Metin

General information

Metin is the official lingua franca of a confederation of human states known as The Encirclement (sxuDaiwe). It is published and standardized by a division of said body known as The Library (sxuQ'ostin). It has spoken, written, and binary forms, spanning all modes and media of communication. The full breadth of the language is used for interpersonal communication and the law, and for communications with sapient serviles, while restricted subsets are used for communicating with the APIs of simpler machines and devices. It is descended from an amalgamation of popular human and machine dialects that preceded the formation of the sxuDaiwe.

Phonology

Consonants

Pairs of consonant realizations and their romanizations are presented. Some consonants are romanized differently depending on whether or not they are in the onset or coda of a syllable, these are presented as comma separated pairs. Those which are marginal are indicated with an asterisk. Tildes separate the multiple realizations of a given singular consonant phoneme.

Manner↓ Place→	Bilabial	Dental	Lateral	Alveolar	Alveopalatal	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar	Uvular	Glottal
Voiceless Stop	/p/ p*	/t̪/ t				/ʈ/ th	/c/ c	/k/ k	/k͡p/ kp	/q/ q
Voiced Stop	/b/ b*	/d̪/ d				/ɖ/ d̨	/ɟ/ j	/g/ g	/g͡b/ gb
Breathy Stop	/bʰ/ bh	/d̪ʰ/ dh				/ɖʰ/ d̨h	/ɟʰ/ jh	/gʰ/ gh	/g͡bʰ/ gbh
Ejective Stop		/t̪ʼ/ t'				/ʈʼ/ th'	/cʼ/ c'	/kʼ/ k'	/k͡pʼ/ kp'	/qʼ/ q'
Nasal Stop	/m~n/ m,n
Voiceless Fricative	/f/ f	/θ/ tj,t	/ɬ/ ł	/s/ s	/ɕ/ sx	/ʂ/ sh	/ç/ ç,c	/x/ x
Voiceless Affricate			/t͡ɬ/ tl	/t͡s/ ts	/t͡ɕ/ cx	/ʈ͡ʂ/ ch
Voiced Fricative	/β/ w	/ð/ dj,d	/ɮ/ ɮ	/z/ z	/ʑ/ zx	/ʐ/ z̨	/ʝ/ y	/ɣ/ gj,g			/h/ h
Voiced Affricate			/d͡l/ dl*	/d͡z/ dz*	/d͡ʑ/ jx	/ɖ͡ʐ/ j̨
Breathy Fricative	/βʰ/ wh	/ðʰ/ djh,dh	/ɮʰ/ ɮʰ	/zʰ/ zh	/ʑʰ/ zxh	/ʐʰ/ z̨h	/ʝʰ/ yh	/ɣʰ/ gjh,gh
Breathy Affricate			/d͡lʰ/ dlh*/	/d͡zʰ/ dzh*	/d͡ʑʰ/ jxh	/ɖʐʰ/ j̨h
Ejective Affricate		/t̪͡θʼ/ tj'	/t͡ɬʼ/ tl'	/t͡sʼ/ ts'	/t͡ɕʼ/ cx'	/ʈ͡ʂʼ/ ch'				/qχʼ/ qx'
Velar Affricate	/p͡x/ px	/t̪x/ tx				/ʈ͡x/ thx
Velar EJective Affricate	/pxʼ/ px'	/t̪xʼ/ tx'				/ʈ͡xʼ/ thx'		/k͡xʼ/ kx'
Approximant			/l/ l
Trill										/ʀ/ r

Ambiguous Multigraphs

The following multigraphs are ambiguous in Metin's romanization when they occur word medially. When a sequence of letters is not intended to be interpreted as a digraph, a hypen "-" is inserted between them. tj /θ/ t-j /θɟ/ dj /ð/ d-j /ðɟ/ djh /ðʰ/ d-jh /ðɟʰ/ tl /t͡ɬ/ t-l /θl/ dl /d͡l/ d-l /ðl/ ts /t͡s/ t-s /θs/ dz /d͡z/ d-z /ðz/ dzh /d͡zʰ/d-zh /ðzʰ/ sx /ɕ/ s-x /sx/ cx /t͡ɕ/ c-x /çx/ zx /ʑ/ z-x /zx/ th /ʈ/ t-h /θh/ sh /ʂ/ s-h /sh/ ch /ʈ͡ʂ/ c-h /çh/ gj /ɣʰ/ g-j /ɣɟ/ gjh /ɣʰ/ g-jh /ɣɟʰ/

Vowels

Pairs of consonant realizations and their romanizations are presented.

