Meljanese

Meljanese is the language of the sharnakh realm of Meljan. It belongs to the Belanic family. Originally a human language spoken by the human Yanikva tribe, it has been fostered by the sharnakhs as the universal language for their slaves. Now it has been influenced by this role, for example a special avoidance register evolved, used to adress the masters. Sometimes Meljanese is even used by the sharnakhs among themselves.

There are multiple dialects, the language discussed here is that of the Jalîši valley in southern Meljan.

Although irrelevant to the language itself, it is worth noticing that the Meljanese believe in the religion of the sharnakhs, believed by other peoples of 61 Virginis to be demon worship. According to this faith, there are three levels of reality, each having its own pantheon:


 * drag toleli - spirit world
 * drag zruta - physical reality (literally, world of body/life)
 * drag mźasuli - paradise of the sharnakhs, where humans are allowed as a reward for being good servants

Etymology: The native name is ika-Melźań, where ika means 'mouth' or, figuratively, 'language' and Melźań (anglicized as Meljan) is literally, 'Land of the Banner'

Consonants
/c ɟ ɲ/ are true palatals, but /ɕ ʑ ʎ/ are palato-alveolars.

Some consonants are subjects to allophonic variation:
 * /t d n/ become retroflex [ʈ ɖ ɳ] when adjacent to a retroflex consonant. In rapid speech /tɻ dɻ/ can become [tʂ dʐ]: trava '2' [tʂava] ~ ʈɻava]
 * /l/ is velarized in syllables containing back or central vowels: splît 'night' [spɫɨt]
 * /v/ becomes [ʋ] after an obstruent belonging to the same syllable: jatvol 'human' [ɟatʋoɫ]
 * voiced obstruents are devoiced in coda: drag 'world' [ɖɻak]

Palatal mutation
It is a very important phenomenon, affecting consonants both in nominal and verbal inflexions:
 * t d → c j
 * s z → ś ź
 * n → ń
 * l → ľ
 * r → ź or y (in coda positions or after a dental consonant)
 * k g → š ž
 * sk zg → št žd

In discussing morphology, it will be indicated by an apostrophe. Consonants afftected by this mutation are often called palatalized (which is phonetically not accurate).

Vowels
Meljanese /æ/ is in fact halfway between IPA [æ] and [ɛ]. [ɨ] is in free variation with [ɯ]. /a o u/ are fronted between palatal consonants to [æ ɵ ʉ], which is not indicated (therefore, â is not used in such positions.)

Ablaut
This is an important phenomenon in the verbal conjugation. The most common patterns are:
 * â → a: râd 'to know' → rad-
 * î → a: kvîd 'to fall' → kvad-
 * i/0 → 'a: cim, cm- 'drink' → cam-
 * i → 'e: fin 'not to do' → fen-
 * o/0 → o: poz, bz- 'to be healthy' → poz-
 * u → o: truk 'to sing' → trok-

Stress and phonotactics
Meljanese is quite permissive for consonant clusters, cf. gma 'hole', mźana 'bad luck', fsko '8' or pazg 'west'. Obstruents in a clusters generally agree in voicing, except of /v/ which often occurs after voiceless stops.

Some combinations of consonants and vowels are banned. In particular, /i/ cannot occur after a dental or retroflex sounds. This allows one to write si zi ni li for śi źi ńi ľi and ši ži for šî žî, avoiding a jungle of diacritics.

Stress always falls on the first syllable.

Morphology
Meljanese is a moderately fusional language. Apart from the palatal mutation, pleophony and ablaut are important in its morphological system.

Noun
Meljanese nouns belong to one of four natural genders: masculine, feminine, inanimate and abstract. The abstract gender pertains to nouns like zizliž 'thought' or śuśnuc 'love'. Unlike in many languages with gender, mixed groups are considered feminine.

The nouns has four inflexional forms: Examples:
 * indefinite singular, which is the citation form
 * definite singular, formed by adding -ok after a consonant, -ek after a palatalized consonant and -kV after a vowel (-tV if there is already a velar in the word)
 * indefinite plural, formed by -ya after a non-front vowel or labial consonant, -va after a palatalized consonant or front vowel and -'a elsewhere.
 * definite plural, formed by -li
 * IS: glit 'girl', naraž 'wolf', cikro 'spider', tole 'spirit'
 * DS: glitok, naržek, cikroto, toleke
 * IP: glica, naržva, cikroya, toleva
 * DP: glitli, naržli, cikroli, toleli

Genitive is formed by juxtaposing the nouns: romoli pketo 'the man's bones'. This is true even with respect to pronouns: skorak kve 'your leg'.

A clitic -s (-es, -osafter a consonant) is the equivalent of "and": dîla-s tagva 'water and fire', glit-os proka 'a girl and a boy'.

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated for gender and tense. There is no morphological distinction between verbs and adjectives. There are two tenses, called past and non-past. They require memorizing two distinct root forms, because of a highly irregular ablaut system. The quotation form is the masculine non-past.

