languages; that is, there is no single language spoken in Menghe that was the ancestor to all Shinasthana language and only them. Rather, the language shows at least four strata of Menghic influence, which may be connected to waves of Menghean immigration to Themiclesia.   
===Archaic===
The oldest evidence of Meng language in Themiclesia dates to the [[Themiclesian Dark Ages]] and is a key source in reconstructing the [[Old Meng]] language; S. G. Mang places this stage around the 8th – 2nd c. BCE, ending with the [[Themiclesian Antiquity#Archaic|Archaic Period]].   


===Old Meng stratum===
This layer is not systematically reflected as a distinct branch of the family, but its traces can be evinced in oldest texts and some irregular readings.  Archaic Shinasthana is preserved in clay tablets that record business transactions, which are particularly informative as they are phonetically written using the [[Achahan|Achahadian]] cuneiform script.  The main characteristic contrasting with the Classical language is the syllable structure, which features "hiatus" or disyllabic words in the form CV<sub>1</sub>.V<sub>1</sub>C, co-existing with monosyllabic words in CVC and CV. The existence of "hiatus" words is also tentatively visible in the older strata of the ''Book of Songs'', where they scan as two morae.
The oldest layer corresponds with Menghic during Themiclesia's pre-dynastic period and reflects phonological features of [[Old Menghean language|Old Menghean]]; Kip's student, Mang, places this layer around the 7th c. BCE, or the founding of Themiclesia as a trading post.  This layer is not represented as any single dialect in Themiclesia, but traces of its structure can be evinced in some of the more archaic ones as irregular readings.  Systematic reconstruction of this layer is difficult due to lack of material.  The main characteristics of this stratum are:
*Complex initials with prefixes in g-, gh-, h-, s-, n-, m-, l-, and r-.
*Complex codas with -h and -s.
*Connections with phono-radicals are more clearly preserved, e.g. 魚 ''nglja'' and 魯 ''gla''.


===Meng Dynasty stratum===
The evolution from Old Meng to the Archaic language includes the following changes:
The Meng Dynasty stratum corresponds with the lingua franca of the Meng court's scholarly elite in the 2nd and 3rd c. CE.  This stratum is reflected very clearly across the modern southern dialects.  The main characteristics of this layer are
#Monophthongization
#Prefices
#* *-aw > *-o
#*Prefices g- and g'- are lost before obtruents but leave the obtruent voiced;
#* *-ew, *-əw > *-u
#*Prefices n- and m- are lost and move the nasal to the place of articulation;
#* *-iw > *-i
#*Prefices h-, s- are retained;
#*Prefix r- metathesizes with following consonants to produce some -rj- clusters in Division III;
#** *r-h > th
#*Prefix l- metathesizes with following consonants to produce affricates (TS).
#Nucleus
#*Voiced consonants (b-, d-, and g-) are lost before -r- and -l-
#**Unless preceded by s- or m-.
#Suffixes
#*Suffix -ɦ is lost and gives rise to the rising tone
#**except before -s, resulting in -hs;
#*Suffix -s > -h after vowels;
#**-ts > -is; -ks > -s; -kws > -us
#**-ps, -rs, -ls, -ns, -ms, -ngs, and -ngws are retained.


===Middle Meng stratum===
#Vowel breaking
The Middle Meng stratum is thought to represent the language of the Chǒllo aristocracy and the migrants to Themiclesia of the 6th century.  This stratum sees general phonetic shifts in the syllabic core, unlike in previous strata, where only the onset and coda seem to participate in them.  The dialects spoken in northern Themiclesia represent this layer best, and, after such changes shared with most of the Menghean dialects, including what gave rise to Gwanhwa, thus seem much more familiar to speakers of the Menghean language today.
#* *e undergoes breaking to *ye, though this is written as <yi> in cuneiform; however, it is distinct from a genuine <yi> as *ye evolves to *i
#* *o breaks to *-ua
#"Hiatus" words evolve from an older realization in Old Meng
# *-rl <ra.la> > -l


#Initials
===Classical===
#*Velars combine with -lj- and merge with palatals.
The Classical language was spoken from the Classical Period (c. 100 CE) and was the ''lingua franca'' of learning, business, and administration from the 4th century CE. Its details are preserved through transliteration in {{wp|Sanskrit|Maverican writing}}. This writing system was used by Themiclesians as a guide to proper pronunciation.
#**but in Division I and after back vowels in Division III, -l- is lost after unvoiced velars, while voiced velars are lost before -l.
#*hn- and hl- > t'
#*hm- and hng- > h
#*Alveolars combine with -r- and -rj- to form retroflexed initials; Division III-b is preserved in alveolars by means of the initial.
#*Alveolars combine with -j- to form palatals, except in the affricate series.
#**Prefix s- combines with labials, velars, and alveolars in Division III-a to becomes voiceless or voiced fricatives; the distinction of aspiration is lost.
#**but when s- occurs before larygneals, Division I words are re-analyzed as Division III.
#**when s- occurs before -n, -m, -ng, -ngw, and -l, these consonants are lost.
#*l- > j-.
#*g(w)- > gh(w)-
#**except before -j-, but not before -rj-
#Glides
#*In Division II, -r- is pronounced as [e]
#**but after labialized initials, [o] instead.
#*In Division III-b, -rj- is pronounced as [ɨ]
#**but after labialized initials, [ʉ] instead.
#Vowels
#*-un > en
#*-on > -uan
#**Except after velars.
#*-in > -ian
#*After alveolars, -en > -ian, where -ian has the phonetic value of [en].
#*-rjan- and -rjian- merge.
#*The contrast between -rj- and -j- is lost before back vowels.
#Suffices
#*All remaining -s and -h are lost, generating the departing tone.
#*-kw > -k.
#*-r, -l > -n
#**except before a-, -r is lost.


===Modern loans===
Archaic vowels settle into a symmetrical four-vowel system in the early Classical period consisting of /a i u ə/.
Modern loans are a blanket term for Menghean influence after the 6th century.  As Themiclesia's language has been well-established after then, loans rarely add more than an alternate readings to existing words.  In the earlier period, between the 6th and 19th centuries, loans generally agree with the [[Menghean language|Menghean Gwanhwa]]; after Gwanhwa was abolished as lingua franca in Menghe, later loans agree with one of two sources, one being the Chǒllo dialects and the other the Menghean Botong-ǒ.  A prominent example is the reading ''meng'' as in "Menghe"; the standard reading in Themiclesia would be ''mrangs''.  The former reading is used exclusively as a abbreviation for "Menghe", while the later is the name of the Meng Dynasty, with which Themiclesia identified for much of history.


==Writing Systems==
The main characteristics of this layer, as they evolve into the common dialect are:
===Traditional Characters===
#"Hiatus" words containing simply vowels simplify to long vowels.
Inherited from the Menggok language, each character is monosyllabic and morphemic.  This writing system is common to all Shinasthana languages and is the standard script. Under traditional reckoning, there are six methods that govern the formation of characters:
#"Hiatus" words containing diphthongs following these rules:
#Pictogrammatic (象形), where the character depicts the physical appearance of an object; however, the actual meaning of the character needs not be constrained by the object depicted
#* *Cye.ye- simplifies to Cey-
#Pictophonetic (形聲), where a pictogrammatic character used determinatively is combined with another, unrelated grapheme that represents the character's pronunciation
#* *Cyi.yi- simplifies to Ciː-
#Ideogramamatic (指事), similar to pictogrammatic characters, but the depiction (or at least part thereof) does not correspond to a physical attribute or object
#* *Cyu.yu- simplifies to Cuy-
#Ideosynthetic (會意), where multiple pictogrammata are combined and meaning deduced from the relationship between them
#* *Cya.ya- simplifies to Cay-
#Transideographic (轉注), where the definition of an existing character is given to a new character
#* *Cyə.yə- simplifies to Cəː-
#Substitution (假借), where a completely unrelated character acquires the definition of a word that otherwise cannot be formed according to the principles above
#* *Cua.ua- simplifies to Cau-
#Simplification of diphthongs
#* *ye > i
#* *ua > u
# *o > u
# *-kw > -wVk
#In the sequence *-Nq, *q assimilates to the stop in the place of articulation of *N.


===Romanization===
==Morphology==
Various schemes, based on the Sylvan Alphabet, have been used by Casaterrans to notate Shinasthana since the 14th Century, when the first Casaterran merchants landed in Themiclesia and began to study its language.  Few Casaterran languages have the same phonemic or phonetic inventory as Shinasthana, resulting in the use of several alphabets to represent a single phoneme or the agglomeration of several phonemes into one Casaterran alphabet; the former leads to cumbersome writing and reading, and the latter, ambiguity.  Between the 14th and 19th centuries, Sylvan, Sieuxerrian, Rajian, Tyrannian, and Columbian scholars each Sylvanized Shinasthana according to idiosyncratic rules.  That they often draw on different dialects or even mix them further reduces intelligibility.  As printing Shinasthana characters was nigh-impossible in Casaterra, academic work was hampered by this confusion.
Shinasthana as a family of languages exhibits both agglutination and isolation.  In the more archaic languages, as in the reconstructed ancestral language, morphology is productive, while in the more derived ones, morphology, often obscured by phonetic change, is unanalyzable and vestigial.  It is assumed that loss of morphology is an innovation shared by most members of the Meng language family, though notable exceptions exist; as for the conspicuous derivational system in the Common dialect, scholars agree it has been retained mainly through conscious effort and an early bloom in linguistics, likely inspired by Maverican grammarians during the early years of Themiclesian settlement.


In 1807, the first romanization reference with government backing appeared, devised by [[Organized States|Columbian]] scholar, George Stanley, who worked for over three decades on the Shinasthana.  Keenly aware of the difficulties that Casaterran scholars encountered in writing about Themiclesia, not only about its tongues, but also whenever proper terms are mentioned, they presented to and received sanction for their proposal from the Magistrate of Tonning.  As he lived in Tonning, the romanization plan was based on the dialect there, albeit aware of other dialects.  While it found a somewhat sympathetic audience in Casaterra, other scholars, based elsewhere in Themiclesia, found their choice of dialect to generalize for Shinasthana, as a whole, unacceptable.  Stanley continued to defend their system and improve upon it, publishing a final revision in 1829, then presented it to the Imperial Court.  Ratification was granted, but its use was not made mandatory.  This standard eventually gained widespread acceptance and today is known as the Stanley Transcription System, or S for short.   
It should be noted that there is contrast between lexical and morphological segments that appear before ''r'', e.g. 兢 krjang ≠ 京 k.rjang.  Themiclesian grammarians consider ''k'' the root consonant in the former, but ''r'' in the latter.  A comparable but imperfect contrast in {{wp|English|Anglian}} is that between redress and re-dress.  While prefixes can occur before any number of root consonants, confusion only arises before ''r''; a prefix is separated from it by means of a full stop or period <.>.
 
