Romulan Pronunciation Guide
In Rihannsu, all words are pronounced as they are spelled.
Contents
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 spelled.
- t, th, sh, g, k, q and v may precede r, rr, l or ll, and such clusters are pronounced as they are spelled.
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 preceding 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 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.
Credits
This pronunciation guide came from the Ra'tleihfi Language Institute.