Scellan/Accents

A major language of Verse:Tricin, Skellan has many accents. Some common accent features are

• "R-breaking": certain /rC/ clusters epenthesize to /rəC/. Most accents have this feature to some degree.
• long vowels for nasal vowels
• In nasal accents: nasal vowel mergers so that the total number of nasal vowels is less than 10. The first victims tend to be the back nasal vowels /ũ õ ɔ̃/ (which often merge into two vowels) and the front rounded nasal vowels /ỹ ø̃ œ̃/ (which often merge into their unrounded counterparts /ĩ ẽ ɛ̃/).
• Some dialects such as conservative Alcvean retain the conservative pronounciation of y as [ɨ] in some environments. Backed realizations of stressed y, such as [ʌ], [ɤ] or [ʊ], is a special feature of some accents.
• Pronouncing n before V as [l]
• Like in English, there are various "nonstandard" pronunciations of /θ ð/:
  • These may become stops, dental [t̪˭ d̪] or alveolar [t˭ d], in some environments. In Skellan eye dialect this may be transcribed by substituting d for þ.
  • /ð/ may become [z], and /θ/ might participate in a chain shift θ > t > d.
  • /θ ð/ may be realized as "slit fricatives" [θ̠ ð̠~ɹ]. In dialects that do this, /ð/ after a vowel tends to become [ʋ].
• /k/-glottalization in coda
• Allophonic vowel length or tensing, especially in non-nasal accents
  • Vowels may lengthen in open syllables, before voiced consonants, or before front fricatives /f v θ ð s z/.
• Some accents might merge /œ/ and /ə/, or /œy/ and /ɔu/.

Skellan accents

Todo: More Skellan accents

Alcvean

This is the most well-known of the non-nasal Eevo accents. It is characterized by having a vowel length distinction instead of nasal vowels.

Contemporary

The contemporary accent of the middle and upper class of Alcve, the capital of Skella. This is the default accent used in newscasting in Skella.

• l is pronounced [ʁ̃] before a vowel.
• /ai au eu/ = [æː ɑʊ eː]
• /i y u/ = [ɪ ʏ ʊ]
• /ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ õ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃/ = [yː uː uː ɛː oː ɔː ɔu ʌː ɑː ɔː]
  • Linking L after nasal vowels, even when not historically nasal
• /iə yə uə/ = [iː yː uː]
• Unstressed /ə̃/ and /ɔ/ are realized as [ɔ].
• /ui/ = [oi] or even lower [oe] or [ɔe]
• Especially in working-class accents, /ð/ may become [z], and /θ/ may participate in a chain shift: /θ/ > [t] and /t/ > [d].
• R-breaking: Anywhere after a stressed vowel, /rC/ for voiced C undergoes epenthesis to [ɾəC].
  • arm 'to live' = [ˈaɾəm]
  • arn 'second (ordinal)' = [ˈaɾən]
  • derv 'to put up with' = [ˈtɛɾəv]
  • orð 'big' = [ˈɔɾəð]
  • bwrl 'pine' = [ˈpuɾɤ]
• R-fortition: rC > r̥C for voiceless C.
  • nert 'spark' = [nɛr̥t]
  • arca 'skin' = [ˈar̥kʰə]
• For the 1st person pronoun naw, the form no is preferred in colloquial speech. Due to the L-linking rule (see above), this has led to the stereotype of Skellans saying nol for naw among non-Skellans.

