*This is only a preliminary analysis of Rihannsu phonology and should not be relied upon too heavily. Also note that this guide applies only to a particular system of transliterating Rihannsu characters into English letters. It is perfectly possible for two transliterators to come up with alternate English spellings of the same Rihannsu word, using different pronounication rules than those given here. A familiar analog for Terrans may be English transliterations of Chinese, in which, for example, the capital of China is variously written as "Beijing" and "Peking" -- both transliterations of the same Chinese word.*
Vowels | Consonants | Valid Consonant Clusters | Syllabication | Accent | Tone
Note: This and several other sections on Rihannsu syntax and phonology were passed on to me anonymously. No plagiarism is intended, I just thought they were well worth putting up! If you are the original author, please contact me so I can give you credit.
In Rihannsu, all words are pronounced as they are spelt. Therefore, simply by knowing the pronunciations of the various letters, the words can be pronounced accurately.
| Letter | Pronunciation | Letter | Pronunciation |
| a | (AH) as in fAther | e | (EH) as in Egg |
| i | (EE) as in pIzza | o | (OH) as in bOne |
| u | (OO) as in rUde | ae | (AY) as in pAy |
| aa | (A) as in mAn (Amer.) | uu | (U) as in bOOk |
| b(h) | /b/ as in 'boat' (h causes aspiration) |
| ch | /tS/ as in 'chain' |
| d(h) | /d/ as in 'dark' (h causes aspiration) |
| f | /f/ as in 'fight' |
| fv | Soft V, or hard F, halfway in between the two |
| g(h) | /g/ as 'gain' (h causes aspiration) |
| h | /h/ as in 'holiday' |
| hh | Heavy 'h' sound, sometimes as heavy as in scottish 'loch' |
| j | /dZ/ as in 'judge' |
| k(h) | /k/ as in 'kite' (h causes aspiration) |
| l | /l/ as in 'lint' |
| ll | An /l/ formed with tip of the tongue at the back of the bottom teeth |
| m | /m/ as in 'men' |
| n | /n/ as in 'nut' |
| p | /p/ as in 'pie' |
| q | /q/ A 'k' sound from the back of the throat, though not raspy |
| r | /r/ slightly trilled as in romance languages |
| rr | /r/ Sometimes heavily trilled, depending on dialect |
| s | /s/ as in 'sign' |
| sh | /S/ as in 'ship' |
| t | /t/ as in 'tin' |
| th | /T/ unvoiced, as in 'thigh' |
| v | /v/ as in 'vest' |
| w | /w/ as in 'wait' |
| y | /y/ as in 'yet' |
| z | /Z/ as in 'azure' |
Note: When the combination thh occurs, it always refers to a 'th' sound followed by an 'h' sound.
Preceding a vowel:
h and hh may precede f, fv, j, l, ll, n, r, rr, s, v, or w, and such clusters are pronounced as they are spelt.
t, th, sh, g, k, q and v may precede r, rr, l or ll, and such clusters are pronounced as they are spelt.
Following a vowel:
r, rr, l, and ll may precede any consonant except h, hh, l, ll, r, rr, y or w, and are pronounced as they are spelt.
All Rihannsu words are syllabicated by their vowels (or diphthongs), where present. When a consonant ends a word (or precedes a glottal stop) after another consonant, and isn't part of a cluster, (Ex: Vaebn) there is a slight schwa-like utterance following that consonant. Some Rihannsu drop the final sound altogether, though this is considered mishandling in the case of names, and is avoided. This also occurs between two consonants or clusters not part of the preceeding syllables. This schewa utterance is considered a vowel for purposes of syllabication. Therefore, the seemingly complex word 'imirrhlhhse' is syllabicated as follows:
i-mirr-h@l-hhse
where the @ is an unwritten schewa. This results in a pronunciation of:
ee-MEERR-hul-hhseh
Rihannsu words are always accented on the third to the last syllable, or on the first syllable in words of three syllables or fewer. Ex:
FVILL-ha (fvillha)
DEI-hu-it (deihuit)
gal-ae'-EN-ri-ov (galae'Enriov)
KHRE'-ri-ov (khre'Riov)
For the most part, the base pronunciation of a Rihannsu sentence is monotone. Rihannsu is not, however, a tonal language. So aside from the accenting of the words, any specific stress on particular words over others is entirely up to the speaker, and emphasized words are interpreted the same way as in English and other languages.
Background and History
Changes:
A little blurb from me, confessing my crimes, has been added to the bottom of all pages.
Unrescuable pictures have been removed
The 'contact me' link has been changed to my own, as I have no idea of the author's current email address