Height↓ Backness→	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i/ i	/ɨ/ į	/u/ u
Mid	/e̞/ e	/ə/ ą	/o̞/ o
Open	/æ/ ę	/a/ a	/ɒ/ ǫ

Diphthongs

Nuclear Vowel↓ Glide→	V-/i̯/	/i̯/-V	V-/u̯/	/u̯/-V	V-/e̯/	/e̯/-V	V-/o̯/	/o̯/-V
/i/				/u̯i/ ui
/u/		/i̯u/ iu
/e̞/	/εi̯/ ei	/ie̞/ ie	/e̞u̯/ eu	/u̯e̞/ ue				/e̞o̯/ eo
/ə/	/əi̯/ ąi	/i̯ə/ ią	/u̯ə/ ąu	/əu̯/ uą		/e̯ə/ eą	/o̯ə/ oą
/o̞/	/o̞i̯/ oi	/i̯o̞/ io	/o̞u̯/ ou	/u̯o̞/ uo	/o̞e̯/ oe
/æ/		/i̯æ/ ię	/æu̯/ ęe	/u̯æ/ uę			/æo̯/ ęo	/o̯æ/ oę
/a/	/ai̯/ ai	/i̯a/ ia	/au̯/ au	/u̯o̞/ ua	/ae̯/ ae	/e̯a/ ea	/ao̯/ ao	/o̯a/ oa
/ɒ/	/ɒi̯/ ǫi	/i̯ɒ/ iǫ		/u̯ɒ/ uǫ	/ɒe̯/ ǫe	/e̯ɒ/ eǫ

All of Metin's vowels may occur as the core of a dipthong except for ɨ. Metin has four glides which occur as either onglides or offglides, /i̯/, /u̯/, /e̯/, and /o̯/. If a glide is long, its core vowel is written doubly.

Triphthongs

If for any vowel V the onglide diphthong G1V exists and the offglide diphthong VG2 exists then the triphthong G1VG2 exists. Also, the triphthongs /i̯ui̯/ iui and /u̯iu̯/ uiu exist.

Duration

All 9 vowels may be long or short. In addition, the core vowel of any diphthong or triphthong may be long or short.

Tone

A short vowel may be high tone or low tone. The high tone is marked V́. The low tone is marked V.

A long vowel may be high tone, rising tone, falling tone, or low tone. the high tone is marked V́V́, rising tone VV́, falling tone V́V, and low tone VV.

Dipthongs and triphthongs of either duration may be of high tone, rising tone, falling tone, or low tone.

High tone is marked thusly on each kind of polyphthong:

ǴV́ ǴV́V́ V́Ǵ V́V́Ǵ ǴV́Ǵ ǴV́V́Ǵ

Rising tone is marked thusly on each kind of polyphthong:

GV́ GV́V́ VǴ VVǴ GV́Ǵ GV́V́Ǵ

Falling tone is marked thusly on each kind of polyphthong:

ǴV ǴVV V́G V́V́G ǴVG ǴVVG

Low tone is marked thusly on each kind of polyphthong:

GV GVV VG VVG GVG GVVG

Syllable Structure

The metin syllable structure is (C)V(F), where C is any consonant, V is any vowel, and F is any fricative. Vowel-initial words have an excrescent /ʔ/ glottal stop in their onset. V'V disyllables (with no intervening consonant) do not occur inside of words. Various sandhi processes remove them.

Phonotactics

A syllable may optionally have an onset with any one consonant or the permitted consonant clusters (listed in consonants section). The nucleus must consist of a vowel or sequence of vowels (vowels do not dipthongize, rather a sequence of vowels is pronounced with each vowel distinct.) The (optional) coda may be any fricative (including h and other breathy fricatives.