Conservative

• l is pronounced [ɴ̆] before a vowel.
• Short vowels: /i y ə u ɛ œ a ɔ/ = [i y ə u ɛ œ a ɔ]
• nasal vowels: /ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ õ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃/ = [iɤ yɤ uɤ eɤ øɤ oɤ ɛɤ aɤ ɔɤ]
• Diphthongs: /ai ui au ɛu iu ɛɪ œy ɔu iə yə uə/ = [aə ui au ɛu iu e ø o iə yə uə]
• Unstressed /ə̃/ is traditionally pronounced [ɤ], however in Modern Alcvean it merges with /ɔ/.
• In Conservative Alcvean, y in unstressed syllables is pronounced [ɨ].
• /hm hn hŋ/ may be realized as [ʔm ʔn ʔŋ] when not word-initial and not before a stressed vowel.
• Linking L after nasal vowels (analogous to linking R in RP)
  • For example, gyl jew in 'out of the blue' is often pronounced /ko jɛu ʟ‿in/.

Swuntsim accent

• Non-nasal vowels similar to Fyxoomian, /œ ø y/ = [ə əj ʉ]
• "Nasal" vowels similar to Alcvean;
  • linking L may or may not be used
• /ç/ = [ɬ]
• /p t k/ = [b d g]
• /hm hn hŋ r̥/ = [χm χn χŋ χr]

Hnawcas Amlad

• /ə/ = [ɪ]; /i/ = [i]
• /ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ õ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃/ are realized as [eː øː oː ɛː œː oː oː ɛː ɑɔ~ɑː ɔː]
• ai wi aw ew iw ee øø oo = /aiː yiː auː əuː iuː ɛiː œyː əuː/
• /j/ = [ʝ~ʒ]
• M N Ŋ /b d g/
• p t k b d g v ð j /pʰ tʰ kʰ p t k b d ʒ/
• R L /(czech ř) ɮ/
• r l /r l/
• rC clusters realized as retros

Loðagese accent

Hema Vrawm is a city in the Loðaga region.

Phonemic vowel length like Loðagese

• /i y ə u e ø o ɛ œ a ɔ/ = [əj əy ʌ~ʊ o e: ø: o: ɛ ʌ~ʊ æ ɑ]
• /iə yə uə/ = [i: y: u:]
• /ai au eu iu ui/ = [ɛɪ ɔ: əʊ ɨu ɔi]
• sb sd sg = [hp ht hk]

Iasa

The Iasa accent is one of the weirdest of Skellan accents.

Iasa does not use rising intonation in statements like most other accents.

Older Iasa

• ai au = [ɔɑ aː]
• /ɛ ɔ/ = [aɪ aʊ]
• /e/ = [e]
• /o/ = [ʊ], wa > [uβʷ]
• /u/ fronts to [ü], /y œ/ > [e], /ø/ [ɔ]
• /a/ > [aə] /i/ > [ɪ], /iə/ > [iʝ]
• /ə/ = [ɤ]
• /ç/, /h/ before a stop = [x]
• /h/ after V and before a resonant = [ʔ]
• /ʟ/ = [l]; /χ/ = [ɬ]
• Orthographic ñ is always [ŋ]

[tʰiʝɾ, ɔɑ baʊ aəm ə'tʰainə, ə tɤnt əɾgiʝɬ nə nümuːleː ɾən jə suw̝t, tʰüm kʰüɬən ə deːp]

Modern Iasa

ai = [ɑː~ɒː]; au = [æo]

e = [ɛe], o = [ɔo]

[tʰi:ɾ, ɒː bɔo aːm ə'tʰɛenə, ə tɤnt əɾgiːɬ nə nümoːleː ɾən jə suːt, tʰüm kʰüɬən ə deːp]

Vornian

The Vornian accent is the unique non-rhotic accent of Skellan. Many words may be borrowed from Vornian, a fellow descendant of Middle Skellan.

Linking R is used for vowels that come from Middle Skellan Vr sequences (unlike in Vornian itself).

