From: "Danny Wier" <dawier@...>
Subject: Re: tlhn'ks't, ngghlyam'ft, and other scary words
> Slâm w h`vîv!
>
> D: "Joseph Fatula" <fatula3@...>
>
> | p' t' k'
> | p t k
> | b d g
> | mb nd ng
> | mb' nd' ng'
> | w l r y g-breve `
> | f thorn l-cedilla s s-acute s-hachek
> | c x q
> | v edh l-slash z z-acute z-hachek r-hachek
> | v' edh' l-slash' z' z-acute' z-hachek' r-hachek'
> | m n m' n'
> |
> | This may not even be the best representation in Roman characters, but
it's
> | what I've got so far. I'm particularly not satisfied with the lateral
> | fricatives, but I don't know what else to do. Consonant clustering
makes it
> | difficult to come up with digraphs that don't conflict with actual
clusters.
>
> It's really hard to express a language with a large phonology with Latin
script.
> Either you use numerous diacritics, or invent new letters (like Abkhaz
did, but
> it's Cyrillic). Or just create your own alphabet/script, like Armenian and
> Georgian did.
>
> For Tech, I use a tentative mixed Latin-Greek alphabet: lambda = /K/,
delta =
> /D/, theta = /T/, gamma = /G/ etc. Two Arabic letters are borrowed for /?/
and
> /?\/ (hamzah and ayin).
A mixture might be best. One of my other languages has three "affricates"
that I like representing as a single letter. (They're not all real
affricates, but they would think so.) c = /ts/ ? = /ps/ x = /ks/ The
second one is psi, from Greek.
I may borrow `ayin, as it is the symbol I think of with that sound, and it's
easier to see than `, and less likely to be confused with '. Though ezh is
pretty close...