User:James E Wilary/Sandbox-MKarticle-full

Meckelnish
Meckelnburghish
Mæchelebörchs
Pronunciation	[ˈmæˑxəl(ə)ˌbøːɹ̈xs]
Native to	Meckelnburgh Alexandretta Siegrwangria The Clanlands Branniboria
Region	Northern Apollonia Tallandor Bay Crowsilver Sea Esthar
Ethnicity	Meckelners
Native speakers	approx. [unknown]
Language family	Pancontinental Prætaic–Arminic Crando-Batavian Apollo-Batavian Meckelnish
Early forms	Proto-Crando-Batavian Old Low Maas Old Meckelnish Early Modern Meckelnish
Standard form	Victoria University Standard
Dialects	Insular (Branniboria) Sanktago (The Clanlands)
Writing system	Audente script (Meckelnish alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	United Kingdom of Meckelnburgh  Meckelnburgh  Branniboria
Regulated by	Royal Academy of Letters
Language codes
MOS-9 codes	mk

Phonology

Meckelnish shares a phonological system with the broader Crando-Batavian languages, including a complex syllable structure extending to (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C)—a syllable may include a single vowel core preceded by up to three-sound consonant clusters and followed by four-sound clusters. However, there are a few notable exceptions unique to the Apollo-Batavian branch. Meckelnish retains productive dental fricative phonemes (/θ/ and /ð/) from Proto-Crando-Batavian. The system of palatalization, leading to sound change, has also expanded through a generalization of the weak realization in Batavian (where the sequence ⟨sj⟩ creates /ʃ/, as in Meckelnish). As well, Meckelnish has established non-phonemic nasal vowels in stressed syllables.

The Meckelnish language's writing system has retained many of the features seen only in Proto-Crando-Batavian with numerous inventions, with most of the orthography stabilized in the Old Low Maas period. Meckelnish has retained the ligature ⟨æ⟩ and the dental fricatives ⟨þ⟩ and ⟨ð⟩ while using umlauts to indicate fronting. The letter ⟨j⟩ has broad use in indicating the system of palatalization.

Consonants

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m				n				(ɲ)		(ŋ)
Plosive/Affricate		p	b			t	d	t͡ʃ	d͡ʒ	(c͡ç)	(ɟ͡ʝ)	k	g
Fricative		f	v	θ	ð	s	z	ʃ	ʒ	(ç)	(ʝ)	x		h	(ɦ)
Approx.	Central									j		ɹ̈
	Lateral					l				(ʎ)		(ɫ)
	Labial									(ɥ)		w

• /x/ is realized in coda-position after close front unrounded vowels (/i/, /ɪ/) as /ç/.
• /n/ is realized in coda-position as /ŋ/ before velar plosives (/k/, /g/) and /g/ is deleted, where /ngk/ clusters realize as /ŋk/.
• /s/ is voiced following voiced consonants (e.g. /b/, /d/, /g/, /m/, /n/) as /z/.
• Voiceless fricatives (/f/, /θ/, /s/, /ʃ/, /h/) are voiced in intervocalic positions as their voiced counterparts (/v/, /ð/, /z/, /ʒ/, /ɦ/).
• Palatalizing consonants (see table) change before /j/ or front rounded vowels (/y/, /ʏ/, /øː/), including intersyllabic.
• Fronting palatalizing consonants change after /j/ or front rounded vowels, including intersyllabic.
• Alveolar plosives and fricatives (/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/) are realized as postalveolar (/t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/) before /ɹ̈/.
• /h/ follows a complex allophonic system (see table) realized as /h/, /ɦ/, /x/ or /ç/.
• Alveolar plosives (/t/, /d/) are realized as /ð/ intervocalically after stressed syllables in multisyllabic roots.
• /l/ is lengthened intervocalically as /lː/ after stressed syllables and velarized in word-final position as /ɫ/.
• The rhotic may have various realizations, but in standard Meckelnish is the bunched velar form of /ɹ/.
• In Meckelnish phonology, /ɹ̈/ is often rendered as /r/ for simplicity and to generalize the rhotic.

