Novial/Pronunciation 1

100px|right|Novial flag Novial home – Pronunciation Guide Contents – Lesson 1 – Lesson 2 – Lesson 3 – Lesson 4 – Lesson 5 – Lesson 6 – Lesson 7 Prefixes – Suffixes – Proforms Pronunciation Guide Otto Jespersen, who devised Novial, was a professional linguist. He carefully designed the spelling and pronunciation of Novial to be as easy as possible for people of different language backgrounds while using West European root words as the basis of the vocabulary. Novial uses the standard 26 letters of the modern Latin alphabet. There are no accents which makes it easy to write on any Latin alphabet keyboard. The letters C and Z occurs only in foreign names (proper nouns). There are only five vowels: A, E, I, O and U which are generally pronounced with their continental values, i.e. similar to Spanish and Italian. However, their very distinct sounds allow some leeway for speakers of different backgrounds while still avoiding miscomprehension. Three digraphs are used: CH, SH and QU. Q occurs only in the combination QU. As in English S is pronounced differently from SH but the use of a hyphen between S and H when they are two separate sounds prevents any ambiguity. Every word is pronounced as spelled according to the pronunciation rules: Novial spelling is therefore phonemic (commonly called phonetic). The stress generally lies on the vowel before the last consonant. If there is no vowel preceding a consonant it is on the second from last vowel. One exception is words ending in -ee where the stress is on the second from last -e. Examples with stressed syllable in bold: abandona, fala, egal, vie, musee Note that where alternative pronunciations are given, all are correct allowing easier pronunciation for people of different language backgrounds. Letter Sound (IPA) Sound (example) ExampleAaa as in English fatherabandonaabandonBbb as in betbebebabyCs or kforeign names only. Generally: s before e and i as in Celsius, otherwise k as in CairoCaracasCaracasCHʃ or tʃsh as in shine or ch as in churchchansechanceDdd as in deepdefinidefineEe or ɛé as in French fiancée or e as in in English petegalequalFff as in foodfalafallGgg as in getgardaguardHhh as in hothelpahelpIiee as in seen but shorter or i as in French petiteimpedaimpedeJdʒ or ʒj as in jet or s as in pleasurejirafegiraffeKkk as in skikioskekioskLll as in letlandelandMmm as in moonmagnetisamagnetizeNnn as in nevernaturenatureOo or ɒo as in Italian Roma or o as in British English onobservaobservePpp as in sportpapadaddyQUkw or kv or kuqu as in question or qu as in German Quelle or cu as in Spanish cuestaquestionequestionRr or ɹrolled r as in Scots English or English rrapidrapidSs or zs as in summer or s as in risesunesunSHʃ or tʃsh as in shine or ch as in churchshutashootTtt as in steptekniketechniqueUuu as in putunikuniqueVvv as in victoryvariationevariationWw or u or vw as in west or ou in French ouest or w as in German WestwattwattXks or gzx as in axe or x in exampleauxiliariauxiliaryYjy as in youyunayoungZz or sforeign names only. Generally: z as in Zambia or as in original language if differentSuezSuez When writing if you do not know or remember whether CH or SH is the usual form simply use either. _____________________________________________________________________________________ 100px|right|Novial flag Novial home - Pronunciation Guide Contents – Lesson 1 – Lesson 2 – Lesson 3 – Lesson 4 – Lesson 5 – Lesson 6 – Lesson 7 Prefixes – Suffixes – Proforms