Gjarrda Spelling
For best results, install the Gjarrda TrueType font, Lhoerr, to read examples written in Gjarrda. This page uses Unicode characters for the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). If you need a Unicode font that includes the IPA characters, install the free Thryomanes TrueType font. Best results are seen with Netscape Communicator. If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, you may need to obtain a copy of the Lucida Sans Unicode font, if it isn't already installed, in order to see the IPA characters properly.
Gjarrda uses an alphabet called Ljoerr-teg (L0rtEg), which is based on phonetic principles. Ljoerr-teg is the Gjarrda name of the writing system; the individual characters themselves are called ljoerr. A more detailed description of Ljoerr-teg (which assumes some familiarity with articulatory phonetics) is available for those who are interested. However, native Gjarrda words only require a subset of 37 of the ljoerr, which represent the 37 phonemes of the language. Here they are, in Gjarrda alphabetical order, with their Unified Azirian Romanization equivalents and a brief description of each sound.
i i [i] - a high front unrounded vowel, like "ee" in "seek". Avoid pronouncing as the "i" in "sick". Sample
y ue [y] - a high front rounded vowel, like the German "ü" in "über". Sample
W eu [ɯ] - a high back unrounded vowel, the unrounded equivalent of u, the nearest vowel sound to gh without producing friction. Sample
u u [u] - a high back rounded vowel, like "u" in "rule". Sample
e ei [e] - a vowel that is higher and more pure than the English "a" in "rate", almost like an elongated version of "i" in "rid", or the German "ee" in "See". Avoid pronouncing as the "e" in "pet". Sample
0 oe [ø] - a high-mid front rounded vowel, like the German "ö" in "schön". Sample
8 eo [ɤ] - a high-mid back unrounded vowel, the unrounded equivalent of o; alternatively like "o" in "world". Sample
o ou [o] - a high-mid back rounded vowel, like the German "o" in "oder"; higher, farther back, and more pure than the English "o" in "joke". Sample
E e [ɛ] - a low-mid front unrounded vowel, somewhat lower than English "e" in "bed"; similar to the Hungarian "e" in "egy". Sample
O o [ɔ] - a low-mid back rounded vowel, like the English "o" in "for". Sample
a a [a] - a low front unrounded vowel, like the French "a" in "chat"; farther forward than English "a" in "far". Sample
b b [b] - like English "b" in "book". be5 beisj "tomorrow"
p p [p] - like English "p" in "speech", without the aspiration of English "p" in "peach". pEn pen "water"
m m [m] - like English "m" in "milk". mWg meug "demand"
w w [w] - like English "w" in "weed". wOm wom "net, web"
v v [v] - like English "v" in "vest". vam vam "lack, without"
f f [f] - like English "f" in "food". fom foum "expressive range"
d d [d] - like English "d" in "deep". diG digh "warmer, hotter"
t t [t] - like English "t" in "steak", without the aspiration of English "t" in "take". t8n teon "cold"
n n [n] - like English "n" in "noodle". n0R noer "where?"