Below there are full conjugations of cim 'drink', râd 'to know' and poz 'to be healthy'

Non-past

 * Masculine: cim, râd, poz
 * Feminine: cmu, râdu, bzu
 * Inamimate: cim, râj, poź
 * Abstract: cmâl, râdâl, bzâl

Past

 * Masculine: cama, rada, poza
 * Feminine: camo, rado, pozo
 * Inamimate: ceme, raje, poźe
 * Abstract: camala, radala, pozala

Adjectival form

 * Masculine: acam, arad, apoz 'drinking, knowing, healthy'
 * Feminine: acamu, aradu, apozu
 * Inamimate: acem, araj, apoź
 * Abstract: acamâl, aradâl, apozâl

Hortatives
None of them have gender distinctions:


 * Imperative: camey, rajey, poźey (used chiefly by sharnakhs when speaking to their slaves)
 * Adhortative: cameni, rajeni, poźeni (used to encourage or urge to do something)
 * Dehortative: camyado, rajado, poźado (used to encourage or urge not to do something)

Evidentiality
All verbs have obligatory evidential marking:
 * zero ending - certain, because seen or done by the speaker
 * -so - heard from a reliable source
 * -ye - heard from an unreliable source or inferred
 * -fon - imagined (sometimes used as a future marker, but not when talking about what will certainly happen)

Compare:
 * Jemlegot fkana Tkir 'The sharnakh ate Tkir' (the speaker saw it)
 * Jemlegot fkanaso Tkir (the speaker heard it from a trustworthy person)
 * Jemlegot fkanaye Tkir (the speaker suspects it)
 * Jemlegot fkanafon Tkir (Tkir is alive, but the sharnakh said he looks tasty)

Pronouns
The system of pronouns is complex, featuring not only person and gender, but also emotional value of the referent.

Numerals
Meljanese uses a tetradecimal system, resulting from a habit of counting on the phalanges or digital bones of one hand. The Meljanese claim that this system was taught to them by the sharnakhs, but some Belanic languages use base-28, using two hands.


 * ke
 * 1) trava
 * kuľ
 * 1) skop
 * mra
 * 1) śpet
 * 2) štece
 * 3) fsko
 * jmi
 * or
 * âst
 * 1) ento
 * 2) glovo
 * 3) prîń


 * 28. nagak
 * 42. kuľprîń
 * 56. skoprîń
 * 70. mraplîń
 * 84. śpetrîń
 * 98. šteceprîń
 * 112. fskoprîń
 * 126. jmiprîń
 * 140. olprîń
 * 154. âsprîń
 * 168. entoprîń
 * 182. (mńol)tveprîń
 * 196. mńol

Other numbers are read from the lowest powers of fourteen, e.g. mra-s kuľprîń-es ormńol '2007' - (10)35 in base-14.

After a numeral, nouns are used in the singular: prîń cikro 'fourteen spiders'.

Derivational morphology
Meljanese is notable for its heavy reliance on prefixes:
 * mi- to show completeness of action:
 * kvîd 'to fall' → mikvîd 'to hit the ground'
 * je- or ja- with past root form names of animates by their habitual actions
 * tul 'to work' → jatvol 'human' (considered worker by the sharnakhs)
 * šu- for members of collectives or inhabitants of places:
 * braźla 'steppe' → šubraźla 'nomad'
 * źań 'banner' → šuźań 'Meljanese'

However, suffixes are by no means absent:
 * -ak with non-past root for actions:
 * kvîd 'to fall' → kvîdak 'fall'
 * -la for places:
 * braź 'grass' → braźla 'steppe'
 * -u for feminines:
 * šuźań 'Meljanese man' → šuźańu 'Meljanese woman
 * -(v)oc for deminutives:
 * gir 'head' → giroc 'little head'

Partial reduplication of the non-past root forms abstract noun:
 * zlig 'to think' → zizliž 'thought'
 * râd 'to know' → rârâd 'knowledge'

Full reduplication with change of initial consonant(s) to mź has a deprecative meaning:


 * ženel 'friend' → ženel-mźenel

If the initial cluster is mź, another cluster (though one containing a palatal consonant) appears in the reduplicated word:


 * mźasu 'soul' → mźasu-gńasu

Syntax
The word order is SVO. All adverbials are placed at the end of a sentence:


 * Jemleža cmu dîla pe splît. 'Sharnakhs drink water at night'

Adjectives follow nouns: glit asvetu 'a beautiful girl'.

The subject has to be expressed using separate words since there are no personal endings; the only pronoun that can be omitted is ńo 'I':


 * (Ńo) gâku kvar '(I) see you'

There is no morphological passive, but the indefinite subject ape may be employed:


 * Śva camo dîlaka 'A woman drunk the water'
 * Ape ceme dîlaka 'Someone drunk the water', sc. 'Water has been drunk'

Similarly, to express reflexive or reciprocal voice, the particle nay is used as an object:


 * Ya gako nay 'We see ourselves' / 'We see each other'

Negation is expressed using an auxiliary verb, fin. All auxiliary verbs are conjugated together with the main one:


 * Prokata fin poz 'The boy is not healthy'
 * Prokata fena poza 'The boy was not healthy'
 * Glitok finu bzu 'The girl is not healthy'
 * Glitok feno pozo 'The girl was not healthy'