How to Say It All

Vowels

Vowels are extremely important in Ayorthian. Each word begins and ends with the same vowel/vowel sound - I call this the word vowel.

This means that the beginning sound and ending sound of each word needs to sound the same for it to be the same vowel.

A as in 'ah' and 'water'

E as in 'bed' and 'shed'

I as in 'knee' and 'seed'

O as in 'odd' and 'Oscar'

U as in 'goo' and 'blue'

Y as in 'yes'

OO is something I'm having trouble with. It could be said as U is said, but in a language with such an emphasis on vowels, I feel like it would be more appropriate to have a separate sound. For now, I'm saying OO as O, but said for longer, or repeated. I treat other doubled vowels the same, as in the word 'iitsikii'. This may change.

Consonants

I gathered together all the words I could find in both Ella Enchanted and Fairest, and said them all aloud, combing through the IPA for all the sounds that Ayorthian held. This is the final result.

[m] as in 'man'

[p] as in 'pan'

[b] as in 'ban'

[w] as in 'water'

[f] as in 'fish'

[v] as in 'van'

[θ] as in 'think'

[ð] as in 'father'
[n] as in 'noodle'
[t] as in 'toad'

[d] as in 'down'

[r] as in 'roll'

[l] as in 'level'

[z] as in 'zebra'

[j] as in 'yes' (this is the IPA symbol for 'y'; it is not pronounced like the j in Jeff)

[k] as in 'king'

[g] as in 'glue'

I'm inclined to say the 'j' in 'unju' as we would say 'j' in English (j as in Jeff!), though I'm not sure. It only appears in three words in the books: the name Ijori, and the words unju and oyjento. Given that oyjento pairs the palatal 'y' sound next the 'j', I am again inclined to say it would be pronounced as we would say J, rather than another 'y' sound.

There are no 'sh' sounds (as in 'shine' and 'vision') in Ayorthian.

X is said 'ks' - 'inouxi' is said 'ee-no-ksee'

CH is said like 'loch', but is said with the back of the tongue further forward on the palate and with more air.