Shinasthana

Shinasthana
Themiclesian, Sinastani
震旦語系
Pronunciation	tjəl˥˩.tɑn˥˩.ŋjɑ˩˥.geg˥˩
Native to	Themiclesia
Ethnicity	Meng
Native speakers	51,240,000 (2010)
Language family	Menghic Shinasthana
Early forms	Proto-Meng Old Meng language
Standard forms	l′ong-ngja′
Dialects	See "dialects" below
Writing system	Mengja
Official status
Official language in	Themiclesia
Recognised minority language in	Menghe, Dayashina, Nukkumaa and OS
Language codes
ISO 639-1	sh
ISO 639-2	tem
ISO 639-3	–

Shinasthana (震旦語系, tjelh-tanh-ngja′-′kêgh) 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 in several strata. The variety of Shinasthana that is the official language in Themiclesia is l'ong-ngja', 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 tsjinh (name of a dynasty) into Old Maverican, suffixing -sthana, which means "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

The phylogeny of Shinasthana was considered settled in the 19th century, as a branch of the Menghic languages, which is distributed in Menghe, Themiclesia, Argentstan, Dzhungestan, northern Maverica, 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 was the ancestor to all Shinasthana dialects 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.

Old Menghean

Main article: Old Menghean language

The oldest layer corresponds to Themiclesia's lengthy pre-dynastic period and reflects phonological features of Old Menghean; S. G. Mang places this layer around the 10-4th c. BCE, or the founding of Themiclesia as a trading post, ending at the start of the Hexarchy. 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:

1. Non-monosyllabic or "iambic" words, with a minor syllable preceding the main syllable;
   • Well-demonstrated non-obstruent prefixes in *s(ə)-, *r-, *N(ə)-, *m(ə)-, and *k(ə)-;
   • More controversial obstruent prefixes, such as *p(ə)-, *t(ə)-, and *q(ə)-;
   • Certain items seem to contain dual or trial prefixes;
2. A series of uvular consonants *q, *qʰ, *ɢ, *ɴ, and *ɴ̥ and their labialized counterparts *qʷ, *qʷʰ, *ɢʷ, *ɴʷ, and *ɴ̥ʷ;
3. Codas, some compound, and suffixes in *-nC, *-k, *-q, *-ʔ, and *-s;
   • Syllabic coda in *-kə.

Late Old Menghean

The Meng Dynasty stratum corresponds with the lingua franca of the Meng court's scholarly elite in the 1st to 3rd c. CE. This stratum is reflected predominantly in the modern southern dialects; however, the fullness of its phonetic variety is preserved only with the assistance of Maverican writing, which were used to transcribe Shinasthana characters phonetically by Mavericans. This system was later used by Themiclesians themselves as a guide to proper pronunciation. The main characteristics of this layer, as they evolve into the Common dialect (which is a conservative Southern dialect) are:

1. Prefixes
   • *N- is preserved before obtruents as prenasalization, e.g. *N-p > mb, *N-t > nd, and *N-k > n-g (this contrasts with ⟨ng⟩, so is written ⟨n-g⟩ )
     • but preserved before continuants assimilating to the place of articulation, e.g. *N-l > nl and *N-h > nh
   • *m- and *k- > ′ [ə] before obstruents, e.g. *m-prong > ′prjong;
     • but preserved before non-obstruents as m-, e.g. *m-hrak-s > m-hrjagh and *k-rak > krak.
   • *s- is retained.
   • *r- is retained.
   • Iambic prefixes in *Cə-C- simplify to C-C-, while simple prefixes and unprefixed initials *(C-)C- > (C-)Cj-.
2. Initials
   • Plain and labialized uvulars merge with corresponding velars in all environments, *q(ʷ) > ′(w), *qʰ(ʷ) > h(w), *ɴ(ʷ) > ŋ(w), and *ɴ̥(ʷ) > ŋ̊(w)
   • *ɢ > l; *ɢʷ > ghw
   • Unprefixed *b-, *d-, and *g- before *-r- and *-l- are dropped, e.g. *brem > rjem "supervise", *drang > rjang "good", and *grang > rjang "chilly"
     • This is contradicted in some archaic readings, such as in place name Blim-tsi, which under regular rules should become *rjem-tsji.
3. Codas
   • Suffix *-ʔ and *-q is lost and generates the rising tone;
   • Suffix *-s lost after vowels, liquids, and nasals, generating the lowering tone;
     • but voices final stops, *-ps > -bh; *-ts > -dh; *-ks > -gh; *-kws > -gwh
     • retained in *-ʔ-s > -s, e.g. 好 *huʔ-s > hus "liked", from 好 *huʔ > hu′, "to like"; 上 *daŋʔ-s > djangs "up, high", from 上 *daŋʔ > djang′ "raise"

