Changes in Azurian.

Hi,
I have decided to modify the writing system of Azurian a little. I
did like the semi-phonetic way of rendering the stops, but as the
Danes and Icelanders get along perfectly well using bdg for lenis and
ptk for fortis stops with no regard for voicing at all, and since the
Azurians have long been under Danish influence in my conworld, I
think they would also use the same convention. The three-way contrast
I imagined arising from voiced dental fricatives turning into voiced
dental stops is probably not realistic, as the result is probably a
lenis stop instead.

This means that I am dropping the spelling _ph_, _th_, _kh_ for the
postaspirated fortis stops, but I like the leading h for the
preaspiration, where it will replace one of the double consonants, so
I think I am going to keep it.

Secondly, I do not like my former rendering of the [ʉi] diphthong as
_ui_ very much. I'm not quite decided on an alternative yet, but I'm
thinking of _yj_. Alternatively the diphthong could have a different
quality, perhaps [øi] or even [əi], both of which allow the first
element to be rendered with an _ø_, I think. Or maybe I will give in
to the diacritics and write it as _í_. Then it makes sense to turn
the _oa_ diphthong into _á_ as well, and the _ou_ into _ó_, in line
with the Norse spelling of the parent vowels.

Thirdly, I am thinking of making the velarisation of the dental
fricatives turning into stops more general, whereas it formerly was
restricted to the northern dialects. Thus ON veðrar becomes vekrar
and laða becomes laga also in the standard language.

This means that my relay text in Azurian, which came out as:

Tath er sann vihtra firr kvaim ath vuisa sidprjoutharar vuidsuin ok
samhuk. Tjænslå æth kver mænskha tjer henne ui sthanta ath tjetna
tath koude joa adrem mænskher. Tai moa royna ath vuisa vuidsuin ok
samhuk vid kvert sidproth. Hehta er tath neidsuinlekastha khrøv
jarthes. Perth foa fålkh ruith ehter tath sæm tai låsth vuitha. Ek
er sjålv itje viss.

Now becomes:

Dat er sann vihtra firr kvaim at vyjsa sidbrjoutarar vyjdsyjn og
samhug. Tjænslå æt kver mænska tjer henne yj standa at tjedna dat
gouge joa akrem mænsker. Dai moa royna at vyjsa vyjdsyjn og samhug
vid kvert sidbrot. Hehta er dat neidsyjnlegasta krøv jartes. Bert foa
fålk ryjt ehter dat sæm dai låst vyjta. Eg er sjålv itje viss.

Still kind of exotic, but perhaps more familiar to other
Scandinavians, or what?

Here is a version with the _í_, _á_ and _ó_ rendering of the [ʉi],
[ɔa] and [ɔu] diphthongs:

Dat er sann vihtra firr kvaim at vísa sidbrjótarar vídsín og
samhug. Tjænslå æt kver mænska tjer henne í standa at tjedna dat
góge já akrem mænsker. Dai má royna at vísa vídsín og samhug
vid kvert sidbrot. Hehta er dat neidsínlegasta krøv jartes. Bert fá
fålk rít ehter dat sæm dai låst víta. Eg er sjålv itje viss.

Must say that helps the readability quite a bit for me.

I've been trying and trying to read the text out, but it's hard for
me get the stops right. It would be much easier for a Dane, I think.

I have corrected a couple of mistakes I seem to have made in the
former text.

LEF