Pronunciation of Inglisc

Pronunciation of Inglisc
========================

Inglisc ['INglIS] is the main literary language of
Ingland, which is the largest land and folc of
Britane in the parallel timeline of Lucus.
Note that unlike English/England *here* the name
Inglisc/Ingland is not derived from Angli,
but from the ethnonym which Tacitus rendered as
Ingwaeones.  Thus Inglisc/Ingland are ancient Lucal
spellings, as is the Latinization Inglandia.

VOWELS

a, ea   [a]/[A:]
á, eá   [e:]/[eI]
(å, eå  [O:])
e       [E], word-finally [I].
é       [i:]
i       [I]
í       [AI]/[@I]
o, eo   [Q]/[A]
ó, eó   [o:]/[oU]
u, eu   [U]
ú, eú   [u:] (/[AU])
y       [U\]/[8]/[@]
ý       [ju:]/[j8]/[y:]

When unstressed _a, å, e, o, ó, u, ú, y_ are often reduced to [@],
and _e, i_ are often and _é, í, ý_ are sometimes reduced to [I].

To indicate the main stress a grave accent is sometimes used, and the
combination of acute and grave accent is conveniently expressed
by the circumflex accent.  This device is however seldom needed in native
words.

CONSONANTS

The consonants _b, d, f, j, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z_
have essentially their IPA values.

c       -- before the vowels _a, á, å, o, ó, u, ú_
        and before other consonants has the sound [k].
        -- before the vowels _e, é, i, í, y, ý_
        and *word-finally* has the sound [tS].
cc      -- [tS] (used before other consonants).
ch      -- [k] (used before _e, é, i, í, y, ý_).
        and *word-finally.
g       -- before the vowels _a, á, å, o, ó, u, ú_
        and before other consonants has the sound [g].
        -- before the vowels _e, é, i, í, y, ý_
        and *word-finally* has the sound [dZ].
gg      -- [dZ] (used before other consonants).
gh      -- [g] (used before _e, é, i, í, y, ý_).
        and *word-finally.
h       -- before vowels [h] or zero.
        -- before consonants [x] (sometimes [k]).
                e.g. _hehfer_ [hExf@r] or [Ekf@r].
k       -- [k].  Only used in foreign words.
ng      -- is usually [Ng].  The digraph _ñg_ is
        sometimes used for [N] in dialect literature
        and foreign words.
qu      -- [kw].  Only used in foreign words.
sc      -- before the vowels _a, á, å, o, ó, u, ú_
        and before other consonants has the sound [sk].
        -- before the vowels _e, é, i, í, y, ý_
        and *word-finally* has the sound [S].
scc     -- [tS] (used before other consonants).
sch     -- [k] (used before _e, é, i, í, y, ý_)
        and *word-finally.
x       -- [ks] or [gz] depending on context.
        It is a left-over from older spelling habits where
        it was used to avoid _chs, chz, ghz_.
þ       -- [T] or [D] depending on context.  Some still         insist on the
reintroduction of _ð_ for [D].

Note: many writers, perhaps a majority, employ a hyphen in
order to avoid the graphies _cc, gg_, and especially _scc_;
thus _fisc-bán_ is preferred to _fisccbán_.  The incidence
of the palatal sounds before consonants has been greatly
reduced in recent centuries due to antigallich purism, which
has replaced once fashionable words like _Gýcgment_ with
native synonyms like _dym_. The spellings _tsc_ and _dj_ are
still met Some scholars deplore the abolishment of the
graphies _cj, gj, sj_ (for older _c3, 33, s3_), especially
since _zj_ has been preserved in the transcription of
foreign words. The use of _aa, oa, ee, ij, oo, uu, ew_ in
place of the accented letters _á, å, é, í, ó, ú, ý_, or of
_th_ in place of _þ_, though common during the period of
Dýtsc spelling-influence and still seen in in use by foreign
authors is now looked down on. The only traces left of the
once strong Dýtsc influence is the replacement of long _s_
by _z_ and of _3_ (yogh) by _j_.  The older letters are
still used by some, but generally deemed to be affected.



/BP 8^)
--
B.Philip Jonsson mailto:melrochX@melroch.se (delete X)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__
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Gwaedhvenn Angeliniel\ \______/ /a/ /_h-adar Merthol naun
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|| Lenda lenda pellalenda pellatellenda kuivie aiya! ||
"A coincidence, as we say in Middle-Earth" (JRR Tolkien)

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