===Prefix s-===
The prefix s- has multiple functions.  Words derived from each other may not be co-phonetic with each other, and the simple character may not be the root.  The following are functions of s- that scholars have recovered through semantic comparison:
*Transitive verbs from intransitive verbs, e.g. 升 *s-təŋ > steng "raise", from 登 *təŋ > teng "rise"; 喪 *s-māŋ > smang "lose", from 亡 *maŋ "escape".
*Denominal verbs, e.g. 使 *s-rək-s > srjeks "to task", from 吏 *rək-s > reks "office".
 
===Prefix N/a-===
The prefix N- has the primary function of deriving intransitive (often stative) verbs from transitive verbs.  Its effects are opposite to those of prefix s-.  That both prefixes exist has been considered evidence that certain roots were inherently transitive or intransitive, thus necessitating two opposing affixes to derive them, while preserving semantic consistency.  Prefix N- surfaces as a- before obstruents.
*Stative verbs from transitive verbs, e.g. 敗 *a-prāt-s > aprats "to be defeated", from 敗 *prāts > prāts "to defeat".
**N.B. 敗 *prāt-s is itself a suffix -s derivative from 別 *prāt "break, split", where "defeated" is a derivative meaning of "break"; 別 *prāt also has its own *N- derivation in 別 *a-prāt > aprāt "to depart".
*Intransitive verbs from transitive verbs, e.g. 現 *a-kēnq-s > akens "to be present" (i.e. to be seen present), from 見 *kēnq-s > kēns "to see".
**見 *kēnq-s > kêns is itself a derivative of 顯 *kēnq > kēnʔ "to shine", which also has an N- derivation in 顯 *a-kēnq > akēnʔ "to be renowned".
 
===Prefix *m-===
Prefix m- at the Old Meng level has a number of functions that may have resulted from the merger of several older prefixes, though this remains controversial amongst linguists.  Phonologically, *m- is reflected in the Common dialect through the affix usually written as ‹′› in the Sylvanization scheme; different schools of traditional philology ascribe a variety of phonetic values to it, although all but one acknowledge its existence apart from *N- and *s-.  The oldest Maverican transcriptions give the have the value [a], though later texts also use [e], possibly showing that the prefix was only used in literary circles and no longer saw use in daily language.
*Volitional verbs from non-volitional verbs or nouns, e.g. 學 *m-kruk > nkruk "learn (consciously, as in education)", from 覺 *kruk > kruk "to learn (unconsciously, as in becoming aware)"; 背 *m-pək-s > ′pəgh "to betray", 背 *pək-s > pəgh "to have one's back facing".
*Nouns from verbs, e.g. 廷 *m-leŋ > mlêng "place for standing", from 定 *leŋ > lêng "stop"; 朝 *m-traw > ′trjaw "morning meeting", from 朝 *traw > trjaw "morning".
*Agent nouns from nouns, e.g. 袍 *m-pru > ′pru "robe (i.e. something which wraps the body)", from 胞 *pru > pru "seed casing".
 
===Suffix *-s===
The suffix -s was a prolific suffix and also had a number of functions.
*Deverbial and agent nouns, often called the "agent *-s", e.g. 內 *nup-s > nups "inside", from 納 *nup > nup "take inside"
*Denominal verbs, often called the "participle -s", e.g. 冠 *kor-s > kwars "to crown", from 冠 *kor "crown"; 王 *ɢʷaŋ-s > ghwangs "to rule", from 王 *ɢʷaŋ > ghwang "prince, king".
*Transitive verbs, e.g. 好 *huʔ-s > hus "to like, prefer", from 好 *huʔ > hu′ "good"; 惡 *qak-s > qaks "to dislike", from 惡 *qak > qak "bad".
 
===Prefix *r-===
The prefix -r is observed in a number of derivatives.
*亞 *r-qak > r.qak "the second, the worse"
 
==Writing systems==
===Cuneiform===
While the earliest speakers of Meng languages in Themiclesia probably spoke a dialectal form of Old Meng, the oldest Shinasthana writing examples are to be found in {{wp|cuneiform}} and often interspersed with Proto-Chikai and Achahadian texts.  The most ancient examples are tentatively dated to the 7th centuries BCE.
 
===Menghean characters===
Inherited from the Menghean language, each Menghean character is monosyllabic and morphemic.  This writing system is common to all Shinasthana languages and is the standard script.  Under traditional reckoning, there are six methods that govern the formation of characters:
#Pictographic (象形, ''sghangh-ging''), where the character depicts the physical appearance of an object; however, the actual meaning of the character needs not be constrained by the object depicted.
#Pictophonetic (形聲, ''ging-l′ing''), where a pictogrammatic character used determinatively is combined with another, unrelated grapheme that represents the character's pronunciation.
#Ideographic (指事, ''ki′-dzre′''), similar to pictogrammatic characters, but the depiction (or at least part thereof) does not correspond to a physical attribute or object.
#Ideosynthetic (會意, ''gwaps-qeh''), where multiple pictogrammata are combined and meaning deduced from the relationship between them.
#Transideographic (轉注, ''trwan′-twah''), where the definition of an existing character is given to a new character.
#Substitution (假借, ''krai′-tsraih''), where a completely unrelated character acquires the definition of a word that otherwise cannot be formed according to the principles above.
 
There are certain differences between characters used in modern Menghe and Themiclesia.  In the late 3rd to early 2nd c. BCE, a process called ''yebyeon'' (隸變; [[Shinasthana]]: ''rjebh-bronh'') that prioritized ease of writing at the expense of fidelity.  This process was not yet complete when the first non-monumnetal writing is attested in Themiclesia.  As a result, the preferred character forms in both countries diverged.  More than half of the characters are wholly identical, and where they differ they are usually not difficult to identify.  In a few cases, the characters have become totally unrecognizable.  Such changes are cumulative, since Themiclesians continued to modify the shape of the characters for artistic reasons well after the ''yebyeon'' stage was complete in Menghe.
 
===Devanagari transcription===
 
===Sylvanization===
{{main|Sylvanization systems of Shinasthana}}
Various schemes, based on the Sylvan {{wp|Alphabet}}, have been used to notate Shinasthana since the 14th century, when the first Casaterran merchants landed in Themiclesia and began to document the local languages.  Few Casaterran languages have the same phonemic or phonetic inventory as Shinasthana, resulting in the use of several alphabets to represent a single phoneme or the representation of several phonemes by one alphabet; the former leads to uneconomical writing, and the latter, ambiguity.  Between the 14th and 19th centuries, Sylvan, Sieuxerrian, Hallian, and Tyrannian scholars each Sylvanized Shinasthana according to idiosyncratic rules.  That they often draw on different dialects or even mix them further reduced intelligibility.  As printing Shinasthana characters was impossible in Casaterra until the 1800s, academic work was hampered by this confusion. 
 
In 1807, the first Sylvanization reference with government backing appeared, devised by [[New Tyran|Anglian]] scholar, George Franklin, who worked as a diplomat to Themiclesia and orientalist scholar for over three decades.  Keenly aware of the difficulties that Casaterran scholars encountered in writing about Themiclesian tongues and proper terms, Franklin devised a Sylvanization scheme that he introduced to the printing of court digests in Tyrannian.  As he lived in Tor, the scheme was based on the dialect there.  While it found a somewhat sympathetic audience in Casaterra, other scholars, based elsewhere in Themiclesia, found their choice of dialect to generalize for Shinasthana, as a whole, unacceptable.   


====Revision====
====Revision====
As phonemic theory gained prominence late in the 19th Century and crested in the early 20th, there was significant impetus to rework Stanley according to phonemic lines (it was originally phonetic) and suggestions from the government to adopt a more generalist system that worked for all dialects in some way.  In theory, by applying phonemic analysis to the most archaic dialect of Shinasthana then known, one can describe a set of syllables that encompass all syllable varieties in any dialect, since it was assumed that the oldest stage of the language must be the complex, and subsequently phonemes could not be added; this was later convincingly disproven.  Nevertheless, the revision was announced in 1930, known as Revised Stanley or R.  Though widely acclaimed by lingiusts as a successful and accurate practice of phonemic theory, phoneticians and lay persons criticized it for being distant from the actual, spoken language.  The government maintained that the revision better represented all the major dialectal groups unambiguously.  To demark this scheme from the previous, a {{wp|drop capital}} R was printed ahead of the romanized phrase.
As phonemic theory gained prominence late in the 19th century, there was impetus to rework Franklin according to phonemic lines and suggestions from the government to adopt a more generalist system that worked for all dialects in some way.  In theory, by applying phonemic analysis to the most archaic dialect of Shinasthana then known, one can describe a set of syllables that encompass all syllables in any dialect, it being assumed all dialects were simplifications of a common ancestor.  The revision was announced in 1930, known as Revised Franklin or RF.  To demark this scheme from the previous, a {{wp|drop capital|drop capitals}} {{smallcaps|rf}} was printed ahead of the sylvanized phrase, though if a pervious Sylvanization was in circulation, the RF rendition is provided secondarily.
 
====Meng dynasty====
Initials:
{| class="wikitable"
! IPA !! p !! pʰ !! b !! m !! m̥ !! t !! tʰ !! d !! n !! n̥ !! r !! r̥ !! t͜s !! t͜sʰ !! d͜z !! s !! k !! kʰ !! g !! ŋ !! ŋ̊ !! q !! qʰ !! ɢ !! ɴ !! ɴ̥ !! ʔ !! h !! ɦ !! l !! l̥ || w || j
|-
! Sylvanization
| p || p′ || b || m || m′ || t || t′ || d || n || n′ || r || r′ || ts || ts′ || dz || s || k || k′ || g || ng || ng′ || q || q′ || gh || nh || nh′ || ′ || h || g′ || l || l′ || w || y
|}
 
Vowels and medials:
{| class="wikitable"
! IPA !! a aː !! i iː !! u uː !! ə əː !! w !! j
|-
! Sylvanization
|        a ā || i ī|| u ū|| e ē || w || y
|}


