Shinasthana

Shinasthana
Themiclesian, Sinastani
震旦語系
Pronunciation	tjər˥˩.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, and Nukkumaa
Language codes
ISO 639-1	sh
ISO 639-2	tem
ISO 639-3	–

Shinasthana (震旦語系, tjerh-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 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 evolution from Old Meng to the Archaic language includes the following changes:

1. Vowel rounding
   • *-aw > *-o
   • *-ew > *-u
   • *-iw > *-i
   • *-əw > *-u
2. 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
3. "Hiatus" words evolve from an older realization in Old Meng
   • *C₁ye.C₁ye simplifies to *C₁ey
   • *C₁ua.C₁ua simplifies to *C₁aw
4. *-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 simplify to long vowels.
2. Simplification of diphthongs
   • *ye > i
   • *ua > u
3. *o > u
4. *-kw > -wVk
5. 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. 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", from 王 *ɦʷaŋ > 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

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, 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 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	kʷ	kʷʰ	gʷ	ŋʷ	ŋ̊ʷ	q	qʰ	ɢ	ɴ	ɴ̥	qʷ	qʷʰ	ɢʷ	ɴʷ	ɴ̥ʷ	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′	q	q′	gh	nh	nh′	qw	qw′	ghw	nhw	nhw′	′	h	g′	′w	hw	gw′	l	l′

Vowels and medials:

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

Phonology

Consonants		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
					Plain	Lab.	Plain	Lab.	Plain	Lab.
Stop	Voiceless	p	t		k	kʷ	q	qʷ	ʔ	ʔʷ
	Aspirated*	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ	kʷʰ	qʰ	qʷʰ
	Voiced	b	d		g	gʷ	ɢ	ɢʷ
	Prenasalized*	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑg	ᵑgʷ	ᶰɢ	ᶰɢʷ
Nasal	Voiced	m	n		ŋ	ŋʷ	ɴ	ɴʷ
	Voiceless*	m̥	n̥		ŋ̊	ŋ̊ʷ	ɴ̥	ɴ̥ʷ
Affricate	Voiceless		t͡s
	Voiced		d͡z
Fricative	Voiceless		s						h	hʷ
	Voiced		z*						ɦ	ɦʷ
Liquid	Voiced		r
	Voiceless*		r̥
Approximant	Voiced	w	l	j	(w)
	Voiceless*		l̥

• Classical period and after

Vowels	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Mid		ə əː
Open		a aː

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	ɵ	u
Close-mid	e	ə	o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open	æ	ɞ	ɑ

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 / ngai′

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 / gjên 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 / kljur

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

公 / klong

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-gra′

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 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	kwek tje ngja' 'rjem lis ga trjung kwek la' mjen dzje' pje sjang rju l'ung kah ngjo mrjing gwje' sk'rja' ljuk ngjan nje trjung pje tek l'jin gje dzjeng tja' tai ghwje' la gwrjarh sn'ji' mrjen' njen sjing djêdh njih gjep prêt dzje' ljuk srje' njing njing lêk sgljap prjanh gwrja njik l'ongh 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, 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

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	nominalizing -s	1. to enter 2. (of the Sun) to set
	nup	root	1. to take in, receive
	mnup	intransitive derivation from m-	1. the speaker's household 2. (dated) the speaker's wife 3. an exchequer 4. a teller or cashier
	noi	borrowing from Middle Meng	1. the inner palace 2. metropolitan Themiclesia
孟	mrangs	adjectival suffix -s	1. eldest 2. Mrangh
	smrang	agentive s-	1. elder sibling of all sexes 2. a chief baron, member of the Themiclesian peerage
	mêng	borrowing from Middle Meng	1. Menghe 2. Mengheans 3. (derogatory) Themiclesians of Menghean heritage
東京	tōng-k.rjang		1. Rak, a city in Themiclesia
	tong-kjeng	borrowing from Modern Standard Menghean	1. Donggyŏng, the capital city of Menghe

See also

• Menghean language
• Old Menghean language