Palatalization

	Backing		Fronting
Nasal	n → ɲ
Affricate	t → t͡ʃ	d → d͡ʒ	k, x → c͡ç	g → ɟ͡ʝ
Fricative	s → ʃ	z → ʒ	h → ç	ɹ̈ → ʝ
Approx.	l → ʎ		w → ɥ

H-allophones

Vowels		IPA
Front	Close	ç
	Mid–open	h
Back	Close	x
	Mid–open	ɦ

Vowels

Monophthongs

	Front					Central	Back
	unrounded			rounded
	long	short	nasal	long	short		long	short	nasal
Close	i	ɪ		y	ʏ	(ə)	u	ʊ
Mid	eː	ɛ	(œ̃)	øː			oː	ɔ	(ɔ̃)
Open	æˑ					aː		ɑ	(ɑ̃)

Di- and triphthongs

	Front			Back
	unrounded		rounded
	fronting	backing		fronting	backing
Close		iə̯u̯		ui̯
Mid	ɛi̯	eːu̯	øːy̯	ɔi̯	oːu̯
Open				ɑi̯

• Roots with long vowels shorten when the following syllable begins with a vowel (e.g. /CiC/ > /CɪC.V/).
• Long vowels only exist in stressed syllables while short vowels exist in any position.
• /æˑ/ functions in both long and short vowel positions.
• /ə/ can serve in a stressed syllable if it is a minor word (i.e. articles, pronouns, etc.).
• /j/ vocalizes to /i̯/ following a front unrounded or back vowel (e.g. /ɛ/, /ɑ/, /u/) in a syllable
• Stressed mid and open front vowels (/eː/, /ɛ/, /øː/, /æˑ/) nasalize as /œ̃/ before a nasal consonant (/m/, /n/, /ɲ/, /ŋ/).
• While stressed mid back vowels (/oː/, /ɔ/) nasalize as /ɔ̃/ and open back vowels (/aː/, /ɑ/) nasalize as /ɑ̃/.
• /j/ vocalizes to /y̯/ following a front rounded vowel (/y/, /øː/, /ʏ/).
• /w/ vocalizes to /u̯/ following a vowel.
• Adjoining /i/ or /ɪ/ merge to /i/, /y/ or /ʏ/ to /y/, and /u/ to /u/, including across syllables.
• /ɛ/ reduces to /ə/ in unstressed positions.
• /ə/ deletes in open syllables if a lawful consonant cluster forms and is not morphologically significant (i.e. plurals).
• /j/ is inserted before front rounded vowels (/y/, /øː/, /ʏ/) in bare syllables, with ⟨j⟩ added except word-initially.

Orthography

Alphabet

Majuscule	A	B	Ƀ	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	Ö	P	R	S	T	U	Ü	W	IJ	Z	Æ	Þ	Ð
Minuscule	a	b	ƀ	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m	n	o	ö	p	r	s	t	u	ü	w	ij	z	æ	þ	ð
Name

• ⟨ij⟩ is an independent letter formed as a single-character-space ligature.
• The front rounded vowels ⟨ö⟩ and ⟨ü⟩ are written with umlauts, and are separate letters.
• Likewise, the ligature ⟨æ⟩ and letter ⟨b⟩ with stroke are not variants, but letters in their own right.
• Other diacritics, such as a circumflex for nasal vowels, are not independent letters.

Consonants

Consonants

Spelling	IPA
b	/b/
ƀ	/v/
d	/d/
f	/f/
g	/g/
h	/h/, /ɦ/, /ç/, /x/
j	/j/
k	/k/
l	/l/
m	/m/
n	/n/
p	/p/
r	/ɹ̈/
s	/s/, /z/
t	/t/
w	/w/
z	/z/
þ	/θ/
ð	/ð/

Vowels

Multigraphs

Spelling	IPA
cg	/d͡ʒ/
ch	/x/, /ç/, /c͡ç/
dj	/d͡ʒ/
dsch	/d͡ʒ/
gge	/ɟ͡ʝ/
gj	/ɟ͡ʝ/
hj	/ç/
hl	/ɫ/
kj	/c͡ç/
kke	/c͡ç/
lj	/ʎ/
ll	/lː/
ng	/ŋ/
nj	/ɲ/
rh	/ʝ/
rj	/ʝ/
sc(h)	/ʃ/
sj	/ʃ/
t(s)j	/t͡ʃ/
tsch	/t͡ʃ/
wj	/ɥ/
zj	/ʒ/
zsch	/ʒ/

Vowels

Spelling	IPA
	major	minor
a	/ɑ/	/aː/
â(n/m)	/ɑ̃n/, /ɑ̃m/	—
aa	/aː/	—
ai	/ai̯/
au(w)	/oːu̯/
æ	/æ/
e	/ɛ/	/ə/
ê(n/m)	/œ̃n/, /œ̃m/	—
é	/eː/	—
ee	/eː/	—
ei	/ɛi̯/
eu(w)	/eːu̯/
ieu(w)	/iə̯u̯/
i	/ɪ/	—
ij	/i/
i‧j	/ɪ.j/
ô(n/m)	/ɔ̃n/, /ɔ̃m/	—
o	/ɔ/	/oː/
oi	/ɔi̯/
oo	/oː/	—
ou(w)	/øːy̯/
ö	/øː/	—
u	/ʊ/	/u/
ui	/ui̯/
uu	/u/	—
ü	/ʏ/	/y/
üü	/y/	—

