The Revised Kolagian Orthography standard (RKO-4)

Revised Kolagian Orthography has been the basis for the romanized spelling of the major Kolagian languages in recent years. In addition to the standards given in this document, the rules allow each language to have its own Modified Kolagian Orthography (MKO) to resolve problems specific to that language. For example, few Kolagian languages use the phonetic sound represented as [c], a voiceless palatal stop, but many languages have a voiceless post-alveolar affricate, [ʧ]. Thus, most languages use {c} instead of the RKO {tsh} for this sound. (In this document, the IPA phonetic symbols are in brackets, while the RKO and MKO symbols are in curly braces. If your browser doesn't support the Unicode characters for the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), some of the characters may appear as question marks. If they appear as empty boxes, you may need to install a different font. The free Thryomanes TrueType font includes the IPA characters.)

The 21 consonants of the Latin alphabet are used with their IPA values, with the following exceptions: {h} is usually part of a digraph, {j} is a voiced palatal stop [ɟ], {r} is an alveolar approximant [ɹ], and {x} is reserved for each language's individual needs. Note also that {y} is a consonant, equivalent to IPA [j]. The IPA [h] is represented by the RKO digraph {'h}, though the apostrophe may be omitted between vowels or at the beginning of a word before a vowel.

The letter {h} has three major uses. After a consonant, it modifies the sound of the consonant (for example, stop+h represents the equivalent fricative). See the consonant chart below for the complete list of consonant+h sounds. Before a consonant, it makes the consonant voiceless, as in {hl} or {hn}. The first rule applies before the second rule, so that {thn} is {th}{n}, not {t}{hn}. Use a hyphen or capitalize the H if you want the devoicing to apply first: {t-hn}, {tHn}. After a vowel (at the end of a word or preceding a consonant), {h} lengthens the vowel, as in {ah} or {eh}.

The entire retroflex column is built by capitalizing or underlining the symbols from the alveolar column. For example, [ɳ] = {N}/{n}, [ʈ] = {T}/{t}, [ʂ] = {S}/{s}. However, the MKO for a particular language may use a different convention, as long as it is applied consistently. Zharranh, for instance, writes its retroflex sounds with a prefixed r- (rt, rs, rz, rn, rl).

The apostrophe is used as a diacritic to represent two types of sounds: ejective stops and taps/flaps. The reverse apostrophe represents implosives.

Clicks are represented as a combination of velar stop and some other stop, with an exclamation mark {!} in between them to signify that it is a click. A voiceless alveolar click, for example, is {k!t}. The {k} is optional. Nasal clicks are written with {n} by convention instead of {ng} (for example, {n!t}).

Remaining gaps in the IPA chart are filled with more-or-less arbitrary combinations of two or three letters: {gq}=[ɢ], {ng}=[ŋ], {nq}=[ɴ], {bb}=[ʙ], {rr}=[r], {rrh}=[ʀ], {9}=[ʕ], {`h}=[ɦ], {þ}=[ɬ], {ð}=[ɮ], {wr}=[ɰ], {wl}=[ʟ]. Previous versions of RKO used {thl} and {dhl} instead of the Icelandic letters {þ} and {ð}, and this may still be seen in the current romanization of Olaetyan, or in ASCII representations of RKO spelling.

Consonant chart:

                  labio- dental,  post-  retro-                    pharyn-
        bilabial dental alveolar alveolar flex palatal velar uvular geal  glottal
Plosive      p  b         t  d           T  D   c  j   k  g   q  gq         ?
Nasal           m     mh     n              N      nh     ng     nq
Trill        pp bb           rr                                 rrh
Tap/flap                     r'             R'                   rh'
Fricative    ph bh  f  v  th dh  sh zh   S  Z   ch jh  kh gh  qh rh  hh 9  'h `h
                          s  z
Lateral fric.             þ  ð
Approximant           vh     r              R      y      wr
Lateral appr.                l              L      lh     wl
Ejective     p'           t'             T'     c'     k'     q'
Implosive    p` b`        t` d`          T` D`  c` j`  k` g`  q` gq`
Click        !p           !t             !T     !c
Lat. click                !tl

kp, gb    labial-velar stops
hw        voiceless labial-velar fricative
w         voiced labial-velar approximant
ÿ, wy     voiced labial-palatal approximant