Middle Menghean

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 stratum best, and, given changes shared with the common ancestor of Menghean dialects today, seem much more familiar to speakers of that language today.

1. Prefixes
   • *p- and *q- are lost
   • *t- displaces the following obstruent
   • *k- is lost before obstruents
     • *k-r- > k-; k-r̥ > kʰ (Div. II)
   • *s- displaces the following obstruent
     • but *sn̥- > t͜sʰ-; *skʰ > h; *str > ʈ͜ʂ
2. Initials
   • Liquids
     • *l̥- and r̥- > tʰ-; l̥j > ɕ; l̥r(j)- > ʈʰ(j)
     • *l- > j
   • Nasals
     • *n̥- > tʰ-; *n̥j- > ɕ
     • *ŋ̊- > x-
     • *m̥-, *ŋ̊ʷ-, *ɴ̥ > xʷ-
   • Retroflexes
     • *tr- and *r-t- > ʈ-, *tʰr- and *r-tʰ- > ʈʰ-, *dr- and *r-d- > ɖ-, *nr- and *r-n- > ɳ-, *sr- and *r-s- > ʂ-
   • Palatals
     • *tj- and *klj- > t͜ɕ- , *tʰj- and *kʰlj- > t͜ɕʰ-, *dj- and *glj- > d͜ʑ-
     • *stj and *stʰj > ɕ, *sdj > ʑ
   • Velars
     • *g(ʷ)- in Div. I, II, and IV > h(ʷ)-
3. Glides
   • *-r- after iambic initials gives rise to Division II vowels
     • weakened to subphonemic [ɯ] after labials, velars, uvulars, and laryngeals
   • *-r- after simple initials is weakened to -ɨ- after labials, velars, uvulars, and laryngeals
   • -j- is inserted after all simple initials without *-r-
4. Rhymes
   • *-s suffixes
     • *-ps and *-ts > -j(H);
     • *-ks and *-s > -(H);
   • Liquids
     • *-l > -j
     • *-r > -n
       • *-aj > a
   • Others
     • *ja and *je before dental codas > *je
     • *jo before dental codas > *wje
       • except following bilabial, velar, uvular, or laryngeal initials
     • *-iŋ and *-ik > -in and -it
     • *-ikʷ > ek; -rikʷ > -rek; -(r)jikʷ > -juk
     • *-akʷ > -ok; -rakʷ > -ruk; -(r)jakʷ > -jak
     • -ə > -əj;
     • -a > -o; -ja > -jo
     • -jo > jwo
     • -ro > -o
     • -jə(k) (following a labial) > -ju(k)
     • -rjə(k) > -rje(k)
     • -rəj and -raj > -rej
     • -(r)u > -(r)aw
     • -rju > rji
     • -jar > je
     • -un > -wən (in all environments)
     • -ruŋ > ɵŋ
     • -roŋ > -ɞŋ; -ruk > -rok
     • -rjaŋ (following velars and laryngeals) > -jeŋ
     • -jəŋ (following labials) > -juŋ
     • -rəŋ (following labials) > -ɛŋ; -rək > -rek
     • -jan > -jen; -jaj > -jej
     • -jam > -jem

Modern loans

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 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.

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.

