Post by Hooligan on May 7, 2007 23:05:27 GMT -6
Talossan has a number of digraphs and trigraphs -- groups of two or three consonants that make single sound. Whenever the sounds of the different parts of these little pairs (or trios) need to be pronounced separately, Talossan separates them with an apostrophe.
For example, the English "K" sound is written "ch" in Talossan. And the English "SH" sound is written "sch", which means that in order to write the "SK" sound, Talossan writes "s'ch". All of this is well and good. (Technically, since "s'ch" is four characters long, it's a "tetragraph".)
Since we in the CÙG are working on an Arestada, considering orthographic changes, I thought I would put forth some ideas I have had on Talossan di/tri/tetragraphs. I notice that some of these ideas dovetail or perhaps conflict (but I hope in a good way) with the modest proposals floated by one S:reu Woolley in another thread. In fact, it was his proposals numbered A13 and A14 -- offering alternate digraphs for some of Talossa's current orthography -- which put me in mind to make my own thoughts known on these letter combinations. In the interest of putting every thought on the table for discussion, here goes.
1. Standardizing Digraph Separation.
Mà la Mhà
Sworn CÙG Member
For example, the English "K" sound is written "ch" in Talossan. And the English "SH" sound is written "sch", which means that in order to write the "SK" sound, Talossan writes "s'ch". All of this is well and good. (Technically, since "s'ch" is four characters long, it's a "tetragraph".)
Since we in the CÙG are working on an Arestada, considering orthographic changes, I thought I would put forth some ideas I have had on Talossan di/tri/tetragraphs. I notice that some of these ideas dovetail or perhaps conflict (but I hope in a good way) with the modest proposals floated by one S:reu Woolley in another thread. In fact, it was his proposals numbered A13 and A14 -- offering alternate digraphs for some of Talossa's current orthography -- which put me in mind to make my own thoughts known on these letter combinations. In the interest of putting every thought on the table for discussion, here goes.
1. Standardizing Digraph Separation.
I propose that we formally state that the apostrophe is used to separate letter groups, so that each side is pronouned by itself. As I discussed above, this is already the case with "s'ch" and it is a natural rule to state in general. This rule will let us do what needs to be done in words that are already mispronounceable as written, such as the word avîntguárd, which (because it includes the digraph "tg" in it) really should be written avînt'guárd.2. The "N" Digraphs/Trigraphs.
- In existing Talossan, the digraph "nh" is sounded as the "ny" in English "canyon". This is used in only seven words: nhouâ (the obsolete word for "new"), conheçéir (connoisseur), nhoi (the form of noi used after a preposition ending in a vowel, and also an obsolete word for "then"), conheçar ("to be familiar with"), zesconheçar ("to pretend ignorance of"), and two proper nouns, Tzaranhouâ ("Newfoundland") and Sainhálësch ("Sinhalese"). With so few uses of "nh", I propose that three of these words be respelled using GÑH (becoming cogñheçar and zescogñheçar and cogñheçéir -- since the original root of these words is the Latin cognoscere, also seen in Greek gnosis, this makes a vast amount of etymological sense anyway, and does not affect the pronunciation), and that the "nh" be separated with an apostrophe, if in any of those words both are to be voiced (Sain'hálësch would seem to be the only one of the seven), and that the other three words -- nhoi, nhouâ, and Tzaranhouâ -- be left spelled as-is, and simply add them to the list of excepted pronunciation.
- I propose (and this is a proposal that has been made many times over the last decade or more) eliminating the letter ñ and using NG in its place. This is already done in nearly every instance where the sound exists. I was surprised to learn that in all of our dictionary, there are only thirteen words (and actually only four of these are root words) that use the letter ñ (when it is not part of the trigraph I am about to discuss). I propose to respell these four words as follows: hañár would become hangár, lañosteu would become langosteu, þíñveclir would become þíngveclir, and añatervâ would become angatervâ, and the very common word iñen ("any") would become ingen. (Words derived from "any" would change as well, such as ingenvej - "any way".) There are no uses of NG where the sounds are to be enunciated separately and would therefore need to be spelled N'G. In fact, NG is not even a digraph; it is just a rule of pronunciation -- as proclaimed by an earlier Arestada -- that before G and hard-C, the letter N is always pronounced as the (English) NG. All instances of ñ can and should be replaced with NG. As for the question of pronunciation that had been settled by the use of ñ (to indicate that the g was not pronounced separately as well, as in singer) in place of "ng" (which would indicate that the g is pronounced, as in finger), I propose we restate the pronunciation rule to state that the sound is normally pronounced without the enunciated G sound (that is, pronounced as in "singer"), except when it appears before a vowel or one of the consonants L, R, or J. In those cases, the G is spoken (as in "finger"). This simple rule will span word boundaries, so that when the words are pronounced quickly one after the other, a word ending with NG that is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, L, R, or J does have the spoken G.
