Mendian

General information
Mendian (or natively Mæ̂nda) is the language of the dragon-herding peoples in the mid-western lowlands. It is a Dentheric language, of the western branch. Beyond the native speakers, the Ø̂nnak peoples, it is also used as the lingua franca of the mid-western and western lowlands, as well as a trade language deeper into the mainland. It has a rich literary tradition and a long history of literacy.

Phonology
/p b t d k ɡ q/ /f v s z ʃ ʒ x (ħ)/  /m n ŋ/  /(pf) ts dz tʃ dʒ kx/ <(pf) ts/c dz tš/č dž kh> /w r l j/

/i i: u u: e e: ø ø: æ æ: ɜ ɜ: o o: a a: ɒ ɒ:/ 

Mendian also features a stress contrast: each stressed word has one syllable that bears stress. In short vowels, this is indicated with an acute accent, for example <á>, while in long vowels it is marked with a circumflex, for example <â>. Stress is phonemic but not fixed: it is mobile in some words.

Mendian stress becomes a pitch feature in some dialects, where the stressed syllable acquires high pitch and all other syllables a low pitch. The pitch difference becomes nullified when the stressed vowel comes before a voiced consonant, where it acquires a low pitch and the word's pitch accent reverts to a stress contrast.

There operate two types of vowel harmony in Mendian; one that applies to <ę ę̄> and one that applies to . The first sound change, otherwise termed harmonisation, is that of <ę ę̄> shifting to  when either the syllable before or after it contains a long front vowel. The second change, u-umlaut, is of  shifting to <ǫ ǭ> when the next syllable contains . The circumstances of umlaut get more complicated when <ā> rarely shifts when the next syllable contains a. The umlaut becomes optional if between the two vowels there is more than a single consonant.

Phonotactics
Consonant clusters in Mendian can maximally be of four consonants and initial; the only such clusters allowed are of the shape "SPAj(V)", "vRP1P2(V)", where P represents any plosive of either voicing (where subscripts show different plosives of the same set), R = { r l }, S = { s z ʃ ʒ } that are of the same voicing as the following plosive and A = {r l v w}. Triconsonantal clusters include, among others, "SPA(V)", "rK1K2(V)", "(V)SPR", "(V)ksR", "(V)kRs", "(V)RKt", where K represents any voiceless plosive (where subscripts show different plosives of the same set). Diconsonantal clusters almost always follow the sonority sequence principle, with approximants being the most sonorous, followed by nasals, then fricatives, then affricates and finally plosives (being the least sonorous). Geminates count as two consonants. Usually clusters with geminates include one sonorant and one obstruent - all such clusters are maximally triconsonantal.

Plosive sequences in Mendian generally avoid the clusters /pk bg tk db/; the cluster /kp/ sometimes changes to [xp]. These aren't absolute rules.

Nouns
Nouns in Mendian can be either singular or plural and can have one of five cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and vocative. Some nouns preserve an archaic dual. All Mendian nouns have one of four innate genders: masculine, feminine, ignic and neuter. Nouns can either be hard or soft based on the malleability of the stem. They can also be strong or weak based on whether they form the plural with ablaut or by suffix. Most nouns are hard and weak, with the exception of ignic nouns which are most commonly soft.

Mendian nouns are cited in the nominative and genitive singular; additional irregularities are indicated when present. Gender is always cited alongside the translation.

Hard Nouns
Hard Mendian nouns are a class of nouns with an immutable consonant component of the stem. The class has a large amount of weak nouns and a smaller amount of strong nouns. There are a few common patterns for all genders and a handful of exceptional patterns for feminine and ignic nouns.

Weak A-Stems
The most common category of hard nouns are the weak a-stem nouns. They come in three varieties: long-stem (when the stem is monosyllabic with a long vowel), short-stem (when the stem is monosyllabic but with a short vowel) and polysyllabic.

An example of a short-stem noun is <ǿva, ǿvas> (finger, nt.) - it is stem-stressed, with stress relocation in the vocative.

Another example of a short-stem noun is <ęká, ękás> (colour, f.) - it is ending-stressed, with fixed stress on the suffixes.

