09 July, 2011

A Guide to Keòen Pronunciation

As I myself become more fluent in the language of Jadali, I want to take a minute to educate anyone who reads my work and is interested in knowing how things are pronounced. I have tried to make a short and simple guide that will hopefully explain everything that I know.

The language of Jadali, called Keòen, was born the moment that the original 13 were transformed. Like the race itself, the language represents a meld between the Catin and the now-extinct Kiillra languages (though much more loosely based). Keòen is unique in that it is an aural language, meaning that the feeling one gets by listening or speaking the language is more important than the words themselves. This causes a unique phenomenon where people listening can somehow understand what is being said even if they have never heard a word of the language before. Keòen speaks like Catin with the sounds of Kiillra and has evolved very little over the 1,000 years that it has been in existence.

First I will explain the different letters and special markings and then end by listing off some common words. Soon you'll be pronouncing 'Airbhroch and Lochgren like a pro!

Consonants

Keòen is for the most part phonetic, just like its Catin relative. Every consonant is pronounced one way.

B, as in boy and Balthor

C, as in cat and Teracor (not commonly used on its own)

D, as in doll and Dahsir

F, as in four and Fiàchre

G, as in glad and Maegwn

H, as in hat and Henal (also a special letter, see below)

J, as in jump and Jeffrey (most common in newer words)

K, as in kick and Keòen

L, as in lucky and Loch

M, as in mine and Mera

N, as in night and Naidel

P, as in pack and Polàssar

R, as in Tera and Ried (the R is always rolled, no matter where in the word)

S, as in supper and Seddery

T, as in try and Montàlo

V, as in view and Visi (not as common)

Special Letters

There are three special letters that have multiple functions, described below.

H can either be a consonant as mentioned above or as a modifier. Adding an H after (and sometimes before) several consonants changes their sound considerably.

W functions as a vowel when on its own (pronounced ü) and almost always takes the accent with no need to add an accent mark. Also, when paired with the letter H (wh) it makes an F sound but with a space between the lower lip and teeth. An example of the first sound is the name Melwr (pronounced mel-IWR) and an example of the second sound is in the city of Whaven (pronounced FHAY-ven).

Y sometimes functions as a vowel but sometimes not. It never makes the Y sound like that of Yellow and is most often found at the ends of names like Frey. By itself it's pronounced like the E in Peek.

Modified H Consonants

Adding H to letters changes their sound significantly but consistently.

Bh- turns the B into a V sound, but the lower lip doesn't touch the teeth, creating a breathy sound. It's one of the most common sounds in Keòen and shows up in words like Bhangren (VHAN-gren), Terabhan (teh-ra-VHAN or TEH-ra-vhan), Cobh de Via (COVE-dǝ-VEE-a), and Peltobh (pell-TOVE or PELL-tove).

Ch- turns the C into the sound in words like Loch and Chutzpah. Found mostly at the end of words (Loch, Freloch, etc) can also be found in the middle (Lochgren) or at the beginning (Chabhàidd [pronounced ha-VYTHE]). It is also one of the most common sounds in the Keòen language.

Hh- functions the same way as ch but is found almost exclusively in the Kiillaanian Keoen Quarters dialects. The most obvious example is the city of Dahhod (dah-HOHT) and the only example in Jadali Keoen is the word Dahhoeld (dah-HELT).

Rh- adds more air and weight to the rolled R, as in Rhinamont.

Hr- turns the R into a ‘breathed R’ as in Thahro (TA-hro).

Hs- adds more air and weight to the S sound, like Dahsir (DA-hseer).

Th- makes a much sharper T sound, like Balthòr (ball-TOHR) and Thahro (TA-hro).

Wh- makes an F sound with the bottom lip not touching the teeth, like Whaven (FHAY-ven).

Double Letters

There are a couple other modified consonant sounds achieved through double letters.
DD- a voiced th sound, like that of That, The, and Weather. Appears in words like Seddery (SEH-the-ree).

HH- as mentioned above, a mainly Kiillaanian substitute for Ch.

LL- an aspirated L, or an L with air going out the sides of the tongue, in words like Velladòrus (veh-hla-DOR-us) and Lliwn (hliwn).

More modern words sometimes use a double letter to put the accent on the second syllable, as is the case with the name Jeffrey.

Vowels

The vowels in Keòen are easy for the most part. With a few exceptions they’re phonetic and pronounced like Catin vowels. It’s hard to describe them without an audio example so I’ll do the best I can.

A- sounds like a cross between the A in father and the A in cat. Changes with dialect, with an example being Aranel Balthòr. All three A’s are pronounced basically the same way with slight differences (AH-rha-nell, ball-TOHR).

E- as in penny, or as the U in luck. It’s the first way in Mera and the second way in Fire (FEE-ruh).

I- as the e in Peak, like the name Isiador (EE-see-a-dor). When an I is put in front of another vowel it takes on the Y sound and the second vowel gets the accent with no mark, like Iaso (YA-so).

O- sounds like a cross between the O in ocean and the OO in took. Think of it like a Minnesota O. Examples are Loch (pronounced more like lōch) and Montàlo (mohn-TA-loh).

U- as in fun and in every word ending with –us. U is the rarest of vowels and doesn’t appear very often.

W- as a vowel sounds like a ü and is pronounced as the E in feet while the lips form an O.

On occasion two vowels will be next to each other and only the second one is pronounced, such as Dahhoeld (DA-helt) and Lliwn (pronounced Hliwn).

Accented Vowels

The Keòen language naturally accents the first syllable of words. This is true for every word and is a rule of thumb for new speakers and readers. This is the opposite of Catin where most often the middle syllable gets the accent. If a word has accent on anything but the first syllable it will have an accent mark over that vowel. Some words are spelled the same but have different pronunciations, like Kina (my) vs. Kinà (mine), so this is very important. Very common names, like Jadali, Keòen, and a couple crests like Montàlo and Balthòr are always accented on the second syllable and the accent mark may be omitted. Jadali typically never has an accent mark but it’s always pronounced (ja-DA-lee). The only exception is when the letter W is used as a vowel. It doesn’t need an accent mark and it is understood that it takes the accent, such as the town of Telbut Rinwr (TELL-but ri-NIUR).

Breathed Vowels

This is something unique to Keòen and is hard to notate. Some words, usually at the beginning but in the middle as well, start with a barely audible whisper before the sound begins. This is notated with a slash across the top of the vowel and is notated in our everyday alphabet as an apostrophe ‘ in front of the word, such as the crest ‘Airbhroch (HYRE-vroch) and the word ‘E (heh). A handwritten example of these breathed vowels is notated below:


This is what stereotypically and linguistically makes Keòen so beautiful, because of its soft, whispery nature.

There you have it! There’s the basics of the Keòen language! There are few exceptions and I will try to put accent marks on as many blog posts as I can. I hope to record me using some of these complicated words soon if people really want to hear them spoken. Now you can read along with Moira and Severin and know what they’re trying to say!

**As a fun side note when Keòen speakers speak Kevian (the equivalent of English) the accent sounds most like a Shakespearean or Irish accent.

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