Lesson I

Pronunciation:

The draga language is written with 25 characters of the Roman alphabet, plus the ", ' and acute accent symbols. The symbol : is used to mark the end of a sentence.

f, l, m, s, t, w, and y are pronounced pretty much as in English. But 't' is always pronounced as in "top" (i.e. followed by a puff of air), and never as in "stop".
Letter	IPA	Gloss	Example	Description
Vowels:
a	æ	A	awo	similar to "a" in "cat"
e	ə	UH	eña	similar to "a" in "about"
i	i	EE	hiña	similar to "ea" in "eat"
o	U	OO	hoña	similar to "oo" in "look"
ou	ɔw	AW	tyouñ	Like the "o" in "on", but round your lips considerably, and say at a low pitch.
r	ɚ	UR	Qhrya	similar to "ur" in "purse", always a vowel
Easy to pronounce:
h	ʜ	H	halui	Similar to 'h'
j	tz	TZ	jagi	"tz" in "hot_zone"
x	ʃ	SH	xapo	"sh" in ship
ñ	ɲ	NY	ñagwa	"ni" in onion
kw	kw	KW	kweiañ	"qu" in aqua
ky	kj	KY	kyeañ	"ky" in junkyard
g	ɦ	GH	jaga	Like an 'h', but using your vocal cords (i.e. voiced)
'	ʔ	'	o'ui	Glottal stop. Pronounced like the break in "uh-oh", i.e. stopping the flow of air at your throat
Aspirated vs. unaspirated stops:
c	c	CH	ciw	Similar to "tch" in "butcher"
ch	ch	CHH	chíaeq	Similar to "ch_h" in "beach head"
p	p	P	pawa	Like the "p" in spill, or "pp" in pepper
ph	ph	PH	phawui	Like the "p" in pan (notice the puff of air)
q	q	Q	quiyo	Similar to "k" in "skip", but with the back of the tounge further back towards the throat
qh	qh	QH	qhowa	draqa 'Q' above, but with the "puff of air" (i.e. aspiration)
Varieties of 't':
d	t_	TH	dae	Like a "t", but pronounced with the tip of the tounge placed between the teeth, á la English "th".
t'	tʔ	T?	t'ae	Similar to the "t" in stop, but at the same time blocking the flow of air by closing off the back of your throat, i.e. glottal stop (together with the "t")
ty	tj	TY	tyou	Similar to the "t" in stop, but at the same time pronouncing "y".
Unusual sounds:
b	ɓ	B!	beiwor	Like 'b', but sucking the air inward rather than outwards
z	!	Z!	zeqa	The sound of 'sucking your teeth, i.e. Like 't', but sucking the air inward rather than outwards'
klq	ǁ	Q!	klqakwo	The sound of clicking your tongue against the side of your teeth.
p"	ʙ˚	P"	p"poa	Bilabial trill, (raspberry), i.e. Hold lips in the position for "p", and blow through them, allowing them to flap together
t"	r˚	T"	t"ui	Like Spanish 'rr' but without using your voicebox, Hold tongue in the position for "t", and blow through the tip,
q"	ʀ˚	Q"	q"aña	Like gargling without using your voicebox, Hold tongue in the position for draga "q", and blow across the back of the tongue .
qhg	qʀ˚	QQ"	qhgagi	Q + Q" above.

Draqa has 6 vowels: a, e, i, o, ou and r.

The vowels e, ou, and r are always pronounced with a little stress.

The vowels a, i, and o can be pronounced with a normal pitch, or with a high pitch. The acute accent is used to represent the high pitch: á í ú. *Note: The high pitch is always part of a pitch contour, i.e. the tone is either rising or falling. A simple high pitched vowel has a falling pitch contour, i.e. the 'ú' in 'mú' is pronounced with a falling tone. The word "ía' is also proncounced with a falling tone. However, the 'ií' in 'pií' is pronounced with a rising tone.

The vowels a, i, and o might also be rhoticized:

ar / ár	[ær]	"ar" / "AR"
ir / ír	[ir]	"eer" / "EER"
or	[Ur]	"oor"

Certain vowel combinations have irregular spellings:

ea	[iæ]	"ee-a"
eu	[iU]	"ee-oo"
ae	[æe]	"a-ay"

Other possible vowel combinations inlcude:

ei	[əi]	"uh-ee"
ie / íe	[iə]	"ee-uh"
ui / úi / uí	[Ui]	"oo-ee"
ái / aí	[æi]	"a-ee"
ía / iá	[iæ]	"ee-a"
ío / iú	[iO]/[iU]	"ee-oo"

Syllables and Words

• Draga words are typically from 1 to 4 syllables in length.
• A syllable can only end with: f, m, w, p", s, c, x, ñ, q, a glottal stop ('), or a vowel.
• A syllable can begin with any vowel or consonant, or one of the following consonant clusters: pw, py, phw, phy, phl, tw, tl, jw, zw, z', qhw, qhl, xw, xl (sl), fw/hw, hl, hy, gw, gy, ml, lw, ly, bw, by
• f, m, w, p", s, c, x, ñ, and q can also form syllables by themselves. For instance, given the word 'sfea', you can see that 'sf' is not an allowable consonant cluster, so there must be 2 syllables: 's' and 'fea'.
• Words generally do not begin with g, or end with e.