There also exists a small amount of mobile-stress nouns where they are stem-stressed in the nominative and accusative, but ending-stressed in other cases. An example of a mobile-stress short-stem noun is <ánta, antás> (hair follicle, f.):

Long-stem nouns are usually also stem-stressed; an example stem-stressed long-stem noun is <ûska, ûskas> (grain of rice, nt.):

Three long-stem nouns are also ending-stressed; they have a moderately different declension from the generalised long-stem pattern. They are <ǭrká, ǭrkás> (swordfish, masc.), <ījjá, ījjás> (funnel, fem.) and <āwá, āwás> (trout, masc.) and they otherwise do not fit into the declension pattern. An example declension is given with <ījjá>:

Polysyllabic a-stem nouns are never ending-stressed; they can either have a fixed or a mobile stress. Fixed-stress a-stems can have stress on any of the syllables of the stem (usually the penultimate or antepenultimate) while mobile-stress nouns are always stressed on the antepenultimate in the nominative and accusative and otherwise on the penultimate. An example of a fixed-stress polysyllabic noun is <īráka, īrákas> (eyebrow, fem.):

An example of a mobile-stress polysyllabic noun is <étija, etíjas> (canine tooth, masc.):

Weak I-Stems
Another common category of hard Mendian nouns are the weak i-stem nouns. They come in four varieties: short-stem, long-stem, augmented (when the stem gets extended) and polysyllabic. Unlike weak a-stems, weak i-stems can end in both a long or a short vowel.

Short i-stems always end in a short vowel. They can either be stem-stressed, ending-stressed or mobile. An example stem-stressed short-stem noun is  (fingernail/toenail, nt.); unlike in a-stems, the stress doesn't shift at all (i.e. not even in the vocative):

An example ending-stressed short-stem noun is  (tongue blade, mas.):

Mobile-stress short-stems are stressed on the stem in the nominative and accusative in both numbers, and genitive in the singular, and otherwise on the ending. An example mobile-stress short-stem would be <žbáti, žbatánę̄> (tongue (body)/speech, mas.) - note it has the genitive plural as its second citation form:

Long i-stems can end in either a long or a short vowel. They are - save for one exception,  (pebble, nt.) - stem-stressed. An example long-stem would be  (north, mas.):

Polysyllabic i-stems can end in either a long or a short vowel. They can be either stem-stressed, suffix-stressed or mobile-stressed. When stem-stressed, they're usually either stressed on the antepenultimate or the penultimate of the stem. When mobile-stressed, they're always stressed on the antepenultimate (if trisyllabic or more) or penultimate (if disyllabic).

An example stem-stressed polysyllabic noun is  (sword, nt.):

An example of a suffix-stressed noun is  (brick, ign/nt.):

An example of a mobile-stressed noun is  (cloud, nt.):

Augmented i-stems always end in a long vowel. They're universally mobile-stressed, with stress on the penultimate in the nominative that shifts to the augmented syllable. Two kinds of augmented i-stems can be differentiated: regular i-stems and ignic i-stems that do not follow the standard pattern exactly.

An example augmented i-stem feminine is  (pigeon, fem.):

An example augmented i-stem ignic is  (amber, ign.):

Weak O-Stems and U-Stems
The weak u- and o-stems represent a very straightforward and simple declension category. All of them are augmented and have mobile stress that shifts to the augmented syllable.

There is no difference between o-stems and u-stems as they decline identically. An example o-stem noun is <šprájō, šprajódes> (cloud, nt.):

An example u-stem noun is <žíbu, žibúdes> (cherry, masc.):

Weak Ø-Stems
The weak ø-stems are a very narrow category of words. All of them are stem-stressed, except for <mánø̄, manø̂n> (house, fem.), and all of them are either feminine or ignic. An example ø-stem is <wîlø, wîløn> (copper, ign.):

Weak Avocalic Stems
The weak avocalic stem declension covers every weak hard noun that has no final vowel in the nominative singular. They all follow the same declension pattern, but can be either stem-stressed, suffix-stressed or mobile-stressed. Mobile-stressed nouns are always polysyllabic, but size and stress position is not predictable on the other nouns.

An example stem-stressed avocalic noun is <dékt, dékten> (whisper, masc.):

An example mobile-stressed avocalic noun is <îrand, īránden> (boar, masc.):

An example suffix-stressed avocalic noun is <îtak, ītakén> (isle, nt.):

Strong Nouns (I)
Mendian first-type strong hard nouns make up a sizable chunk of the vocabulary. Their distinguishing feature is that they form the plural of all cases with ablaut in the vowel that is stressed in the nominative. Most of these nouns have a fixed stress pattern (stem-stressed) but some also have mobile stress (either pure mobile-stressed or augmented mobile-stressed). These nouns snugly fit into the weak hard declension patterns but statistically are likeliest to be avocalic stems. Strong nouns are usually cited in the nominative singular and genitive plural.