==Phonology==
==Phonology==
===Consonants===
Shinasthana dialects generally distinguish between four places (labial, alveolar, velar, and larygneal) and three manners (lenis, asper, and voiced) of articulation.  Labialization is present in velars and larygneals.  This structure is inherited from the shared Old Menghean ancestral language.  Not every variation within this gamut is fully preserved in each dialect, but vestiges of such a structure are more or less visible in each.
{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align: center"
{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align: center"
|-
|-
! colspan="2" | Initials !! Bilabial !! Alveolar !! Velar !! Velar<br>labialized !! Glottal !! Glottal<br>labialized
! colspan="2" | Consonants!!style="width: 5em"| Bilabial !!style="width: 5em"|Alveolar !!style="width: 5em"|Palatal !!style="width: 5em"|Velar !!style="width: 5em"|Uvular !!style="width: 5em"|Glottal  
|-
|-
! rowspan="3" | Stop ||Lenis    
! rowspan="3" | Stop ||Voiceless    
| p || t || k || kʷ|| ʔ || ʔʷ
| p || t ||  || k || q || ʔ  
|-
|-
!Asper
!Voiced
| pʰ||tʰ || kʰ||kʰʷ||   ||
| b || d ||   || g || ɢ ||  
|-
|-
!Voiced
!Prenasalized
| b || d || g || gʷ||   ||
| ᵐb|| ⁿd||   || ᵑg||ᶰɢ ||
|-
|-
!colspan="2"| Nasal
!rowspan="2"|Nasal || Voiced
| m || n || ŋ || ŋʷ||   ||
| m || n ||   || ŋ || ɴ ||  
|-
|-
!rowspan="3"|Affricate||Lenis
!Voiceless
|   || t͡s||  ||   ||   ||
| m̥ || n̥ ||  || ŋ̊ || ɴ̥ ||
|-
|-
!Asper
!rowspan="2"|Affricate||Voiceless
|  ||t͡sʰ||  ||  ||  ||
|  || t͡s||  ||  ||  ||
|-
|-
!Voiced
!Voiced
|  || d͡z||  ||  ||  ||
|  || d͡z||  ||  ||  ||  
|-
|-
!rowspan="2"|Fricative||Unvoiced
!rowspan="2"|Fricative||Voiceless
|  || s ||  ||  || h || hʷ
|  || s ||  ||  || h ||
|-
|-
!Voiced
!Voiced
|  ||  ||  ||  || ɦ || ɦʷ
|  ||(z)||  ||  ||(ɦ)||
|-
!rowspan="2" colspan=1"|Liquid !!Voiced
| || r ||  || ||  || 
|-
!Voiceless
| || r̥  || ||  ||   ||  
|-
|-
!colspan="2"|Trill
!rowspan="2" colspan="1"|Approximant !!Voiced
|   || r ||   ||   ||  ||
| w || l || j  || (w) ||  ||
|-
|-
!colspan="2"|Approximant
!Voiceless
| w || l || j ||  ||  ||
|   ||l̥ || ||  ||  ||
|}
|}


===Vowels===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
|-
!       
!Vowels        
! Front !!Central!! Back
! Front !!Central!! Back
|-
|-
! Close  
! Close  
|  i   ||      ||  u  
|  i iː    ||      ||  u uː
|-
|-
! Mid   
! Mid   
|   e  ||  ə   ||  o
|     ||  ə əː  ||   
|-
|-
! Open   
! Open   
|      ||  a   ||
|      ||  a aː ||  
|-
! Diphthongs  
|colspan="3"| aɪ &nbsp; eɪ &nbsp; iɪ &nbsp; oɪ &nbsp; əɪ &nbsp; uɪ <br> eu &nbsp; au &nbsp; iu
|}
|}
===Syllable structure===
The syllable structure Shinasthana varies considerably due to its paraphyletic composition.  While the Old Menghean language is agreed to have a syllabic structure at least similar to CCCCCVCCC, most dialects have undergone some sort of secondary simplification.  For example, the [[Common dialect (Shinasthana)|Common dialect]] permits five onsets, with much more restrictive phonotactical options, and tolerates only two codas, of which the second must be -s.  The Nom-t'ur dialect preserves four onsets but permits two or more obstruents to co-occur, while similar latitude is found in the coda sequences, in which -kʔs (realized as [ks], as opposed to [kʰs]) is a maximal example.  While such long onset sequences are typologically uncommon, it is noted that, with rare exceptions, there could only be one obstruent in each onset sequence; linguists working with Shinasthana and, in broader terms, the Menghic family, term this obstruent the onset nucleus, and elements aside from it often correspond to morphological affixes.  The Menghic syllable also permits a number of glides between the onset and syllable nucleus.  Nom-thur and the Common dialect both permit two glides, the first of which has a retroflective value (typically /r/ and /l/, but not simultaneously), and the second has a palatalizing effect.  Though most dialects descended from the Old Menghean language have phonetic tonal contrasts, all can be attributed to lost but attested suffixes; most scholarly work on Old Menghean phonology therefore do not recognize phonemic tonal contrasts.  Synchronic studies may consider such suffixes and tonal contrasts allophones of each other, in an unusual way.
Those dialects that descend directly from the Old Menghean language generally allow more complex syllable structure, as exemplified by the two above.  In contrast, those that are descended from Middle Menghean are relatively simple.  Their syllabic structure can be observed in the Menghean Gwanhwa and dialects spoken in the Themiclesian North.  Scholars have debated what the maximal syllabic structure of Middle Menghean was, without much consensus; the most-commonly cited form is CCCVCT.  The first C, representing the onset nucleus, can either be a consonant inherited from Old Menghean or an affricate or fricative resulting from a prefixed obstruent.  The second C represents the pre-vocalic glide, which could have one of three contrastive values (/ɯ/ /ɨ/ /i/); the third C represents a rounding element /w/.  This rounding element is thought to result from Old Menghean labialized consonants and diphthongized, rounded vowels.


==Comparison==
==Comparison==
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The collapse of a three-way distinction between between voiceless, aspirated, and voiced consonants has occurred in most of Menghe.  In Themiclesia, a similar but less pervasive change occasioned the phonemization of relative pitch in the tonal system (previously only distinguishing contour), while in Menghe it seems to have simply devoiced formerly voiced consonants, merging them with their unvoiced and unaspirated counterparts.
The collapse of a three-way distinction between between voiceless, aspirated, and voiced consonants has occurred in most of Menghe.  In Themiclesia, a similar but less pervasive change occasioned the phonemization of relative pitch in the tonal system (previously only distinguishing contour), while in Menghe it seems to have simply devoiced formerly voiced consonants, merging them with their unvoiced and unaspirated counterparts.
==Vocabulary==
===Pronouns===
====First person====
'''余 / la '''
:The most basic first person pronoun, can be used as nominative and accusative.  The referent is usually singular.  Genitive use is uncommon.
'''我 / ngāi′'''
:Meaning is similar to ''la'', but usually used as a plural.  Sometimes given the blanket translation "we".  Accusative use is uncommon. 
'''朕 / lrem′'''
:Called the ''emphatic I'' in some literature, use is nuanced.  In nominative function, ''lrjem′'' draws attention to oneself, which can be expressed as "I, myself".  For this function, it has been characteristically used in [[Menghe]] by emperors, but in Themiclesia the pronoun was not exclusive to the monarch.  In genitive function, it tends govern inalienable possessions, particularly the speaker's body and family; where the governor can be either alienable or inalienable, ''lrjem′'' can provide additional information, e.g. ''ngai′ krā'' "my possessions", but ''lrjem′ krā'' "my household"; ''ngai′ kung'' "our (physical) bodies", but ''lrem′ kung'' "my person, my personhood".  Misuse may make the speaker appear arrogant or inconsiderate, e.g. ''lrem′ gwre′'' "my friend (who has no choice but to be my friend)".
===Numbers===
The Shinasthana number system is {{wp|base 10|decimal}}. 20, 30, and 40 have special forms that are contractions with the numeral 10, and their use is not obligatory.  Numbers up to 10,000 are reckoned in multiples of the first three power of 10, and thereafter up to 100,000,000 in multiples of 10,000, so 11,750,000 = 1,175 × 10,000 (千百十丨又五萬, lit. "thousand hundred seventy and five ten-thousands").  The same rule of compounding the first three powers of 10 with each fourth power of 10 applies for the following units of ''qek'' (100,000,000) and ''lu'' (1,000,000,000,000), so 9,123,456,789,123,456 = 9,123 × 1,000,000,000,000 + 4,567 × 100,000,000 + 8,912 × 10,000 + 3,456 (九千百廿又三兆又亖千五百六丨又十億又八千九百丨又二萬又三千亖百五丨又六).
Ordinal numbers are formed with the particle ''li'' (弟) plus the cardinal number for all numbers except 1 – 4.  The ordinal 1, i.e. "first", is from ''ngwan'' (元), meaning "head".  The ordinals "second", "third", and "fourth" are formed by the ''s-'' prefix attached to their respective cardinals.  This rule applies only to 2, 3, and 4 as individual numbers and not any of the compound numbers with them.  In terms of written forms, "second" and "third" have special written forms, while "fourth" has the same written form as "four".
{| class="wikitable"
!  !!colspan="2"| Cardinal !!colspan="2"| Ordinal
|-
| 1 || ′ik || 一 || ngwan || 元
|-
| 2 || nis || 二 || snis || 次
|-
| 3 || srum || 三 || s-srum || 參
|-
| 4 || blis || 亖 || splis || 亖
|-
| 5 || lnga || 五 ||colspan="2" rowspan="14"| ''no special forms''
|-
| 6 || ruk || 六
|-
| 7 || snit || 十
|-
| 8 || pryat || 八
|-
| 9 || ku || 九
|-
| 10 || gip || 丨
|-
| 20 || nip || 廿
|-
| 30 || srup || 卅
|-
| 40 || splip || 卌
|-
| 100 || prik || 百
|-
| 1,000 || sning || 千
|-
| 10,000 || mans || 萬 
|-
| 100,000,000 || qeks || 億
|-
| 1,000,000,000,000 || lu || 兆
|}


==Dialectal variation==
==Dialectal variation==
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===Mandarins===
===Mandarins===
While for most of its history Themiclesia was a unitary state, there were two official dialects in use; these are called the ''Common Speech of the Two Capitals'' (兩京通語, ''rjang’-krjang-t'owng-ngja’''), as they were predominantly used in the two capital cities (the main capital at Kien-k'ang and the peripheral one at Glak-lang), being regional centres of commerce and administration respectively.  They are respective outgrowths or pidgins of the dialects spoken in their regions and generally possess the defining characteristics of the two dialectal groups; nevertheless, due to constant shifting of official appointments, there is also a considerable amount of shared innovations and generalized regionalisms.
While for most of its history Themiclesia was a unitary state, there were two official dialects in use; these are called the ''Common Speech of the Two Capitals'' (兩京通語, ''rjang′-krjang-t'owng-ngja′''), as they were predominantly used in the two capital cities (the main capital at Kien-k'ang and the peripheral one at Glak-lang), being regional centres of commerce and administration respectively.  They are respective outgrowths or pidgins of the dialects spoken in their regions and generally possess the defining characteristics of the two dialectal groups; nevertheless, due to constant shifting of official appointments, there is also a considerable amount of shared innovations and generalized regionalisms.


