Diff for "Usiren/Vocabulary"

Differences between revisions 1 and 39 (spanning 38 versions)

This is a page for constructing vocabulary for language in Usiren. Approximations are provided for English and Dutch to give phonetically sufficient approximations for natural speaking and intelligibility (e.g. we map Usirenic /a/ onto Dutch /ɑ/ and English /æ/ so as not to ask phonetic gymnastics of the Dutch or English speaker, requesting them to say a shorter version of the vowel in "baat" or the first vowel of the diphthong in "mouth" respectively, even though that would be a more accurate way to learn Usirenic /a/; one seeking a more natural accent can use the IPA directly.)

Usirenic

Vowels and diphthongs:

IPA	a	e	i	u
Transcription	a	e	i	u
EN	bad	bed	bid	book
NL	bad	bed	biet	boet

Diphthongs:

IPA	au	ai	iu
Transcription	au	ai	iu
EN	how	pie	you
NL	oud	ai	nieuw

Consontants:

IPA

ɦ~h~ɕ

Transcription

sh / š

may

nay

pay

duck

tag

bats

kite

buy

swordsman

get

shoe

loch*

ray

rabbit*

hue

mist

nest

pit

dik

tak

fiets

kool

bad

sok

fietsband

goal

sjtaad**

acht

deur

rat

jas

hit

*Dialectical Scottish pronunciations; not found in American English.

**Dialectical Limburgs pronunciation, maybe, internet says so but I haven't got the time to track down a video of someone talking about their city in Limburgish to check. However one chooses to say it, this sound should be distinct from [ɕ] as in "sjaals" [ɕaːɫs] because in Usirenic [ɕ] would be heard as /h/ and not /ʃ/. The Usirenic /ʃ/ is the same sound as German "Schnitzel."

Renredeshi

Vowels and diphthongs:

IPA	a	ɛ	i	o	u
Transcription	a	e	i	o	u
EN	bad	bed	bid	low*	book
NL	bad	bed	biet	boot**	boet

*Only pronouncing the first vowel of the dipthong.

**Except the vowel should be short in length, same as the vowels in the other words.

Diphthongs:

IPA	au	ai	iu	oɛ
Transcription	au	ai	iu	oe
EN	how	pie	you	boy*
NL	oud	ai	nieuw	hoi*

*This is a particularly loose approximation but should serve since there is nothing similar to contrast with.

Consontants:

IPA

Transcription

sh / š

may

nay

pay

tip

bats

kite

buy

shoe

swordsman

duck

get

see

zoo

loch†

ray

lid

mist

nest

pit

tip

fiets

kool

bad

sjtaad**

fietsband

dik

goal

sok

zeep

acht

deur

jas

lid

*This sound enjoys only a very marginal existence in some dialects of English or Dutch. Best of luck.

†Dialectical Scottish pronunciations; not found in American English.

Unicornic

Vowels and diphthongs:

IPA	ɑ	ə	i
Transcription	a	e	i
EN	cot	bud	bit
NL	bad	de	biet

Diphthongs: None

Consontants:

IPA

ð̪

ɟʝ

ɟ̠

ɡɣ

ɢʁ

Transcription

sh / š

dz / ž

cj / č

jh / ǰ

gx / x̌

gh / ǧ

Hornsounds:

IPA*	Ƀ	Ŧ	Đ	Ħ	Ʉ	Ƀ᷂	Ŧ᷂	Đ᷂	Ħ᷂	Ʉ᷂	Ø
Transcription	1'	2'	3'	4'	5'	1	2	3	4	5	0

Laryngeal tones: The laryngeal tone is the fundamental frequency that the unicorn's voice box (larynx) produces. The laryngeal tone is analyzed with respect to its interval with hornsound.

Phonology: Syllables consist of an initial, vowel and optional hornsound, and optional final. Any consonant can be an initial. Finals are /ð ð̪ z n ʝ ɲ ɣ ŋ ʁ/.

Examples of Occidental Unicornic words:

Practical Transcription	IPA Transcription	Part of Speech	Meaning
Še02ze1'1qan2-3re03	-	Noun, animate gender, agentic case	Shezeqan, a proper name

Eloidenic

Vowels:

IPA	a	e	i	o	u	y
Transcription	a	e	i	o	u	y

Diphthongs:

IPA	ai	oi	au	ou	ey	yi	ia
Transcription	ai	oi	au	ou	ey	yi	ia

Consontants:

IPA

pʰ

tʰ ~ θ

kʰ

Transcription

Shunhaurati

Vowels:

IPA	a	e	i	o	y
Transcription	a	e	i	o	y

Diphthongs:

