Introducing Unthahian

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Tiamat
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Introducing Unthahian

Post by Tiamat »

This is my first post in a long time and I hope to return to Proto-Karasuk in the near future and this language exists in the same timeline as Proto Karasuk.

Introduction

Unthahian (Imi Ũθa’a, Ũθa’-ī-imi) was spoken from around 500BC to ~300AD. The Untha were original farmers and herders to the northwest of Susa (in modern day Khuzestan) concentrated around the city of Tunxau*. The Untha were close allies of the Achaemenid Empire when it conquered the Elamites and the Untha took control of the city of Susa (Susin). From the beginning of the Susa period, the Unthah progressively displaced the Elamites. By 300BC, the Unthah had completely replaced the Elamites. Unthahian has a sister language spoken east of Lake Urmia.


Religion

The Unthah (Ũθā) were fairly diverse as far as religion is concerned. Originally the Unthah practiced a variant of the Mesopotamian religion. After Susa was conquered by the Unthah and Persians, Zoroastrianism became popular amongst a section of the aristocracy and inhabitants of the city. The old Mesopotamia religion was relegated to the countryside. There was also a smaller but vibrant jewish community in Susa. Following the rise of Christianity, both Christianity and Manicheanism became popular amongst the Unthah. Both Susa and Tunxau had large christian communities and the aristocracy were largely Manichean or Christian. In ]Tunxau and the surrounding region a gnostic Cult around Noah was formed.(I will have an entire post dedicated to this in the future as it plays an important role during the late Unthahian period)


Early and Late Unthahian

Unthahian is divided into two periods. Early Unthahian begins from the conquering of Susa. Though there are (limited) cuneiform inscriptions around Tunxau from before the conquering of Susa, they appear to be of an older form of the language. Pre and Late Unthahian shows a lot of influence from Elamite. During the early Unthahian period, Elamite was eventually replaced as primary influence as it began to take in a lot of vocab influence from Persian and aramaic, and the Aramaic script starts being used as opposed to the older cuneiform. But most of the official documents found in Susa and Tunxau during this period are in Aramaic. The primary source of Early Old Unthahian is in local merchant documents and graffiti.**

The late Unthahian period begins roughly following the Alexander the Great’s conquering of the Achaemenid Empire. This period sees a continuing Persia influence and the introduction, though limited, of persian grammar influences such as the use of the ezafe in upper register. Late Unthahian is by this point almost completely uses a derivative of the Aramaic script** (the greek script is occasionally used but this is rare). The late Unthahian period ends roughly around the the establishment of the Sassanid Empire.

I will go into more detail about the culture, religion of the Unthah as well as the Late vs Early periods in later posts.

*Does not correspond to any historical city
** Still working on this, so it will be a while before samples of writing/spellings will be posted.

Samples of the Language


Early:

Ai ihimū (su)sinaxa
[áj ihimúː su̥sinaχá]
House of Ihimu of Susa

Īnapaxaši sīyā tariq-ani munaninsa
[iːnapaχḁʃí siːjáː taríqani munaninsá]
He bartered his Darics for barley for Inapaxa


Late:

Yusīf tumu-ī-inimirūntap šiya iru-ī-qarawax̣a aphir
[jusíːf tumùwiːnimiruːntáp ʃijá irùwiːqarawaχá aphír]
Joseph, son of Inimiruntap, lives near the church (of a heretical Christian sect popular in Susa)

Sifti ukuwa rar-ī-xurax̣a ai-ni mupruwi
[siftí ukuwá ràriːxuraχá ájni mupruwí]
The shepherd was building his house on a top of a hill

(NB: -́ marks primary stress and -̀ marks secondary stress)

This was not super dense post but I have a good amount to come soon and plan on making this go through not just this language but descendants and related languages.

Coming up next is Nouns part 1: Case! Should be up in the next two days.

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Zaarin
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Re: Introducing Unthahian

Post by Zaarin »

I like the flavor of the language. Is it Indo-European, or does it simply have that feel from Iranian loanwards?
"But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”

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Tiamat
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Re: Introducing Unthahian

Post by Tiamat »

Zaarin wrote:I like the flavor of the language. Is it Indo-European, or does it simply have that feel from Iranian loanwards?
Iru-ī-qarawa contains two loans from Persian, the connector ī and the word qarak which is from the middle persian kadag meaning "house". Tari(k) is also a loan from persian. Yusīf is borrowed by way of Aramaic. Other than that it's not indo-european.

