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language:alphabet

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The language itself amongst Threadwielders is a selection of syllables, meaning that in combination with its audio-independent nature, technically the alphabet consists of syllabic ideograms. Since that would be a pain to note down, though, we'll use the quasi-latin transcription on this page and follow the commonplace pronunciations.

Glyphs

The quasi-latin transcription consists of all standard latin characters, plus the extra character and minus x (the sound is represented by the digraph ks).

In other words:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w y z

Pronunciation

  • a is pronounced /a/ or /ä/, rather than /æ/ or /ɑ/ː as is common in English.
  • e is pronounced /ɪ/, /e/ or /e̞/; not /i/.
  • g is pronounced /ɢ/.
  • h is pronounced /h/.
  • i is pronounced /i/.
  • j is pronounced /ɟ/.
  • k is pronounced /q/.
  • l is pronounced /l/ or /ɭ/.
  • o is pronounced /ɞ/, /ɔ/ or /o/.
  • q is pronounced kw.
  • r is pronounced /r/ or /ɾ/.
  • which has no direct IPA phonetic alphabet equivalent and is best described as a “hollow 'sh'” (like taking /ʂ/ a step further away from /ʃ/).
  • u is pronounced /u/.
  • v is pronounced /β/ more than /v/, but both are valid.
  • w is pronounced /β̞ /.
  • y serves a function both as a vowel and a consonant, as in English.
    • As a vowel, it is pronounced /y/, or as the sequence ji in some dialects.
    • As a consonant, it is pronounced /j/.

Digraphs:

  • ai is usually not a digraph (exceptions will be noted in dictionary), but if it is, it's a tight sequence of a and i as in German.
  • ei is also not usually a digraph (exceptions will be noted in dictionary), but if it is, it's a tight sequence of e and i as in German.
  • kh, serving as the same sound as 'k', plus a modifier for the vowel that follows; 'kha' is pronounced akin to 'kah'.
  • ks, pronounced as x would be in English.
  • rh, serving the same sound as 'r', plus a modifier for the vowel that follows; 'rha' is pronounced akin to 'rah').
  • sh for /ʃ/.
  • sz, serving as the same sound as 'z', plus a modifier for the vowel that follows; 'sza' is pronounced akin to 'zah').
  • th for /θ/ as in English (@todo not sure if also /ð/… think not).

Redundancies (i.e. letters or digraphs that exist for aesthetic purposes only):

  • c at the start of words is synonymous with s.
  • c not at the start of words is synonymous with k.
  • the digraph kw is synonymous with q.
  • the digraph ph is synonymous with f.
  • the digraph zh is synonymous with sz.
  • in the digraph qu, the u is silent (the letters as a true sequence would either be written as quu or (predominantly) q'u).
  • in some dialects, the digraph ee may be pronounced as i.

Assume compatibility with most common English pronunciations unless otherwise noted.

Punctuation

Punctuation varies regionally, but the following punctuation forms (albeit not the symbols; they can and do vary) are inherit to the language design:

.
period
!
exclamation mark
?
question mark

interrobang
'
apostrophe
,
comma
  • . denotes the end of a sentence.
  • ! denotes the end of an exclamation.
  • ? denotes the end of an enquiry.
  • ‽ denotes the end of an exclaimed enquiry.
  • , denotes a short pause, usually at the end of a clause. Regionally, various greater pauses can exist in punctuation, such as “;” or “-” or “…”, but they're not typical.
  • ' denotes the end of a syllable. This is optional when the end of the syllable is otherwise implied. Examples: adreth'a - the apostrophe is necessary to prevent reading the plural form as ad-re-tha, rather than ad-reth-a; contrast with kenda'a, which can be written as kendaa, because aa is not a digraph.
language/alphabet.1376076992.txt.gz · Last modified: 2017/11/18 15:22 (external edit)

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