The sounds of the draqa language include quite a few that are not mirrored in English. This page will give you a rough guide to draqa sounds. For more accurate descriptions of draqa sounds, look at the Phonology page.
Consonants
p,t,k,b,d,m,n,w,l,y,f,s,h
These can be pronounced similar to English.
c can be pronounced like English ch in church.
g is pronounced like English ng in sing. Unlike in English, it can begin a word or syllable.
d' is pronounced like English th in thistle.
x is pronounced like English sh in sharp.
j can be pronounced like French g in rouge, or like the English dz in adze.
' is pronounced like the break between 'uh' and 'oh' in the English uh-oh.
p" is pronounced by blowing out through your closed lips - making them trill, or flap together. This is the same as a "raspberry".
z is the sound of "sucking your teeth", or saying tsk-tsk to a horse.
q is the most difficult to describe, and has two sounds:
At the beginning of a word it is similar to English g, but pronounced further back in the throat.
In the middle of a word it is similar to English h, but pronounced with voicing (vibration in the vocal cords). It sounds closest to a sigh.
Vowels
Although it may seem complicated, the draqa vowel system is really rather simple. It is based on 3 vowels, pronounced with either a (1) strongly stressed (long), low tone; (2) mildly stressed (short), low tone; or (3) falling tone.
Tone refers to the "musical" pitch of the vowel. A low tone is spoken at "normal" pitch, while a falling tone falls from a higher pitch to "normal" pitch.
The three basic vowels correspond to the front, middle and back of the mouth. In English, the vowel sounds in seat, sit, sate, set, and sat occur in the front of the mouth. These are called front vowels by linguists. The vowel sounds in sister, some and somber occur in the middle of the mouth. They are called central vowels by linguists. The vowel sounds in soon, soot,
soak, and on are pronounced in the back of the mouth. They are called back
vowels by linguists.
The draqa vowels (front - 'i', central - 'a', back - 'u') generally fall within the wide ranges of English' more specific vowel system. So, it is often hard to pinpoint exactly which English
vowel any given draqa vowel will correspond with. That's okay. The following pronunciation guide gives a useful approximation that will allow you to be understood.
Dipthongs and tripthongs in draqa are differentiated by the length of the final vowel . In dipthongs, if the final vowel is long, the first vowel will also be long - if the final vowel is short, the first vowel will be also be short. In tripthongs, either the first vowel is long (and the final vowel short), or the final vowel is long (and the first vowel short).
The only other special feature of draqa vowels is the 'r' . Any vowel can be followed by an 'r', and it is called Rhotic . By itself, 'r' represents a Rhotic
central vowel - pronounced much like the vowel in 'first'. There are two special exceptions in pronunciation of the r . They are discussed below, and marked with an asterix(*).
Standard Series
i is pronounced somewhere between the English i in pick and the English ee in peek.
a(u) is pronounced somewhere between the English a's in hat and father.
u is pronounced somewhere between the English oo's in loop and book.
e(i) is pronounced somewhere between the English i in white and the e in wet , but more quickly.
eh is pronounced like the (American) English u in fun, but more quickly.
o is pronounced like the English o in on, but more quickly.
í is pronounced like the i described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
á is pronounced like the a described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
ú is pronounced like the u described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
Rhotic Series
ir is pronounced like the English eer in peer.
ar is somewhat like the English ar in far.
*ou is similar to an English au in caught, pronounced with a New York City accent.
er is pronounced similar to the English er in merry
r is pronounced like the English ir in first.
or is pronounced like the English or in for.
ír is pronounced like the ir described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
ár is pronounced like the ar described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
úor is pronounced like the u described above, followed by or , with a falling pitch from high (u) to low (or)
Dipthong Series
ae is pronounced somewhat like the English i in fine
ui is pronounced somewhat like the English oy in boy
ái is pronounced like the ae described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
ói is pronounced like the ui described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
ea is pronounced somewhat like the English ia in the name Bianca.
oa is pronounced like the u described above, followed by the long a described above.
ie(h) is pronounced like the i described above, followed by the short eh described above.
ue(h) is pronounced like the u described above, followed by the short eh described above.
ía is pronounced like ea described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
úa is pronounced like oa described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
io sounds similar to the English e-o combination in the phrase be on
ao is similar to to the English ow in wow .
eu is pronounced as the i described above, followed by the u described above, but together very quickly.
ío is pronounced like io described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
áo is pronounced like ao described above, but with a falling pitch from high to low