The Southern Tongue is a language primarily built on the archaic [[Reading dialect (Shinasthana)|reading dialect]] taught to schoolchildren starting in the 4th Century; however, new vocabulary and sentence structures have been added to it through the centuries, though the phonological structure of the language has remained mostly unchanged.  The South Mandarin permits more complex syllable structures by compound medials and codas; however, there are only three phonemic vowels and six phonetically.  In the modern day, the Southern Tongue is customarily used in reading poetry and official documents.
The Southern Tongue is a language primarily built on the archaic [[Reading dialect (Shinasthana)|reading dialect]] taught to schoolchildren starting in the 4th Century; however, new vocabulary and sentence structures have been added to it through the centuries, though the phonological structure of the language has remained mostly unchanged.  The South Mandarin permits more complex syllable structures by compound medials and codas; however, there are only three phonemic vowels and six phonetically.  In the modern day, the Southern Tongue is customarily used in reading poetry and official documents.


The Northern Tongue is a language primarily built on that of the [[Menghe|Chǒllo (Shinasthaba ''ts’en-glah'')]] area, which was the capital city and source of the prestige dialect in Menghe during the second wave of mass immigration.  The phonological structure of this variety settled during the 500s, around two centuries after that of the Southern variety.  Initially a regional ''lingua franca'' in the northern counties primarily settled by their native speakers, it gained official recognition when they began a concerted effort to dismantle the aristocratic government that their precursors had set up.  Between the 600s and 900s, these two factions constantly vyed for power at court, and both Tongues were spoken as a declaration of their alllegiances.  Though for most of this period (and indeed up to the present) the Southern variety triumphed as ''the'' prestige dialect and cultural language, the influence of the North continued to expand due to more adaptable structure of their faction and increasing population in their sphere of influence.  Into the 14th Century, commercial prosperity in the North had rendered their language the ''de facto'' standard for business discourse, and the Northern Tongue has influenced foreign languages more than its sibling.
The Northern Tongue is a language primarily built on that of the [[Menghe|Chǒllo (Shinasthaba ''ts′en-glah'')]] area, which was the capital city and source of the prestige dialect in Menghe during the second wave of mass immigration.  The phonological structure of this variety settled during the 500s, around two centuries after that of the Southern variety.  Initially a regional ''lingua franca'' in the northern counties primarily settled by their native speakers, it gained official recognition when they began a concerted effort to dismantle the aristocratic government that their precursors had set up.  Between the 600s and 900s, these two factions constantly vyed for power at court, and both Tongues were spoken as a declaration of their alllegiances.  Though for most of this period (and indeed up to the present) the Southern variety triumphed as ''the'' prestige dialect and cultural language, the influence of the North continued to expand due to more adaptable structure of their faction and increasing population in their sphere of influence.  Into the 14th Century, commercial prosperity in the North had rendered their language the ''de facto'' standard for business discourse, and the Northern Tongue has influenced foreign languages more than its sibling.


===Nom-thur Dialect===
===Nom-thur Dialect===
The Nom-thur Dialect (南陲音) is a group of dialects spoken by roughly 343,000 Themiclesians residing in the very south of the nation, adjoining the Maverican border.  Their language is noted for conservative phonology compared to other members of the Menghic family.  While they have all or mostly elimited initial consonant clusters, the Nom-tjwe Dialects permits triple, quadruple, and quintuple initial consonants, including consecutive stops.  The earlier settlers in Themiclesia observed that the Nom-thur Dialect shared some similarities with their language, though interpretation was presumably required.
The Nom-thur Dialect (南陲音) is a group of dialects spoken by roughly 343,000 Themiclesians residing in the very south of the nation, adjoining the Maverican border.  Their language is noted for conservative phonology compared to other members of the Menghic family.  While they have all or mostly elimited initial consonant clusters, the Nom-tjwe Dialects permits triple, quadruple, and quintuple initial consonants, including consecutive stops.  The earlier settlers in Themiclesia observed that the Nom-thur Dialect shared some similarities with their language, though interpretation was presumably required.


Though pre-modern Themiclesian philologists assessed as corruption from Maverica the quaintness of the Nom-thur Dialects, C. Garlgren of the [[Organized States]] observed in 1894 that this dialect bore uncanny semblance to languages that were conventionally thought completely unrelated.  Garlgren established the clade now known as the Menghic languages and included Nom-thur as the sister clade to all other Menghic languages.  He first detected similarities studying archaic transcriptions of the Yang-based Haedong (Sthn. ''hmo’-towng'') languages, noting that certain words were structurally dissimilar to normal Yang words but showed an affinity Menghic languages.  Dismissing these as anomalies, he next conducted a survey of Themiclesian languages, which were then accepted as relatives of the Menghean ones.  By assessing the structural similarities between these "anomalies" and words in the Nom-tjwe Dialect, Garlgren concluded that there was an unmistakable consanguineity between them.  He himself theorized that Nom-thur speakers must have diverged from Menghe around 2,700 years ago, a postulate now deemed consistent with archaeological findings of Menghean settlers in Themiclesia well before the first well-documented migrations occurred.
Though pre-modern Themiclesian philologists assessed as corruption from Maverica the quaintness of the Nom-thur Dialects, C. Garlgren of the [[Organized States]] observed in 1894 that this dialect bore uncanny semblance to languages that were conventionally thought completely unrelated.  Garlgren established the clade now known as the Menghic languages and included Nom-thur as the sister clade to all other Menghic languages.  He first detected similarities studying archaic transcriptions of the Yang-based Haedong (Sthn. ''hmo′-towng'') languages, noting that certain words were structurally dissimilar to normal Yang words but showed an affinity Menghic languages.  Dismissing these as anomalies, he next conducted a survey of Themiclesian languages, which were then accepted as relatives of the Menghean ones.  By assessing the structural similarities between these "anomalies" and words in the Nom-tjwe Dialect, Garlgren concluded that there was an unmistakable consanguineity between them.  He himself theorized that Nom-thur speakers must have diverged from Menghe around 2,700 years ago, a postulate now deemed consistent with archaeological findings of Menghean settlers in Themiclesia well before the first well-documented migrations occurred.


The maximal syllable structure of the Nom-tur Dialect can be summarized as '''(CCC)C(CCC)V(CCC)''', (cf. South '''(CC)C(CCC)V(CC)T''').  Thought outwardly similar, Nom-tjwe syllables enjoy a much greater degree of phonotactical freedom.  In the South's maximal onset, with five consonants, the first must be either /s/ or /x/, the third may only be /r/ or /l/, and the fourth and fifth only /j/ and /w/ respectively.  The second consonant may be an affricate, which some phoneticians analyze as two consonants instead.  Phonologists tend not to use this assessment, since affricates like /ts/ rarely dissolve into their constituent parts.-->
The maximal syllable structure of the Nom-tur Dialect can be summarized as '''(CCC)C(CCC)V(CCC)''', (cf. South '''(CC)C(CCC)V(CC)T''').  Thought outwardly similar, Nom-tjwe syllables enjoy a much greater degree of phonotactical freedom.  In the South's maximal onset, with five consonants, the first must be either /s/ or /x/, the third may only be /r/ or /l/, and the fourth and fifth only /j/ and /w/ respectively.  The second consonant may be an affricate, which some phoneticians analyze as two consonants instead.  Phonologists tend not to use this assessment, since affricates like /ts/ rarely dissolve into their constituent parts.-->
Line 210: Line 292:
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! Mengja !! Menghean Sinmun !! Menghean Sinmun <br>Sylvanized !! Middle Meng Stratum !! Old Meng Stratum
! Mengja !! Menghean Sinmun <br>Sylvanized !! Middle Meng Stratum !! Old Meng Stratum
|-
|-
| 國之語音<br>異乎中國<br>與文字不相流通<br>故愚民有所欲言<br>而終不得伸其情者多矣<br>予爲此憫然<br>新制二十八字<br>欲使人人易習便於日用耳|| 국지어음<br>이호중국<br>여문자불상유통<br>고우민유소욕언<br>이종불득신기정자다의<br>여위차민연<br>신제이십팔자<br>욕사인인이습편어일용이|| guk ji eo eum<br>i ho jung guk<br>yeo mun ja bul sang yu tong<br>go u min yu so yo geon<br>i jong bul deuk sin gi jeong ja da ui<br>yeo wi cha min yeon<br>sin je i sip pal ja<br>yok sa in in yeo seup pyeon eo il lyong i|| kwek chi ngjo' iim<br>jik gho tiung kwek<br>ngjo' mjun dzji' pjot sjang lju t'ung<br>koh ngjo miin ghwju' sho' yoh ngjan<br>nje tiung pjot tek zjin gji dzjing ta ghwji'<br>yo wji ts'ji' miin njen<br>sjin chiai njih zip peat dzji'<br>yok sri' njin njin yik zjek pianh yo njit yungh ni|| kwek tje ngja' 'rjem<br>lis ga trjung kwek<br>la' mjen dzjeh pje smljang rju hlung<br>kah ngrjo mrjing gwje' sk'rja' gljuk ngjan<br>nje trjung pje tek stjin gje dzjing tjaw' tai ghlje'<br>gla gwrjarh sdi' mrjen' njen<br>sjing tjiais njih gljop priat dzje'<br>gluk srjo' njin njin lias gljap prjans gwja njit lungs nje'
| 國之語音<br>異乎中國<br>與文字不相流通<br>故愚民有所欲言<br>而終不得伸其情者多矣<br>予爲此憫然<br>新制二十八字<br>欲使人人易習便於日用耳
| guk ji eo eum<br>i ho jung guk<br>yeo mun ja bul sang yu tong<br>go u min yu so yo geon<br>i jong bul deuk sin gi jeong ja da ui<br>yeo wi cha min yeon<br>sin je i sip pal ja<br>yok sa in in yeo seup pyeon eo il lyong i
| kwek chi ngjo' iim<br>ih gho tiung kwek<br>ngjo' mjun dzih' pjut sjang lju t'ung<br>koh ngjo miin ghju' srjo' yoh ngjan<br>nje cung pjut tek shin gje dzjeng tja ta ghwje'<br>yo wjeh ts'i' min njen<br>sjin c'iai njih zip peat dzje'<br>yok srje' nin nin yik zjek pianh yo njit yungh ni
| kwēk te ngaq ′rem<br>leks gā trung kwēk<br>laq men dzeq pe smang ryu l′ung<br>kah nhu mrying ghweq sq′ra′ k.luk ngan<br>nye tyūng pe tek l′in gyi dzyeng ta′ tai ghwe′<br>la m.gwrais dzi′ men′ nen<br>sjing dits nyis gep pryāt dze′<br>luk s.req ning ning lek sgyap prans gwra nik l′ungs ne′
|}
|}


