Merineth (dialect)

Merineth is one of three modern dialects of Braereth, spoken primarily by the mer-folk.

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, or 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 Classican 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