Mystana

Mystana
Makuja Mystáň
Pronunciation	[mæ.ˈku.jæ mʏs.ˈtãɲ]
Created by	Vojta615
Date	2023
Language family	Mystanic languages Mystana
Early form	Old Mystana
Writing system	Latin

Mystana (Makuja Mystáň [mæ.ˈku.jæ mʏs.ˈtãɲ]) is an a priori semi-naturalistic constructed language, and the largest member of the Mystanic language family. It is the modern and standardized register of the old Mystana language. The language is notable for its large amount of loanwords from my previous conlang Ësmitan, and from Classical and Contemporary Latin for modern terms, and for concepts not previously known in-universe to Mystana speakers.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Standard Mystana

	Labial		Alveolar		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m		n				ɲ		(ŋ)
Stop	p	b	t	d	ʈ͡ʂ	(ɖ͡ʐ)	c	ɟ	k	g	(ʔ)
Fricative	f	v	s	z	ʂ	ʐ	ç	ʝ	x		h
Approximant		w						j
Lateral approximant				l				ʎ
Trill				r

[ŋ] and [ɖ͡ʐ] only occur phonetically in loanwords, though [ɖ͡ʐ] can occur as an allophone of [ʈ͡ʂ] in native words.

Consonants are voiced or devoiced in clusters acording to the voicing of the initial consonant in the cluster, such as in the <tr> cluster in the word <šytre> [ˈçyt.r̥ɛ] ("middle"). Word-final stops and fricatives are devoiced, and affect voicing of consonants across the word boundary. This results in the voiced/voiceless phones [m̥], [n̥], [ɲ̊], [ɣ], [ɬ], [ʎ̥], and [r̥] as allophones of [m], [n], [ɲ], [x], [l], and [r], respectively. An example of this phenomenon is the phrase <tabrat rypat máptejat> [tæb.ˈrat r̥ʏ.ˈpat ˈm̥ap.tɛ.jæt] ("the soft shelled turtles").

All consonants can become palatalized in the final syllable of a word if the vowel in that syllable is an unstressed /i/. Labial consonants become /mʲ/, /pʲ/, and /fʲ/, and the alveolar trill /r/ becomes /rʲ/. All other consonants have their place of articulation shifted to palatal. This is common in the genitive case of nouns, which is indicated with -/i/, though has affected several root words, including <véť> [vec] ("after") (from Old Mystana <*véti> ("after")).

All consonants can become labialized before vowels, typically when a /f/ or /v/ is reduced to /w/ as the final consonant of a consonant cluster. Word-final /w/ shifts to /v/ when made intervocalic due to grammatical constructions, typically the plural. An example is <vå> [vaʊ̯] ("month") becoming <tuavat> [tʷæ.ˈvat] ("the months") in the definite nominative plural.

Word-final consonants that precede a consonant of the same place and manner of articulation in the onset of the next word, regardless of voicing, are reduced to a glottal stop. An example of this phenomenon is the phrase <tuerat tavat> [tʷɛ.ˈraʔ tæ.ˈvat] ("the easy jobs").

Vowels

Vowel phonemes of Standard Mystana

	Front		Back
Close	i	y	u
Close-mid	e		o
Open	a

Unstressed [i], [y], [u], [e], [o], and [a] reduce to [ɪ], [ʏ], [ʊ], [ɛ], [ɔ], and [æ] in unstressed syllables, respectively. Unstressed [ɪ] and [ʏ] are often fully reduced to /ə/ or even to Ø in speech. Stressed [i] and [y] always palatalize the preceding consonant or consonant cluster.

[i] and [u] are able to form diphthongs and triphthongs with all vowels, such as /i̯a/, /ai̯/, /u̯a/, /au̯/, /i̯au̯/, and /u̯ai̯/. This notably excludes /u̯u/ but includes /uu̯/. The diphthongs /ae̯/ and /oe̯/ borrowed from Latin are rarely spoken as such, typically being realized as /ai̯/ and /oi̯/. The now-obsolete diphthong /ay̯/ that emerged during the transition from Old Mystana to the contemporary standard has been reduced to /e/, but causes irregular declension of the words that once had it.

Orthography

The Mystana orthography is based on a modified form of the Czech alphabet. It includes all Czech letters except ř, and adds <ć>, <ľ>, <ś>, and <ź> for the palatal consonants /c͡ç/, /ʎ/, /ç/, and /ʝ/, respectively. It adds <å> for the common diphthong /au̯/. It uses the caron, acute accent, and ring. It consists of 46 letters.

Mystana alphabet

Letter		Name	Letter		Name
Uppercase	Lowercase		Uppercase	Lowercase
A	a	a	N	n	en
Á	á	kuf á	Ň	ň	eň
Å	å	kysk a	O	o	o
B	b	be	Ó	ó	kuf ó
C	c	ce	P	p	pe
Ć	ć	cě	Q	q	que
Č	č	če	R	r	er
D	d	de	S	s	es
Ď	ď	dě	Ś	ś	eś
E	e	e	Š	š	eš
É	é	kuf é	T	t	te
Ě	ě	kabr' é	Ť	ť	tě
F	f	ef	U	u	u
G	g	ge	Ú	ú	kuf ú
H	h	ha	Ů	ů	kysk o
Ch	ch	cha	V	v	ve
I	i	i	W	w	kufa ve
Í	í	kuf í	X	x	ix
J	j	je	Y	y	y; ypsůn
K	k	ka	Ý	y	kuf ý; kuf ypsůn
L	l	el	Z	z	ze; zet
Ľ	ľ	eľ	Ź	ź	zě; zět
M	m	em	Ž	ž	že; žet

The letter <w> is now obsolete in native words, though can be used for loanwords that have not been nativized, such as <*Wolframja> ("tungsten"), instead of <Volframja>.

The acute accent, known in Mystana as <kufma> (lit. "the strengthener") indicates an irregular stress pattern on the word, and the corresponding change in vowel quality. By default, most words are paroxytonic, though most root words become oxytonic when declined in the nominative, genitive, instrumental, locative, or vocative plural cases. When on the consonants <c> (/ts/), <s> (/s/), and <z> (/z/), they are palatilzed to /c͡ç/, /ç/, and /ʝ/ in the coda, respectively. When a stressed front vowel is in the adjacent syllable to an unstressed front vowel, and the only consonant between them is /j/, the stressed vowel may be written with an acute accent, and the <j> omitted in writing. An example is the Mystana word for "thin" (pronounced in Mystana as [ʔɛ.ˈbe.jæ]) being written <ebéa> instead of <*ebeja>.

The ring diacritic, called <kyskma> (lit. "the roundener") turns the vowel /a/ into the diphthong /au̯/, and the vowel /o/ into the diphthong /u̯o/. Other diphthongs are written with <u> or <j> as their corresponding regular multigraphs.

The caron, called <kaborma> (lit. "the softener") turns the vowel /e/ into /ʲe/, indicating the palatalization of the preceding consonant or consonant cluster. When on the consonants <c> (/ts/), <s> (/s/), and <z> (/z/), the place of articulation is shifted from alveolar to retroflex, representing /tʂ/, /ʂ/, and /ʐ/, respectively. The caron palatalizes <d> (/d/), <l> (/l/), <n> (/n/), and <t> (/t/) to /ɟ/, /ʎ/, /ɲ/, and /c/, respectively.

Palatalization of other consonants or consonant clusters is expressed by adding a <j> after the consonant(s), including <c>, <s>, and <z> when not in the coda.