Adventures In Clonelang Part 1: How The Fuck Do They Sound
Hi. Hello. I’m finally starting on this gigantic horrible project for real. So first up is phonetics! Because in order to make a language I need to know how it sounds.
Overview
It’s pretty similar to english but with some exceptions—it includes a glottal stop and like Mando’a has no “f” or “x.” Unlike Mando’a, it makes frequent use of “z” and related sounds. Also, it does NOT have “Q” because “Q” is nonsense.
Vowel Sounds
A, E, O, U - this spelling indicates short vowel sound. These are the same as in English.
Exceptions: “I” is pronounced as a long “E,” and “O” is always long. “E” can also sometimes be pronounced as a long “A” in Mando’a loan words.
AA, II, OO, UU - this spelling indicates a long vowel sound, except with “O” where it indicates “Ooh”.
Vowel doubles:
AU - Pronounced “ow.”
AI - Pronounced “eye.”
AY - Pronounced like the “ay” in the English word “way.”
Consonants
B, D, G, H, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, V, W, Y, Z: pronounced the same except for G and Y. G is only a hard G, while Y is only used in conjunction.
Consonant doubles:
ZH: Soft “J” sound.
DJ: Hard “J” sound.
CY/C: “Sh” sound.
Notes
This is a very basic draft of the sounds. I think the language should have at least some influence from te reo Māori, so I have tried to include some influences from there but my knowledge of the language is very, VERY limited so some of this will change as I learn more. If anyone has any advice on that score it would be greatly appreciated—I’d rather be told I’m wrong now than later once I’ve done a ton of work.
