In Rihannsu, all words are pronounced as they are spelt.
VOWELS:
A -- "AH" as in fAther
E -- "EH" as in Egg
I -- "EE" as in pIzza
O -- "OH" as in bOne
U -- "OO" as in rUde
AE -- "AY" as in pAy
AA -- "A"as in mAn (american)
UU -- "U" as in bOOk
CONSONATES
b(h)/ b/ -- as in 'boat' (h causes aspiration)
ch/ tS/ -- as in 'chain'
d(h)/ d/ -- as in 'dark' (h causes aspiration)
f -- as in 'fight'
fv -- Soft V, or hard F, halfway in between the two
g(h)/ g/ -- as 'gain' (h causes aspiration)
h -- as in 'holiday'
hh -- Heavy 'h' sound, sometimes as heavy as in scottish 'loch'
j -- 'dZ' as in 'judge'
k(h) -- as in 'kite' (h causes aspiration)
l -- as in 'lint'
ll -- An ' l' formed with tip of the tongue at the back of the bottom teeth
m -- as in 'men'
n -- as in 'nut'
p -- as in 'pie'
q -- A 'k' sound from the back of the throat, though not raspy
r -- slightly trilled as in romance languages
rr -- Sometimes heavily trilled, depending on dialect
s -- as in 'sign'
sh -- as in 'ship'
t -- as in 'tin'
th -- "T" unvoiced, as in 'thigh'
v -- as in 'vest'
w -- as in 'wait'
y -- as in 'yet'
z -- as in 'azure'
Note: When the combination thh occurs, it always refers to a 'th' sound followed by an 'h' sound.
VALID CONSONATE CLUSTERS
Preceding a vowel:
h and hh may precede f, fv, j, l, ll, n, r, rr, s, v, or w, and such clusters are pronounced as they are spelt.
t, th, sh, g, k, q and v may precede r, rr, l or ll, and such clusters are pronounced as they are spelt.
Following a vowel:
r, rr, l, and ll may precede any consonant except h, hh, l, ll, r, rr, y or w, and are pronounced as they are spelt.
SYLLABLECATION
All Rihannsu words are syllabicated by their vowels (or diphthongs), where present. When a consonant ends a word (or precedes a glottal stop) after another consonant, and isn't part of a cluster, (Ex: Vaebn) there is a slight schwa-like utterance following that consonant. Some Rihannsu drop the final sound altogether, though this is considered mishandling in the case of names, and is avoided. This also occurs between two consonants or clusters not part of the preceeding syllables. This schewa utterance is considered a vowel for purposes of syllabication. Therefore, the seemingly complex word 'imirrhlhhse' is syllabicated as follows:
i-mirr-h@l-hhse where the @ is an unwritten schewa. This results in a pronunciation of:
ee-MEERR-hul-hhseh
ACCENT
Rihannsu words are always accented on the third to the last syllable, or on the first syllable in words of three syllables or fewer. Ex:
FVILL-ha (fvillha)
DEI-hu-it (deihuit)
gal-ae'-EN-ri-ov (galae'Enriov)
KHRE'-ri-ov (khre'Riov)
TONE
For the most part, the base pronunciation of a Rihannsu sentence is monotone. Rihannsu is not, however, a tonal language. So aside from the accenting of the words, any specific stress on particular words over others is entirely up to the speaker, and emphasized words are interpreted the same way as in English and other languages.
Credit where it's Due:
This pronunciation guide came from the Ra'tleihfi Language Institute, and was presented in a lot more detail then I will go into here (as I can not get ahold of the Author). The Institute was an extensive work, and featured yet more on the language, it's structure, and included two dictionaries (english to rihannsu, and rihannsu to english). Sadly, Ra`tleihfi Language Institute is no longer online; or if it is, I have lost the link to it. If anyone knows how to get in contact with the Author, or has the link to the Institute's new homepage, please contact me
here. Hann`yyo!
I have since found the Institute's new home! Though it was not put online by the original author, the webmasters did try to rescue what they could of the old Institute site before it was removed. You can find it by going to the link page here
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