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Re: Introducing Unthahian

Post by Frislander »

Do you have a finalised phonology? I can deduce some parts of it (Three-vowel + length, multiple oral fricatives, lack of a voicing distinction), but I'd like to be sure before we move onto case.
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Tiamat
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Re: Introducing Unthahian

Post by Tiamat »

Frislander wrote:Do you have a finalised phonology? I can deduce some parts of it (Three-vowel + length, multiple oral fricatives, lack of a voicing distinction), but I'd like to be sure before we move onto case.
I'm ironing out just one or two sound changes and don't want to post a phonology just yet. These changes don't really effect the case system too much so I feel comfortable in posting it now and then revise examples as needed once those changes are fixed.

What can confirm is that right now there is:

- Vowel contraction
- Vowel Syncope
- palatalization of velars*
- uvularization of velars*
- consonant assimilation
- no voiced stops (tho allophonic voicing occurs in late Unthahian, this will be seen in loans from this period)
- 3 monophthongs + length and 2 diphthongs
- nasal vowels exist
- no /l/ in native words due to persian influence, though some dialects as seen via graffiti maintained the distinction forming an east-west isogloss (a similar isogloss appears in its sister language to the north)

*I might get rid of one of these or stagger these changes but it potentially impacts vowel syncope, so I'll keep it for now.

Oh also, I will reveal the ancestor in when I do the phonology post. I wanted to get peoples sense of the feel of the language before I introduce it.

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nmnmv123
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Re: Introducing Unthahian

Post by nmnmv123 »

Looks really cool, definitely looking forward to future posts!
Zaarin wrote:I like the flavor of the language
^ Seconded - the phonology flows together really well.
Tiamat wrote:
Iru-ī-qarawa contains two loans from Persian, the connector ī and the word qarak which is from the middle persian kadag meaning "house". Tari(k) is also a loan from persian. Yusīf is borrowed by way of Aramaic. Other than that it's not indo-european.
a-priori?
Conlangs
nyokSol /njokʃol/ - WIP
Dravko /ɖaɸkɔ/ - planned
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ɛnɛmɛnɛmˈvi/ - noobing intensifies

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Tiamat
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Re: Introducing Unthahian

Post by Tiamat »

nmnmv123 wrote:Looks really cool, definitely looking forward to future posts!
Zaarin wrote:I like the flavor of the language
^ Seconded - the phonology flows together really well.
Tiamat wrote:
Iru-ī-qarawa contains two loans from Persian, the connector ī and the word qarak which is from the middle persian kadag meaning "house". Tari(k) is also a loan from persian. Yusīf is borrowed by way of Aramaic. Other than that it's not indo-european.
a-priori?
Nope it's a descendent of Sumerian. I have a couple posts in the works soon. I more or less am ready to post a section on nouns and then will post on phonology and the sound changes. I have some updates to make on my previous posts as well.

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nmnmv123
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Re: Introducing Unthahian

Post by nmnmv123 »

Tiamat wrote: Nope it's a descendent of Sumerian. I have a couple posts in the works soon. I more or less am ready to post a section on nouns and then will post on phonology and the sound changes. I have some updates to make on my previous posts as well.
o_O wow kudos to you for choosing to work with something that difficult to find information for, and for doing such a great job so far!
Conlangs
nyokSol /njokʃol/ - WIP
Dravko /ɖaɸkɔ/ - planned
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ɛnɛmɛnɛmˈvi/ - noobing intensifies

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Tiamat
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Re: Introducing Unthahian

Post by Tiamat »

nmnmv123 wrote:
Tiamat wrote: Nope it's a descendent of Sumerian. I have a couple posts in the works soon. I more or less am ready to post a section on nouns and then will post on phonology and the sound changes. I have some updates to make on my previous posts as well.
o_O wow kudos to you for choosing to work with something that difficult to find information for, and for doing such a great job so far!
I use the grammar available here and this dictionary.

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Zaarin
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Re: Introducing Unthahian

Post by Zaarin »

Tiamat wrote:
nmnmv123 wrote:Looks really cool, definitely looking forward to future posts!
Zaarin wrote:I like the flavor of the language
^ Seconded - the phonology flows together really well.
Tiamat wrote:
Iru-ī-qarawa contains two loans from Persian, the connector ī and the word qarak which is from the middle persian kadag meaning "house". Tari(k) is also a loan from persian. Yusīf is borrowed by way of Aramaic. Other than that it's not indo-european.
a-priori?
Nope it's a descendent of Sumerian. I have a couple posts in the works soon. I more or less am ready to post a section on nouns and then will post on phonology and the sound changes. I have some updates to make on my previous posts as well.
Nice! :D
"But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”

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