ç         alternative for {s*}
c         alternative for {sh}, {ch}, {tsh}, {tsj}, {ts}
j         alternative for {zh}, {jh}, {dzh}, {dzj}, {dz}
x         alternative for {hh}, {z*}, {k!t}, {sj}, etc.
thl, dhl  alternative for {þ}, {ð}

x<        dental articulation: t< d< n< l<
          in general, a "farther forward" articulation (e.g., Eng. "keep"={k^h<i:p^h})
x>        "farther back" articulation (e.g., {p>} for a labiodental {p}).
x*        laminal articulation: s* z*
x'        ejective: t' ts' sh'
x`        implosive: b` g` t`
!x        click: !p !t !T n!t g!tl^h
xx        double letters may be redefined as needed for each language (MKO)
(xy)      double articulation, as in (kt), (fs) (not necessary for clicks such as {g!p}, {n!t<})

rrj       fricative trill
lr'       lateral flap
nr'       nasal flap
xh        alternative for (shkh)

-, ', .   separates consonants {n'g}, {t-h}, {k.p}, etc.
h-, H-    voiceless {hn}, {hm}, etc.
-^h, -h   aspirated {t^h}, {k^h}, etc.
-^w, -w   labialized {t^w}, {d^w}, {n^w}, etc.
-^y, -y   palatalized {t^y}, {d^y}, {n^y}, etc.
-^g, -g   velarized {t^g}, {d^g}, {n^g}, etc.
-^9, -9   pharyngealized {t^9}, {d^9}, {n^9}, etc.
-^r, -r   retroflex {t^r}, {d^r}, {n^r}, etc.
-j        alveopalatal {tj}, {dj}, {nj}, {sj}, {zj}, etc.

Vowels: There are two different representations of vowels in RKO-4. The first, which has a unique symbol for each IPA vowel character, represents the exact quality of vowels with diacritics. The second uses digraphs to represent vowels beyond the basic 5 [aeiou].

Toneless, 8-bit version

   Front                  Back                   Front                   Back
í           ì               ù        Close     ü            ý              ú
       î                                              ï                û
 é                          ò      Close-mid    ö                          ó
              è                                               õ
   ê           ë            â      Open-mid       œ                        ô
    æ            à
      ä                     á        Open            ã                     å
            Unrounded                                       Rounded

(Note: {œ} can be replaced with {oe} if it is unavailable.)

Vowels with tones, or represented in 7-bit ASCII

   Front                  Back                   Front                   Back
i, ie        ii            eu        Close     ue            uu        u, ou
      i                                              [ue]              u
 e                        [eo]     Close-mid   [oe]                        o
              eo                                             [oe]
   ea         [eo]        [eo]     Open-mid       oe                      oa
    ae          [a]
      a                    aa        Open           [oe]                  ao
            Unrounded                                       Rounded


a       general low vowel
e       general mid front vowel
i       general high front or central vowel
o       general mid back vowel
u       general high back vowel
ø       general mid central vowel (resembles schwa or barred o)
-ñ      nasalized {añ}, {eñ}, {oñ}, etc.
-^r     r-colored vowels {a^r}, {ë^r}, etc.
-<      farther forward
->      farther back
h, :    long {ah}, {i:}, etc.

Suprasegmentals:

'       primary stress
"       secondary stress
á       stressed or high-tone vowel
à       unstressed or low-tone vowel
â       long or falling-tone vowel
ä       rising-tone vowel, or an additional tone mark
ã       nasalized vowel, or an additional tone mark