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! Title !! Year !! Compiler(s) !! Status !! Categorization !! Notes
! Title !! Year !! Compiler(s) !! Status !! Categorization !! Notes
|-
|-
| 聲類　　 ''hleng-rjod'' || 2nd c. || 李登　 ''’rjo’-tong''|| Fragmentary || 322 rhymes extant || Compiled in Menghe
| 聲類　　 ''hling-rjed'' || 2nd c. || 李登　 ''′rje′-teng''|| Fragmentary || 322 rhymes extant || Compiled in Menghe
|-
|-
| 韻集　　 ''ghjwonh-dzjop'' || 275 || 呂靜　 ''glja'-dzjengh'' || Extant || 539 rhymes ||  
| 韻集　　 ''ghjwonh-dzjep'' || 275 || 呂靜　 ''glja'-dzjingh'' || Extant || 539 rhymes ||  
|-
|-
| 釋韻 　　''st'jak-ghjwonh'' || 334 || 李軌　 ''’rjo’-krju’''、徐邈 ''zdja-mrawk'' || Extant || 421 rhymes ||
| 釋韻 　　''st'jak-ghjwonh'' || 334 || 李軌　 ''′rje′-krju′''、徐邈 ''sdja-mrawk'' || Extant || 421 rhymes ||
|-
|-
| 四聲 　　''sjed-hleng'' || 472 || 沈約 　''st'jom-'jawk'' || Extant || 252 rhymes || First work to describe tones concretely
| 四聲 　　''sjed-hleng'' || 472 || 沈約 　''st'jem-'jawk'' || Extant || 252 rhymes || First work to describe tones concretely
|-
|-
| 玉篇 　　''ngjowk-p'rjan'' || 531 || 梁惠帝 Emperor ''ghwed'' of Rjang || Fragmentary || 260 rhymes || Reflects speech in Kien-k'ang
| 玉篇 　　''ngjowk-p'rjan'' || 531 || 梁惠帝 Emperor ''ghwid'' of Rjang || Fragmentary || 260 rhymes || Reflects speech in Kien-k'ang
|-
|-
| 經典音義 ''keng-tion'-'jon-ngarh'' || 560 || 陸明　 ''rjuk-mrjang'' || Extant || 212 rhymes || With definitions
| 經典音義 ''king-ten'-'rjem-ngjars'' || 560 || 陸明　 ''rjuk-mrjang'' || Extant || 212 rhymes || With definitions
|-
|-
| 切韻　　 ''ts'et-ghjwonh'' || 601 || 陸法延 ''rjuk-pjap-lan'' || Mostly extant || 193 rhymes || Reflects speech in Glak-lang
| 切韻　　 ''ts'it-ghwjens'' || 601 || 陸法延 ''rjuk-pjap-lan'' || Mostly extant || 193 rhymes || Reflects speech in Glak-lang
|-
|-
| 廣音錄 　''kwang-'jom-rjowk''|| 732 || 張常拱 ''trjang-djang-kjowng’''|| Mostly extant || 2,742 dialectal peculiarities ||
| 廣音錄 　''kwang-'rjem-rjuk''|| 732 || 張常拱 ''trjang-djang-kjung′''|| Mostly extant || 2,742 dialectal peculiarities ||
|-
|-
| 廣韻 　　''kwang'-ghjwonh'' || 1001 || 丁重　 ''teng-drjowng'' || Extant || 206 rhymes || With definitions
| 廣韻 　　''kwang'-ghwjens'' || 1001 || 丁重　 ''teng-drjong'' || Extant || 206 rhymes || With definitions
|-
|-
| 集韻 　　''dzjop-ghjwonh'' || 1030 || 孫皓青 ''son-ghu'-ts'eng'' || Extant || 238 rhymes || With definitions
| 集韻 　　''dzjep-gwjens'' || 1030 || 孫皓青 ''sun-ghu'-ts'ing'' || Extant || 238 rhymes || With definitions
|-
|-
| 韻鏡 　　''ghjwonh-krjangh''|| 1161 || uncertain || Extant || 3,324 syllables || A table-style summary of all known syllables in the language
| 韻鏡 　　''gwjenh-krjangs''|| 1161 || uncertain || Extant || 3,324 syllables || A table-style summary of all known syllables in the language
|-
|-
| 簡韻略 　''kren'-ghjwonh-gljak'' || 1210 || 顧平水 ''gah-brjang-hljei’'' || Extant || 106 rhymes || Abridged ver. of ''dzjop-ghjwohn''
| 簡韻略 　''kren'-ghjwonh-gljak'' || 1210 || 顧平水 ''gah-brjang-hljei′'' || Extant || 106 rhymes || Abridged ver. of ''dzjop-ghjwohn''
|}
|}


Line 250: Line 335:


===Poetry analysis===
===Poetry analysis===
In 972, Sungh Dynasty scholar Mak Mjon-ghwed developed a method of the phonological relationship between rhyming syllables in verse.  This is known as the '''Rhyme Identification Method''' (歸韻法).  It stipulates:
In 972, [[Dzi dynasty|Dzi]]-dynasty scholar Mak Mjon-ghwedh developed a method of the phonological relationship between rhyming syllables in verse.  This is known as the '''Rhyme Identification Method''' (歸韻法).  It stipulates:
#If a poem has lines XXXA / XXXB / XXXC / XXXD, and if each line is known to rhyme with each other, then syllables A, B, C, and D must rhyme with each other.
#If a poem has lines XXXA / XXXB / XXXC / XXXD, and if each line is known to rhyme with each other, then syllables A, B, C, and D must rhyme with each other.
#If a second poem has lines XXXA / XXXE / XXXF / XXXG, then syllables E, F, and G must rhyme with each other ''and'' B, C, and D, since they are "connected" by syllable A.
#If a second poem has lines XXXA / XXXE / XXXF / XXXG, then syllables E, F, and G must rhyme with each other ''and'' B, C, and D, since they are "connected" by syllable A.
These two principles proved incredibly potent in reconstructing the phonological structure of ancient languages based on a logical and consistent analyses.  Though Mak himself did not pursue this subject much further, his students proceeded to apply this method to hundreds of poems dating to the archaic and classical eras of Menghean history.  In the 1100s, scholars concluded that ancient Menghean poetry had nine "rhyme departments"; for many generations afterwards, this conclusion was refined by exhaustive studies to remove connections made by incorrect rhyme identification (i.e. connecting two words that do not actually rhyme) and glyph conflation (i.e. assuming each glyph corresponds to only one syllable).  This heralded the birth of Ancient Phonology (古音學) in Themiclesia.
These two principles proved incredibly potent in reconstructing the phonological structure of ancient languages based on a logical and consistent analyses.  Though Mak himself did not pursue this subject much further, his students proceeded to apply this method to hundreds of poems dating to the archaic and classical eras of Menghean history.  In the 1100s, scholars concluded that ancient Menghean poetry had nine "rhyme departments"; for many generations afterwards, this conclusion was refined by exhaustive studies to remove connections made by incorrect rhyme identification (i.e. connecting two words that do not actually rhyme) and glyph conflation (i.e. assuming each glyph corresponds to only one syllable).  This heralded the birth of Ancient Phonology (古音學) in Themiclesia.


In 1594, it was known that ancient poetry rhymed according to 33 departments; upon this conclusion, scholar Drjon Teh (陳第) asserted that the pronunciation of some words have changed since ancient times, but a number have not.  He (using methods not rigorous) identified some such syllables as "anchor rhymes" and consulted well-established analyses to assert that words, in his time not rhyming, must have been pronounced in a way that did rhyme with his so-called "anchor rhymes".  The majority of modern scholars believe that Drjon's theories, though factually flawed, pioneered the assignment of phonetic values to abstract phonological structures and the principle that sound changes occurred under specific phonological conditions (i.e. not randomly).  His successors focused on the criteria under which such changes occurred, though until the modern period and the arrival of Casaterran phonology in 1757, their results have been limited.  Of the types of criteria they could assert as a conditioning factor for a phonetic change, {{wp|place of articulation}} (i.e. glottal, velar, alveolar, and bilabial), {{wp|manner of articulation}} (i.e. plosive, nasal, approximant), voicedness, aspiration, tone, and vowel quality have all been used to explain the causes of sound change.  This in turn allowed more recent scholars to describe accurately the phonological ''and'' phonetic characteristics of languages lost to time, e.g.
In 1594, it was known that ancient poetry rhymed according to 33 departments; upon this conclusion, scholar Drjen Lih (陳第) asserted that the pronunciation of some words have changed since ancient times, but a number have not.  He (using methods not rigorous) identified some such syllables as "anchor rhymes" and consulted well-established analyses to assert that words, in his time not rhyming, must have been pronounced in a way that did rhyme with his so-called "anchor rhymes".  The majority of modern scholars believe that Drjon's theories, though factually flawed, pioneered the assignment of phonetic values to abstract phonological structures and the principle that sound changes occurred under specific phonological conditions (i.e. not randomly).   
 
His successors focused on the criteria under which such changes occurred, though until the modern period and the arrival of Casaterran phonology in 1757, their results have been limited.  Of the types of criteria they could assert as a conditioning factor for a phonetic change, {{wp|place of articulation}} (i.e. glottal, velar, alveolar, and bilabial), {{wp|manner of articulation}} (i.e. plosive, nasal, approximant), voicedness, aspiration, tone, and vowel quality have all been used to explain the causes of sound change.  This in turn allowed more recent scholars to describe accurately the phonological ''and'' phonetic characteristics of languages lost to time, e.g.


*What has been analyzed as two separate groups of consonants under Modern Phonology (今音學), the /t/ and /tr/ groups, were in complimentary distribution and should be the same group in Ancient Phonology, and the /tr/ group diverged under the criteria of second-division and third-division-type-B factors.
*What has been analyzed as two separate groups of consonants under Modern Phonology (今音學), the /t/ and /tr/ groups, were in complimentary distribution and should be the same group in Ancient Phonology, and the /tr/ group diverged under the criteria of second-division and third-division-type-B factors.
*The /pf/ group in some modern dialects diverged from /pj/ in others, and /pj/ is asserted to be the "ancient pronunciation".
*The /pf/ group in some modern dialects diverged from /pj/ in others, and /pj/ is asserted to be the "ancient pronunciation".


==Neologisms==
==Cognates and borrowings==
===Cognates===
 
===Borrowings===
As Shinasthana shares a writing system with and Menghean, terms from the latter are sometimes borrowed with their written forms intact into the former.  However, since the written form of the borrowing may represent an existing term in Shinasthana, the phonetic pronunciation is sometimes borrowed together to distinguish the borrowed term in speech.  The same situation occurs when homographs are introduced.  In more recent times, even {{wp|Japanese|Dayashinese}} words have been borrowed into Shinasthana with their Dayashinese pronunciations.  This process is not limited to individual character: the meanings and readings of larger semantic units, including proper names, can be borrowed and written in the same way or another way.
 