Prefix *k-

The function of prefix *k- is not clear. In the Old Menghean period, scholars believe it had two allomorphs, *k- (simple) and *kə- (iambic), with no discernable difference in meaning. Gleamed from very limited examples in old texts, it appears to have a concretizing function.

• 囧 *k-mrang > krjang "window", from 明 *mrang > mrjang "bright"; 格 *k-rak > krak "arrive", from 落 *rak > rak "descend"

Prefix *s-

The prefix *s- has multiple functions. In the Old Menghean period, scholars believe it had two allomorphs, *s- (simple) and *sə- (iambic), with no discernable difference in meaning. The existince of these allomorphs is inferred through early borrowings into Maverican and other languages that either preserve the opposition or possess differing reflexes; in Shinasthana, the opposition is closely linked to that of syllable types A and B, where A is a syllable without medial yod /j/, and B, one with. Prefix *s- is phonologically preserved in the Common dialect, but the script does not always reflect the derivational relationship. 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-maŋ > smang "lose", from 亡 *maŋ "escape".
• Denominal verbs, e.g. 使 *s-rək-s > srjegh "to task", from 吏 *rək-s > rjegh "office".

Prefix *N-

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- is phonologically reflected in the Common dialect as prenasalization before obstruents, but remains a separate segment before continuants. While it is no longer transparent before obstruents, its morphological functions are recognized and even productive in some instances. Moreover, *N- derivations tend to be reflected in the script, often with the same character.

• Stative verbs from transitive verbs, e.g. 敗 *N-prat-s > mpradh "to be defeated", from 敗 *prat-s > pradh "to defeat".
  • N.B. 敗 *prat-s is itself a suffix -s derivative from 別 *prat "break, split", where "defeated" is a derivative meaning of "break"; 別 *prat also has its own *N- derivation in 別 *N-prat > nprat "to depart".
• Intransitive verbs from transitive verbs, e.g. 現 *N-kenʔ-s > nkens "to be present" (i.e. to be seen present), from 見 *kenʔ-s > kêns "to see".
  • 見 *kenʔ-s > kêns is itself a derivative of 顯 *kenʔ > kên′ "to shine", which also has an N- derivation in 顯 *N-kenʔ > nkên′ "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 > ′kruk "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. As it generates the departing (falling) tone in all varieties of Shinasthana, it remained productive for longer, well after the suffix itself was lost. In the Common dialect, it voices the final obstruent and also gives the departing tone in all instances. There is a vestigial /h/ after obstruents, but in the sequence of *ʔ-s it is reflected as -s.

• Deverbial and agent nouns, often called the "agent *-s", e.g. 內 *nup-s > nubh "inside", from 納 *nup > nup "take inside"
• Denominal verbs, often called the "participle -s", e.g. 冠 *kor-s > korh "to crown", from 冠 *kor "crown"; 王 *ɦʷaŋ-s > ghwjangh "to rule", 王 *ɦʷaŋ-s > ghwjang "king, prince".
• Transitive verbs, e.g. 好 *huʔ-s > hus "to like, prefer", from 好 *huʔ > hu′ "good"; 惡 *ʔak-s > ′agh "to dislike", from 惡 *ʔak > ′ak "bad".

Writing Systems

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, sghjangh-gêng), 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, gêng-l′jêng), where a pictogrammatic character used determinatively is combined with another, unrelated grapheme that represents the character's pronunciation.
3. Ideographic (指事, klji′-dzrje′), 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, gobh-′jeh), where multiple pictogrammata are combined and meaning deduced from the relationship between them.
5. Transideographic (轉注, trjon′-tjoh), where the definition of an existing character is given to a new character.
6. Substitution (假借, krai′-tsrjaih), 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.

Sylvanization

Main article: Sylvanization systems of Shinasthana

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.

In 1807, the first Sylvanization reference with government backing appeared, devised by Columbian scholar, George Figley, 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 Sylvanization 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. Figley 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 Figley Transcription System, or F for short.

