Spelling and pronunciation

Alphabet

Elefen uses the most widely known alphabet in the world: Roman or Latin.

• lowercase letters
  • a b c d e f g h i j l m n o p r s t u v x z
• capital letters
  • A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P R S T U V X Z

K (k), Q (q), W (w) and Y (y) do not appear in ordinary words. In about a hundred international words of non-Romance origin, W can be written for U, and Y for I, to make the spelling easier to recognise: ioga/yoga, piniin/pinyin, sueter/sweter, ueb/web. Other than that, K, Q, W and Y are only used to preserve the original forms of proper nouns and non-Elefen words.

H is also not common, but it is found in some technical and cultural terms.

Capital letters

A capital letter is used at the start of the first word in a sentence.

Capital letters are also used at the start of proper nouns. When a proper noun consists of several words, each word is capitalized – apart from minor words like la and de:

• People, real or imagined, as well as personified animals and things
  • Maria, San Paulo, Barack Obama, Jan de Hartog, Seniora Braun, Oscar de la Renta, Mickey Mouse
• Organizations (e.g. companies, societies)
  • Ikea, Nasiones Unida, Organiza Mundal de Sania
• Political entities (e.g. nations, states, cities)
  • Frans, Atina, Site de New York, Statos Unida de America
• Geographical locations (e.g. rivers, oceans, lakes, mountains)
  • la Alpes, Rio Amazon, Mar Atlantica
• Letters of the alphabet
  • E, N

But with titles of works of art and literature, only the first word of the title is capitalized (along with any proper nouns that appear):

• Un sonia de un note de mediaestate – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• La frates Karamazov – The Brothers Karamazov
• Tocata e fuga en D minor – Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Sometimes, as in warnings, capitals are used to EMPHASIZE entire words or phrases.

Elefen uses small letters in places where some languages use capitals:

• Days of the week
  • lundi, jovedi – Monday, Thursday
• Months
  • marto, novembre – March, November
• Holidays and similar occasions
  • natal, ramadan, pascua – Christmas, Ramadan, Easter
• Centuries
  • la sentenio dudes-un – the twenty-first century
• Languages and peoples
  • catalan, xines – Catalan, Chinese

Letter names

The following syllables are used to name letters in speech, e.g. when spelling a word:

• a be ce de e ef ge hax i je ka el em en o pe qua er es te u ve wa ex ya ze

These are nouns and can be pluralized: as, bes, efes.

In writing, one can simply present the letter itself, capitalized, adding -s for the plural:

• La parola “matematica” ave tre As, du Ms (pronounced emes), e un E. – The word “matematica” has three As, two Ms, and an E.

Vowels

The letters A, E, I, O, and U are pronounced as in Spanish or Italian:

A	[a]	as in Spanish or French “papa”; similar to the vowel in “palm”	open front unrounded	ambasada
E	[e]	as in Spanish “peso” or French “été”; similar to the vowels in “get” or “gate”	close-mid front unrounded	estende
I	[i]	the vowel in “feet”	close front unrounded	ibridi
O	[o]	as in Spanish “poso” or French “beau”; similar to the vowels in “caught” or “coat”	close-mid back rounded	odorosa
U	[u]	the vowel in “moon”	close back rounded	cultur

The vowel sounds allow a degree of variation. For example, A can be pronounced as [ɑ] (as in “car”), E as [ɛ] (“get”) or [eɪ] (“gate”), and O as [ɔ] (“caught”) or [oʊ/əʊ] (“coat”) without causing misunderstanding.

Diphthongs

When one vowel follows another, they are normally pronounced separately. But in four cases, when the second vowel is I or U, the two vowels form a diphthong:

AI	[aj]	the sound in “aisle”	pais
AU	[aw]	the sound in “mouth”	auto
EU	[ew]	no corresponding English diphthong; similar to the “ay w” in “bay watch”	euro
OI	[oj]	similar to the sound in “coin”	seluloide

Adding a prefix does not create a diphthong: reuni [re-uni], supraindise [supra-indise]. For similar reasons, two separate syllables are normal in a few other words too: egoiste [ego-iste], proibi [pro-ibi]. Such words are indicated in the dictionary, e.g. “proibi (o-i)”.

The sequence EI is rare. It is normally pronounced as two separate vowels: ateiste [ate-iste], feida [fe-ida], reinventa [re-inventa]. But speakers who find this pronunciation difficult can say [ej] or even [e] instead.

When I or U precedes another vowel, it is reduced to a semivowel – like the English Y or W – in the following cases:

• At the start of a word
  • ioga [joga], ueste [weste]
• Between two other vowels
  • joia [ʒoja], ciui [kiwi], veia [veja]
• LI, NI between two other vowels
  • folia [folja], anio [anjo] – but not in the first syllable of a word
• CU, GU before a vowel
  • acua [akwa], cual [kwal], sangue [sangwe]

In other cases – e.g. emosia, abitual, plia – the I or U remains a full vowel.

While these rules define the normal pronunciation for diphthongs, they can be ignored without confusion.