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! Term !! Themi. reading!! Themi. meaning!! Alternate reading !! Alternate meaning
! Character !! Reading!! Source!! Meaning
|-
|rowspan="4"|內 || nups || < Old Meng *nup-s || 1. to enter<br>2. (of the Sun) to set
|-
| nup || < Old Meng *nup || 1. to take in, receive
|-
| mnup || < Old Meng *m-nup|| 1. the speaker's household<br>2. (dated) the speaker's wife<br>3. an exchequer <br> 4. a teller or cashier<br>5. the area around a capital city, [[Inner Region]]
|-
| nwai || from Middle Meng ''noi'' || 1. the inner palace<br>2. cismarine Themiclesia
|-
|rowspan="3"| 孟  || mrāngs || < Old Meng *mˁrang-s|| 1. eldest<br>2. [[Mrangh]]
|-
|smrāng ||agentive s-|| 1. elder sibling<br>2. a [[Peerage of Themiclesia|chief baron]], member of the Themiclesian peerage
|-
|maing|| borrowing from Middle Meng||1. [[Menghe]] <br>2. [[Menghean nationality law|Mengheans]] <br>3. (derogatory) [[Menghean diaspora in Themiclesia|Themiclesians of Menghean heritage]]
|-
|-
| 社會 || sghljas-gweps || society, social || Sah-hwoi || socialist
|rowspan="2"| 東京 ||  twāng-krang || ||1. Rak, a city in Themiclesia
|-
|-
| 皇帝 || gwang-tih || Emperor of Themiclesia || hwang-tsrjiah || emperor (generally)
| tong-kyeng ||borrowing from Modern Standard Menghean|| 1. [[Donggyŏng]], the capital city of Menghe
|-
|-
| 孟  || mrangs|| first; ethnonym of Themiclesia || meng || Menghe (abbreviation)
|rowspan="3"|帝 ||tik || < Old Meng *tek ||1. legitimate <br>2. therefore
|-
|-
| 東京 || Tongw-krjang || Glak-lang || Tung-kjung || Donggyŏng
|tiks || < Old Meng *tek-s ||1. god
|-
|-
| 錢  || dzjian || a unit of mass; 1/100 of one [[Auric catty (Themiclesia)|mjon]]|| tsuen || Jŏn, 1/100 of a [[Menghean Won]]
|tei/ti || from Middle Meng *tei ||1. used in the term ''g′wang-tei'', "emperor"
|}
|}


==In popular media==
==In popular media==
Being a major branch of the Menghic family of languages, Shinasthana has often been compared with [[Menghean language|Menghean]] by scholars, students, and laymen alike.  With surprising uniformity, most students consider Menghean both easier to learn and more pleasant to the ear; prominent Internet personages have described some forms of Shinasthana as "creeping", "tinny", and "slimey".  A rather large portion words contain /j/ or /i/, which tend to front the following vowel, leading to a sensation of constriction.  The presence of /r/ and /l/ in combination with /j/ also can occlude a speaker's voice, making vowels less resonant. In response, several linguists believe that these features are necessary to produce as many distinct syllables as possible, highly motivated in a language in which most words are monosyllabic.
<!--Being a major branch of the Menghic family of languages, Shinasthana has often been compared with [[Menghean language|Menghean]] by scholars, students, and laymen alike.  With surprising uniformity, most students consider Menghean both easier to learn and more pleasant to the ear; prominent Internet personages have described some forms of Shinasthana as "creeping", "tinny", and "slimey".  A rather large portion words contain /j/ or /i/, which tend to front the following vowel, leading to a sensation of constriction.  The presence of /r/ and /l/ in combination with /j/ also can occlude a speaker's voice, making vowels less resonant. In response, several linguists believe that these features are necessary to produce as many distinct syllables as possible, highly motivated in a language in which most words are monosyllabic.


In the early to mid-20th century, linguists attribute this difference to sound changes in Yang-influenced dialects that occurred in the Middle Menghean period.  In one famous (and extreme) case, Dr. Mran Tsod, research fellow at the [[Academia Themiensis]], produced a long list different syllables <ref>k'jot, k'joh, k'jo, k'rje', k'rjeh, grje, grje', kljeh, hjo', 'jar', 'jarh, kjoi, gjo, krjod, gjoi, kjar', gljed, k'rjod, grjwed, gjar, kjar, grjeh, kja, kjoi', gjod, k'jar, gjoh, k'rjo, k'je', klje', k'jod, ngjod, kjod, gje, k'joi', totalling 36.</ref> corresponding with only one syllable in Botong-ǒ Menghean; since these syllables may themselves represent more than one word, Mran questioned the aptitude of the Sinmun writing system devised in the 13th century.  Other researchers rejected Mran's "emotionally-motivated" assessment, showing that the Yang languages were responsible for deleting via assimilation some distinctions that were present in Old Menggok.  The dialects spoken in the Haedong region, under Yang influence, thus did not maintain the syllable structure that characterized the Old Menggok language, from which Shinasthana and most Menggok-derived forms of [[Menghean language|Menghean]] have descended.   
In the early to mid-20th century, linguists attribute this difference to sound changes in Yang-influenced dialects that occurred in the Middle Menghean period.  In one famous (and extreme) case, Dr. Mran Tsod, research fellow at the [[Academia Themiensis]], produced a long list different syllables corresponding with only one syllable in Botong-ǒ Menghean; since these syllables may themselves represent more than one word, Mran questioned the aptitude of the Sinmun writing system devised in the 13th century.  Other researchers rejected Mran's "emotionally-motivated" assessment, showing that the Yang languages were responsible for deleting via assimilation some distinctions that were present in Old Menggok.  The dialects spoken in the Haedong region, under Yang influence, thus did not maintain the syllable structure that characterized the Old Menggok language, from which Shinasthana and most Menggok-derived forms of [[Menghean language|Menghean]] have descended.   


These scholars also assert that the contribution of Old Menggok language has been considerably over-estimated in the formation of Modern Standard Menghean, particularly on a phonetic and structural level.  They state further that the straightforward syllable structure of Yang-based dialects (and by extention the historical Yang proto-language) was not a "shortcoming" as Mran has claimed, since native Yang vocabulary was predominantly polysyllabic, and borrowings from Old Menggok represented a small and specialized subset of words used by Yang-dialect speakers.  With fewer words to distinguish, there was no motivation to retain some contrasts that originally existed in Old Menggok and still now exist in Shinasthana.
These scholars also assert that the contribution of Old Menggok language has been considerably over-estimated in the formation of Modern Standard Menghean, particularly on a phonetic and structural level.  They state further that the straightforward syllable structure of Yang-based dialects (and by extention the historical Yang proto-language) was not a "shortcoming" as Mran has claimed, since native Yang vocabulary was predominantly polysyllabic, and borrowings from Old Menggok represented a small and specialized subset of words used by Yang-dialect speakers.  With fewer words to distinguish, there was no motivation to retain some contrasts that originally existed in Old Menggok and still now exist in Shinasthana.-->


==Notes==
==Notes==

Latest revision as of 03:10, 30 April 2023

Shinasthana
Themiclesian, Sinastani
震旦語系
Pronunciationtərt.tɑns.ŋɑq.giks
Native toThemiclesia
EthnicityMeng
Native speakers
51,240,000 (2010)
Menghic
  • Shinasthana
Early forms
Proto-Meng
  • Old Meng language
Standard forms
l′wāng-ngan
DialectsSee "dialects" below
Mengja
Official status
Official language in
Themiclesia
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-1sh
ISO 639-2tem
ISO 639-3–

Shinasthana (震旦言系, tert-tans-ngan-kiks) is a group of languages most widely spoken in Themiclesia, with 10 officially-recognized dialect groups. It is a member of the Menghic language family, originally spoken in Menghe and introduced to Themiclesia by Meng merchants and settlers in several strata. The variety of Shinasthana that is the official language in Themiclesia is l'wāng-ngan, or the "common speech". Language policy in pre-modern Themiclesia had curtailed the dialectal variety present in the country, with several now critically endangered; modern efforts to preserve them are in effect. Shinasthana has around 41 million native speakers, domestically and abroad, as well as several million second language speakers. The language is widely taught and researched in foreign educational institutions.

Etymology

The word Shinasthana is from an early transliteration of Sjing (name of a dynasty) into Old Maverican, suffixing -sthana, meaning "place"; this term was later further transliterated by Casaterran scholars into Shinasthana, Sinastana, Xinastana, Zenaktana, Shenaclana, and also Themiclesia. Though technically the same word, Shinasthana is now exclusively used to refer to the language, and Themiclesia the country.

History

Archaic

The oldest evidence of Meng language in Themiclesia dates to the Themiclesian Dark Ages and is a key source in reconstructing the Old Meng language; S. G. Mang places this stage around the 8th – 2nd c. BCE, ending with the Archaic Period.

This layer is not systematically reflected as a distinct branch of the family, but its traces can be evinced in oldest texts and some irregular readings. Archaic Shinasthana is preserved in clay tablets that record business transactions, which are particularly informative as they are phonetically written using the Achahadian cuneiform script. The main characteristic contrasting with the Classical language is the syllable structure, which features "hiatus" or disyllabic words in the form CV1.V1C, co-existing with monosyllabic words in CVC and CV. The existence of "hiatus" words is also tentatively visible in the older strata of the Book of Songs, where they scan as two morae.

The evolution from Old Meng to the Archaic language includes the following changes:

  1. Monophthongization
    • *-aw > *-o
    • *-ew, *-əw > *-u
    • *-iw > *-i
  1. Vowel breaking
    • *e undergoes breaking to *ye, though this is written as <yi> in cuneiform; however, it is distinct from a genuine <yi> as *ye evolves to *i
    • *o breaks to *-ua
  2. "Hiatus" words evolve from an older realization in Old Meng
  3. *-rl <ra.la> > -l

Classical

The Classical language was spoken from the Classical Period (c. 100 CE) and was the lingua franca of learning, business, and administration from the 4th century CE. Its details are preserved through transliteration in Maverican writing. This writing system was used by Themiclesians as a guide to proper pronunciation.

Archaic vowels settle into a symmetrical four-vowel system in the early Classical period consisting of /a i u ə/.

The main characteristics of this layer, as they evolve into the common dialect are:

  1. "Hiatus" words containing simply vowels simplify to long vowels.
  2. "Hiatus" words containing diphthongs following these rules:
    • *Cye.ye- simplifies to Cey-
    • *Cyi.yi- simplifies to Ciː-
    • *Cyu.yu- simplifies to Cuy-
    • *Cya.ya- simplifies to Cay-
    • *Cyə.yə- simplifies to Cəː-
    • *Cua.ua- simplifies to Cau-
  3. Simplification of diphthongs
    • *ye > i
    • *ua > u
  4. *o > u
  5. *-kw > -wVk
  6. In the sequence *-Nq, *q assimilates to the stop in the place of articulation of *N.

