Re: "Newbie"

--- Marty Rosenberg <TheFlamingDrake@...> wrote:


<snip>

> * This is an approximation; I can't figure out
> how to properlyrepresent sounds in SAMPA, so
> I'm sticking with familiarrepresentations here.
Here's my take on pronunciation in a conlang.  I KNOW
I'm going to get tons of people who disagree but here
goes anyway.

Pronunciation is the least important aspect of any
language.  The English speaker from Bombay can get
together with his friend from London and their mutual
friends from Tennesee and Boston.  Not one of them
will pronounce a single vowel in the same way, and
will pronounce a number of consonants quite
differently too.  Yet in spite of the fact that their
pronunciation is not even remotely similar, they
understand each other perfectly well.

My first "big" conlang specifically stated that in the
conculture that went along with it the language was a
global one spoken with many different accents around
the world, and so the whole notion of "correct"
pronunciation was simply non-existent.

My pronunciation rule, and this applies to all my own
conlangs, is simply to pronounce it in whatever way
seems reasonable.  If the language wants every vowel
to be pronounced (which mine usually do) then "kane
tikariu niwalu" can be pronounced somewhere in the
general neighborhood of "KAH-nay tee-KAH-ree-oo
nee-WAH-loo" and be perfectly acceptable.

--gary

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