Xurnese Pronunciation


Posted by Xavier McShane on 14:50 2/2/02

In reply to: (none)

The Xurnese language looks very interesting. Could you please give us some hints about its pronounciation?


Mark responds:

Sure! Here's the phonology:
Consonants    Vowels
labial alveolar palatal velar front central back
stops p (b) t d k g i u
affricates c (dz) ch j (x) e o
fricatives v s z sh a
nasals m n
laterals l r
semivowels w y
c represents [ts]; voiced [dz] may also be phonemic
ch sh j are as in English
x beginning a word is [z], elsewhere [ks]
b/v are allophones of a single phoneme, [v] intervocalicallay, [b] elsewhere
e o are closed (as in say, so) except in diphthongs, where they're open (set, caught).
Stress the final syllable if it ends in a consonant, otherwise in a vowel.

Thus: Cu peicurey jic otos shevarirp o zidzi "The editor is hated by his writers" is pronounced tsu pey-tsu-REY jits o-TOS she-va-RIRP o ZI-dzi.

(Note: There is a good deal of dialect variation; and of course ancient Axunashin had its own rules.)


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