Morphology

Shinasthana as a family of languages exhibits both agglutination and isolation. In the more archaic languages, as in the reconstructed ancestral language, morphology is productive, while in the more derived ones, morphology, often obscured by phonetic change, is unanalyzable and vestigial. It is assumed that loss of morphology is an innovation shared by most members of the Meng language family, though notable exceptions exist; as for the conspicuous derivational system in the Common dialect, scholars agree it has been retained mainly through conscious effort and an early bloom in linguistics, likely inspired by Maverican grammarians during the early years of Themiclesian settlement.

It should be noted that there is contrast between lexical and morphological segments that appear before r, e.g. 兢 krjang ≠ 京 k.rjang. Themiclesian grammarians consider k the root consonant in the former, but r in the latter. A comparable but imperfect contrast in Anglian is that between redress and re-dress. While prefixes can occur before any number of root consonants, confusion only arises before r; a prefix is separated from it by means of a full stop or period <.>.

Prefix s-

The prefix s- has multiple functions. Words derived from each other may not be co-phonetic with each other, and the simple character may not be the root. The following are functions of s- that scholars have recovered through semantic comparison:

  • Transitive verbs from intransitive verbs, e.g. 升 *s-təŋ > steng "raise", from 登 *təŋ > teng "rise"; 喪 *s-māŋ > smang "lose", from 亡 *maŋ "escape".
  • Denominal verbs, e.g. 使 *s-rək-s > srjeks "to task", from 吏 *rək-s > reks "office".

Prefix N/a-

The prefix N- has the primary function of deriving intransitive (often stative) verbs from transitive verbs. Its effects are opposite to those of prefix s-. That both prefixes exist has been considered evidence that certain roots were inherently transitive or intransitive, thus necessitating two opposing affixes to derive them, while preserving semantic consistency. Prefix N- surfaces as a- before obstruents.

  • Stative verbs from transitive verbs, e.g. 敗 *a-prāt-s > aprats "to be defeated", from 敗 *prāts > prāts "to defeat".
    • N.B. 敗 *prāt-s is itself a suffix -s derivative from 別 *prāt "break, split", where "defeated" is a derivative meaning of "break"; 別 *prāt also has its own *N- derivation in 別 *a-prāt > aprāt "to depart".
  • Intransitive verbs from transitive verbs, e.g. 現 *a-kēnq-s > akens "to be present" (i.e. to be seen present), from 見 *kēnq-s > kēns "to see".
    • 見 *kēnq-s > kêns is itself a derivative of 顯 *kēnq > kēnʔ "to shine", which also has an N- derivation in 顯 *a-kēnq > akēnʔ "to be renowned".

Prefix *m-

Prefix m- at the Old Meng level has a number of functions that may have resulted from the merger of several older prefixes, though this remains controversial amongst linguists. Phonologically, *m- is reflected in the Common dialect through the affix usually written as ‹′› in the Sylvanization scheme; different schools of traditional philology ascribe a variety of phonetic values to it, although all but one acknowledge its existence apart from *N- and *s-. The oldest Maverican transcriptions give the have the value [a], though later texts also use [e], possibly showing that the prefix was only used in literary circles and no longer saw use in daily language.

  • Volitional verbs from non-volitional verbs or nouns, e.g. 學 *m-kruk > nkruk "learn (consciously, as in education)", from 覺 *kruk > kruk "to learn (unconsciously, as in becoming aware)"; 背 *m-pək-s > ′pəgh "to betray", 背 *pək-s > pəgh "to have one's back facing".
  • Nouns from verbs, e.g. 廷 *m-leŋ > mlêng "place for standing", from 定 *leŋ > lêng "stop"; 朝 *m-traw > ′trjaw "morning meeting", from 朝 *traw > trjaw "morning".
  • Agent nouns from nouns, e.g. 袍 *m-pru > ′pru "robe (i.e. something which wraps the body)", from 胞 *pru > pru "seed casing".

Suffix *-s

The suffix -s was a prolific suffix and also had a number of functions.

  • Deverbial and agent nouns, often called the "agent *-s", e.g. 內 *nup-s > nups "inside", from 納 *nup > nup "take inside"
  • Denominal verbs, often called the "participle -s", e.g. 冠 *kor-s > kwars "to crown", from 冠 *kor "crown"; 王 *ɢʷaŋ-s > ghwangs "to rule", from 王 *ɢʷaŋ > ghwang "prince, king".
  • Transitive verbs, e.g. 好 *huʔ-s > hus "to like, prefer", from 好 *huʔ > hu′ "good"; 惡 *qak-s > qaks "to dislike", from 惡 *qak > qak "bad".

Prefix *r-

The prefix -r is observed in a number of derivatives.

  • 亞 *r-qak > r.qak "the second, the worse"

Writing systems

Cuneiform

While the earliest speakers of Meng languages in Themiclesia probably spoke a dialectal form of Old Meng, the oldest Shinasthana writing examples are to be found in cuneiform and often interspersed with Proto-Chikai and Achahadian texts. The most ancient examples are tentatively dated to the 7th centuries BCE.

Menghean characters

Inherited from the Menghean language, each Menghean character is monosyllabic and morphemic. This writing system is common to all Shinasthana languages and is the standard script. Under traditional reckoning, there are six methods that govern the formation of characters:

  1. Pictographic (象形, sghangh-ging), where the character depicts the physical appearance of an object; however, the actual meaning of the character needs not be constrained by the object depicted.
  2. Pictophonetic (形聲, ging-l′ing), where a pictogrammatic character used determinatively is combined with another, unrelated grapheme that represents the character's pronunciation.
  3. Ideographic (指事, ki′-dzre′), similar to pictogrammatic characters, but the depiction (or at least part thereof) does not correspond to a physical attribute or object.
  4. Ideosynthetic (會意, gwaps-qeh), where multiple pictogrammata are combined and meaning deduced from the relationship between them.
  5. Transideographic (轉注, trwan′-twah), where the definition of an existing character is given to a new character.
  6. Substitution (假借, krai′-tsraih), where a completely unrelated character acquires the definition of a word that otherwise cannot be formed according to the principles above.

There are certain differences between characters used in modern Menghe and Themiclesia. In the late 3rd to early 2nd c. BCE, a process called yebyeon (隸變; Shinasthana: rjebh-bronh) that prioritized ease of writing at the expense of fidelity. This process was not yet complete when the first non-monumnetal writing is attested in Themiclesia. As a result, the preferred character forms in both countries diverged. More than half of the characters are wholly identical, and where they differ they are usually not difficult to identify. In a few cases, the characters have become totally unrecognizable. Such changes are cumulative, since Themiclesians continued to modify the shape of the characters for artistic reasons well after the yebyeon stage was complete in Menghe.

Devanagari transcription

Sylvanization

Main article: Sylvanization systems of Shinasthana

Various schemes, based on the Sylvan Alphabet, have been used to notate Shinasthana since the 14th century, when the first Casaterran merchants landed in Themiclesia and began to document the local languages. Few Casaterran languages have the same phonemic or phonetic inventory as Shinasthana, resulting in the use of several alphabets to represent a single phoneme or the representation of several phonemes by one alphabet; the former leads to uneconomical writing, and the latter, ambiguity. Between the 14th and 19th centuries, Sylvan, Sieuxerrian, Hallian, and Tyrannian scholars each Sylvanized Shinasthana according to idiosyncratic rules. That they often draw on different dialects or even mix them further reduced intelligibility. As printing Shinasthana characters was impossible in Casaterra until the 1800s, academic work was hampered by this confusion.

In 1807, the first Sylvanization reference with government backing appeared, devised by Anglian scholar, George Franklin, who worked as a diplomat to Themiclesia and orientalist scholar for over three decades. Keenly aware of the difficulties that Casaterran scholars encountered in writing about Themiclesian tongues and proper terms, Franklin devised a Sylvanization scheme that he introduced to the printing of court digests in Tyrannian. As he lived in Tor, the scheme was based on the dialect there. While it found a somewhat sympathetic audience in Casaterra, other scholars, based elsewhere in Themiclesia, found their choice of dialect to generalize for Shinasthana, as a whole, unacceptable.

Revision

As phonemic theory gained prominence late in the 19th century, there was impetus to rework Franklin according to phonemic lines and suggestions from the government to adopt a more generalist system that worked for all dialects in some way. In theory, by applying phonemic analysis to the most archaic dialect of Shinasthana then known, one can describe a set of syllables that encompass all syllables in any dialect, it being assumed all dialects were simplifications of a common ancestor. The revision was announced in 1930, known as Revised Franklin or RF. To demark this scheme from the previous, a drop capitals rf was printed ahead of the sylvanized phrase, though if a pervious Sylvanization was in circulation, the RF rendition is provided secondarily.

Meng dynasty

Initials:

IPA p pʰ b m m̥ t tʰ d n n̥ r r̥ t͜s t͜sʰ d͜z s k kʰ g ŋ ŋ̊ q qʰ ɢ ɴ ɴ̥ ʔ h ɦ l l̥ w j
Sylvanization p p′ b m m′ t t′ d n n′ r r′ ts ts′ dz s k k′ g ng ng′ q q′ gh nh nh′ ′ h g′ l l′ w y

Vowels and medials:

IPA a aː i iː u uː ə əː w j
Sylvanization a ā i ī u ū e ē w y

Phonology

Consonants Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Stop Voiceless p t k q ʔ
Voiced b d g ɢ
Prenasalized ᵐb ⁿd ᵑg ᶰɢ
Nasal Voiced m n ŋ ɴ
Voiceless m̥ n̥ ŋ̊ ɴ̥
Affricate Voiceless t͡s
Voiced d͡z
Fricative Voiceless s h
Voiced (z) (ɦ)
Liquid Voiced r
Voiceless r̥
Approximant Voiced w l j (w)
Voiceless l̥
Vowels Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid ə əː
Open a aː

Comparison

Menghean

Within the Menghic family, Shinasthana is more closely related to the Menggok-descended group of dialects. Having diverged around 2,700 years ago at the oldest stratum, differences between modern Menggok dialects and Shinasthana are considerable. An obvious example is the absence of phonemic tones in Standard Menghean, though they remain in conservative dialects of the south and west of Menghe. These dialects are more closely related to Gwanhwa, the language of the Menghean court; however, scholars do not classify them as descendants of Gwanhwa, since Gwanhwa itself lost tones between the 9th and 11th centuries. Not all these dialects retain the three tones presumed to have existed in the Old Menggok period. Moreover, under the influence of modern Standard Menghean, some of the younger generation have dispensed with tonal distinction when speaking a dialect that canonically retains it.

The collapse of a three-way distinction between between voiceless, aspirated, and voiced consonants has occurred in most of Menghe. In Themiclesia, a similar but less pervasive change occasioned the phonemization of relative pitch in the tonal system (previously only distinguishing contour), while in Menghe it seems to have simply devoiced formerly voiced consonants, merging them with their unvoiced and unaspirated counterparts.

Vocabulary

Pronouns

First person

余 / la

The most basic first person pronoun, can be used as nominative and accusative. The referent is usually singular. Genitive use is uncommon.