IPA	ay	iy	ao	ei
Transcription	ay	iy	ao	ei

Consontants:

IPA

ɹ~j

Transcription

Montanic

Vowels:

IPA	a	e ~ ø	ɛ	i	aː	øː	ɛː	iː
Transcription	a	o	e	i	aa	oo	ee	ii

Diphthongs: None

Consontants:

IPA

p~b

t~d

ts~dz

k~g

s~z

ʁ~χ

Transcription

Serene Language

Vowels:

IPA	a	ɑ	ɛ	ɔ	i	ʉ	y	aː	iː	yː
Transcription	a	â	e	o	i	w	y	aa	ii	yy

Diphthongs:

IPA	ɑu	ɑi	ɛi	ɛy	ɔy
Transcription	au	ai	ei	ey	oy

Consontants:

IPA

kʷ

gʷ

xʷ

ɣʷ

ʀ~r

ŋʷ

Transcription

*IPA has here been extended for unicorn hornsounds, see the page about unicorn languages.

-  ⇤ ← Revision 1 as of 2026-07-15 17:30:56 → 
  Size: 1323
  Editor: Bryce
  Comment:
+   ← Revision 39 as of 2026-07-22 10:48:12 → ⇥
  Size: 6587
  Editor: Reese
  Comment:
-Deletions are marked like this.
+Additions are marked like this.
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+Approximations are provided for English and Dutch to give phonetically sufficient approximations for natural speaking and intelligibility (e.g. we map Usirenic /a/ onto Dutch /ɑ/ and English /æ/ so as not to ask phonetic gymnastics of the Dutch or English speaker, requesting them to say a shorter version of the vowel in "b__aa__t" or the first vowel of the diphthong in "m__o__uth" respectively, even though that would be a more accurate way to learn Usirenic /a/; one seeking a more natural accent can use the IPA directly.)
-Line 5:
+Line 6:
-||a||e||i||u||
||a||e||i||u||
+||''IPA''||a||e||i||u||
||''Transcription''||a||e||i||u||
||''EN''||b__a__d||b__e__d||b__i__d||b__oo__k||
||''NL''||b__a__d||b__e__d||b__ie__t||b__oe__t||
-Line 9:
+Line 12:
-||au||ai||iu||
||au||ai||iu||
+||''IPA''||au||ai||iu||
||''Transcription''||au||ai||iu||
||''EN''||h__ow__||p__ie__||__you__||
||''NL''||__ou__d||__ai__||n__ieuw__||
-Line 13:
+Line 18:
+||''IPA''||m||n||p||d||t||ts||k||b||s||dz||g||ʃ||x||ɹ||r||j||ɦ~h~ɕ||
||''Transcription''||m||n||p||d||t||c||k||b||s||z||g||sh / š||w||r||rr||j||h||
||''EN''||__m__ay||__n__ay||__p__ay||__d__uck||__t__ag||ba__ts__||__k__ite||__b__uy||__s__o||swor__ds__man||__g__et||__sh__oe||lo__ch__*||__r__ay||__r__abbit*||__y__e||__h__ue||
||''NL''||__m__ist||__n__est||__p__it||__d__ik||__t__ak||fie__ts__||__k__ool||__b__ad||__s__ok||fie__ts__band||__g__oal||__sj__taad**||a__ch__t||deu__r__||__r__at||__j__as||__h__it||

*Dialectical Scottish pronunciations; not found in American English.

**Dialectical ''Limburgs'' pronunciation, maybe, internet says so but I haven't got the time to track down a video of someone talking about their city in Limburgish to check. However one chooses to say it, this sound should be distinct from [ɕ] as in "sjaals" [ɕaːɫs] because in Usirenic [ɕ] would be heard as /h/ and not /ʃ/. The Usirenic /ʃ/ is the same sound as German "__Sch__nitzel."
-Line 18:
+Line 32:
+||''EN''||b__a__d||b__e__d||b__i__d||l__o__w*||b__oo__k||
||''NL''||b__a__d||b__e__d||b__ie__t||b__oo__t**||b__oe__t||

*Only pronouncing the first vowel of the dipthong.

**Except the vowel should be short in length, same as the vowels in the other words.
-Line 22:
+Line 43:
+||''EN''||h__ow__||p__ie__||__you__||b__oy__*||
||''NL''||__ou__d||__ai__||n__ieuw__||h__oi__*||

*This is a particularly loose approximation but should serve since there is nothing similar to contrast with.

