Phonetics of Xathmel
Unlike its parent languages !Qung and Akímali, the sound system of the common language is relatively simple. It should be noted that the Xaîni phonetic apparatus is significantly different from the human, and in particular the timbre of the voice is quite inimitable. The sounds have therefore been mapped to their nearest human equivalents. It would be theoretically possible for a Xaîni to understand a human speaking the language using these phonetic values, although the experiment is not recommended (Xaîni are touchy, and linguistic solecisms may result in violence, which is one reason that children (anyone under 30 orbital periods) are partly or wholly segregated from wider society until they attain linguistic proficiency ).
Xaîni grammarians have traditionally grouped the sounds of the language according to the order of the alphabet known as pedhulka.
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Paat | P |
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Bellat | B |
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Fen | F |
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Vert | V (a voiced bilabial with a curious buzzing quality to it - position the lips as for English w, then try to pronounce a v which runs into the initial sound of 'where') |
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Tenshian | T |
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Thenkhian | Th (as in English 'think') |
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Derba | D |
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Dhapt | Dh (as 'th' in English 'that') |
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Seiban | S (always as in sin, never as in laser or sure) |
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Zirx | Z |
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Shiwestar | Sh |
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Zhun | Zh (voiced 'sh', as the z in 'azure') |
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Reit | R (rolled like Spanish rr) |
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Lessian | L (as English clear l in lint. NB double l tends to be darker, and is often pronounced as a retroflex ) |
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Wawrra | W |
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Kirlian | K (a bit further back in the throat than English k, closer to Classical Arabic qaf) |
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khurba | Kh (like Arabic 'kha' or Gaelic 'ch') |
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Gellan | G |
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Ma'or | M |
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Naam | N |
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Ngatwo | Ng as in sing (even when initial) never as in finger |
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Xrra | X (a hissed sibilant produced by breathing out strongly though just parted teeth) |
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'Xn | ' (another odd sound, most like a short cough, or an aspirated glottal stop. In some dialects it softens almost to a pure glottal stop when between two vowel sounds) |
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Chen | Ch (as in English 'church') |
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Jat | J (as in 'jam') |
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V'dot nei Aorath | Vowel carrier - no sound of its own |
The consonants are all aspirated to greater or lesser extent - of all the Xaîni languages only Tsundrat, one of the major Archipelagese tongues, employs a distinction between aspirated and unaspirated consonants, since producing the latter is difficult for the Xaîni phonetic apparatus.
The vowel sounds, which are written as diacritic marks above the letters in the kurbamari script, are:
a (as in UK received pronunciation father)
ei (as the ay in hay)
e (a pure sound, something like in English bed)
oi (roughly as the oy in boy)
ai (like the y in sky, or i in night)
o (roughly as in pot, though a little tenser and more rounded)
i (like the i in ski)
u (as in rune; in some dialects closer to French u in lune)
aî (a dipthong of a neutral sound like English err with a following i; a bit like the y sound in Russian byt', vy)
ao (as ow in now)
In addition, palatalisation of a following vowel is indicated by a small hook beneath the consonant; this is transcribed y in the system of
transliteration used in these pages.
More about the Common Tongue
Prepositions and other particles