Meckelnish language

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The Meckelnish language is an official language of the Kingdom of Meckelnburgh and the constituent state of Meckelnburgh, where it is spoken second to Istvanistani by a majority of the population. Meckelnish is a Crando-Batavian language, with heavy influences of Alexandrian, another national language of Meckelnburgh.

Phonology

Meckelnish consonant phonemes

	Bilabial		Labio- dental		Dental/ Alveolar		Post­- alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Glottal
Nasal	m		(ɱ)		n					(ŋ)
Plosive	p	b			t	d				k	g
Fricative (sibilant)			f	v	θ	ð			(ç)	χ		ɦ
					s	z	ʃ	(ʒ)
Approximant					l				j	w
Rhotic					ɾ

Notes:

• /f/, /θ/, /s/, /ʃ/ are realized as /v/, /ð/, /z/, /ʒ/ between vowels and in syllable-initial positions.
• /n/ is realized as /ŋ/ before /g, k, χ/.
• /m/ is realized as /ɱ/ before /f, v/.
• /n/ is realized as /m/ before /p, b/.
• /ɦ/ is realized as /χ/ between vowels and in syllable-final positions.
• /ɦ/ is realized as /ç/ before front vowels and after /iː/.
• /b/ is realized as /f/ in word-final positions.
• /sk, sn, sl/ are realized as /ʃ/.
• /b/ is realized as /f/ in word-final positions.

Meckelnish monophthongs

	Front		Back
	unrounded
Close	ɪ	iː	uː
Mid	ɛ		oː
Open	a

Meckelnish diphthongs

	Front	Back
Close	ei
Mid	ɛu	(ɔi)
Open	ai	ɑu

Notes:

• /ɛ/ is realized as /ei/ before /iː/.
• /a/ is realized as /ai/ before /iː/.
• /ɛ/ is realized as /ɛu/ before /j, w/.
• /a/ is realized as /ɑu/ before /w/ and /ɔi/ before /j/.
• /ɑu/ is realized as /ɔi/ before /iː/.
• /uː/ is realized as /uːw/ in syllable-final positions and between vowels.

Middle Meckelnish

Middle Meckelnish consonant phonemes

	Labial		Dental/ Alveolar		Post­- alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
Nasal	m		n				(ŋ)
Plosive	p	b	t	d			k	(g)
Fricative (sibilant)	f	v	θ	ð		(ç)	(x)	ɣ	ɦ
			s	z	(ʃ)
Approximant			l			j	w
Rhotic			ɾ

Notes:

• /f/, /θ/, /s/ were realized as /v/, /ð/, /z/ between vowels and in syllable-initial positions.
• /ɣ/ was realized as /g/ after /n/.
• /n/ was realized as /ŋ/ before /g, k, x/.
• /ɣ, ɦ/ were realized as /x/ between vowels and in syllable-final positions.
• /ɣ, ɦ/ were realized as /ç/ before front vowels and after /iː/.
• /b/ was realized as /f/ in word-final positions.
• /sk, sn, sl/ were realized as /ʃ/.

Middle Meckelnish monophthongs

	Front			Back
	unrounded		rounded
Close	ɪ	iː	(ʏ)	o	uː
Mid	e	ɛː			oː
Open	a	aː		ɑ	ɑː

Middle Meckelnish diphthongs

	Front	Back
Close	ei	ou
Mid	ɛu	(ɔi)
Open	ai	ɑu

Notes:

• /o/ was rounded as /ʏ/ before /iː/.
• /e/ was realized as /ei/ before /iː/.
• /a, ɑ/ were realized as /ai/ before /iː/.
• /ʏ/ only appeared as a short vowel during rounding.
• /e/, /o/, were realized as /ɛu/, /ou/ before /j, w/.
• /ɑ/ was realized as /ɑu/ before /w/ and /ɔi/ before /j/.
• /ɑu/ was realized as /ɔi/ before /iː/.
• /uː/ was realized as /uːw/ in syllable-final positions and between vowels.

Old Meckelnish

Old Meckelnish consonant phonemes

	Labial		Dental/ Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Glottal
Nasal	m		n			(ŋ)
Plosive	p	b	t	d		k	(g)
Fricative (sibilant)	f	(v)	θ	(ð)	(ç)	(x)	ɣ	h
			s	(z)
Approximant			l		j	w
Rhotic			ɾ

Notes:

• /f/, /θ/, /s/ were realized as /v/, /ð/, /z/ between vowels.
• /ɣ/ was realized as /g/ after /n/.
• /n/ was realized as /ŋ/ before /g, k/.
• /ɣ, h/ were realized as /x/ between vowels and in syllable-final positions.
• /ɣ, h/ were realized as /ç/ before front vowels.

Old Meckelnish monophthongs

	Front			Back
	unrounded		rounded
Close	i	iː	(y)	u	uː
Close-mid	(e)		(ø)	o	oː
Open-mid	ɛ	ɛː
Open	æ	æː		ɑ	ɑː

Old Meckelnish diphthongs

	Front	Back
Close	(ei)	ou
Mid	ɛu	(ɔi)
Open	(ai)	ɑu

Notes:

• /u/, /o/ were rounded as /y/, /ø/ before /i, iː/.
• /e, ɛ/ were realized as /ei/ before /i, iː/.
• /ɑ, æ/ were realized as /ai/ before /i, iː/.
• /y, e, ø/ only appeared as short vowels during rounding.
• /ɛ, e/, /o/, were realized as /ɛu/, /ou/ before /j, w/.
• /ɑ/ was realized as /ɑu/ before /w/ and /ɔi/ before /j/.
• /ɑu/ was realized as /ɔi/ before /i, iː/.

Orthography

Old Meckelnish alphabet

	A a	B b	D d	E e	F f	Ƀ ƀ	G g	H h	I i	J j	K k	L l	M m	N n	O o	P p	R r	S s	T t	U u	Æ æ	Ð ð
Name	/ɑː/	/bei/	/dei/	/ei/	/ɛf/	/vei/	/çei/	/ɑx/	/iː/	/jɑː/	/kɑː/	/ɛl/	/ɛm/	/ɛn/	/oː/	/pei/	/ɛɾ/	/ɛs/	/tei/	/uː/	/æː/	/ɛθ/

Consonants

	IPA
b	/b/
d	/d/
f	/f/
ƀ	/v/
g	/ɣ/, /g/
gh	/x/, /ç/
h	/h/
j	/j/
k	/k/
l	/l/
m	/m/
n	/n/, /ŋ/
p	/p/
r	/ɾ/
s	/s/, /z/
t	/t/
uu	/w/
ð	/θ/, /ð/

Vowels

	IPA	Notes
a	/ɑ/, /ɑː/
â	/ɑu/
å	/ɔi/	⟨a⟩ before ⟨j⟩
ai	/ai/
âi	/ɔi/
e	/ɛ/, /ɛː/, /e/
é	/ei/	Word-final ⟨e⟩
ê	/ɛu/
ei	/ei/
i	/i/, /iː/
o	/o/, /oː/
ö	/ø/
ô	/ou/
u	/u/, /uː/
ü	/y/
æ	/æ/, /æː/
æi	/ai/