我 / ngāi′

Meaning is similar to la, but usually used as a plural. Sometimes given the blanket translation "we". Accusative use is uncommon.

朕 / lrem′

Called the emphatic I in some literature, use is nuanced. In nominative function, lrjem′ draws attention to oneself, which can be expressed as "I, myself". For this function, it has been characteristically used in Menghe by emperors, but in Themiclesia the pronoun was not exclusive to the monarch. In genitive function, it tends govern inalienable possessions, particularly the speaker's body and family; where the governor can be either alienable or inalienable, lrjem′ can provide additional information, e.g. ngai′ krā "my possessions", but lrjem′ krā "my household"; ngai′ kung "our (physical) bodies", but lrem′ kung "my person, my personhood". Misuse may make the speaker appear arrogant or inconsiderate, e.g. lrem′ gwre′ "my friend (who has no choice but to be my friend)".

Numbers

The Shinasthana number system is decimal. 20, 30, and 40 have special forms that are contractions with the numeral 10, and their use is not obligatory. Numbers up to 10,000 are reckoned in multiples of the first three power of 10, and thereafter up to 100,000,000 in multiples of 10,000, so 11,750,000 = 1,175 × 10,000 (千百十丨又五萬, lit. "thousand hundred seventy and five ten-thousands"). The same rule of compounding the first three powers of 10 with each fourth power of 10 applies for the following units of qek (100,000,000) and lu (1,000,000,000,000), so 9,123,456,789,123,456 = 9,123 × 1,000,000,000,000 + 4,567 × 100,000,000 + 8,912 × 10,000 + 3,456 (九千百廿又三兆又亖千五百六丨又十億又八千九百丨又二萬又三千亖百五丨又六).

Ordinal numbers are formed with the particle li (弟) plus the cardinal number for all numbers except 1 – 4. The ordinal 1, i.e. "first", is from ngwan (元), meaning "head". The ordinals "second", "third", and "fourth" are formed by the s- prefix attached to their respective cardinals. This rule applies only to 2, 3, and 4 as individual numbers and not any of the compound numbers with them. In terms of written forms, "second" and "third" have special written forms, while "fourth" has the same written form as "four".

Cardinal Ordinal
1 ′ik 一 ngwan 元
2 nis 二 snis 次
3 srum 三 s-srum 參
4 blis 亖 splis 亖
5 lnga 五 no special forms
6 ruk 六
7 snit 十
8 pryat 八
9 ku 九
10 gip 丨
20 nip 廿
30 srup 卅
40 splip 卌
100 prik 百
1,000 sning 千
10,000 mans 萬
100,000,000 qeks 億
1,000,000,000,000 lu 兆

Dialectal variation

Common dialect

Main article: Common dialect (Shinasthana)

Comparative phonology

Mengja Menghean Sinmun
Sylvanized		 Middle Meng Stratum Old Meng Stratum
國之語音
異乎中國
與文字不相流通
故愚民有所欲言
而終不得伸其情者多矣
予爲此憫然
新制二十八字
欲使人人易習便於日用耳 		guk ji eo eum
i ho jung guk
yeo mun ja bul sang yu tong
go u min yu so yo geon
i jong bul deuk sin gi jeong ja da ui
yeo wi cha min yeon
sin je i sip pal ja
yok sa in in yeo seup pyeon eo il lyong i 		kwek chi ngjo' iim
ih gho tiung kwek
ngjo' mjun dzih' pjut sjang lju t'ung
koh ngjo miin ghju' srjo' yoh ngjan
nje cung pjut tek shin gje dzjeng tja ta ghwje'
yo wjeh ts'i' min njen
sjin c'iai njih zip peat dzje'
yok srje' nin nin yik zjek pianh yo njit yungh ni 		kwēk te ngaq ′rem
leks gā trung kwēk
laq men dzeq pe smang ryu l′ung
kah nhu mrying ghweq sq′ra′ k.luk ngan
nye tyūng pe tek l′in gyi dzyeng ta′ tai ghwe′
la m.gwrais dzi′ men′ nen
sjing dits nyis gep pryāt dze′
luk s.req ning ning lek sgyap prans gwra nik l′ungs ne′

Scholarship

Dedicated references

The canonical anthology of ancient phonology consists of the following twelve works.

Title Year Compiler(s) Status Categorization Notes
聲類　　 hling-rjed 2nd c. 李登　 ′rje′-teng Fragmentary 322 rhymes extant Compiled in Menghe
韻集　　 ghjwonh-dzjep 275 呂靜　 glja'-dzjingh Extant 539 rhymes
釋韻 　　st'jak-ghjwonh 334 李軌　 ′rje′-krju′、徐邈 sdja-mrawk Extant 421 rhymes
四聲 　　sjed-hleng 472 沈約 　st'jem-'jawk Extant 252 rhymes First work to describe tones concretely
玉篇 　　ngjowk-p'rjan 531 梁惠帝 Emperor ghwid of Rjang Fragmentary 260 rhymes Reflects speech in Kien-k'ang
經典音義 king-ten'-'rjem-ngjars 560 陸明　 rjuk-mrjang Extant 212 rhymes With definitions
切韻　　 ts'it-ghwjens 601 陸法延 rjuk-pjap-lan Mostly extant 193 rhymes Reflects speech in Glak-lang
廣音錄 　kwang-'rjem-rjuk 732 張常拱 trjang-djang-kjung′ Mostly extant 2,742 dialectal peculiarities
廣韻 　　kwang'-ghwjens 1001 丁重　 teng-drjong Extant 206 rhymes With definitions
集韻 　　dzjep-gwjens 1030 孫皓青 sun-ghu'-ts'ing Extant 238 rhymes With definitions
韻鏡 　　gwjenh-krjangs 1161 uncertain Extant 3,324 syllables A table-style summary of all known syllables in the language
簡韻略 　kren'-ghjwonh-gljak 1210 顧平水 gah-brjang-hljei′ Extant 106 rhymes Abridged ver. of dzjop-ghjwohn

Epexegesis references

To support the study of classical literature that often possessed much philosophical and political esteem in imperial-period Themiclesia, many authors have written epexegeses (a work that explains another) that offer analyses of the canonical texts, including definitions of terms, notable contrasts with other works and other epexegeses, and correct pronunciation of words. The corpus of such explanatory literature has since accumulated, over many centuries, to be dozens, if not hundreds, of times longer than canon. Authors provide their opinion on how individual characters should be read, often reflecting the speech of their own environment and age.

Poetry analysis

In 972, Dzi-dynasty scholar Mak Mjon-ghwedh developed a method of the phonological relationship between rhyming syllables in verse. This is known as the Rhyme Identification Method (歸韻法). It stipulates:

  1. If a poem has lines XXXA / XXXB / XXXC / XXXD, and if each line is known to rhyme with each other, then syllables A, B, C, and D must rhyme with each other.
  2. If a second poem has lines XXXA / XXXE / XXXF / XXXG, then syllables E, F, and G must rhyme with each other and B, C, and D, since they are "connected" by syllable A.

These two principles proved incredibly potent in reconstructing the phonological structure of ancient languages based on a logical and consistent analyses. Though Mak himself did not pursue this subject much further, his students proceeded to apply this method to hundreds of poems dating to the archaic and classical eras of Menghean history. In the 1100s, scholars concluded that ancient Menghean poetry had nine "rhyme departments"; for many generations afterwards, this conclusion was refined by exhaustive studies to remove connections made by incorrect rhyme identification (i.e. connecting two words that do not actually rhyme) and glyph conflation (i.e. assuming each glyph corresponds to only one syllable). This heralded the birth of Ancient Phonology (古音學) in Themiclesia.

In 1594, it was known that ancient poetry rhymed according to 33 departments; upon this conclusion, scholar Drjen Lih (陳第) asserted that the pronunciation of some words have changed since ancient times, but a number have not. He (using methods not rigorous) identified some such syllables as "anchor rhymes" and consulted well-established analyses to assert that words, in his time not rhyming, must have been pronounced in a way that did rhyme with his so-called "anchor rhymes". The majority of modern scholars believe that Drjon's theories, though factually flawed, pioneered the assignment of phonetic values to abstract phonological structures and the principle that sound changes occurred under specific phonological conditions (i.e. not randomly).

His successors focused on the criteria under which such changes occurred, though until the modern period and the arrival of Casaterran phonology in 1757, their results have been limited. Of the types of criteria they could assert as a conditioning factor for a phonetic change, place of articulation (i.e. glottal, velar, alveolar, and bilabial), manner of articulation (i.e. plosive, nasal, approximant), voicedness, aspiration, tone, and vowel quality have all been used to explain the causes of sound change. This in turn allowed more recent scholars to describe accurately the phonological and phonetic characteristics of languages lost to time, e.g.

  • What has been analyzed as two separate groups of consonants under Modern Phonology (今音學), the /t/ and /tr/ groups, were in complimentary distribution and should be the same group in Ancient Phonology, and the /tr/ group diverged under the criteria of second-division and third-division-type-B factors.
  • The /pf/ group in some modern dialects diverged from /pj/ in others, and /pj/ is asserted to be the "ancient pronunciation".

Cognates and borrowings

Cognates

Borrowings

As Shinasthana shares a writing system with and Menghean, terms from the latter are sometimes borrowed with their written forms intact into the former. However, since the written form of the borrowing may represent an existing term in Shinasthana, the phonetic pronunciation is sometimes borrowed together to distinguish the borrowed term in speech. The same situation occurs when homographs are introduced. In more recent times, even Dayashinese words have been borrowed into Shinasthana with their Dayashinese pronunciations. This process is not limited to individual character: the meanings and readings of larger semantic units, including proper names, can be borrowed and written in the same way or another way.

Character Reading Source Meaning
內 nups < Old Meng *nup-s 1. to enter
2. (of the Sun) to set
nup < Old Meng *nup 1. to take in, receive
mnup < Old Meng *m-nup 1. the speaker's household
2. (dated) the speaker's wife
3. an exchequer
4. a teller or cashier
5. the area around a capital city, Inner Region
nwai from Middle Meng noi 1. the inner palace
2. cismarine Themiclesia
孟 mrāngs < Old Meng *mˁrang-s 1. eldest
2. Mrangh
smrāng agentive s- 1. elder sibling
2. a chief baron, member of the Themiclesian peerage
maing borrowing from Middle Meng 1. Menghe
2. Mengheans
3. (derogatory) Themiclesians of Menghean heritage
東京 twāng-krang 1. Rak, a city in Themiclesia
tong-kyeng borrowing from Modern Standard Menghean 1. Donggyŏng, the capital city of Menghe
帝 tik < Old Meng *tek 1. legitimate
2. therefore
tiks < Old Meng *tek-s 1. god
tei/ti from Middle Meng *tei 1. used in the term g′wang-tei, "emperor"

In popular media

Notes


See also

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