There are four stress types of regular strong nouns, based on the vowel quality of the vowel stressed in the nominative: the u-stressed and three types of a-stressed nouns. The correspondences are:

Exceptions like <ráži, rǿžę̄> (thorn, masc.) are infrequent and can be supplanted by analoguous forms like <ráži, rǫ́žę̄> without an issue.

An example u-stressed mobile-stressed first-type strong noun is < búdžak, bodžákā > (linen/flax cloth, fem.):

An example a-stressed (I) stem-stressed noun is <axár, axǫ́rā> (bone marrow jelly, nt.):

An example a-stressed (II) stem-stressed noun is < pâra, pæ̂rar > (cheek, fem.):

An example a-stressed (III) mobile-stressed noun is < Átuka, Otúkar > (personal male name):

The plural forms are bracketed as they are very unlikely to actually be produced but are otherwise fully grammatical.

Strong Nouns (II)
Second-type strong Mendian nouns make up a very small portion of the lexicon. This category is made up solely of irregular nouns that possess ablaut in the nominative plural, dative and genitive singulars and plurals and accusative singular. They are traditionally cited in the nominative singular and genitive plural. Besides this irregular ablaut they operate the same way as weak nouns in regards to suffixes. An example second-type strong noun is < sę́ku, sǫkúdān >, genitive stem <sak-> (sock, fem.):

Soft Nouns
Soft Mendian nouns are a class of nouns with a mutable consonant component of the stem. The class has a small amount of weak nouns and a larger amount of strong nouns. For soft nouns it is usually the phonological shape of the words that define their lexical gender.

Soft nouns can either have a consonant mutation that is triggered morphophonologically or that occurs due to plain morphology. Both of these groups are irregular, but in different ways. The first group is called the selective and the second one is called the generalised paradigm. There isn't a distinct advantage in the distribution or frequency of either paradigm.

Soft nouns can also be classified according to their nominative: whether its consonant component has mutated or not. This is particularly important with generalised paradigm nouns where all their case forms are mutated but their stems are still unmutated. This phenomenon is of great interest when it comes to compounding.

Selective Palatalising Weak A-Stem
The selective palatalising weak a-stem is the most common weak soft category. It includes nouns that are either neuter or ignic. Words of this category are palatalised by /e e: i i:/ in the suffix. These nouns decline similarly to weak hard a-stems. They are cited with the nominative and accusative singulars. An example a-stem noun is < bûsa, bûšem > (wood chipping, nt.):

Some palatalising a-stems are also augmented with an -ij- segment, thus causing more widespread palatalisation. An example augmented a-stem is <líga, lídžijem> (needle, nt.):

Many of these nouns have an alternative stress paradigm, such as <líga, lidžíjem>:

Generalised Palatalising A-Stems
The generalised palatalising a-stem is the most common generalised soft noun category. It also includes only ignic or neuter nouns. Unlike with selective palatalisation, words of this category have a palatalised stem in the nominative plural, dative and genitive singulars and plurals and accusative singular, as well as variably, in free variation with tenuis forms, in the vocative. They are usually cited in the nominative and genitive singulars. An example such noun is < bîrka, bîrčas > (scar, ign/nt.):

There are relatively plenty of extremely irregular nouns in this category that follow a similar pattern of stem alternation. Some of them do not fit in the generalised paradigm in general but exhibit properties similar to other nouns of the class. An example such noun is < cwíga, cvíždas > (milk, nt.):

Selective Palatalising I-Stem
There aren't many regular selective palatalising i-stem nouns. They all follow the same pattern and are either stem-stressed or mobile-stressed; there are no augmented or ending-stressed nouns of this category. They otherwise decline the same as regular i-stems. They're cited in the nominative and dative singular.

An example stem-stressed noun of this category is <áži, ázan> (dragon, ign.):

An example mobile-stressed noun is <kášāši, kašâsan> (fume/vapour, ign.):

Harmonising Nouns
Harmonising Mendian nouns exhibit a peculiar change in that the consonant segments of their suffixes harmonise to the final consonant in their stems. While these nouns are formally hard and not strong, their declension is differentiated from that of hard nouns by consonant mutation. They can have any stress pattern.

A generalised representation of their declension requires some generalised tokens that represent consonant classes in stead of actual consonants. The tokens used to describe harmonising nouns are T = {/p t k q/}, D = {/b d g g/}, R = {/w r~l j j/}, N = {/m n ŋ ŋ/} and S which represents the stem itself regardless of its phonetical content. They are cited in the nominative and accusative singular Their declension pattern otherwise resembles that of weak a-stems:

For the purposes of harmony, the final consonant of the stem can be divided into bilabial, coronal, velar and uvular consonant classes. The pharyngeal /ħ/ counts as a uvular. Depending on the classification of that consonant, the token's value becomes resolved.