Revision

As phonemic theory gained prominence late in the 19th Century and crested in the early 20th, there was significant impetus to rework Figley 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 most complex, and subsequently phonemes could not be added; this was later convincingly disproven. Nevertheless, the revision was announced in 1930, known as Revised Figley 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 drop capital R was printed ahead of the sylvanized phrase.

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	kʷ	kʷʰ	gʷ	ŋʷ	ŋ̊ʷ	ʔ	h	ɦ	ʔʷ	hʷ	ɦʷ	l	l̥
Sylvanization	p	p′	b	m	m′	t	t′	d	n	n′	r	r′	ts	ts′	dz	s	k	k′	g	ng	ng′	kw	kw′	gw	ngw	ngw′	′	h	gh	′w	hw	ghw	l	lh

Vowels and medials:

IPA	a	i	ə	u	e	o	r	j
Sylvanization	a	i	e	u	ê	o	r	j/i

Middle Menghean

IPA	p	pʰ	b	m	t	tʰ	d	n	ʈ	ʈʰ	ɖ	ɳ	r	t͡ɕ	t͡ɕʰ	d͡ʑ	ɕ	ʑ	ɲ	t͜s	t͜sʰ	d͜z	s	z	ʈ͡ʂ	ʈ͡ʂʰ	ɖ͡ʐ	ʂ	ʐ	k	kʰ	g	ŋ	q	qʰ	ɢ	ɴ	ʔ	h	ɦ	0
Sylvanization	p	p′	b	m	t	t′	d	n	tr	tr′	dr	nr	r	c	c′	j	sh	zh	ny	ts	ts′	dz	s	z	tsr	tsr′	dzr	sr	zr	k	k′	g	ng	q	q′	G	N	′	h	gh

Vowels and medials:

IPA	a	æ	ɛ	e	i	u	o	ɞ	ɵ	ɨ	ɯ
Sylvanization	a	ae	ea	ê	i	u	o	eo	eu	i	y

Phonology

Meng dynasty stratum

The Meng dynasty stratum loses the Old Menghean uvular series completely but otherwise preserves its consonants well.

Consonants		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
					Plain	Lab.	Plain	Lab.
Stop	Lenis	p	t		k	kʷ	ʔ	ʔʷ
	Asper	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ	kʰʷ
	Voiced	b	d		g	gʷ
Nasal	Voiced	m	n		ŋ	ŋʷ
	Unvoiced	m̥	n̥		ŋ̊	ŋ̊ʷ
Affricate	Lenis		t͡s
	Asper		t͡sʰ
	Voiced		d͡z
Fricative	Unvoiced		s				x	xʷ
	Voiced						ɣ	ɣʷ
Liquid	Voiced		r
	Unvoiced		r̥
Approximant	Voiced	w	l	j	(w)
	Unvoiced		l̥

Vowels	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a

Middle Meng stratum

Consonants		Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Stop	Lenis	p	t	ʈ	t͡ɕ	k	q	ʔ
	Asper	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ	t͡ɕʰ	kʰ	qʰ
	Voiced	b	d	ɖ	d͡ʑ	g	ɢ
Nasal		m	n	ɳ	ɲ	ŋ	ɴ
Affricate	Lenis		t͡s	t͡ʂ
	Asper		t͡sʰ	t͡ʂʰ
	Voiced		d͡z	d͡ʐ
Fricative	Unvoiced		s	ʂ	ɕ	x
	Voiced		z	ʐ	ʑ	ɣ
Approximant		w	l		j	(w)

Vowels	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e	ə	o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open	æ		ɑ

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 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

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 / ngar′

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

朕 / lrjem′

Called the emphatic I in some literature, use is nuanced. In nominative function, lrjem′ draws attention to oneself, which can be expressed as "I, this person". For this function, it has been characteristically used in Menghe by sovereigns, forbidden from others, but in Themiclesia the pronoun was not exclusive to the monarch. In genitive function, it tends govern inalienable, highly valued, or humanly significant things, particularly family relations; where the governor can be either alienable or inalienable, lrjem′ can provide additional information, e.g. ngar′ kra "my house", but lrjem′ kra "my household"; ngar′ kjung "my (physical) body", but lrjem′ kjung "my person, my personhood". Abuse of this pronoun may make the speaker appear arrogant or inconsiderate, e.g. lrjem′ gwrje′ "my friend (who has no choice but to be my friend)". Accusative use is uncommon.

