Many of the foreign language words of the races in the Woebegin universe are hard to transliterate without confusing readers. The IPA Symbols below attempt to make the pronunciation plainer. A good explanatory reference of these symbols can be found here in the IPA & X-SAMPA reference.
In the text of the story, however, I try to convey the idea without using the IPA symbols, since few readers would recognize them symbols (and many moaned when I did).
Where clarity is required, the apostrophe is used to separate syllables — just like a Glottal Stop, IPA symbol: ʔ. So, the second second syllable sounds just like it would if it were a separate word. Example: so that “z’ha” isn’t confused with the “zh” described below.
Some foreign terms are compound words: words comprised of other words, that together make a new word with a new meaning. For clarity, the hyphen separates the component words.
These bracket the non-verbal speech of Zmee which they communicate by means of their facial tendrils. While not as sophisticated as their vocal speech, many common expressions are shorthanded this way — similar to, but far more extensive than human hand gestures.
The Wahoona,and some tribes of the Ish to a much lesser extent, have an extensive hand sign-language. Where such are used, the braces are used as quotation markers for the concept being conveyed. For example, a single hand gesture [Get down!] can indicate the need to crouch low and hide.
Non-pulmonics are oral sounds made without using the lungs. Because such sounds are loud and distinctive, and in a sense the very opposite of a normal exclamation, they are made clear for the reader by using the exclamation mark before its written representation.
This IPA Symbol represents a Dental Click similar to the sucking sound of disapproval or pity: the American tsk‑tsk, or British tut-tut. While not a phoneme in English, it is in the Wahuna language, and many normal (pulmonic) words begin with this in-breathed click. For the sake of readability, the italicized and hyphen-separated form is always used, e.g. ¡ts–word
This IPA Symbol represents a Lateral Click — a sideways mouth click struck on an in-breath. An example in English is the common use of the tchick! tchick! sound used to spur on a horse. The Wahuna employ this sound in their vocabulary. However, for the sake of readability, the italicized and hyphen separated form is always used, i.e. ¡tke–word.
This IPA Symbol represents an Alveolar Click — a crisp click of the tongue on the back of the gum ridge to make a sound like a “cluck” — a sound children employ to imitate the clopping of a horse. The Wahuna-roi tongue of the Wahuna makes frequent uses of this sound. For the sake of readability, the italicized form is always used, e.g. ¡tkl-a, ¡tkl-o, ¡tkl-e.
Pulmonics are the “normal” oral sounds made using the lungs.
Cough-like utterances are exclamations forced after a silent glottal stop, IPA Symbol ʔ. However, since literary convention often indicates a glottal stop with an apostrophe, the symbol pair ’…! are used to bracket the sudden ejection and a sudden termination of a sound. So ’ugh! and ’agh! are pronounced like vowel-like coughs. These are common grammatical markers in the language of the Wahoona.
This is a single sound, like the “ch” in the German achtung or the Scottish loch. While not found in English words, it is common in many other languages, and especially among the inhabits of the Woebegin universe.
The trill popularly known as the “rolled r” of Scottish, Iberian, and Eastern European languages. Common to both Zmee and Elim languages.
Sounds like “z” in azure or the “s” in fresia. Used primarily in Zmee languages, and mostly as Zmee loan words in other tongues.
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This is the author website of
André SkoroBogáty.
The Lost World Tributes imprint aspires to publish stimulating fantasy fiction that invites reflection on Biblical themes — specifically from the supernatural viewpoint espoused by the Book of Enoch.
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