Thonthal

Thonthal is traditionally symbolized by a pointed hat riding an elephant

Thonthal /'θɒnˌθʌl/ is a North-Central Continent language, first spoken in the end of the first revolution by peoples that have formed Leykarya. It is the state language of Leykarya and was the state language of Darda and Xornerian. It is the lingua franca of the Continent and one of the most commonly spoken foreign languages.

Thonthala is a term used to denote the body of literature written in Thonthal.

History

Thonthal was spoken in the end of the first revolution in Leykarya. Even then it was described as "the language of ancestors", possibly making Thonthal the oldest language in use.

Surviving Western Dantrian records shed little light on its origins, as most documents seem to have been written in Mandae. However, Thonthal is thought to be based on a language or several languages in Central Dantria, since New Dawn travelers spoke a very similar language and Darda easily adopted Thonthal as state language in the 1580s SR.

As Leykarya used its seafaring capability to establish international ties, Thonthal spread to several other eastern countries as a useful foreign language: peoples that traded with Leykarya began benefiting from sharing Thonthal, and it became a lingua franca first in the south and then in the north. Thonthal is not commonly spoken in Yammoe.

For a number of historical and linquistic reasons, Thonthal's evolution has been very slow. Over the course of more than 3000 years it hardly changed, and its most ancient forms are still readable by modern speakers. Various forms of Thonthal did evolve much faster in isolation from Leykarya, like some Thonthal versions in Loodori and the neighboring area of Rowlow.

Etymology

The symbol of the Thonthal language. Central Dantrian tapestry

The meaning of the word "thonthal" is famously unknown, although, given Thonthal's ancient roots, hardly surprising. Although Thonthal's development was extremely slow in the past 3000 years, it had its share of change, and while many ancient documents are readable, they are still different enough that a native speaker wouldn't be able to fully or immediately understand them.

The current consensus is that the word "thonthal" is a compound word, originally comprised of "thont" and "hal", with the latter being a postfix used in written texts of ancient Thonthal that changes adjectives into adverbs.

Modern pronunciation does not reflect that hypothesis, instead treating "thonthal" as compound of "thon" and "thal", which makes the word meaningless.

Traditionally, the closest pair of words, associated with Thonthal are "thone" and "thaly", which mean "elephant" and "pointed hat", leading to Thonthal being humorously represented with an image of a pointed hat riding an elephant.

Features

Thonthal is known for its unique feature of glottalizing duplicate consonants in cases when the word starts with one.

For instance, the word "teamatian", which would normally be read as /tiːmætiən/, is actually read by replacing the second "t" with a glottal stop: /tiːmæʔiən/. This is because teamatian starts with a "t", which renders any "t" in the middle of the world glottalized.

Breaking that rule is permitted in some cases, but would generally pose a problem of significant miscommunication.

In some cases, pronouncing duplicate consonants might be used as wordplay, especially when naming created objects or concepts, like the Darda confederation, which is pronounced as /'dɑrdə/, a play on the word /'dɑrʔə/, meaning "hope".

In some words, pronouncing duplicate consonants will activate the second meaning of the word, which is usually the magnified version of the first meaning. An example would be the word "marme", which is "step". Pronounced with the second vowel, it would mean "stairs" (a "set of steps"). Adding an additional consonant to the end of the word - "marmem" - will further magnify the meaning to "a long staircase". Dropping the middle consonant, but retaining the ending one works for some words and activates additional meanings. In this case, /mɑrʔəm/ might mean "a stand" (as in, a support of some kind). However, these additional meanings strongly depend on context, could be easily misunderstood and are rarely used, although knowing them and being able to invoke them might speak to someone's deep knowledge of spoken Thonthal.

A whole set of words, especially those related to family, would be considered insults towards one's family if consonants are not glottalized. For instance, the word "mother" would be "henha" /'hɛnʔʌ/. Pronouncing the second "h" would be a grave insult towards the interlocutor's mother. Confusingly enough, this would not be the case when uttered by a daughter or granddaughter towards her mother or grandmother and would instead convey affection.

Consequences for written Thonthal

There exists no special symbol in Thonthal to indicate this spoken rule. This might lead to potentially losing information when committing speech to writing, which is why written Thonthal is usually slightly different to spoken Thonthal and creates a stylistic gap between the spoken and written language, with the written language sounding either more formal and pedantic or, conversely, very flowery and poetic.

For instance, in written Thonthal "marme" would only have a meaning of "step", and if one wants to say "staircase", the word "tirtoir" would be used, which means "staircase". Using "tirtoir" in speech would sound a bit too formal, unless it is used to denote a very special staircase, such as a palace staircase or a staircase of extreme value to the speaker. But describing an ordinary staircase at one's house would usually require one to say "marme" /'mɑrmə/.