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. It is ultimately derived from Ancient Meó
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. The following phonology is based off Aesanma/Urban Meó, which has become the De Facto standard for communication.
Consonants
| PULMONIC | Bilabial | Alveolar | Dental | Palatal | Velar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
/x/ is represented by "h". The dental series are "s" and "z", while the palatal series are "ś" and "ź". All consonants except those belonging to the weak series may be geminated.
Many consonant's pronunciation vary depending on their position within a word. Part of the prosody of the language is to devoice affricates at the beginning of phrases or to indicate emphasis. Doubled consonants always keep their base pronunciations (as above).
| Orthography | Word Initial | Medial | Final Before a Consonant | Final Before a Vowel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| d | ||||
| z | ||||
| ź | ||||
| t | ||||
| s | ||||
| ś | ||||
| l |
As final unstressed e/oe/o all reduce to [ʲɵ], this has an effect on the proceeding consonant. (no consonant simply results in [jɵ])
| PULMONIC | Bilabial | Alveolar | Dental | Palatal | Velar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vowels
The vowels e, ɵ ("oe"), o all reduced to [ɵ] in their unstressed form, and [ʲɵ] if they are final. Stressed vowels are long.
| Monopthongs | Front | Mid | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
Tone
The tones of Meó may only occur on stressed syllables, with unstressed syllables carrying the neutral tone (usually produced as mid, though tone sandhi affects this). The exception is the low tone, which may occur unstressed due to the preceding h- it features, which is always pronounced. Similarly, in some conservative dialects where the h- in the high tone is conserved, the high tone is pronounced unstressed as a result. This is considered archaic in most dialects however. The tones and their unstressed forms are indicated in the following chart through demonstration with the syllable "tan"
| Tones | Stressed | Unstressed | Orthography |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | tɑːn | tɑn | tan/tán |
| Falling | tɑ̂ːn(ˀ) | tɑn | tàn |
| High | tɑ́ːn | tɑn | htán |
| Low | htɑ̤̀ːn | htɑ̤n | htan |
The clusters /xŋ/ and /xg/ are not permitted and /xm/, /xn/, /xd/, /xð/, /xʑ/ are not permitted initially. /xp/ and /xb/ both are merged into /xv/.
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.
| Guardian Deity | Base form | Maternalistic form | Paternalistic form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akiá | kián | kiáva | kiádi |
| Amako | (m)akón | máva | mádi |
| Ahké | hkén | hkéva | hkédi |
| Amiru | min | miruva | mirudi |
| Áhko | 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.