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[Abraxas]

[SPEC] The Language

[Abraxas]

I will edit the list above, as we learn new words. Once we are relatively certain about some of the pronunciations, I will try to add those to the list, perhaps with an example word.

Here's my first round of spec:

With all the observations that follow, I think that the short A comes first, then the long A. This goes against my first impression about "korpata", though.

Wonder if DH is spoken like a soft D or like the English "th".

My usual short-long routine is giving me a hard time for the E for some reason...totally goes against my guts and predispositions.

The Language definitely has an H on its own, as evidenced by the word "hienemfa" (Scattering) in the dictionary, to give just one example. Fits right after the G.

I think the first two I are voiced, the latter two are voiceless. In "tenchi" the "i" is not voiced or is it, Blue? I believe in Japanese vowels at the end are generally (or usually) not fully voiced, although not swallowed either. For instance, "name" in English would be pronounced "name-uh" by an untrained Japanese speaker.
The second and fourth version are probably long versions. Although that would collide with the long-short...

There is definitely a J, too. One example is "Janfaltrom". However, the one in "ejert" may belong to either E3 or E4. If the J there is spoken like in Spanish? Unlikely, but possible.

We haven't yet seen an example of N2 and N3. One of them might be NH. And the other one a voiceless N, like in French?

My guess on the Os so far: O1 is short, O2 is long, O3 might be like in "lose", O4...if the dots are straightforward, it could be an umlaut-like sound. A little like in "hurt" or really like German Ö.

R1 could be hard or soft, it all depends on how much it resembles English or the anglicised Latin words, like in "pro". In Latin it's hard, in English it's soft. I tend towards the hard. R2 could be RH. R3, again, either hard or soft, depending on what R1 was. Although, to be honest, I really feel like the Language does not have a soft R.

T2, if you see a pattern, could be TH. But I think it's not spoken like the English "th", but rather like the "th" in German.

U1 and U2, here we go again, any order of long and short. Can't make up my mind about it, but - once again - tend towards short-long.

Yes, I think the one between V and X is a W. If you look at the alphabet, it all seems to be in order except for the characters with a curve underneath them and - oddly, though - the two W versions right in front of them. An example for the W1 sound is probably "grwl" or "grelw". A hard W. Like in German.

W2 might be WH, the long version of W, not spoken like the English "wh". Instead, that's what W3 is - a soft W.

Now, the characters with that curve thing...we have not seen them so far. But I think it will produce a sound with a character added in front of them instead of after them, like with all the xH characters we know and suspect. For U3 or U4, I would be expecting something spoken like in "mule", perhaps. A "yoo" kind of sound. And in parallel, a "yee" kind of sound. And probably the long versions of them? Why do they put those at the end of the alphabet?

As for V, Y and Z...they would fit right in there in the order. And they exist, as "vexem", "ya" and "zurk" will prove.

However, there is very likely no Q in the alphabet. We have never seen a word with one. And that explains the gap there inbetween the P and R.


Ah, isn't it fun? This is what I joined for, fun chats aside.


Edit: To our new players (well, I never really listened to it, either...), make sure to check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63peBNrIsk4
It features the only spoken bit of Language we have. And it's exactly like I thought it would sound except maybe for "kwn" (if that's what it says?). I would have pronounced that like "kwen" rather than "kwon".
This means that I'd have to go for long-short on the A and E. And in turn...I don't know, if the rest follows the same pattern it will be very different from what I thought.

[Abraxas]

list updated with words from the beacon picture

(just that I wrote this in a text editor and now that I only edit the post, the code tag creates some problems...fix it later)

[bluesylvia]

Aytan should be Aztlan

[Abraxas]

The fact that it's "Aztlan" shoots down my theory, that the letters are in order of our alphabet except for the last couple.

Since there is only one "L", I can put the word on the list as usual, despite the script error.

I would have liked to listen to Tylean's recording again, in order to pin down some of the pronunciation. But unfortunately, no time for that right now. However, I believe the modified vowels are sometimes the long version, other times the short version. I notice "iatux" has a short A (which is version 2), but "etermul" - which is at least what I heard in there - has short E (which is version 1, there).

[Abraxas]

Update after figuring out part of what Tylean says:

I guess I was half right about one of the O being close to the umlaut O (Ö). But it's not O4. According to how dwond is pronounced, it should be the O2, instead.

The E in Tnem is short. But so are the Es in etermul. It's not about long/short? To be honest, I don't hear any difference between those.

The R of both etermul and dhrem is rolled with an effort, but in a soft way. That's both R2. I was definitely wrong there being no soft R.
Now I'm convinced that R1 is a hard R.

You can clearly hear what O4 sounds like in ol. It's an O with a soft roll in front of it, sounds like "wol" would sound like if it was a word.

Coming to think of it, the word TEDO (which is an improv, remember) is a good showcase of the language.

[Abraxas]

update

added: bi, ank, vexem, Donar'tnel

Note that the tnel in Donar'tnel has a different pronunciation than the stand-alone tnel.
Might be a mistake, but I'm sure there are similar examples in our languages, while I can't think of any, on the spot.

Tylean's second message:

Dwond sounds less like "dwnd" this time. Not sure what the make of that.