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], [ʎ], 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.r̥e] ("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.te.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> [vɛc] ("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.