Merineth (dialect)

Merineth is one of three modern dialects of Braereth, spoken primarily by the shape-shifters.

The Merineth dialect is the furthest removed of the dialects from Classical Braereth. It has no palatal sounds whatsoever, and contains a number of liquids that appear seemingly spontaneously around certain clusters. Consonant clusters are all but eliminated, and diphthongs are broken up by an insertive ⟨l⟩ or ⟨r⟩. There is a merging of voiced and unvoiced consonants, as well as fortition of certain fricatives into stops. The vowels ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ do not exist in Merineth, and are usually raised to ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩, respectively, but sometimes lowered to ⟨a⟩. The Merineth do not have a formal written language, and usually use the Classical spelling, though some have adopted the Eomentesa spelling reform, as it is a little closer than Classical Braereth to how Merineth is actually pronounced, though there are still vast differences.

Phonology

Consonants	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Vowels	Front	Back
Plosive	p · b	t, t’ [tʰ] ·			k ·		High	i, iː · y, yː	u, uː
Affricate			ʦ · ʣ				Mid
Fricative			s · z		([x]) ·		Low	æ~a~ɑ
Nasal	m	n			[ŋ]		Diphthongs	To Front	To Back
Liquid		l	r [ɾ]		[ʀ]			none

r/l Alternation and Insertion

A key feature in Merineth is its treatment of the liquids /r/ and /l/. While Braereth already had a tendency to alternate liquids in proximity to each other (e.g. compare Braereth moulire ‘to die’ with other Romance languages such as French mourir). This is most frequently observed in verbs, whose infinitive forms end in ⟨-l⟩ rather than the usua ⟨-r⟩, and as a result, /l/ occurring in the previous syllable tends to become /r/ through a process of dissimilation, hence Merineth ‘’[[múril#Merineth|múril]’’].

Orthographic and Phonemic Mapping

Orth.	Phn.	Example	IPA	Classical	Environment/Notes
a	[æ~a]	akua ‘water’	[ˈaku.a]	aqua	From Braereth ⟨a⟩; sometimes from ⟨e⟩ or ⟨o⟩.
b	[b]	buril ‘want’	[buˈɾil]	voulere	From Braereth ⟨v⟩.
dz	[ʣ]	madzinu ‘morning’	[maˈʣinu]	matzinu	From Braereth ⟨tz⟩, ⟨dj⟩, or palatalized ⟨g⟩. Cannot occur word-finally.
i	[i]	ilis ‘they’	[ˈi.lis]	iljis	From Braereth ⟨i⟩ or ⟨e⟩.
í	[iː]	ípina ‘thorn’	[iːˈpina]	espina	From Braereth ⟨ei⟩ or ⟨es⟩.
k	[k]	krastu ‘the next day’	[ˈkrastu]	crastu	From Braereth ⟨c⟩ or ⟨q⟩.
l	[l]	lap ‘stone’	[lap]	lape	From Braereth ⟨l⟩ or ⟨r⟩. (See r/l Alternation and Insertion.)
m	[m]	morir ‘to die’	[mo̞ˈrir]	mourire
n	[n]	naxer ‘to be born’	[naˈʃe̞r]	nascere
nk	[ŋk~nk]	zinkuru ‘knee’	[ˈʒiŋ.klo̞]	ginclu	The expected velarization of the nasal (“the NG sound” before K) is dampened.
p	[p]	pelio ‘hair’	[ˈpe̞.li.o̞]	pelju	From Braereth ⟨p⟩, ⟨b⟩, or ⟨f⟩.
qh	[χ~ʀ]	qhiru ‘deer’ aqhma ‘spirit’	[ˈχi.ru], [ˈaʀma]	qheru, aqhma	From Braereth ⟨qh⟩: [ʀ] when intervocalic, [χ] otherwise.
r	[ɾ]	rider ‘to laugh’	[riˈðe̞r]	ridere	From Braereth ⟨l⟩ or ⟨r⟩. (See r/l Alternation and Insertion.) Normally realized as a tap or flap rather than a trill.
s	[s]	sintx ‘five’	[sinʧ]	tzince	From Braereth ⟨s⟩ or word-initial ⟨cj⟩, ⟨tj⟩ or ⟨tz⟩.
t	[t]	tuto ‘all’	[ˈtu.to̞]	tutu
t’	[θ]	pith ‘foot’	[piθ]	pide
ts	[ʦ]	contzer ‘to fight’	[conˈʦer]	countzere
u	[u]	untx ‘eleven’	[unʧ]	unce
ú	[uː]	útxo ‘eight’	[ˈuːʧo̞]	uictjou
x	[ˈ]	xentrao ‘central’	[ʃe̞nˈtɾa.o̞]	centrau	Like Braereth, ⟨x⟩ indicates stress on the final syllable.
z	[z]	espoza ‘wife’	[e̞ˈspu.za]	espousa