Suvile Introduction

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Phonology and Orthography

Suvile has 32 distinct phonemes--26 consonants and 6 vowels--as well as 7 distinctive diphthongs (sequences of two vowels, like in English "now" or "toy"). Their pronunciation varies by dialect, but the standard values are listed below. 

The columns of the table are:

Orthography IPA CXS Similar English Sound
p [p] [p] p as in pet
b [b] [b] b as in bad
t [t] [t] t as in tell
d [d] [d] d as in dog
k [k] [k] c as in cat
g [g] [g] g as in gone
v [v] [v] v as in vast
th [θ] [T] th as in thing
dh [ð] [D] th as in then
s [s] [s] s as in sun
z [z] [z] z as in zoo
sh [ʃ] [S] sh as in shin
zh [ʒ] [Z] s as in measure
x [x] [x] ch as in German Bach
m [m] [m] m as in mate
n [n] [n] n as in none
l [l] [l] l as in left
r [ɾ] [4]1 r as in Spanish para
w [w] [w] w as in wind
y [j] [j] y as in yet
tth [tθ] [tT]2 dth as in width
ddh [dð] [dD]2 d th as in did this
ts [ts] [ts]2 ts as in bats
dz [dz] [dz]2 ds as in heads
c [tʃ] [tS]2 ch as in church
j [dʒ] [dZ]2 j as in jump
a [ɑ] [A]3 a as in father
e [e] [e]4 ay as in hay
i [i] [i] ee as in bee
o [o] [o] o as in note
u [u] [u] oo as in noon
ae [æ] [&] a as in had

Notes:

(1): /r/ is pronounced as [ɹ] at the end of words. (the "American" r-sound in bar)

(2): These sounds are affricates. Suvile counts them as single phonemes, not as sequences of sounds.

(3): |a| is often pronounced as [a] before the nasal sounds /m/ and /n/. (similar to the US Southern i-sound in light)

(4): |e| is sometimes pronounced as [ε] before a consonant. (the e-sound in net)


 © 2005 Michael Potter

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