Nouns

Noun Class Prefixes

Overview

Every noun in Metin belongs to one of 10 classes.

Class 1 refers exclusively to humans. They take the prefix tsi- in all cases.

Class 2 is the plural of class 1. They take the prefix oka- in all cases.

Class 3 refers to animals, serviles, and other intelligent nonhuman beings. They take the prefix eey- in all cases.

Class 4 is the plural of class 3. They take the prefix jii- in all cases.

Class 5 refers to small and medium inanimate objects, plants, basic tools, and miscellaneous tangible objects. It comes in two forms.

Class 5a nouns take either the prefix mi- or the prefix įh- in the absolutive case and have no prefixes.

Class 5b nouns take the prefix ut- in all cases.

Class 6 refers to very large nouns, especially when they are thought of as locations. All cases take prefix sxu-.

Class 7 is the plural of class 6. All cases take prefix cxu-.

Class 8 refers to mass nouns. It comes in two forms.

Class 8a nouns take the prefix oo- in all cases. This class is closed, and only a few common nouns are within it.

Class 8b nouns take the prefix cha- in all cases. This class is open.

Class 9 refers to vehicles and very large devices. They take the prefix we in all cases.

Class 10 refers to intangible and abstract things. They take the prefix lu in all cases.

Explanation of noun cases

The absolutive case is used for the subject of transitive verbs, and both the subject and direct object of transitive verbs.

The ablative case is used to mark the possessor of a possessed noun, the "source" of verbs of production, and the starting point of verbs of motion.

The oblique case is used for all adjunct noun roles.

The dative case is used to mark indirect objects, the "output" of verbs of production, and the destination of verbs of movement.

Verbs

Verb class prefixes

Intransitive

lį: indefinite, single subject, avolitional, unproductive

Example verbs: lį-cx'uy: (something) is red lį-jáe: (something) is beautiful

wu: terminate, single subject, avolitional, unproductive

Example verbs: wu-cxú (something) is hot

k'a: aorist, single subject, avolitional, unproductive

Example verbs: k'a-çat: (something) makes a mistake

tsismį: indefinite, single subject, volitional, unproductive

Example verbs: gidi-tsismį-xuj: (someone) wanders, is itinerant

tse: terminate, single subject, volitional, unproductive

Example verbs: tse-xuj: (someone) is walking

ts'a: aorist, single subject, volitional, unproductive

Example verbs: ts'a-gát: (someone) jumps

bha: productive, single subject, avolitional

tsuwha: productive, single subject, volitional

yo: transformational, single subject, avolitional

co: transformational, single subject, volitional

Polyintransitive

pxao, fįxao: indefinite, multiple subject, avolitional

bhuwao, bhiwao: terminate, multiple subject, avolitional

px'awao, px'iwao: aorist, multiple subject, avolitional

tseo, tsitseo: indefinite, multiple subject, volitional

tsuweo, tsiweo: terminate, multiple subject, volitional

ts'aweo, ts'iweo: aorist, multiple subject, volitional

bhabhao, bhibhao: productive, multiple subject, avolitional

tsabhao, tsibhao: productive, multiple subject, volitional

jei, yiyyei: transformational, multiple subject, avolitional

cei, çicei: transformational, multiple subject, volitional

Transitive

he: indefinite for subject, volitional single subject, avolitional single object, unproductive.

Example verb: he-tiauns: (someone) widens (something)

she: terminate for subject, volitional single subject, avolitional single object, unproductive.

Example verb: she-thaa (someone) works on (something)

th'e: aorist for subject, volitional single subject, avolitional single object, unproductive.

Example verb: th'e-yáx: (someone) unties (something)

qo: indefinite for subject, avolitional single subject, avolitional single object, unproductive.

Example verbs: qo-haan: (something) lies on top of (something)

ro: terminate for subject, avolitional single subject, avolitional single object, unproductive.

Example verbs: ro-moig: (something) is rolling over (something)

Example verbs: ro-kx'įį: (something) absorbs (something)

q'o: aorist for subject, avolitional single subject, avolitional single object, unproductive.

Example verbs: qx'o-qaa: (something) hits (something)