Mendian

General information
Mendian (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.

Mendian was the administrative lingua franca of the entire Dragon Imperium during the Fifth Imperium, and as such it has influenced many of the herder languages spoken in it, and has acquired a thick stratum of loanwords from various imperial languages.

Mendian is a prototypical example of a Lowlander Sprachbund language, being starchly verb-initial and possessing a productive pitch-accent system.

Phonology
/i u e o ɛ ø ɜ ɔ ɑ —— ɑ ɑɑ & ɑ̀ ɑ̀ˤ ɑ́ ɑ́ɑ̀ ɑ̀ɑ̀ˤ ɑ̀ɑ́/ < ı u e o æ ø ẹ ọ a — a ā & ȧ à á â ȁ ã>

/m mˤ n nˤ nʷ ɲ ɲˤ ɲʷ ŋ ŋˤ ŋʷ/ < m mh n nh nw ñ ñh ñw ŋ ŋh ŋw> /p b t d tʷ dʷ k ɡ kʷ ɡʷ/ < p b t d tw dw k g kw gw> /s z sʷ zʷ ʃ ʒ ʃʷ ʒʷ ɕ ʑ x ɣ xʷ ɣʷ ħ ħʷ/ < s z sw zw šw žw ś ź x ḡ xw ḡw h hw> /ʋ ʋˤ r rˤ l lˤ lʷ j jˤ jʷ ʎ ʎˤ ʎʷ/  /ts dz tsʷ dzʷ tʃ dʒ tʃʷ dʒʷ/ 

Mendian is a language with a prominent pitch accent system. Even though all vowels in a word may be either short or long (with a tendency for most atonic vowels to be short), only one syllable may be accented per word. Vowel suprasegmental features may be classified as features on two axes:

A special feature of certain vowels is underlying glottalisation with no surface realisation: stemming from true glottalised vowels in early Mendian times, certain vowels may carry glottalisation that is realised only when stress shifts to them. This is generally unmarked and is left as a feature of morphophonology; words with such vowels are often treated as a special accentual class.

Consonantal glottalisation always has a surface realisation: it triggers stiff voicing in unstressed vowels, and transfers the glottalisation from the consonant to the accented vowel, which then takes on a glottalised pitch accent. A sequence of any of /{m n ɲ ŋ ʋ r l j ʎ}/ followed by /ħ/ contracts to /{mˤ nˤ ɲˤ ŋˤ ʋˤ rˤ lˤ jˤ ʎˤ}/. A post-vocalic /ħ/ often drops, leaving behind compensatory lengthening and underlying vowel glottalisation.

Rounding in consonants is neutralised before the rounded vowels /u o ɔ ø/; a syllable such as /-tʷɔ-/ would invariably surface as [-tɔ-], though this loss of labialisation isn't reflected in the orthographical representation.

Grammar
Mendian broadly divides its words into two morphological classes: mutable words, possessing productive grammatical inflection, and immutable words that do not change via morphological processes (though they may morph due to morphophonological changes).

The class of mutables includes nominals (nouns, pronouns and adjectives) which follow one inflectional pattern, and verbs which follow another. The class of immutables includes particles, adpositions and clitics.

Nouns
Mendian has a complex system of fusional/agglutinative noun inflection, and its nouns distinguish nine cases and encode numerous grammatical enumerations in a morphologically fusional way. They also reflect a gender system in which each noun has one of four innate genders. Gender assignment is mostly semantic and arbitrary, though certain patterns do show up.

Mendian divides its noun into categories based on multiple criteria. Its nouns can be divided into:


 * By their countability
 * countable — existing in discrete units
 * uncountable — existing only as a continuous mass
 * By gender
 * ignic — generally of things related to fire, warmth, life
 * animate — for living beings
 * human
 * masked
 * unmasked
 * non-human
 * inanimate — for perceptible inanimates
 * primordial / force of nature
 * inert
 * neuter — for abstract concepts, imperceptible entities

Mendian nouns distinguish nine cases:
 * Nominative
 * Aversive
 * Accusative
 * Vocative
 * Dative
 * Topical
 * Locative
 * Lative
 * Vialis

Not strictly encoding grammatical number as a well-defined category, Mendian nouns may inflect for quantity:


 * For countables
 * singular — one specific instance of an object
 * dual — two specific instances of an object
 * plural — three or more instances of an object
 * partitive — a subset of discrete instances of a larger group of objects
 * collective — all instances of an object
 * For uncountables
 * monadic — a small amount viewable as its own whole
 * coherent — a specific instance of a discrete object that breaks down into monads
 * collective — all quantities viewed as a mass

Syntax
<!---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 inflection class.

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  (house, fem.), and all of them are either feminine or ignic. An example ø-stem is  (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  (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  (thorn, masc.) are infrequent and can be supplanted by analoguous forms like  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.):

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