Thexar-IV: The-Sha-Ruun — Sha-El 11: The-Sha-Ruun The-El — History of the Language
"Language is a living organism. It is born, grows, changes, and — if not recorded — dies. Twelve thousand years of our speech — that is twelve thousand years of our memory." — From "History of the Xha'Ruun Language," Archive of the Academy
Ruun-ak rass: → rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 01, "Sha-Thar The-El"], → rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 07, "Sharuu Khal-sha"], → rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 08, "Sha-Ven The"], → rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 10, "Shaven Xha-Mor"], → rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 02, "Xha-Sha Vokh-El"], → rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 03, "Verksan The-El"] Mor-ven: The language developed together with the civilization for more than 12 000 years (→ rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 01, "Xha'ri Thar-Vokh"]). Its history is a history of unification and collapse, standardization and fragmentation. Five periods coincide with the epochs of the civilization: every political turn reflected in the language, every linguistic shift — in society.
11.1 The Periods of Development
| Period | Dates (civ. years) | Epoch | Characteristic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proto-Xha'Ruun | −9 800 – −6 150 | Early Civilization | Formation, 500 roots, proto-writing |
| Ancient Xha'Ruun | −6 150 – −2 150 | Era of Flourishing | Imperial standard, dissemination |
| Classical | −2 150 – −750 | Era of Crisis | Fragmentation, regional variants |
| Revived | −750 – +850 | Renaissance | Restandardization, flourishing of writing |
| Modern | +850 – present | Era of Unity | Unified language, 50 000+ words |
Each period left its trace: the roots of the Proto period, the grammar of the Empire, the dialectal diversity of the Classical period, the norm of the Renaissance.
11.2 Proto-Xha'Ruun: Early Written History (−9 800 – −6 150)
At the beginning of Early Civilization a corpus of ~500 semantic roots took shape (→ rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 08, "Sha-Ven The"]).
- −9 780 — the invention of the proto-syllabary independently in three regions — Kharak, Rhuval, and Vexar — subsequently merged into a single system (→ rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 02, "Xha-Sha Vokh-El"])
- Root-isolating, without developed morphology; meaning by word order and particles
- Oral tradition: epic tales and genealogies transmitted by word of mouth (→ rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 07, "Sharuu Khal-sha"])
11.3 Ancient Xha'Ruun: Imperial Standardization (−6 150 – −2 150)
The founding of the First Empire in −6 150 (the Verksan dynasty) made the language an instrument of governance (→ rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 03, "Verksan The-El"]). For the first time, a single standard covered the entire northern continent.
- Imperial chancellery — unified norms of writing and official speech
- Dissemination — through colonies, trade routes, and roads (→ rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 09, "Khal-Ven The-El"])
- Grammatical consolidation — the foundations of the 14 cases (→ rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 04, "The-El Sha-Thar"]) and of agglutinative structure (→ rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 03, "Khal-sha Rass"])
- Writing — from the three proto-traditions a syllabary took shape, the predecessor of modern Sharuu
11.4 The Classical Period: Fragmentation (−2 150 – −750)
The fall of the First Empire in −2 150 and the Dark Ages (−2 150 – −750) destroyed the single standard (→ rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 04, "Thar-Xa-Khal"]).
- Regional variants — without central authority the norms diverged; from them the modern dialects grew (→ rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 10, "Shaven Xha-Mor"])
- Preservation of classical writing — temples and archives kept records in the classical language; thus it became "sacred" and bookish (→ rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 12, "Khal-Sha The-El"])
- Technical vocabulary — the steam engine in −1 200 gave rise to a new industrial layer of technical vocabulary
- The classical language — the period gave its name to the variant on which the main literary and scientific works are written
11.5 Revived Xha'Ruun: Restandardization (−750 – +850)
The Unity Treaty in −750 united eight regions and returned a single standard (→ rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 05, "Ven-Khal Thar-El"]).
- Reform of writing — the ordering of the syllabary: 124 syllabic signs and 48 logograms fixed (→ rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 07, "Sharuu Khal-sha"])
- Unified calendar (year 0) — required a new lexicon of time reckoning (→ rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 17, "Thar-Mor The-El"])
- Flourishing of the sciences — vocabulary supplemented with terms of mathematics and astronomy; the long-established senary system received common teaching norms (→ rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 09, "Mor-Ruun Khal-sha"])
- The Revived standard — based on the classical language, with simplified orthography
11.6 Modern Xha'Ruun: The Era of Unity (+850 – Present)
The founding of the Council of Unity in +850 established the unified language as the norm of the entire planet (→ rhu [Thexar-II, Sha-El 06, "Rass-Vokh Thar-El"]).
- A unified language — the Kharak-Thar standard is taught everywhere; mass media and education sustain unity (→ rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 10, "Shaven Xha-Mor"])
- A lexical explosion — modern vocabulary exceeds 50 000 words; growth provided by agglutinative word formation (→ rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 08, "Sha-Ven The"])
- Digital writing — Sharuu is encoded and used in digital systems (→ rhu [Thexar-IV, Sha-El 07, "Sharuu Khal-sha"])
- Dialects persist — markers of regional identity, with full mutual intelligibility
11.7 Lexical Growth
| Period | Words | Main source of growth |
|---|---|---|
| Proto-Xha'Ruun | 500 | Basic semantic roots |
| Ancient | 5 000 | Imperial administration, law |
| Classical | 8 000 | Technology, crafts, book culture |
| Revived | 20 000 | Science, mathematics, calendar |
| Modern | 50 000+ | Technologies, mass media, science |
Ruun Ven
- Five periods of the language coincide with the epochs of the civilization.
- Proto-writing was invented in −9 780 independently in three regions.
- Imperial standardization (−6 150 – −2 150) laid the foundations of grammar and the norm.
- The crisis gave rise to regional variants — the ancestors of the modern dialects.
- The Unity Treaty and the Era of Unity restored the single standard; the modern vocabulary — 50 000+ words.
The appearance of writing was not the birth of speech. Stories, songs, negotiations and teaching preceded surviving signs. Written forms can be traced differently from the much older history of spoken language.