Talaséan
Talaséan was once the sung-spoken language of the earliest Láenthelin—particularly the first root-weavers, tonebinders, and crystal shepherds who lived in pre-Order tribal societies along the lake’s jagged rim. While no longer spoken fluently by the general population, its melodic remnants echo in ritual chants, songspells, and crystalline idioms used to this day.
Although Talaséan is dying, it is taught in fragments to initiates of the The Order of the Glassroot . It is also recorded in shardscript on temple walls and memory relics. And it is still sung fully during three specific high rituals each year (including The Cradle Deep and Silencing Eve)
Some rogue scholars, however, believe the complete form of Talaséan holds pre-cataclysmic knowledge, including the original resonance tones that shaped Resoform itself.
Writing System
Shardscript: Etched into crystalline surfaces using directional resonance tools.
Glyphic-Syllabary: Each glyph represents a consonant-vowel (CV) unit, but tone dots and emotive slashes modify meaning. Example:
A basic glyph might mean sha
A high tone dot above it makes it sha (command)
A diagonal cut adds grief to the word (sha-il)
Directional Layout: Typically spirals outward from the center, reflecting a belief in voice radiating from the self
Phonology
- Tonal Language: Pitch (low, mid, high) alters meaning.
- Phoneme Inventory:
- Vowels: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/, with tonal variants (á, à, â, etc.)
- Consonants: /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /l/, /r/, /s/, /sh/, /v/, /m/, /n/, /h/
- Glottal stops (ʔ) and breathy consonants (e.g., h̤) indicate spiritual or emotional depth
- Consonant Harmony: Certain consonants cannot co-occur (e.g., /sh/ and /g/rarely appear in the same word).
Morphology
- Agglutinative: Root words gain suffixes or tonal shifts to express meaning
- Tonal Morphs: Tone changes on a single word can alter tense, emotional state, or spiritual alignment
- Emotion-Affixes: Suffixes such as -il (sorrow) or -an (joy) can modify verbs, especially in ritual speech
- vel = to see
- vel-il = to see with grief
- vel-an = to see joyfully
Syntax
Default Word Order: Verb–Subject–Object (VSO),
Modifiers follow nouns:
Sentence particles mark intention:
Vocabulary
A ritual-focused lexicon emphasizing nature, resonance, memory, and emotion.
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Thal | to speak / sing / chant |
| Vel | to see or perceive deeply |
| Larim | shard / crystal |
| Shaélen | bitter / rotten root |
| Hira | breath /soul-force |
| Sanu | to drink / to take into oneself |
| Talasé | deep root / original resonance |
| Nieth | truth, often of an emotional nature |
| Im | a connector: “of” or “through” |
Phonetics
| Sound | IPA | Example |
|---|---|---|
| th | /θ/ | Thal (to speak) |
| sh | /ʃ/ | Shaélen (bitter) |
| r | /ɾ/ (tapped) | Rin’thalas |
| a | /a/, /ɑ/, /æ/ depending on tone | |
| e | /ɛ/, /e/, /ə/ | |
| vowel lengthening | sanu (drink) vs saanu (consume deeply) |
Tenses
Rather than conventional past/present/future, Talaséan uses Aspectual Resonance:
| Aspect | Marker | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate/Now | none | that nieth (speaks truth) |
| Echo/Past | é- | é-thal nieth (once spoke truth) |
| Harmonic/Future | lor- | lor-thal nieth (will one day speak truth) |
| Fractured/Uncertain | ver- | ver-thal nieth (may never fully speak truth) |
Sentence Structure
Verb first (Tense Marker + Verb), followed by subject, then object. Tone shifts and suffixes shape nuance.
Lor-vel Elenith larim-an translates to "Will-see Elenith shard-joyfully." Structured differently, it will read as “Elenith will gaze upon the joyous shard.”
Adjective Order
Modifiers always follow the noun in descending order of emotion, clarity, function, and origin.
Larim-an shen véla rin’thalas translates to "Shard of joy, clear, ceremonial, rootborn."
Structural Markers
Topic Introducers: Orin (regarding...), Shae (but...), Til (and then...).
Modal Markers: nen (perhaps), vér (never), dil (must).
Negation: vo- prefix or dropped tone
Dictionary
| Modern | Original | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| "The shard listens." | Veléthr im hara. | Speak carefully; you are being heard. |
| "Bitter in the root." | Tir shaélen. | Something is wrong at the core. |
| "To drink the mirrored breath." | Sanu varan éther. | To take on someone else's burden or memory. |
| "Tone-breaker's curse." | Aruth váno kelé. | A label for someone who ruins harmony. |
| "Carry it in the second voice." | Leroth im niévam. | Bear something silently; hide pain in ritual. |
| "The root does not lie." | Rin'thalas ven. | Truth, especially spiritual or emotional, always emerges. |
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