臣 / gljin and 妾 / ts′jap

Respectively meaning "slave" and "slavewoman" originally. These two terms were only used to identify oneself when addressing monarchs (of any nationality). In modern Themiclesia, these two terms are deemed unnecessary.

民 / mrjing

Originally meaning "commoner", it was used by individuals not in public office towards those who are. It is still used by some individuals in letters to the government, though most would consider it old-fashioned.

僕 / bok

Originally meaning "groom", it is most often found in writing by men with their peers.

愚 / ngja

Meaning "ignorant", it is often found in academic writing to express circumspection or humility about the idea one is about to expound.

私 / sje

Meaning "private, personal", individuals use this term to express a non-qualified opinion.

Second person

女 / nja′

General second-person pronoun in nominative and accusative position.

乃 / ne′

Second person genitive.

爾 / nji′

Meaning "near", also used as second person pronoun.

子 / tsje′

Originally meaning the leader of a clan, it has been generalized as an honorific in second-person function.

君 / kljul

Originally meaning "lord", it is often used in the second person as an honorific to equals.

公 / kong

Originally meaning "lord", it has a similar function and semantic evolution as above.

卿 / k′rjang

Originally meaning "companion", it was used by monarchs to address their servants, acquiring honorific value when used for social inferiors bound in some sort of relationship with the speaker. However, it is also used between couples, since they are bound in an equal relationship.

郎 / rang

Originally meaning "gentleman", it is used by unmarried females to their male partners.

良人 / rjang-njing

Originally meaning "good person", it is used between couples.

陛下 / prêdh-gras

Usually translated as "your majesty", used to address monarchs.

殿下 / denh-gras

Usually translated as "your lordship", used to address hereditary nobility.

Dialectal variation

Common dialect

Main article: Common dialect (Shinasthana)

Comparative phonology

Mengja	Menghean Sinmun	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	국지어음 이호중국 여문자불상유통 고우민유소욕언 이종불득신기정자다의 여위차민연 신제이십팔자 욕사인인이습편어일용이	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 jik gho tiung kwek ngjo' mjun dzji' pjot sjang lju t'ung koh ngjo miin ghwju' sho' yoh ngjan nje tiung pjot tek zjin gji dzjing ta ghwji' yo wji ts'ji' miin njen sjin chiai njih zip peat dzji' yok sri' njin njin yik zjek pianh yo njit yungh ni	kwek tje ngja' 'rjem lis ga trjung kwek la' mjen dzjeh pje smljang rju hlung kah ngrjo mrjing gwje' sk'rja' gljuk ngjan nje trjung pje tek stjin gje dzjing tjaw' tai ghlje' gla gwrjarh sdi' mrjen' njen sjing tjiais njih gljop priat dzje' gluk srjo' njin njin lias gljap prjans gwja njit lungs nje'

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, 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:

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 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, 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".

Neologisms

Term	Themi. reading	Themi. meaning	Alternate reading	Alternate meaning
社會	sghljas-gweps	society, social	Sah-hwoi	socialist
皇帝	gwang-tih	Emperor of Themiclesia	hwang-tsrjiah	emperor (generally)
孟	mrangs	first; ethnonym of Themiclesia	meng	Menghe (abbreviation)
東京	Tongw-krjang	Glak-lang	Tung-kjung	Donggyŏng
錢	dzjian	a unit of mass; 1/100 of one mjon	tsuen	Jŏn, 1/100 of a Menghean Won

In popular media

Being a major branch of the Menghic family of languages, Shinasthana has often been compared with 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 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 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.

See also

• Menghean language
• Old Menghean language