Medolian I

As promised, here's something actually about the language, not just sample texts etc. Observant readers will note a passing similarity between Medolian and my (now defunct) conlang Arveuneic. BTW, "Medolian" is the English form of the name, the native form is "medoleán"

 

Pronunciation of Vowels

 

Oral vowels:

a /a/

e /E/ when stressed, /@/ otherwise.

è /e/

i /i:/

o /o/

ò /o/

ou /O/

oú /u:/

u /u:/

 

Nasal vowels

an /a~/

en, èn, in /E~/

on, òn, oun /O~/

oún and un are not nasalised, both are pronounced /u:n/

 

Nasal vowels occur before consonants and word-finally. Combinations such as "ana" are pronounced /ana/, not /a~ a/.

 

Diphthongs

ai /aj/

oi /oj/

ei /Ej/

au /aw/

eu /ju/

ea /ja/

oa /wa/

 

There are no nasal diphthongs.

 

Pronunciation of Consonants

b /b/

c /s/ before <i, e>, /S/ finally after <i> and /k/ otherwise

ç /s/

d /d/, dental

f /f/

g /Z/ before <i, e>, /g/ otherwise.

gu /g/ before <i, e>, /gw/ otherwise.

gn /n_j/

gl /l_j/

h is silent, see sh

j /Z/

k /k/, only found in foreign borrowings.

l /l/

m /m/

n /n/

p /p/ unaspirated

qu /k/ before <i, e>, /kw/ otherwise.

r /r/, trilled, /R/ uvular in the east.

s /s/, /z/ between vowels in the east.

t /t/, dental, unaspirated.

v /v/

x /S/, only found in foreign borrowings.

y /j/

z /s/

 

Stress

Stress is regularly on the penultimate syllable, otherwise marked with an acute accent:  "I sing" cante /'kant@/, "song" cançón /kan'sO~/.

Before the Orthographical Reform of 1938, ô and ê were to be found, denoting stressed /O/ and /E/. Today they are only found in proper names: Pêdreic /'pEdrejS/

 

Dan

 

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La plus belle fois qu'on m'a dit
          "je t'aime"
                   c'était un mec
                             qui me l'a dit...
Francis Lalane
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