Sounds of the Letters
A - as in father
AE - as in kite
AU - as in how
B - as in cob
aspiration is optional
C - as in corn
aspiration is optional
CH - unvoiced uvular fricative
Hear this letter. (16kb wav)
D - as in dog
aspiration is optional
DH - as in that
Hear this letter. (22kb wav)
E - as in pet
At the end of words, this is often written ë. Note that
the diaresis (two dots over the letter) is only there as
a reminder to prevent English-speakers from pronouncing
words such as yalesë like "yawl-EEZ". The diaresis is
not required on a word.
F - as in farm
G - as in egg
aspiration is optional
H - as in hat
I - as in keep
L - as in lamp
M - as in monkey
N - as in no
O - as in or
P - as in pet
aspiration is optional
QU - as in quick
Hear this letter. (20kb wav)
R - as in rat
S - as in sand
T - as in tap
aspiration is optional
TH - as in thing
U - as in lunar
UI - "hwee" — The H is an unvoiced glottal fricative, like
in English; it is only pronounced when UI is not preceded
by a consonant. UI itself is simply a 'w' sound followed
with the sound "ee" as in keep. Hear this letter. (16kb wav)
Y - as in year
Dj - foreign; pronounced like j in jolly
J - foreign; pronounced like s in measure
Nc - when C follows N (especially at the end of words, like
in neninyan caelonen), the N and C are merged together
like in English, "in cold weather". If you don't understand
this, don't worry; it should just naturally happen anyhow.
S - foreign; the sh as in shoe is fairly difficult for the Almalinians
to pronounce. With the exception of some of the more
educated people who can make the sound come out
properly, it is pronounced just like S.
Note that ae, au, ch, dh, qu, th, and ui are separate letters (In other words, ch is not c + h, but is its own letter entirely.), even though in the Roman orthography (which is the way that you and I write everyday, as opposed to the symbols that the Almalinians use as their alphabet) it takes two different symbols to write them. This is similar to ch, ll, and rr in Spanish.
Now that the actual sounds have been discussed, there are a few things to know about the true letters, such as what you would use if you were spelling something out loud. If the letter is consonant (such as B, Ch, L, P, or Qu), then the letter that is used in the alphabet is simply that consonant sound followed by e. The second letter of the Almalinian alphabet, then, is be (pronounced like in the English word bet). The fourth is che, and so on. The unaccented vowels and the dipthongs are just themselves, with no other changes. Thus, the first letter of the alphabet is just a. If, however, a word that contains an accented vowel needs to be spelled, you attach -le to the end of the vowel. To spell ánola ("green"), the letters would be "ale, ne, o, le, a".
Accents
For those of you who don't know what "stress" or "accent" mean, I want you to say the word "computer". --- Yes, I'm serious; now stop wasting time and say it. Did you say it yet? --- Notice how you said the second syllable, the "pyoo" sound a little differently, a little more forcefully, than you said the "kum" and "tur" parts of the word. That is known as stress. Now, try the word psychology; What syllable does the stress come on? Here's how you would say the word: "seye-KA-luh-jee," and so, as you can see, you stressed the "ka" part a little bit heavier than the rest of the word. If you're feeling particularly daring, try playing with the word and switching the stress from the "ka" syllable to the "luh" syllable. With the switched syllable, the word sounds like some type of game that you might invent while playing in the mud.
Accents in Almalinian are on the syllable that is next to the last, except if there is an accent sign (like on í and á) on another syllable. syllable. A few examples:
eglerya - fast
The syllables for this word are eg ler ya. Because ler is the next to the last one, it is accented. An English-speaking person might pronounce this something similar to "egg-LARE-yah".
éldami - to have
This word has an accent mark on the e, and so the "da" syllable should not be stressed in this instance. You would say this word like "ELL-dah-mee".
Conclusion
Because I've just said so much about the letters of the alphabet, this page might remind you of Sesame Street, but I hope you learned something. Now, you can read anything that is written in Almalinian aloud as an Almalinian would say it. Congratulations!