Consontants:
||''IPA''||m||n||p||t||ts||k||b||ʃ||dz||kx||d||g||s||z||x||ɹ||j||l||
||''Transcription''||m||n||p||t||c||k||b||sh / š||j||x||d||g||s||z||h||r||y||l||
||''EN''||__m__ay||__n__ay||__p__ay||__t__ip||ba__ts__||__k__ite||__b__uy||__sh__oe||swor__ds__man||*||__d__uck||__g__et||__s__ee||__z__oo||lo__ch__†||__r__ay||__y__e||__l__id||
||''NL''||__m__ist||__n__est||__p__it||__t__ip||fie__ts__||__k__ool||__b__ad||__sj__taad**||fie__ts__band||*||__d__ik||__g__oal||__s__ok||__z__eep||a__ch__t||deu__r__||__j__as||__l__id||

*[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_velar_affricate|This sound]] enjoys only a very marginal existence in some dialects of English or Dutch. Best of luck.

**Dialectical ''Limburgs'' pronunciation, maybe, internet says so but I haven't got the time to track down a video of someone talking about their city in Limburgish to check. However one chooses to say it, this sound should be distinct from [ɕ] as in "sjaals" [ɕaːɫs] because in Usirenic [ɕ] would be heard as /h/ and not /ʃ/. The Usirenic /ʃ/ is the same sound as German "__Sch__nitzel."

†Dialectical Scottish pronunciations; not found in American English.
-Line 25:
+Line 63:
-||''IPA''||a||e||i||
+||''IPA''||ɑ||ə||i||
-Line 27:
+Line 65:
+||''EN''||c__o__t||b__u__d||b__i__t||
||''NL''||b__a__d||d__e__||b__ie__t||
-Line 30:
+Line 70:
+Consontants:
||''IPA''||ð||ð̪||z||dz||d||n||ʝ||ɟʝ||ɟ||ɲ||ɟ̠||ɣ||ɡɣ||g||ŋ||ʁ||ɢʁ||ɢ||ʕ||ʔ||
||''Transcription''||s||sh / š||z||dz / ž ||d||n||j||cj / č||c||nj ||jh / ǰ||x||gx / x̌||g||ng||h||gh / ǧ||q||w||r||

Hornsounds:
||''IPA*''||Ƀ||Ŧ||Đ||Ħ||Ʉ||Ƀ᷂||Ŧ᷂||Đ᷂||Ħ᷂||Ʉ᷂||Ø||
||''Transcription''||1'||2'||3'||4'||5'||1||2||3||4||5||0||

Laryngeal tones:
The laryngeal tone is the fundamental frequency that the unicorn's voice box (larynx) produces. The laryngeal tone is analyzed with respect to its interval with hornsound.

Phonology: 
Syllables consist of an initial, vowel and optional hornsound, and optional final.
Any consonant can be an initial. Finals are /ð ð̪ z n ʝ ɲ ɣ ŋ ʁ/.

Examples of Occidental Unicornic words:
||Practical Transcription||IPA Transcription||Part of Speech||Meaning||
||Še02ze1'1qan2-3re03|| - ||Noun, animate gender, agentic case||Shezeqan, a proper name||
-Line 42:
+Line 102:
+Consontants:
||''IPA''||p||t||k||pʰ||tʰ ~ θ||kʰ||ɸ||β||s||z||x||ɣ||ð||l||m||n||ŋ||
||''Transcription''||p||t||k||ph||th||kh||f||v||s||z||ch||gh||dh||l||m||n||ng||
-Line 51:
+Line 115:
+Consontants:
||''IPA''||m||n||p||t||f||θ||ts||k||b||s||dz||g||s||z||x||ɹ~j||l||
||''Transcription''||m||n||p||t||ph||th||c||k||b||s||j||g||s||z||ch||r||l||
-Line 54:
+Line 122:
-||''Transcription''||a||o||e||i||aa||oo||ee|ii||
+||''Transcription''||a||o||e||i||aa||oo||ee||ii||
-Line 59:
+Line 127:
+Consontants:
||''IPA''||m||n||p~b||t~d||ts~dz||k~g||s~z||ɹ||j||ŋ||ʁ~χ||ʕ||
||''Transcription''||m||n||p||t||c||k||s||r||j||ng||q||h||
-Line 68:
+Line 139:
+Consontants:
||''IPA''||p||b||t||d||kʷ||gʷ||q||ɢ||ɸ||β||s||z||xʷ||ɣʷ||χ||ʁ||ʀ~r||m||n||ŋʷ||ɴ||
||''Transcription''||p||b||t||d||k||g||q||r||f||v||s||z||x||j||c||jr||rr||m||n||ng||nr||




*IPA has here been extended for unicorn hornsounds, see [[Usiren/Unicornic|the page about unicorn languages]].