Meó language
The Meó language is a language spoken within the nation of 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
Consonants
| PULMONIC | Bilabial | Alveolar/Dental | Palatal/Post-alveolar | Velar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Many consonants have a high degree of allophony, such as /ɲ ɲʲ/ which has the post-vocalic/intervocalic allophone [ɻ̃ ɻ̃ʲ~j̃] in fast speech. The voiced continuants tend to be closer to approximants, and the voiceless continuants closer to fricatives. /ʐ/ varies between [ʐ~ɻ̝~ɻ] with [ɻ̝] (a non-sibilant fricative) being considered the most correct.
| PULMONIC | Bilabial | Alveolar/Dental | Palatal/Post-alveolar | Velar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Palatalised consonants are written Cy or C' at the end of words - mya, am'.
Sandhi
Meó consonants have two forms of sandhi, lenition and fortification. They are important as they occur primarily (almost exclusively) in the conjugation of verbs, the passive (lenition) and third person (fortification) affecting the final consonant of the verb stem. All verb stems historically ending in consonants in Proto-Meó-Hsuqliht, but a few have been lost leading to vowel-ending stems - providing conjugations that rely on changing the tones instead. These are represented primarily by ʔ. The letter ø is used to signify the placement of the floating tone. ɣ is a historic consonant that has underwent numerous sound changes resulting in irregular vowel-ending verb conjugations. Superscripts represent environment specific changes. All vowels that follow in verb conjugations are palatal (ya, yu, yo, e, i).
| Consonant | Lenition | Fortification |
|---|---|---|
| m | hm | mp |
| n | hn | nt |
| ṇ | hṇ | ṇch |
| ṅ | hṅ | ṅk |
| p | ph | pp |
| t | th | tt |
| ch | chh | cch |
| k | kh | kk |
| b | v | p |
| d | l/z* | t |
| j | y | ch |
| g | u,ov/ah/i,ey | k |
| v | hv | up |
| l | hl | lt |
| z | s | st |
| y | hy | ich |
| r | hr | rt |
| s | sh | ss |
| h | ø̂h | ø̂ |
| ʔ | ǿh | ǿh |
| ɣ | h | i,eik/aak/u,ouk |
- z derived from historic ɖʱ -> ɻ which avoided the alveolar-retroflex merger
Vowels
| Vowels | Front | Mid | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
/ɘ, o/ reduce to /ɨ, u/ in unstressed syllables
/ɘ/ is written -e, /ɨ/ as y (ÿ if adjacent to another vowel, or to distinguish from the palatalising y; ty /tɨ/, tÿa /tɨa/, tya /tʲæ/. This is not necessary with i and e as they imply /ʲ/, that is yi and ye represent /ɨji/ and /ɨje/ respectively, not /ʲi/ and /ʲe/). /a/, /o/, and /u/ are written a, o, and u
| Vowels Palatal | Front | Mid | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
/ʲi/ and /ʲe/ are written i and e, /ʲʉ/, /ʲɵ/, /ʲæ/ as yu, yo, ya.
Only palatal vowels may follow palatal consonants, and only plain vowels may follow plain consonants. Therefore /mʲʉ/ and /mu/ are allowed but */mʉ/ and */mʲu/ are not.
Tone
Meó has five tones;
- Low - mè
- Mid/default - me
- High - mé
- Rising - mě
- Falling - mê
Naming System
The naming system is as follows;
[guardian deity title] [given name] [parent of same gender name] [maternal clan name] [paternal clan name]
e.g. Ahkɨn Soinkot' Hrezvinn Qoli Phlyi
It is common practice to omit the parent's name when referring to someone, and maternal clan names when a man is being spoken about or paternal clan names when a woman is being spoken about.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akya | kyan | kyava | kyadi |
| Amako | (m)akon | mava | madi |
| Akhe | khen | kheva | khedi |
| Amiru | min | miruva | mirudi |
| Aahko | ahkɨn | ahkɨva | ahkodi |
Vocabulary
Most vocabulary derives from the Proto-Meo-Hsuqliht Language, though much of the vocabulary traces its origin to the Fertile Tongue, especially words related to the ocean, and later through Htaevic influence much of the sophisticated vocabulary of Meó comes from languages derived from the fertile tongue (cf. English and French/Latin).
| Meó Word | Meó Meaning | Fertile Tongue Root |
|---|---|---|
| ntyu | ocean | nityū |
| syum | bay | kasyūm |
| tyu | beach creek | tyua |
| ramɨ | island | rama |
| kunkɨ | riptide | kūnka |
| saurelan | sand | sārilan |
| hraulɨ | beach sand | irālu |
| hliulɨ | reef | ulīla |
| tauzɨ | lagoon (rarely; bay) | tausau |
| kya | region | khya |
| zhanɨ | canal | asyanu |