Meritéan is a Liliance language most closely related to Phénixien. Meritéan, likely categorizable as a koiné when standardized during the height of the Meritéan Commonwealth, lost ground to Ingallish over time and is now probably more accurately classified as a macrolanguage comprising a number of distinct varieties. Many of the varieties have both preserved elements of elements of pre-plague Phenixien that no longer exist in modern Phenixien and also have been subject to heavy Ingallish influence.
Some varieties of Meritéan, like Crairican, are categories as separate languages more for political reasons than linguistic ones.
Specification of Meritais[]
[Tech: Is Meritais the same as Meritéan? Downloaded 7Dec03 from http://www.geocities.com/crazy_reindeer/meritais (gone, not in Internet Archive)]
Orthography[]
Words ending in 'd' in Phenixien usually end in 't' in Meritais. For example grand and quand are spelt graunt and quant.
Words containing 'aut' in Phenixien generally are spelt with 'ault' in Meritais. For example haut and autre are spelt hault and aultre.
Words ending in 'tion' in Phenixien are generally spelt with 'cion' in Meritais. For example réservation is spelt réservacion.
Words containing letters accented with circumflexes in Phenixien are generally spelt with an 's' after the letter that would bear a circumflex. For example être would be estre.
Words beginning with a silent 'h' in Phenixien generally have such an 'h' omitted in Meritais. For example heure and havre are spelt ore and avre.
Words ending in 's' in Phenixien, especially plurals, such as les and gens, are spelt with 'z' in Meritais, i.e. lez and genz.
Words terminating in 'i' in Phenixien generally end in a 'y' in Meritais. Moi, vrai, and roi are spelt moy, vray, and roy though they are pronounced identically.
Words such as dancer, grand, and sans in Phenixien are spelt dauncer, graunt, and sans in Meritais.
Words such as nouveau and château in Phenixien become nouvel and chastel in Meritais.
Plurals in Meritais differ from those in Phenixien in respect to words whose singular forms end in -al, such as journal and cheval. Whereas in Phenixien le journal would be pluralized as les journaux, in Meritais the plural form would be lez journaulx.
Trilingual Comparison[]
| Ingallish | Meritais | Phenixien |
|---|---|---|
| Coast | Coste | Côte |
| Cold | Froyde | Froid |
| Foreign | Estrange | Étrange |
| God | Dieu | Dieu |
| Hello | Boun jour | Bonjour |
| Here | Icy | Ici |
| High | Hault | Haut |
| Him | Luy | Lui |
| Holy | Sainct | Saint |
| Horse | Chival | Cheval |
| Hotel | Hostel | Hôtel |
| Hour | Ore | Heure |
| King | Roy | Roi |
| Kingdom | Royaulme | Royaume |
| Large | Graunt | Grand |
| Me | Moy | Moi |
| Other | Aultre | Autre |
| President | Président | Président |
| Same | Mesme | Même |
| Throne | Trone | Thrône |
| To Be | Estre | Être |
| True | Vray | Vrai |
| Weather | Temp | Temps |
| Without | Saunz | Sans |