Medyestani

Medyestani (Medyestani Alphabet: (Eʒvan) Meδȷecтani or Meðȷecтani, also called Meadean), meaning approximately Middle-land-ish, is an Indo-European constructed art language created by Ceige at some indefinite time between 2012 and 2014. In-universe, it is spoken primarily in the Medyestani Confederacy of the same name. The language's classification is somewhat problematic, as it in some cases displays strong Iranian features, while in other cases it appears to be better suited to being a separate branch of Indo-Iranian. Furthermore, it appears to have influences of the Germanic and Slavic branches. From an in-universe perspective though, with these language families not quite existing, it is considered less of an issue.

Background

Goals and Inspiration

The Medyestani language was influenced primarily by the languages of Eurasia, and while it appears primarily Iranian influenced, it is in fact also inspired by Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Sanskrit, and Turkic. The associated conculture is also influenced by these cultures. The goal was to create a culture and language that mirrored that of the existing Persian cultures in real life, in order to better understand them from a historical perspective (as opposed to simply thinking "ah, they're just Middle-Eastern").
There is also some desire to use the language for a work of fiction, but that requires substantial effort, and the author does not feel that it is time to put that burden on what they feel to be a very young project.

Setting

The Medyestani Confederacy is a social, political and military alliance between various close cultures, towns, city states and lands that act as a rough equivalent to a nation state. The lingua franca of these lands is Medyestani, which in turn has an influence on the language, which draws features from several Sprachbunds.

Dialects

An anorthographic map of (most of) Medyestan, with dialect areas labelled

Somewhat unlike contemporary dialect theory, Medyestani does not really possess a standard dialect or register. Or, rather, the speaker community does not seem to perceive one, instead referring to a central dialect called Medyachi. The dialect structure is as such:

• Western dialects (Mehraeni)

• North-Western (Nermehraeni)

• Snowheath/Snowy Dialect (Snosaedi/Snaevi)

• West-Central (Medyemehraeni)

• Central dialect (Medyachi < medyak, a negotiator, go-between, or middleman)

• South-Western (Resmehraeni)

• Southern Plains dialect (Reslandi)
• Sealand dialect (Merzami/Mezmari)
• SW Frontier dialect - spoken further SW than Reslandi (Ukraeni)

• Eastern Dialects (Surraeni)

• Eastern-Plains dialect (Messuri)

• Eastern Snowy Plains sub-dialect, and Eastern Mountains dialect (Snosundi & Sumberzi)

• South-Eastern dialects (Ressurraeni)

Across these dialects, there are overarching "registers". For example, the most formal register differs between d and ð, which for the vast majority are merged, and does not represent common consonant assimilation of established terms in writing. Using the above dialect names as examples, Ressurraeni would be written Restsundraeni. The common-most register simply writes things in their most neutral pronunciations, except for newer or informal compounds. The colloquial register involves many regionalisms and new vocabulary, and can be overwhelming for older generations and those unacquainted with it.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Epiglottal	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Plosive	p, b			t, d				k, g
Fricative	f, v			s, z	ʃ, ʒ			(x, ɣ)				h
Affricate					t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ
Approximant	ʋ~w						j
Trill				(r)
Flap or tap				ɾ
Lateral fric.
Lateral app.				l				(ʟ)
Lateral flap				(ɺ)

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i		(u)		u
Near-close		(i)		(u)
Close-mid	ae				(o)
Mid	e (ae)				o
Open-mid	(e)
Near-open	(a)
Open	(a)		a	(a)

Phonotactics

• Whenever a+i appears, it tends to form ae, except in loanwords, and rare cases
• Whenever a+u appears, it tends to form o, except in loanwords, and in rare cases (where it will for "ao" in writing)
• Many vowels can shift according to position, or subsequent vowels. In some dialects, subtle vowel harmony or umlauting may occur
• In many dialects there is a tendency to reduce consonant clusters, however, there is no strict rule against them in Medyachi, but since Medyachi is dictated by things popular in the other dialects, it has no real sway on the issue
• L historically has been marginally used, but remains in the language for reasons unknown/unexplained

Morphology (and Grammar?)

When on paper, Medyestani is rather agglutinative, speakers tend to avoid using it too much for clarity's sake.

Nouns

Plural

Nominal plurals take -i, unless they end in -a, in which case it becomes either -ae, or -ai, with -ai becoming more common due to regularisation.