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Ancient Meó is the oldest attested form of the Meó language, the earliest attested form being on the writings in the [[Meó Shell Script]] (so named for being written on shells), whose earliest inscriptions can be dated back to the 73rd century. It is the ancestor of the modern day [[Meó language]], and of an additional 800 languages/dialects (the nature of whether these constitute "dialects" or "languages" is of much political controversy within the Meó nation and abroad, especially in the region of Post-Succlythia and within [[The Shattered Islands]]). Due to the way in which the [[Meó Scripts]] work, it is hard to derive the exact pronunciation of early Meó words outside their initial consonants (or, in some less common cases, vowels). This is overcome through the rigorous comparison of dialectal/linguistic differences, as well as through the use of the [[Lesser Meó Script]], an abugida form which dates from approximately the 79th century.
Ancient Meó is the oldest attested form of the Meó language, the earliest attested form being on the writings in the [[Meó Shell Script]] (so named for being written on shells), whose earliest inscriptions can be dated back to the 73rd century. It is the ancestor of the modern day [[Meó language]], and of an additional 800 languages/dialects (the nature of whether these constitute "dialects" or "languages" is of much political controversy within the Meó nation and abroad, especially in the region of Post-Hsuqliht and within [[The Shattered Islands]]). Ancient Meó shifted to being written using the Fertile Tongue logography early in its history, so it is hard to establish the exact pronunciations of Ancient Meó from primary sources. The reconstruction is mainly done through rigorous dialectal comparison.
 
== Phonology ==
=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Consonants
! Bilabial
! Alveolar
! Retroflex
! Laminal
! Velar
! Labiovelar
|-
! <center>Nasal</center>
| m
| n
| ɻ̃
| j̃
| ŋ̟
| ŋ̠ʷ~ɴ
|-
! <center>Plosive</center>
| p b
| t d
| ʈ ɖ
| t̪ d̪
| k̟ g̟
| k̠ʷ~q g̠ʷ~ɢ
|-
! <center>Approximant</center>
| v
| l
| ɻ
| j
| ɰ
| w
|}
 
/k̟ g̟/ are herein represented as "k g" respectively, and /k̠ʷ~q g̠ʷ~ɢ/ as "q ɢ" for simplicity's sake, although in many people's speech they were post-velar as opposed to uvular, and exhibited labialisation and this is still prevalent in some modern dialects.
 
=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+Vowels in Ancient Meó
|-
! Vowels
! Front
! Back
|-
! <center>Close</center>
| <center>ɪ i:</center>
| <center>ʊ u: ɯ</center>
|-
! <center>Open</center>
| <center>æ</center>
| <center>ɑ:</center>
|}
 
"ɯ" is a very unstable vowel and is typically found as a glide significantly more often than where it stands alone. It is the ancestor of h [x] in Modern Meó.
 
=== Pitch ===
Ancient Meó features two tones/pitches, the level tone, and the "emphatic" tone, whose pronunciation varies greatly, but a final glottal stop on the syllable is common (this is reflected in Modern Meó's falling tone). It is theorised the emphatic tone ultimately derives from final stops that were lost at an earlier stage in the language, or homorganic nasal-stop clusters that lost their stop component.
 
 
=== Syllable structure ===
 
Meó syllables almost exclusively follow a (ɰ-)(C(G))V(C) pattern (C = consonant, V = vowel, G = j, w, ɻ, ɰ).
The ɰ- that precedes the syllable is reflected as [h~x] or has a tonal effect in almost every Modern Meó dialect, with only one dialect recorded as still pronouncing it as [ɰ].
 
== Words ==
<b>qɻɑː</b> <i>"wheel"</i> - kiá
 
<b>ɰqɪ</b> <i>"Haki"</i> - Hké
 
<b>æɻɰᵊkuː</b> <i>"Ahko"</i> - Ahko
 
<b>kɻʊɻnɪ</b> <i>"family"</i> - śioeine
 
1-12 in the base twelve system:
 
<b>qɑː
 
t̪ɰɑː
 
ɑːtɑː
 
vɪn
 
ɢɰɪ
 
ɑːtuː
 
bɻɑː
 
t̪ɑːn
 
ɢɪɻiː
 
qɪt̪
 
lɑːqɪt
 
mɻʊw
 
ɰɪ
</b>

Latest revision as of 01:25, 11 March 2022

Ancient Meó is the oldest attested form of the Meó language, the earliest attested form being on the writings in the Meó Shell Script (so named for being written on shells), whose earliest inscriptions can be dated back to the 73rd century. It is the ancestor of the modern day Meó language, and of an additional 800 languages/dialects (the nature of whether these constitute "dialects" or "languages" is of much political controversy within the Meó nation and abroad, especially in the region of Post-Hsuqliht and within The Shattered Islands). Ancient Meó shifted to being written using the Fertile Tongue logography early in its history, so it is hard to establish the exact pronunciations of Ancient Meó from primary sources. The reconstruction is mainly done through rigorous dialectal comparison.

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