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Aril uses about fifty-eight sounds (twenty-six vowels and thirty-two consonants). There are a few vowel sounds, mostly differentiated by length, that don't exist in English, and the same is true of consonants; but most of them are very similar. (I know that's not that original, but I wanted a fantasy language that I could pronounce, as well as the people it was intended for, and many of the phonology systems for other conlangs I've encountered assume an amazingly flexible tongue that I don't have).
VOWELS(Listed in English order for convenience)
(Note: If a vowel combination is not listed below as a diphthong, one can safely assume that the vowels are pronounced separately. The combination 'ia,' for example, is not listed because it is said 'ee-ah,' not run together).
a- Mostly soft a as in father; however, before an r takes on a strong a sound, so that the 'ar' combination is said like the word 'air.' (This is a common phoneme among land Elwens).
á- Said like the a in hat. Rare among Aril words, and almost always indicates that the word in question has been borrowed from some other language (most likely the draconic tongues, which use this sound frequently).
aa-Soft a as in father, even if the second a is before an r, but lengthened; held a beat longer than the normal a.
ae-Strong i sound as the ai in aisle, but held a beat longer than ai (see below).
ai-As the ai in aisle, strong ai sound. When before a liquid (l, ll, r, rh), if at all possible should be said as a separate syllable to preserve the purity of the sound.
ao-As the ou in round; strong ow sound.
au-Stretched version of ao sound, soft a and strong u pronounced as closely together as possible; makes a kind of 'howling' sound.
e- Usually has the sound of e in beta (strong a). However, before liquids (l, ll, r, rh), it is softened to the sound of e in bell, merchant. This probably happened from influence from Primal, which makes much of the 'el' syllable as its word for star. It happened long enough ago that the 'ar' syllable was introduced to compensate.
é-Has the sound of a in mare- strong a sound with a very slight y after it. Retains this even before liquids (and keep in mind that a word with 'ér' in it is said like 'mare,' not like 'air.') Usually said forcefully, and often the centerpiece of a word.
ee- Lengthened version of normal e sound, held a beat longer; retains this sound even before a liquid.
ei-Normal e sound, about halfway in length between 'e' and 'ee;' call it a beat and a half. One of the hardest sounds for non-native Aril speakers to master (I know; I'm still working on it!)
i-Has the sound of i in machine, always.
í-Has the sound of i in sick. Like á above, usually a foreign sound to land Elwens, found in words that were originally adopted from some other tongue, or introduced to distinguish between two words with different meanings that have developed similar sounds.
ii-Stretched version of normal i sound, held for a beat longer.
o-As o in bone, always; never as o in hot.
ó-As au in caught, soft 'awe' sound. Also often a foreign sound to land Elwens, though in some words it has become naturalized.
oi- As oy in toy.
oo-Stretched version of normal o sound, held for a beat longer.
ou-Run together versions of normal o and u sounds, sounded as closely together as possible.
u-As u in dune, always; never as in put or human.
ú-As u in but. Often found in either foreign words or onomatopoeic sounds, such as úbúl 'to drum.'
ue-Said with a w before a normal e sound; like word way.
ui-Said as ui in ruin, but run together as closely as possible.
uu-Stretched version of normal u sound, held for a beat longer.
y-As i in fire; before a liquid, takes strong i followed by slight consonantal y sound. Before a vowel, takes both, so yanne 'crown' is eye-YAHN-nay. Pure consonantal y does not exist in Aril, and foreign words that have it are most often relegated to an h for adoption.
yy-Stretched version of normal y sound, mostly used between consonants.
CONSONANTS
b-As b in boy. Relatively rare.
c-As hard c in cat, always (even before soft e or i).
ch-As soft ch in English church, always- never hard ch as in Scottish loch. This hard guttural does not exist in Aril.
d-As d in dog.
dd, dh-As hard th in other. (I happen to favor the dh spelling, but I hold that double d's in a word have taken a course similar to that of 'th' combinations in English words like 'the' and 'this;' once said as separate sounds, they are now pronounced as dh. The dd's are left for the sake of spelling history, just as English 'knife' retains the k at the front even though we no longer say it).
f-As f in fog.
g-As hard g in get, never soft as in gentle (for this sound, see j.)
h-As h in hot.
hh-Staggered h sound; the first is said with a slight schwa following it, or as closely by itself as possible, and then the second h is pronounced normally. Not common; appears in a few older words retained from the High Ages.
j-As j in jump.
l-As l in light. Usually said with the tip of the tongue touching the back of the teeth.
ll--A "trilled" l, much as the rr in Spanish is trilled; involves pressing the tongue hard against the back of the teeth for an extended period of time. Non-English sound. Does not resemble the ll of Welsh, either.
m-As m in moon.
n-As n in night.
ñ-N + consonantal y in you combination; as in Spanish montaña.
ng-Always as in sing, never as in finger.
p-As p in push. Slightly more common than b.
q-Kw combination as in English queen, but written without the u, as a letter unto itself. If followed by ue, is said: kw-way.
r-As in run.
rh-"Dragged" r sound, held like a vowel (not trilled). Non-English sound.
s-As in sink.
sh-As in shut.
ss-As in English hiss, but held; a sibilant.
t-As in top.
th-Soft th as in thin; never hard as in other. (For this sound, see dd,dh.)
v-As in vine.
w-As in wet. Rare sound by itself in Aril, and usually indicates foreign-adopted words.
x-Two sounds- as in Mexico or exile. Sometimes used to distinguish words from one another, but more often as a marker of class; those from the country or less education tend to pronounce it as gz, those from the higher classes or the city as ks.
z-As in zoo.
zh-As z in azure, j in French bonjour.
CONSONANTAL COMBINATIONS
Two-consonant clusters:-Aril permits these, but unhappily. In the middle of a word, the most common of these clusters have liquids (l,ll,r,rh) in them. At the beginning of a word, any consonant cluster must have a liquid. Thus, cr is a possible cluster to begin a word, as in crith 'light snow,' but *sc is not. Consonant clusters very rarely end a word, and even then usually have a liquid in them. (Remember that some combinations that might look like clusters, such as dh, are actually single sounds in Aril).
Three-consonant clusters:-Aril permits these only in the middle of a word, and then one of the consonants must be a liquid. They never begin or end a word.
That's all the information I have for right now. Hopefully, as more occurs to me, I will put it up.
