Géarthnuns Pronunication Guide (was: Re: Translating "Imagine" (< Code-switching in music))

From: Benct Philip Jonsson <conlang@...>

> On 2007-10-11 Douglas Koller wrote:
> > zçakfaçens
> Doh!  I guess this is *not* [Zakfa'SEns].
Close: [z\akfa's\~Es]

> Why am I inclined towards final stress, BTW?
It works here.

> Do you have a pronunciation guide somewhere?
No. I did this all once in Kirshenbaum, and then everyone went all XSAMPA on my
ass. Here it is to the best of my ability (where there are two options, the
first seems closer to my ear but let's just say the second is an allophone to
cover my tukhus). One hopes the transcription down-markers will *not* be moved
again. Basic letters:

a    [a]
ai   [aI]
u    [u]
ü    [y],[Y]
i     [I]
í     [i]
ö    [2],[9]
o    [o]
e    [E]
é    [e]
au  [O],[Q]
ou  [aU]
öi   [2I],[9I]
oi   [oI],[OI]
b    [b]
d    [d]
g    [g]
z     [z]
dh  [D]
j      [dZ]
v     [v]
p    [p]
t      [t]
k     [k]
s    [s]
th   [T]
sh  [S]
w   [w]
zç  [z\],[j\]; kw [kw] (same letter has two distinct values) (syllable initial, to date)
kf   [kf] (only syllable initial)
f   [f]
zh  [Z]
ç   [s\],[C] (only one syllable final example I can think of)
ng  [N]
m  [m]
n   [n]
l    [l]
r   [4]
rh  [X]? (Dutch "gr" seems to come close if that's what this is) [hR]? (only syllable initial)
kh [x] (only syllable final) (dabbled with this having a syllable initial value
of [L], never implemented)
ch  [tS]
h   [h]

Noun marker letters, called "föths", offer no new phonetic information but are
included here so that one gets a sense of the 49-letter alphabet (these letters
occur only at the ends of nouns; if these combinations occur elsewhere, they
are written by separate letter listed above):

bs [bs],
rs [4s]
ts [ts]
ns [ns]*
ks [ks]
ls [ls]
ths [Ts]
khs [xs]
ms [ms]
dhs [Ds]
ps [ps]
ds [ds]
fs [fs]
gs [gs]

*A certain class of nouns invoke nasalization (SAMPA site says mark nasalization
*before* the vowel, which, though a little counter-intuitive to *me*, is the
convention I'm employing here), so:

ans    [~as]
ains   [~aIs]
uns    [~us]
üns    [~ys],[~Ys]
ins    [~Is]
íns     [~is]
öns    [~2s],[~9s]
ons   [~os]
ens    [~Es]
éns   [~es]
auns  [~Os],[~Qs]
ouns  [~aUs]
öins   [~2Is],[~9Is]
oins   [~oIs],[~OIs]

Hope this address your questions, Benct,

Kou

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