Melaś

Classification
Proto-Meya (600 B.C.): Other people possibly spoke languages related to this one (especially further west), but nothing besides their name is known. Their languages remain unattested, except in the toponymy and a few words & names in Russian records.
 * Old Melaś (600 A.D.):
 * Melaś (Melaś proper) (32,000)
 * Coastal Melaś (800 A.D.) a.k.a "Murra Meya" (separated from Old Meya)
 * Okhotsk dialect (extinct, 1992)
 * Pacific dialect (4,500)
 * Mećka languages (1000 A.D.)
 * Liao dialect (300)
 * Hun dialect (10, poss. extinct)
 * Proto-Orong (100 A.D.)
 * Orong (80) (some consider it a dialect of Poreng)
 * Poreng (ext., early 19th c.)
 * Temian (ext., 17th c.)
 * Sora language (unknown divergence date, though presumably earlier than the above branches; ext., 1930s)

Some linguists propose that Proto-Meya (the reconstructed ancestor of Melaś and its relatives) may have distant relations to Uralo-Siberian (especially Uralic), Dené–Yeniseian, or Korean. None of these proposals have overwhelming support, but the first has recently garnered much attention, due to archeological, genetic, and linguistic support.

Consonants
{| class="wikitable" ! colspan="2" rowspan="2"| ! colspan="2" rowspan="1"|Labial ! colspan="2" rowspan="1"|Alveolar ! colspan="2" rowspan="1"|Postalveolar ! colspan="2" rowspan="1"|Palatal ! colspan="2" rowspan="1"|Velar ! colspan="1" rowspan="2"|Uvular ! colspan="1" rowspan="2"|Glottal !

Plain
!

Aspirated
!

Plain
!

Aspirated
!

Plain
!

Aspirated
!

Plain
!

Aspirated
!

Plain
!

Aspirated
! colspan=2|Nasal ! colspan="1" rowspan="2"|Plosive ! Plain ! Labialized ! colspan=2|Affricate ! rowspan=2|Fricative ! Sibilant ! Non-sibilant ! rowspan="1" colspan="2"|Liquid ! rowspan=2|Semivowel ! Plain ! Labialized
 * - align=center
 * m̥ m
 * n̥ n
 * ɲ̥ ɲ̟
 * ŋ̊  ŋ
 * [ɴ]
 * - align=center
 * ŋ̊  ŋ
 * [ɴ]
 * - align=center
 * [ɴ]
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * p
 * pʰ
 * t
 * tʰ
 * c ɟ
 * cʰ
 * k g
 * kʰ
 * ʔ
 * - align=center
 * ʔ
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * kʷ gʷ
 * - align=center
 * kʷ gʷ
 * - align=center
 * kʷ gʷ
 * - align=center
 * kʷ gʷ
 * - align=center
 * kʷ gʷ
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * ts
 * tɕ
 * - align=center
 * tɕ
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * s
 * sʰ
 * ɕ ʑ
 * ɕʰ
 * - align=center
 * ɕʰ
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * β
 * ð
 * ç ʝ
 * [x] ɣ
 * h [ɦ]
 * - align=center
 * ç ʝ
 * [x] ɣ
 * h [ɦ]
 * - align=center
 * h [ɦ]
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * ɾ~r
 * l
 * ʎ
 * - align=center
 * l
 * ʎ
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * j
 * colspan="3" rowspan="1"| ɰ ~ ʁ
 * - align=center
 * j
 * colspan="3" rowspan="1"| ɰ ~ ʁ
 * - align=center
 * j
 * colspan="3" rowspan="1"| ɰ ~ ʁ
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * - align=center
 * ɥ
 * w
 * }
 * ɥ
 * w
 * }
 * ɥ
 * w
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }

Syntax
Generally, Melaś follows a very free VSO (verb-subject-object). However, this is the result of free word order, where the position of grammatical elements is used for emphasis. In interrogative sentences, this is especially the case:
 * "Ćäq p ïn rä?" Who is he/she? (simply asking who he/she is)
 * " P ïn rä ć äq?" Who is he/she? (not only asking who he/she is, almost as if asking, "is that who I think it is?")

Historically, Old Melaś had free word order, and this has sometimes been posited for Proto-Meya as well (the other competitor being SOV).