I’ve been playing around with language, as you’ve noticed, and playing with putting people’s names into Calenyen phonemes.
In some cases this requires bending the rules. For instance, my name, Lyn, falls entirely within Calenyen phonemes, but L- is not an initial sound.
In others, it requires bending the name:
It’s a CV(C)**** language: Underlyingly CVC, but because of degemination very commonly CV(C) in less formal registers, and typically so written (except in formal documents). (hat tip ![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thnidu)
Adjacent consonants are okay unless they occur within the same syllable
No cl, gr, sk, bl, and so on.
No -io, -ia, like Mario, Maria, either. HOWEVER, to quote inventrix, “some of the vowel combination sounds can be ‘mimicked’ by using a palatalized preceding consonant.”
And some are nigh on impossible!
How’s yours work out?
Calenyen has the following letters:
Consonants
14 that can begin a word:
7 nonpalatalized, or “plain”: K, L, P, T, D, B, G,
7 corresponding palatalized: ky, ly, py, ty, dy, by, gy *
10 that cannot begin a word (non-initial)***:
5 plain: r, z, zh, m, n
5 palatalized: ry, zy, zhy, my, ny
4 non-initial consonants that arose in later days
2 plain: v, s
2 palatalized: vy, sy Vowels
9 vowels**
ai, i, aa, a, e, ie, u, o, oo (see here)
* beginning a noun, even a proper noun, with a palatalized consonant suggests something is without use, worthless. Yes, some people name kids that way.
** you can begin a name with a vowel! It means you’re royal, or, at least, you have an Emperor/Empress in your ancestry.
***The Calenyen break this rule, so it’s okay if you do! They like stealing names from other languages…
****with some variations, see Imperial names, etc.
If you want, I’ll draw your name in Calenyen letters. I could use the practice!
If your screen name involves an word (dragonfly, inspector, thorn, alder), I could be convince (if you ask) to make up that word in Calenyen, too.
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1022144.html. You can comment here or there.
Both my names, Rix and the offline one, begin with plain non-initial letters.
It’s the X that gives me trouble. You end up being Rik. 😀 Do you pronounce your offline name with two or three syllables?
It comes out as two – the first syllable then the consonant of the second added to the front of the third.
Okay, yes. That’s how I pronounce it, too. I’ll draw that one later & e-mail it to you.
I think ‘kelkyag’ just needs an extra vowel (do they do glottal stops?) stuffed in between l and k, and I’d have to go look up palatalized to figure out if that’s anything like the right sound for ky (“key” using y as a vowel, so probably not).
Actually, Kelkyag works spelled like that, they like stacking CVC syllables. oh, hey, I’ve been pronouncing your screen name wrong! well, sometimes. Sometimes I do it two syllables and sometimes three. If it’s it’s own syllable, then hrrm.. Kel-kie(consonant)-which a does it have there?-g
“Calenyen does not put two consonant sounds or two vowel sounds next to each other.” So that means not what I originally read it as, but no blended consonants? I don’t know the correct technical terms here. I use a short a in the last syllable. And still vaguely want to learn the IPA, but probably still not enough to push it to the top of the queue. 🙂
I am in the very process of correcting that, because it was phrased horribly. No blended consonants, correct: Banter is okay, but Pant is not, to steal Inventrix’ example.
Oh, right, and pick an extra consonant — do I need two, or will one do? Definitely need to figure out what the palatalized sounds are, then.
I should probably do a recording. It ends up, mmmns, with sort of a -yuh blended into the consonant. Thnidu could probably explain it better. Consonant: You have Kel- Kie[C]-[C]ag. They can be the same consonant, keeps it the closest to your screen name. They tend to skoosh two matching consonants into one, for space. This video here is pretty close: https://youtu.be/roevsN1zBl4?t=29
The “press tongue against teeth” part of the example is only for the “n”, yes? I’m not sure I can make these sounds correctly, but have the general idea at least. So letting the y vowel sound almost drop and smushing the last two syllables together (conveiently keeping the spelling) might be at least as correct as stuffing in a (double) vowel. Which one to add seems kind of arbitrary. Z or zy? Kelkiezzyag?
*starts to draw* Okay, that a. More like Cat or Car? (She asks the bostonian) Or what word is it like?
Wasn’t raised in Boston, can’t even do a decent fake of a Boston accent without listening to someone who has one for half an hour first. 🙂 Short, more like cat.
I did notice a distinct lack of cah’s and pahk’s in your speech. 😀
oh, darnit. Missed the y in Kelkiezzyag. ah, well. shall fix tomorrow!
To be fair, I’m not sure z-zh is legal or pronounceable, and am quite willing to be corrected. Double letters overlap?
Double letters overlap! I think z-zy is pronounceable, there’s just a bit of a pause.
Hmm… LilFluff –> Lilviluv? (Assuming an ‘f’ to ‘v’, one could argue for p or b)
Lilviluv works!