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Re: Whatever happened to Aelya?

From:Christian Thalmann <cinga@...>
Date:Monday, April 15, 2002, 9:07
--- In conlang@y..., Aidan Grey <grey@F...> wrote:

> Why should the roman transliteration be identical to the native > system? A new linguist coming in might still use a different system, > actually spelling it 's' when before a front vowel, 'h' intervocallically, > and so on.
True. I've considered using a "renormalized" transliteration for use in RPGs right linguistically challenged people. ;-) Still, my pseudo-native transliteration has two advantages: - It allows me to fluently write an Obrenje text in my Cirnaja fonts, where the letters are mapped onto the keyboard according to my Latin transliteration - When grammar changes a verb stem like |cus| /hMs/ "be quiet" into |cys|, I don't have to change the spelling to reflect the change of pronunciation, which is /sys/ rather than /hys/. So the verb remain recognizable.
> Or even some variation with 2 possible representations in > transliteration.
That's a good idea, I'll probably devise a more user-friendly orthography. Obrenje was at one point intended to be the language of the Trill race of Star Trek, so |zedxia dakkce| would have to be re-spelled |jadzia dax| when used with non-linguists. =)
> If palatization is determined by neighboring vowels, why does there > need to be a special mark for it in the native script? Wouldn't the fact > that an i follows be enough?
It usually is enough. The palatization mark is used only in circumstances where the letter would normally not be pronounced palatized. A prominent example is |tash| "no", which is spelt T_with_A S_with_palatizer (though nowadays the T character alone can be used as a shorthand).
> And the forms with doubled letters in transcription (like nokkce or > noggze) - why does the geminate mark in the native script appear on the > kc/gz, and not on the k/g? The sample shows gemination on a g, with no z in > sight? What's going on here - I'm confused.
That's a mistake, I simply forgot the z. Good to see that someone actually pays attention. =P By the way, the affricate pairs are kc/gx and ts/dz, gz is not an affricate.
> Keep in mind, native script use and transcription don't have to have > anything in common at all. > > >Thanx, no need to put some effort into that. You've already been a > >lot of help, and more would probably fall under plagiarism. ;-) > > Well, thanks for the interest if nothing else! > > Aidana