Malíská

Malíská is a fictional language developed for world-building and speculative fiction. In its in-universe setting, malíská is spoken by the Malíska people who inhabit the archipelago of Malis in the central continent of Orandra. The language is described as part of the broader Maliskan language family and sits at the heart of Maliskan identity and cultural practices.

Name and classification: The term malíská is the native name for the language; grammars refer to it as Malíská and to its speakers as Malískani. In the world-building corpus, Maliskan is characterized as a young branch of a larger hypothetical language group, with gradual contact to neighboring Tonguan and Koroan languages.

Phonology: Malíská has a five-vowel system with phonemic nasal vowels and a set of consonants including a glottal stop. Stress tends to fall on the penultimate syllable; syllable structure is typically CV or CVC. The language features vowel harmony for suffix vowels in some dialects.

Grammar and syntax: The language favors a subject–verb–object order in simple clauses, with rich inflection through agglutinative suffixes that mark case, number, and definiteness. Pronouns distinguish inclusive and exclusive forms, and there are modal suffixes for aspect and mood.

Orthography and usage: Malíská is written in a Latin-based script with diacritics indicating vowel length and tone. In-world literature, dictionaries, grammars, and phrasebooks are produced by cultural institutions. The language is characterized as vital in some communities and as endangered in others, with language revitalization programs described in regional lore.