Consonants

The following letters are consonants:

B	[b]	as in “big”	voiced bilabial plosive	bebe
C	[k]	as in “cat”	voiceless velar plosive	clica
D	[d]	as in “dog”	voiced dental/alveolar plosive	donada
F	[f]	as in “fat”	voiceless labiodental fricative	fotografi
G	[g]	as in “get”	voiced velar plosive	garga
H	[h]	as in “hot”, or silent	voiceless glottal fricative	haicu
J	[ʒ]	as in “treasure”	voiced postalveolar fricative	jeolojia
L	[l]	as in “let”	voiced dental/alveolar lateral approximant	lingual
M	[m]	as in “man”	voiced bilabial nasal	mesma
N	[n]	as in “not”	voiced dental/alveolar nasal	negante
P	[p]	as in “pot”	voiceless bilabial plosive	paper
R	[r]	as in “roll”	voiced dental/alveolar trill	rubarbo
S	[s]	as in “set”	voiceless dental/alveolar fricative	sistemes
T	[t]	as in “ten”	voiceless dental/alveolar plosive	tota
V	[v]	as in “vat”	voiced labiodental fricative	vivosa
X	[ʃ]	as in “shop”	voiceless postalveolar fricative	xuxa
Z	[z]	as in “zoo”	voiced dental/alveolar fricative	zezea

Note the following points:

• C is always as in “call”, never as in “cell”.
• F is always as in “off”, never as in “of”.
• G is always as in “get”, never as in “gem”.
• J has the sound that it has in French and Portuguese: like the S in “treasure”.
• N before G or C has the sound of NG [ŋ] in English: longa, ance. NG at the end of a syllable, as in bumerang or gangster, also has this sound: the G is silent.
• R has the trilled or rolled sound that it has in Italian and Spanish.
• S is always as in “hiss”, never as in “his”.
• V never sounds like B, unlike in Spanish.
• X is like SH in English, SCH in German, and CH in French and Portuguese.
• Z is always as in “zoo”.

As some speakers have difficulty with consonants in certain combinations or positions, Elefen allows the following variations:

• J
  • J can also be pronounced [dʒ] like the J in “judge” if preferred.
• R
  • Other R sounds (as in French, German, or English) are acceptable, as long as they are clearly distinct from other Elefen sounds.
• X
  • X can also be pronounced [tʃ] like the CH in “church” if preferred.
• Z
  • Z can also be pronounced [ts] like the ZZ in “pizza” if preferred.
• haicu, bahamas
  • H can be left silent, if a speaker prefers: [aicu], [ba-amas].
• blog, club
  • Some international words end in unusual consonants. A trailing E can be added to ease the pronunciation: [bloge], [klube].
• spada, strada
  • A number of words start with S followed by a consonant. A speaker who finds this difficult can add a leading E: [espada], [estrada].
• gnostica, psicolojia
  • Some scientific words start with unusual combinations of consonants, such as FT, GN, MN, PS, or PT. The first consonant can be omitted in pronunciation: [nostika], [sikoloʒia].
• ambargris, esflue, fortres, rontgen
  • Certain rare words contain more complex combinations, with three or more consonants. If these are difficult, a schwa (a neutral vowel) can be added to the pronunciation: [ambarəgris], [esəflue], [forətres/fortəres], [rontəgen].

Non-Elefen letters

When the non-Elefen letters appear in a word, they are normally pronounced as follows:

K	[k]	like C
Q	[k]	like C
W	[u] or [w]	like U
Y	[i] or [j]	like I

Stress

If a word has more than one vowel, one of the vowels is stressed (pronounced more strongly). The stressed vowels below are underlined.

The basic rule is to stress the vowel that precedes the last consonant of a word:

• falda
• integra
• matematica
• albatros
• ranur

Adding a suffix can move the stress:

• matematica  →  matematical
• radiograf  →  radiografia (no change)
• radiograf  →  radiograf‌iste

But adding the plural -s does not move the stress:

• un falda  →  du faldas
• un joven  →  tre jovenes
• ambos – this special word is stressed like a plural

The I or U of a diphthong behaves like a consonant in this regard:

• abaia
• ciui
• bonsai
• cacau

If no vowel precedes the last consonant, the first vowel is stressed:

• trae
• fea
• tio
• proa
• jua

Some words have multiple vowels after their last consonant. If the vowels are IA, IE, IO, UA, UE, or UO, the stress still goes on the vowel before the consonant:

• asentua
• jelosia
• rituo
• alio

However, when the final vowels are AE, AO, EA, EO, OA, OE, or UI, the stress goes on the first vowel of the pair:

• coneo
• idea
• sutrae
• produi

(But in estingui and vacui, the U is a semivowel because of another rule.)

Ala, asi, agu, ami, enemi, perce, alo, oce and ura are often pronounced with the stress on the final vowel rather than on the previous one. Either pronunciation is acceptable.

Compound words such as parario and mediadia retain the original stress of the second component.

Elefen is not a tonal language: words are not distinguished by changes in the pitch of the voice. However, one way to indicate that a sentence is a question is to end on a rise:

• Tu parla portuges? – with a rising pitch in the last word
• Tu no parla portuges. – with a flat or falling pitch

Phonotactics

The forms of ordinary words in Elefen are constrained by certain rules.

Two examples of the same vowel (such as aa) cannot be adjacent, except where this is the result of adding a prefix: “reenvia”, “coopera”. In these cases, both vowels are pronounced.

The sequence ou is not normally acceptable.

Where a suffix would create an invalid vowel sequence, the second vowel of the sequence is dropped:

• comedia + -iste  →  (comediiste)  →  comediste – comedian

Only the following 23 consonant clusters are allowed at the start of a syllable:

• pr-, br-, pl-, bl-
• tr-, dr-
• cr-, gr-, cl-, gl-
• fr-, vr-, fl-
• sl-
• sp-, st-, sc-
• sf-
• spr-, str-, scr-
• spl-, scl-

Only the following consonants are allowed at the end of a syllable, and they must be directly preceded by a vowel:

• -f, -s, -x
• -m, -n, -l, -r

A consonant cluster in the middle of a word is valid if it can be split over two valid syllables:

• encontrante = en-con-tran-te
• mostrablia = mo-stra-bli-a
• instinto = in-stin-to

Proper nouns, along with technical, international, or culture-specific words, are free to break these rules.