• Doubled vowel letters indicate the long form of that sound—single letters vary more widely.
• When ⟨j⟩ follows ⟨i⟩ and is not the letter ⟨ij⟩, an interpunct is put between them to distinguish them, as ⟨i‧j⟩.
• The nasal vowels occur before ⟨n⟩ and ⟨m⟩ and receive a circumflex.
• When in a word final position, the di- and triphthongs take a final ⟨w⟩.
• ⟨é⟩ is used in word-final position for /eː/ to distinguish from reduced /ə/.
• ⟨h⟩ is deleted syllable-finally, where it is either deleted (/∅/) or becomes ⟨ch⟩ for the appropriate sound.
• Where ⟨j⟩ following a consonant triggers a palatalization change, the ⟨j⟩ becomes part of a digraph.
• However, where ⟨j⟩ after a consonant does not trigger palatalization, it is a consonant cluster (e.g. /bjV/)
• Because palatalization exists across syllable boundaries, consonants merge into the stressed syllable.
• The multigraphs ending in ⟨sch⟩ are used word-finally, while ending in ⟨j⟩ elsewhere.
• As well, the multigraphs ⟨gge⟩, ⟨kke⟩ and ⟨rh⟩ are word-final, and ⟨gj⟩, ⟨kj⟩ and ⟨rj⟩ otherwise.
• In three exceptions ⟨sj⟩ is ⟨sc⟩ and ⟨dj⟩ is ⟨cg⟩ within a word, and ⟨tj⟩ is ⟨tsj⟩ intervocalically.
• ⟨ll⟩ represents the one long consonant /lː/ and is only intervocalic—word-final /ɫ/ is rendered ⟨hl⟩.
• While the historic cluster /ŋg/ is reduced to /ŋ/, ⟨ng⟩ is retained wherever the former /ng/ or /ngk/ existed.
• Except where allophones are explicit, all but ⟨s⟩ are spelled with the appropriate sound's letter.
• ⟨s⟩ is used for the allophone /z/ where morphological added word-finally (e.g. genitives).
• ⟨ch⟩ serves as /c͡ç/ word-finally instead of ⟨kke⟩ when palatalizing /x/ instead of /k/.

Grammar

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

			Subject		Object		Possessive						Reflexive
							masculine		neuter		fem./plur.
			full	enc.	full	enc.	full	enc.	full	enc.	full	enc.
sing.	1st		ijch	'ch	mijch	m'ch	mijne(n)	m'ne(n)	mij(n)	me (m'n)	mijn	m'n	mijch	m'ch
	2nd	fam.	dijch	de	dijch	d'ch	dijne(n)	d'ne(n)	dij(n)	de (d'n)	dijn	d'n	dijch	d'ch
		polite	þu	þ'r	üüch		örje(n)		örh				üüch
	3rd	masc.	heer	'r	hêm	'm	zijne(n)	z'ne(n)	zij(n)	ze (z'n)	zijn	z'n	zijch	z'ch
		neut.	het	't	het	't
		fem.	zij	ze	hjörh	'r	hjörje(n)	're(n)	hjörh	'r	hjörh	'r
		indef.	me				eege(n)		eeg
plur.	1st		ƀeer	ƀ'r	üs		üüze(n)		üüs				üs
	2nd		geer	g'r	üüch		örje(n)		örh				üüch
	3rd		zij	ze	hjün		hjüne(n)		hjün				zijch	z'ch
	epicene		deer
dummy			da	d'r	—

• Personal pronouns are rendered in their full form when stressed and their enclitic form when not.
• Word-final ⟨n⟩ is added in possessive forms before ⟨t⟩, ⟨d⟩, a vowel, or ⟨h⟩.
• "Da" is a dummy pronoun standing for "existential there," the form of "there" not used in a locative sense (e.g. "there are plants in the city").
• "Het" can also be a dummy pronoun, known as "weather it," where it is a subject without reference to an another noun (e.g. "it is raining").
• "Eeg" serves as an intensifier, meaning "one's own," but by generalization is also the possessive form of the indefinite pronoun "me."
• ⟨deer⟩ took the form ⟨dé⟩ before harmonizing with other forms ⟨heer⟩, ⟨ƀeer⟩ and ⟨geer⟩.

Indefinite pronouns

	Human	Place	Object
indefinite	ijmes	örjges	eets
negative	nijmes	njörjges	niks
universal	edereen	üƀeraahl	alles

Interrogative pronouns

	who	what	which	where	when	why	how
nom./acc.	wé	wat	wat förh	wu	wân	wurjüm	hu
genitive	ƀaan wé	ƀaan wat