- Only fourteen Talossan words include the letter combination "gn". This combination is a digraph waiting to happen, and that is what I propose we do with it. This would mean respelling the one dozen words that include "gn" so that (if appropriate, and to me, it looks like it is in all cases) an apostrophe is inserted between the two letters. For example, one of the fourteen words is dragnêt. I propose that it become drag'nêt, to ensure that the g and the n are both pronounced. Another of the fourteen is the word "signon" (borrowed from the English, but to be pronounced Talossan). Adding the apostrophe (making it "sig'non") makes the pronunciation ("sig-NOhn") more clear to the reader.
- After these few changes, "gn" is therefore a new digraph. This combination makes perfect sense as digraph, as it serves this purpose in many languages ("gnosis", "gnome"). The other use of the ñ, which I mentioned above, is in the rather cumbersome trigraph gñh. I propose that this trigraph be replaceable by the digraph gn. This trigraph (gñh) appears in a great many words (over four hundred). Allowing it to be spelled with "gn" in place of the "gñh" will make these words words like pîgñhetâ ("wrist") spellable as pîgnetâ. The pronunciation is equally clear; nothing necessary is lost in this proposal, and the language becomes much easier to both read and write.
Here I will just repeat one of S:reu Woolley's proposals, to allow the "glh" trigraph to be spelled "lh". As S:reu Woolley said, there are only two words that currently contain "lh" that are not "glh" words. Both of these would be respelled with the apostrophe, so that filharmonic becomes fil'harmonic. (As I pointed out in my response to this same proposal in the other thread, the apostophe separating the L and the H actually seems to be necessary to a Talossan eye. The LH is what makes the single sound, and even without the G, filharmonic looks like fiLYarmonic to a Talossan reader.) I include this in my proposals only to show it as another application of my first proposal; that the job of the apostrophe be recognized and explained formally.4. The "c'h" Trigraph.
No changes are proposed to the c'h trigraph, which is used to represent the final sound in "loch" and "Bach".5. The Two "th"-Sound Digraphs.
Anyone with any familiarity with the language and its history knows that I cannot take any credit for putting these next two proposals on the table -- they are long-time suggestions of the great Talossan student and speaker Sir Tomás Garecéir. Here they are:6. The "S" Trigraph and Tetragraph.These are the two pronunciations of the English "th" sound, the first as in pronounced in "thick" and the other as pronounced in "this." Note that this is something of an alternate to S:reu Woolley's proposal A11. Removing "tg" from the list of digraphs would mean that the word "avîntguárd" would not have to be respelled as "avînt'guárd". Note that there are only four words which currently use "dh". These would be easily handled using the apostrophe or dropping the H.
- For clarity's sake, the current digraph "tg" should be changed to "th", and
- the current digraph "th" should be changed to "dh".
- The other thread includes a good proposal for the disposition of the awkward tetragraph "s-ch." I will allow that proposal, which has met general approbation, as made by S:reu Woolley, stand unmolested.
- Talossan uses "sch" for the "sh" sound (and also uses "sh" and, as proposed for recognition, "rh" for this same sound). As it turns out, the "sh" form is only used in six words (three of which are proper nouns): Shqip (Albanian), Însulâs Marshall (the Marshall Islands), Muqdisho (Mogadishu), shpártallojmar (to break through), shockar (to shock), and splashar (to splash). Leaving aside the fact that "to shock" has an existing better alternative Talossan form, so it could be removed, I propose to respell these six words using SCH in place of SH. This will allow us to remove SH from the list of digraphs.
There are two digraphs using the letter X -- these are XH (the English "J" sound) and TX (the english "zh" sound). I would not propose any changes to either of these (although I note that "zh" would be a better choice than the very strange "tx" and perhaps this option should be discussed). I mention these here for the reason that the apostrophe may need to be introduced into existing words that contain any uses of those digraphs where the constituent letters should be pronounced separately.8. The "M" Digraph
The digraph MH is pronounced "V". I would not propose any change to this, and I mention it here for the reason that the apostrophe may need to be introduced into existing words that contain any use of MH where the letters should be pronounced separately.9. The "R" Digraph
The RH digraph is already pronounced "sh" when it appears in the future tense conjugation (and "r" elsewhere). Since it appears only in three other words (rhesus, perheliôn, and gavarhál), I propose respelling these words if necessary (for example, resus and perþelion) and saying that RH is at all times pronounced as "sh". As I understand it, a further proposal for the application of this digraph will be forthcoming from another member of the Committee.10. The "Ç" Digraph
The ÇH digraph (which is used in only 19 words) has been a subject of some heated debate in the backrooms. I now have the pleasure of proposing that ten of these 19 words be respelled with simply G (abçhad, açharar, açhasoûr, baba-çhanúxh, Haçhar, isnaçhoçhâ, parpaçhar, praisaçhar, faraçhogñhâ, and meçháirâ), and the others be respelled using GH, with the pronunciation of a G, as in "gate". And since most of the GH spellings in Talossan represent a voiced velar fricative in the language from which Talossan borrowed the word, a Talossan speaker is free to gargle the GH sound when he says Baghdad, just as an English speaker might do the same, in order to demonstrate familiarity with the Arabic pronunciation and show off his phonological expertise.Submitted for comment of the committee and other Ladintschen,
Mà la Mhà
Sworn CÙG Member