Appendix:Shiväisith pronunciation
The Shiväisith language has 21 consonants, 8 vowels with two lengths and 1 glide.
Standard Romanization
| Letter | IPA | English example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | a | father | |
| ä | æ | mat | |
| d | d | dog | |
| dh | ð | then | |
| dj | ɟ | - | Like the g in ague, but in any context. |
| e | e | bait | |
| f | f | food | |
| g | g | good | |
| h | h | ham | |
| i | i | beet | |
| j | j | yawn | |
| k | k | skill | |
| l | l | left | |
| m | m | man | |
| n | n | no | Assimilates to a following velar consonant. |
| o | o | moat | |
| ö | ø | — | Like e pronounced with rounded lips. |
| p | p | span | |
| r | ɾ | — | Trilled when doubled. |
| s | s | see | |
| sh | ʃ | sheep | |
| t | t | stop | |
| th | θ | think | |
| tj | c | - | Like the c in cute, but in any context. |
| u | u | rude | |
| v | v | voice | |
| y | y | — | Like i pronounced with rounded lips. |
Phonetics
Shiväisith has a few true palatal sounds and a couple front rounded vowels, as well as a distinction between low front and back vowels. Doubled vowels above are longer in duration than short vowels, but are otherwise identical in quality to short vowels.
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m [m] | n [n] | nj [ɲ] | (n [ŋ]) | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | p [p] | t [t] | tj [c] | k [k] | ||
| voiced | d [d] | dj [ɟ] | g [g] | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | (f [f]) | (th [θ]) | s [s] | sh [ʃ] | h [h] | |
| voiced | v [v] | (dh [ð]) | |||||
| Lateral | l [l] | lj [ʎ] | |||||
| Rhotic | r [ɾ] | ||||||
With the exception of some loanwords, the fricatives [f θ ð] are allophones of the stops [p t d] between vowels and word-finally. Furthermore, the stops [k g] both become [h] between vowels and word-finally.
Vowels
Shiväisith has 8 phonetically distinct vowels which occur in two thematic contexts:
| Regular | Unround | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i [i], ii [iː] | u [u], uu [uː] |
| Mid | e [e], ee [eː] | o [o], oo [oː] |
| Open | a [ɑ], aa [ɑː] |
| Fronted | Unround | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i [i], ii [iː] | y [y], yy [yː] |
| Mid | e [e], ee [eː] | ö [ø], öö [øː] |
| Open | ä [æ], ää [æː] |
In the vowel harmony system of Shiväisith, i and e are neutral, and occur in both sets of vowels, even though they (often) trigger fronted agreement.
Diphthongs
Shiväisith has a number of diphthongs—so many that it is easier to list those it does not allow as opposed to those it does. Suffice it to say most vowels can occur next to one another.