M

Am 07/03 21:55  Herman Miller yscrifef:
> All this talk about respelling English gave me an idea.
>
> Mârshen is the official language of the planet Mars; in origin it's a
> dialect of English with its own spelling, regionalisms, and numerous
> borrowings from the other native languages of the Martian colonists.
> Mârshen spelling started as a sort of game among the first colonists, to
> pass the time during the long and tedious journey from Earth.
>
Maybe there were New Zealanders on that fleet of silver locusts.  Their
Ma^rshen descendents called themselves the Pa^kiya^ or Pa^kiha^ from the
Pre-colonization Polynesian word Paakeehaa.

> The spelling of consonants in Mârshen is almost entirely regular.
>
> b  as in Bet          n  as in Nice or siNk
> ch as in CHirp        ng as in siNGer or siNGle
No distinction between /N/ and /Ng/?

> d  as in Deer         p  as in Pipe
> dh as in THat         r  as in Rock
Pa^kiya^ Ma^rshen is non-rhotic.

> f  as in Fake         s  as in System
> g  as in Gulf         sh as in SHore
> gh as in loCH         t  as in Tone
'gh' is pronounced like 'k' in Pa^kiya^.

> h  as in Hat          th as in THick
> hw as in WHich        v  as in Valley
This dialect of Ma^rshen does not distinguish 'hw' and 'w'.

> j  as in Jam          w  as in Witch
> k  as in Keep         y  as in Yoyo
> l  as in Love         z  as in Zebra
> m  as in Mouse        zh as in meaSure
>
> Mârshen vowels, on the other hand, are a bit messy.
>
> a  as in bAt, fAng, mArry      â  as in grAss, fAther, mArs
>    unstressed: lavA, llamA     å  as in wAtch, bOx, bOrrow
Does this mean if a /@/ follows an 'a'-based letter it is spelled '-a'?
A stressed 'a' can rise in pronunciation to sound /E/.

> ai as in bIte, fIre
Only a minority of Pa^kiya^ pronounce this as /aI/, /QI/ is more common
in their dialect.

> au as in shOUt, sOUr
/&U/ among the Pa^kiya^.

> e  as in bEt, pEnguin, vEry    ê  as in bAIt, bEAr, vAry
Hmm.  Very and vary are almost the same in my idiolect.  I think it
sounds like very /vEri/ ~ /vE:ri/.

>    unstressed: Alive, sofA     ë  as in fUR, fURry
Can 'e-umlaut' be used for the sound in refEr?

> i  as in bIt, rIng, vIrulent   î  as in bEEt, bEArd, wEAry
>    unstressed: rEfer, citY
Unstressed /I/ rises to /i/ when word final.

> o  as in bOss, wrOng, Orange   ô  as in bOUght, wALk, shOre
Hmm.  I would spell orange as 'ouranj' in this orthography.

>    unstressed: Obey, echO      õ  as in bUt, tOngue, wOrry
> oi as in bOY, cOIn
> ou as in bOAt, gOld, shOW
> u  as in pUt, fUll, fOOt       û  as in bOOt, tOUr
>    unstressed: hindU, voodOO   ü  as in fEW, nEW, pUre
>
Can 'u-umlaud' be used initially or does it need a 'y-' in front of it?


- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus                       hobbit@griffler.co.nz
alias Mungo Foxburr of Loamsdown
http://hobbit.griffler.co.nz/homepage.html

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