Latonic/Pronunciation
Latonic Pronunciation
[edit | edit source]Latonic Pronunciation is very subject to dialects and local variants, however the most general form is described below:
The Alphabet
[edit | edit source]| Character | Name | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Aa | A | Like a in father (may be long or short) |
| Bb | Bé | Like our b, sometimes more like v |
| Cc | Cé | Before e and i: see ç, in other cases like our k |
| Çç | Cé-cedilla | Like ch in church, but slightly more voiced (though not like j in James) |
| Dd | Dé | |
| Ee | É | Short like e in bed and dead, long like a in play, at the end of a word: see further |
| Éé | É corta | See further, this is sometimes considered a separate letter, though it is basicly the same letter as E |
| Ff | Effe | |
| Gg | Gué | before e and i: see j, otherwise like in game |
| GUgu | Always like g in game, the u is not pronounced when followed by another letter. Note that gu is not considered a separate letter. | |
| Hh | Hacca | Pronounced very silently, in some variants unpronounced. In loanwords: either pronounced or silent depending on the language of origin. |
| Ii | I (Ióta) | Short like i in hit or long like ee in feet. Before or after a vowel like y, unless in cases decribed further on |
| Jj | Jé | Varies from j in James to y in day to the Greek gamma sound (=like g in Dutch goed) |
| Kk | Kappa | Only used in foreign words |
| Ll | Elle | |
| LLll | Elílle | May be a consonant cluster with is pronounced as ly (or only l or y in some dialects), or simply a doubled l |
| Mm | Emme | |
| Nn | Enne | In some variants pronounced nasally, like in sing |
| GNgn | Egne | Like a nasal n (sing) followed by a normal n (dance), similar to the Latin pronunciation for this cluster. The modern Romance pronunciation ny is considered incorrect, though some variants pronounce ngy. |
| Oo | O | Short like in hot or long like in row |
| Pp | Pé | |
| QUqu | q=Cu qu=Qué | Like kw. Used instead of c to get a k-sound before e and i, in which case the u remains silent (just like in Spanish) |
| Rr | Erre | Typical Romance r |
| Ss | Esse | Before a voiceless consonant like s or sh, after a consonant always like s, between two vowels more like z |
| Tt | Té | Before e and i more like th in threat |
| Uu | U | Short like oo in cook or long like o in who. Before or after another vowel like w, unless in cases discussed below. |
| Vv | Vé / Vu | Something between v and w, before an e and i very much like our v |
| Ww | Vu Duali | Only used in loanwords, some people may pronounce it correctly, others will copy the sound from V |
| Xx | Ecxe | Like a k or a g (or in one dialect like Greek χ), followed by sh |
| Yy | Ypselo | Only used in foreign words and even then avoided. Like i or German ü, depending on the original language. |
| Zz | Eze / Esse Duali | Always like ss, and some people also write it as ss. We will always write z, unless in cases where ss is always used. |
| ' | Apostrôfo | Unpronounced. All verbs end on this sign in the third person plural, in this case it gets replaced by an n before a vowel |
Doubling of consonants
[edit | edit source]Just like in English, consonants may be double to shorten the preceding vowel. Normally this is shown in spelling by writing the same character twice, though there some points of attention:
- ç is doubled as cç
- qu is doubled as cqu
- j is doubled as gj
- z is never doubled
- l is doubled as ll, making it indistinguishable from the letter ll
Accents and stress
[edit | edit source]Latonic has three accents, the short accent, corto or acuto (´), the long accent, circoflecso or lugno (^) and the central accent, centrale or gravo (`)
These are important to determine stress, though they don't completen control it.
The stress in Latonic is normally on the third-to-last syllable, except when
- a word has only one or two syllables
- the penultimate vowel is a, o, or u
- the penultimate vowel is followed by a consonant group (in which ll and gn count as consonant groups, but qu and gu don't)
- the penultimate vowel is followed by a doubled consonant
If however the ultimate or the penultimate syllable has an accent, that syllable has the stress. To alter stress, the short accent is sually used because it doesn't alter pronunciation (note that vowel with a short accent can still be long)
For example: vincere has stress on vin-, but temére has stress on mé-
The vowels i and u are pronounced resp. y and w next to another vowel. If this is not the case, this is also marked by a short accent (which can at the same time give the vowel stress, though it doesn't have to). If they are not pronounced fully, but the vowel next to them has stress, that vowel is marked with a short accent.
For example: finia has stress on fin-, but finía has stress on í-, parlái has stress on á- and ié has stress on -é
The long accent is more drastic: it always moves stress to one vowel and means that vowel is always long. It is a typical mark of the Perfectu tense, but is also found in other words. It can never occur before a doubled consonant or a consonant group.
i.e. vo parlái is you talk, me parlâi is I talked, but you talked is vo parlaste and not vo parlâste
i.e.2 sentíre and finîre both have a long i, but finîre is written with a long accent to show it belongs to another grammatical group
Accents may also be used to distinguish would-be homonyms. The long and short accent may be used for the purpose, the central accent is only used for this purpose. The central accent is very rare by the way.
i.e. e means and, é means their, and è means in
i.e.2 no means we, nò means not
The letter e at the end of a word is pronounced normally in some variants, dull (like uh) in others, in yet other variants it is silent. Some words have an official synomyn formed by leaving away the e, which is written with a long accent on the central vowel (i.e. bene and bên)