Friday, November 10, 2006

Elvish Esperanto: the Common Fantasy Tongue


Tuomo Sipola, whom Teresa Nielsen Hayden describes as "a constructed-languages enthusiast," is making a "common fantasy tongue" -- a kind of Esperanto for inhabitants of fantasy worlds.
1. Phonology
1.1 Consonants

Consonants include plosives p, t, c and b, d, g and fricatives f, þ, s and h.

Laterals l ja r are very common as are nasals m and n of which n becomes velar before a velar consonant.

All consonants can be word-final.

Allowed consonant clusters at the beginning of a word are pr, tr, cr, dr and gr. Word-final and middle clusters (includeing the afore mentioned) are ld, lt, lþ, rd, rt, rþ, nd, nt, nþ, cs, nc ja ng.

1.2 Vowels

A, e, i, o ja u are vowels. A and e are the most common of them.

All the vowels except e may be word-final.

Allowed vowel clusters: ai, ei, oi, ui, au, ou, ia, ie and io.

1.3 Stress

Stress is initial but some speakers stress the penultimate.

Link (via Making Light)



posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:50:22 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

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