Thursday, June 5, 2014

Say What?

Art by David Lewis Johnson
While I've tried the render the names of the various species and cultures in the Strange Stars in the closest to a phonetic pronunciation in English as possible, while still being (relatively) elegant on the page. This still usually means a good deal of ambiguity.

To try to alleviate that, here's a pronunciation guide with the best IPA approximation and a plain language description:

djägga [d͡ʒɛɡɑ]: JEH-gah.
Dzrrn [d͡zr̩:n]: dz (as in adds) uhrn.
hyehoon [hjɛhu:n]: HYEH-hoon.
ksaa [ksɑ:]: ks (as in axe) ah.
kuznuh [kəznə]: KUHZ-nuh
ngghrya [ŋ̍ɡ͡ɣɾjɑ]: ng (as in sing)-gh (a sound not in English) ryah.
vokun [vokʊn]: vo-KUN (u as in put).
ssraad [ʂɹɑ:d]: shrahd.
yssgalahl [jiʂɡaɫaɬ]: Just call them "Slavers."
Zyanthian [zjænθiæn]: ZYAN-thee-an.

8 comments:

Chris C. said...

That's cool. I've often wished pronunciation guides were included in gaming material.

David said...

"the best IPA approximation"

India pale ale approximation? interesting.

iemattias said...

I love IPA! so refreshing...

...to have a thoughtful pronunciation guide. Is that a glottal fricative in the ngghrya?

The Angry Lurker said...

A great help with the tongue twisting pronunciations!

garrisonjames said...

This goes well with beer, and is pretty helpful as well. A good idea. Might have to do something similar one of these days...

Trey said...

@David- Yes. But also International Phonetic Alphabet. :)
@Mattias - Velar affricative is what it's supposed to be.
@Fran.- You're welcome.
@Jim - Why not?

Gothridge Manor said...

That's a smart way to do it. I know when I run into unpronounceable words, I can't remember them and I pass over it or call it something else.

Trey said...

Me too. when reading I tend to just recognize them rather than say them; that doesn't work when you've got to say them aloud in a game.