R r [ɻ] - similar to English "r" in "real", but pronounced without lip rounding. ReL reilj "day, date"
r rr [r] - a trilled r, like Spanish "rr" in "perro". raz rraz "five"
l l [l] - like English "l" in "leap". lox loukh "older"
z z [z] - like English "z" in "zip". zEl zel "voice"
s s [s] - like English "s" in "self". s85 seosj "hot"
K dhl [ɮ] - a voiced alveolar lateral fricative, like Zulu "dl" in "indlovu"; the voiced equivalent of thl. Kiz dhliz "support"; alternatively, D (dh) [ð] - like English "th" in "that". Diz dhiz
$ thl [ɬ] - a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative, like Welsh "ll" in "llawen". Produced by trying to say "sh" as in "push" while your tongue is in the position of "ll" in "pull". $iR thlir "book"; alternatively, T (th) [θ] - like English "th" in "thick". TiR thir
J gj [ɟ] - a voiced palatal stop, like Hungarian "gy" in "gyermek". Similar to "d" in British pronunciation of "duke". Jag gjag "rule, standard"
c kj [c] - a voiceless palatal stop, like Hungarian "ty" in "tyúk". Similar to "t" in British pronunciation of "Tuesday". cig kjig "eat"
j y [j] - like English "y" in "yard". jum yum "ten"
L lj [ʎ] - a voiced palatal lateral approximant, like "lh" in Portuguese "olho". L0r ljoerr "phonetic symbol"; alternatively M (nj) [ɲ] - a voiced palatal nasal, like "ñ" in Spanish "año". M0r njoerr
2 zj [ʑ] - a voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant fricative, like Polish "zi" in "zielony". 2En zjen "up, ascend"
5 sj [ɕ] - a voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant fricative, like Polish "si" in "siedem". 5oR sjour "concept"
g g [ɡ] - like English "g" in "game". guR gur "human"
k k [k] - like English "k" in "skill", without the aspiration of English "k" in "kill". kim kim "apple"
G gh [ɣ] - a voiced velar fricative, like Spanish "g" in "luego". Gel gheil "send, transmit"
x kh [x] - a voiceless velar fricative, like "ch" in "loch". xEs khes "know one's location"
An apostrophe is occasionally used in the romanized spelling to separate adjacent vowels in different syllables, or letters that would otherwise be interpreted as a single sound: for example, suRRem sur'rem "restaurant" (not *surrem, which would be surem in lhoerr and [surem] in IPA), and sloe slo'e "ball, sphere (genitive case)", which would be pronounced [slø] if spelled sloe.
Stops and fricatives (including lateral fricatives) in Gjarrda are divided into voiced sounds (such as b, z, gj) and the corresponding voiceless sounds (p, s, kj). Each voiceless sound immediately follows the corresponding voiced sound in Gjarrda alphabetic order. In compound words, voiceless sounds at the end of one morpheme assimilate by substituting the corresponding voiced sound before another voiced sound (tis tis "frozen water, ice" + gRam gram "rain, precipitation" = tisgRam tizgram "hail"). The reverse is also true (muG mugh "morning" + suR sur "meal" = muGsuR mukhsur "breakfast"). Assimilation also occurs between words: vragad Jardae vrragat Gjarrda'ei "Gjarrda spelling" is pronounced vrragad Gjarrda'ei, and dEcis 2or ‘mi5ka’ decis zhourr 'mishka' "reclaiming the word 'weasel'" is pronounced deciz zhourr mishka. This assimilation is not indicated in the spelling; Gjarrda spelling is morphophonemic rather than strictly phonetic.
Voiced stops are not distinguished from voiceless stops at the end of a word; they are pronounced as voiceless themselves. When followed by a vowel or voiced consonant, however (in a suffix or a following word of the same phrase), they are pronounced as voiced. Therefore, Gjarrda writes them as voiced stops. Examples include the word ljoerr-tek "the Gjarrda phonetic alphabet", which is really spelled ljoerr-teg (L0rtEg), but pronounced with a k at the end, and the word vragad vrragat "spelling, orthography", which is derived from vrag vrrag "to spell" by adding the suffix -ad -ad.
The primary stress in Gjarrda is on the first syllable of a word, with a secondary stress on the first syllable of each verb or noun morpheme following the first one (e.g., sni's-ka-R8"l 'snis-ka-,reol "Samiji gerbil-people", t8'-ma-Ri"-5eg 'teo-ma-,ri-sheig "mole-rat"). Morphemes other than noun and verb roots, such as the inanimate genitive suffix -e -ei and the preposition na na "and", are unstressed. Unless marked otherwise, a single consonant between vowels belongs to the following syllable, and a pair of consonants between vowels is divided between the two consonants (ri-sheig, snis-ka). (Exceptions to this rule are found in compounds and borrowed words.) Vowels in an open syllable (a syllable ending in a vowel) are pronounced somewhat longer than vowels in a closed syllable (ending in a consonant).
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