An example harmonising noun is <ujjûga, ujjûgeŋ> (spit/saliva, masc.):

Verbs
Mendian verbs can be either singular or plural, can conjugate for the present and two past (simple and aorist) tenses directly and future tense indirectly, can aspectually basically be either perfective or imperfective, and can be active, mediopassive or passive. They can also be conjugated for two imperatives and a prohibitative. They conjugate for three persons, with a proximity distinction. Some verbs also preserve an archaic dual and/or direct future. They have four non-finite forms - the present and the aorist infinitive, and the durative and perfect converbs.

All Mendian verbs are conjugated by deducting the infinitive suffixes from the infinitives and attaching inflectional affixes. Mendian nouns have four principal parts, them being the four non-finite forms. They can be divided into full, semideponent and deponent verbs, based on the amount of voices they can inflect for; semideponent and deponent verbs have different, deviant meanings for their extant voices.

Non-Finites
Mendian nouns have four non-finites: the present and aorist infinitives, and the durative and perfect converbs. The present infinitive is used for non-past situations while the aorist infinitive is used for the past; they are the most common verb components of non-finite verb clauses. The durative converb primarily functions as a temporal adverb that conveys a time simoultaneous to the performation of the verb, while the perfect converb functions as a temporal adverb that conveys a time following the completed performation of the verb.

The verbs are formed by attaching suffixes to their stems. All four non-finites have unique stem types; at times, the four stems can easily not match up transparently. The four stems are:


 * From the present infinitive: present stem
 * From the aorist infinitive: aorist stem
 * From the durative converb: durative stem
 * From the perfect converb: perfect stem

Barring irregular forms, the non-finites have one consistent set of inflectional suffixes:

The present infinitive is formed with <-št> with a possible thematic vowel added onto the stem. The aorist infinitive is formed with <-(j)ičǣ>, where the palatal approximant /j/ is inserted in case of a vowel hiatus with a vowel other than /i i:/. The durative converb is formed with <-(u)ndži>, where the vowel /u/ is inserted to break up consonant clusters. The perfect converb is formed with <-wǫb>, with a possible thematic vowel added onto the stem.

The thematic vowel will always be shared between the present infinitive and perfect converb. The non-finite suffixes are normally never stressed, even in ending-stressed or mobile-stressed nouns.

Stems
In Mendian, all finite constructions are formed from stems that are found by detaching the suffix off non-finites. While the stems themselves can regularly be derived from their corresponding non-finite, they are usually also related in shape one with another. Since certain stems of some verbs may look and behave alike but others differ, verbs aren't grouped into conjugational classes but their stems are. Stems of a verb are grouped into a stem family, and stems of different verbs that behave similarly are grouped into a stem class. Similar stem families are part of a stem clade. A stem is considered a full clade member if it either has all of its stems follow identical patterns with normative clade members, or if three out of its four stems follow the clade's pattern and the one exception doesn't let it fit in into any other clade.

Stems by relation can be identical, variably stressed, ablauting, mutating, suppletive or mixed. When they are identical, they all behave the same and have the same shape; thus the verb can be fully conjugated using just one principal part. Variably-stressed stems differ only in stress behaviour: where one, for example, may have fixed stress on the second syllable, another can be stressed on the first and a third can be mobile stressed. Ablauting stems differ in their stressed vowel but have the same stress pattern. Mutating stems change their consonant component. Suppletive stems have one or more forms that are completely unrelated and fully irregular. Mixed stems have more than one type of difference.

Present and Simple Past
Both the Mendian present and simple past are formed from the present stem of the verb. They show the number and person of the subject, and can be found in the active, mediopassive and passive voices. There is no difference between perfectives and imperfectives in the present and the simple past. An example verb, < dûlašt, dûličǣ, dûlundži, dûlawǫb > (to lick) conjugated in the present and simple past:

Aorist Past
The Mendian aorist is formed from the aorist stem of the verb. They make a distinction between the perfective and imperfective verbs' inflectional suffixes. They show the number and person of the subject and can be found in the active, mediopassive and passive voices. An example verb, <[ǫ]khážešt, [ǫ]khažíčǣ, [ǫ]khažúndži, [ǫ]khažéwǫb> (to eat [fill oneself up]), conjugated in the aorist: