Meó language

The Meó language is a language spoken within the nation of Alaźéta Meó as well as within its former colonies and throughout the Malaeze Sea. It is the official language of the Meó Amalgamate. It has millions of speakers.

Phonology

Meó is noted for its odd phonology, with multiple dialectal difference in pronunciation and an array of phonological processes. Still, its orthography remains relatively phonemic.

Consonants

PULMONIC	Bilabial	Alveolar	Dental	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m	n			ŋ
Strong Series	p	t	s̪	ɕ~s̺ʲ	k
Weak Series	b	d	ð	ʑ~z̺ʲ	g
Fricative or Approximate	v	l			x

/x/ is represented by "h". The dental series are "s" and "z", while the palatal series are "ś" and "ź". /m n ŋ v l x/ all may occur as long word internally, as well as the entire strong series.

/d/, /ð/, and /ʑ~z̺ʲ/'s pronunciation varies depending on their place within a word or phrase, and are part of the prosody of the language.

Orthography	Phrase Initial/Emphasis	Word Initial	Medial	Final Before a Consonant	Final Before a Vowel
d	t͡s	d͡z	ɾ		d
z	t͡θ	d͡ð	ð		d̪
ź	t͡ɕ	t͡ɕ	ʑ~z̺ʲ		dʲ

Additionally, before a final unstressed "e", "o", or "oe", the consonant (unless it is doubled) before that unstressed vowel changes form as in this position "e, o, oe" all reduce to [ʲɵ]

PULMONIC	Bilabial	Alveolar	Dental	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	mʲɵ	ɲɵ			ŋʲɵ
Strong Series	pʲɵ	tɕɵ	θʲɵ	ɕʲɵ	çɵ
Weak Series	bʲɵ	ʑɵ	ðʲɵ	ʑʲɵ	ʝɵ
Fricative or Approximate	vʲɵ	ʎɵ			xɵ

Vowels

Meó has eight vowels, each with a stressed and unstressed form. Some of the unstressed forms may merge with others. Stressed to the left, unstressed to the right. Stress falls on the first syllable unless marked, with an acute accent over the vowel, except for ú [ʉː~yː] and u [uː], which are the assumed stressed vowels within a word, unless another vowel is marked with stress. ɵ is represented by oe, and æ by æ or ae, if they are stressed, the acute accent goes on the first vowel of the digraph, ɑ is represented by "a" and the rest of the vowels go by their IPA equivalent except for u and ú as previously explained.

Monopthongs	Front	Mid	Back
Close	iː i	ʉː~yː ʉ	uː u
Mid	eː ɵ	ɵː~ɵʉ ɵ	oː ɵ
Open		æː æ	ɑː ɑ

Tone

Meó features a tone system (more accurately, a pitch-accent), with one of four registers being assigned to each stressed syllable. Generally, one tone is allowed per morpheme. Bisyllabic morphemes are very common in Meó.

[tēːn] - mid V́ tén

[htè̤ːn] - low hCV - hten. The 'h' here is often pronounced, especially in formal speech. /xŋ/ and /xg/ are not permitted and /xm/, /xn/, /xd/, /xð/, /xʑ/ are not permitted initially. /xp/ and /xb/ both are merged into /xv/. This is the only 'tone' allowed to occur unstressed. However, it is the stressed unless marked otherwise. E.g.

Vahte [vɑˈhtè̤ː]

vs.

Váhte [ˈvɑ̄ːhtè̤]

[téːn] - high, hCV́ (historically breathy, now considered archaic) - htén

[tên(̄ˀ)] - falling V̀ (shortest of the four, often has faint glottal stop) - tèn

Naming System

The Salinke, the Kuana, the Malo, the Sati, and the Varisti were the five tribes that united to form the Meó nation, and the five tribes remain important today, with all ethnically Meó people knowing their direct maternal and paternal tribe, as it is embedded in their naming system.

-va is the feminine suffix and comes first for females, -di is the masculine and comes first for males. "Salinkedi Kuanava" is a male whose direct paternal lineage is the Salinke, and direct maternal is Kuana, whilst "Salinkeva Kuanadi" is a female whose direct maternal lineage is Salinke and direct paternal is Kuana. If a child is born to parents of direct descendants of the same tribe (e.g. Malodi and Malova), they only have one name without the suffixes (Malo).

The naming system is as follows;

[given name] [guardian deity] [maternal/paternal tribe] [paternal/maternal tribe] [parent name] [parent name]

The guardian deity is one of the five sacred deities of the Meó religion of Siela. It is an important part of the name as it determines which honorific one must use when addressing a person, detailed below. The first form (ending in -n), is the neutral/polite form and generally the most common, the -va form is for people who have a maternalistic relationship to the addressee (i.e. mothers/grandmothers talking to children and vice versa), whilst the -di form is similarly the paternalistic form. It is generally reserved only for familial relations and is often considered rude or patronising to use outside of these contexts. There are in addition a series of honorifics stemming from the "-n" form. There are many nuances in the honorifics of Meó.

kián/kiáva/kiádi

(m)akón/máva/mádi

hkén/hkéva/hkédi

min/miruva/mirudi

hkoen/hkoevá/hkodi

EXAMPLES:

Vakalu Áhko Malo Mirodi Sanakava (M) and Sieri Amiru Sativa Varistidi Sunuva Kapadi (F) wish to have a child named "Makune", and assign him the guardian deity Akiá (the wheel). His name will thus become Makune Akiá Malodi Sativa Vakaludi Sieriva. In common speech, he will simply be referred to as "Kián Makune", or "Kián Makune Malodi", but in more formal contexts as "Kián Makune Malodi Sativa", and in more formal contexts still (i.e. death, marriage, religious ceremonies, etc.) as "Akiánava Makune Akiá Malodi Sativa Vakaludi Sieriva", followed by any other titles he has amassed.

Makune now wishes to have a child with his husband Kahali Ahké Salinkedi Varistiva. As they are both males, the traditional naming system does not work, so together they must determine on whether to name him "Malodi Varistiva" OR "Salinkedi Sativa" (Note, *Malodi Sativa and *Salinkedi Varistiva are not viable name choices, as they do not carry on the name from both sides.) Both names are valid, and they may choose either.