Vowels are essentially "non-rhotic Lleeband Eevo":

• /a/ is fronted to [æ]; [æjə] before nasals.
• /ʉ ʉə ɵ/ are unrounded to [ɨ ɨə ɜ].
• /œ/ and stressed /ə/ merge to [ɜ]
• /ɔ/ is raised to [oə].
• /ai ui au ɛu iu ɛɪ œy ɔu iə yə uə/ = [ae oe ao əʊ iu əi əɨ əu iə(ɾ) ɨə(ɾ) uə(ɾ)]
• "R-colored" vowels:
  • /ar ɛr~er ir ɔr~or œr~ər ur yr/ - [aə(ɾ) ɛə(ɾ) iə(ɾ) ɔə(ɾ) əː(ɾ) uə(ɾ) ɨə(ɾ)]
• Final ñ and final l are both [ŋ]

Faroese inspired

Vowel distribution is similar to Faroese in that short vowels appear in closed syllables (those ending in consonant clusters or long consonants) and long vowels appearing in open syllables.

• ee øø oo [ea øa oa]
• i ia wi [ʊi i ɛi]
• iw = u = [ʉuː]
• y = w = [ɨ~ø~ʊ~ʏ]
• ø = [ɔi]
• ai = [ai]
• ua = [y]
• wa = [u]
• aw = [œː]
• a = [æ~ɑː]
• e o = [ɛ~eː, ɔ~oː]
• ew = [əu]
• L is clear L [l] as in Iasa.

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Fyxoomian accents

General Fyxoomian Skellan

This is the de facto standard accent of Fyxoom.

• Initial hm, hn and hñ are pronounced like m, n and ñ. Some Fyxoomian accents such as the Sirahda and Cøøve accents do not have this merger.
• /œ y/ are commonly centralized, closer to [ɞ ʉ]. /œ/ and stressed /ə/ may merge to [ɜ]
• /ai ui au ɛu iu ɛɪ œy ɔu iə yə uə/ = [oi ui ɛu ɛu iu aɪ aʉ au iə yə uə]
• epenthesis in /rC/ clusters when C = nasal or /v/. For example, arm 'to live' is [ˈaɾəm].
• Nasal vowels are also consistently pharyngealized, resulting in mergers. The pharyngealization is stronger before nasals.
  • wl~ool [õˁ]
  • il~eel~ul [ẽˁ~ø̃ˁ]
  • el~ewl~øl~øøl [ɛ̃ˁ~œ̃ˁ]
  • ol~yl [ɔ̃ˁ]
  • al [ãˁ]
• /k/ is [ʔ] when after a stressed vowel.

Like Fyxoomian Skellan, Eetøøm Skellan used a version of the Scottish vowel length rule:

• /ɨ ɛ œ a ɔ/ are usually short.
• /i y u ɛi ɔu œy/ are usually long in the following environments and short elsewhere:
  • In stressed syllables before voiced fricatives /v ð z ʒ/, and also before /r/.
  • In open syllables.
  • Before another vowel.
  • Before a morpheme boundary.
  • /ɛɪ œy ɔu/ in short environments are realized as [eiˑ øyˑ ouˑ].

Lleeband

General Fyxoomian is currently shifting to a more Lleeband-like accent.

Like General Fyxoomian except:

• General Fyxoomian /ʉ ʉə ɵ/ are unrounded to [ɨ ɨə ɜ].
• /œ/ and stressed /ə/ merge to [ɜ]
• /ɔ/ is raised to [oə].
• /ai ui au ɛu iu ɛɪ œy ɔu iə yə uə/ = [ae oe ao æː iu əi əɨ əu iə ɨə uə]
• Extreme raising of /a/ before /k/ or /h/ to [ɛə~eə].
  • For example, glah 'will' is pronounced [kʀɛəh~kʀeəh].
  • lymbág 'to refuse' is pronounced [ʟəmbɛəʔ~ʟəmbeəʔ].
• Creaky voice for some people

Hipster accent

Stereotypes: pretentious; trying too hard to be literary or artsy; a certain type of liberal person known as łyleeneþwñ.

A Fyxoomian "hipster" sociolect based on the Lleeband accent but incorporating deliberate archaisms and Skellanisms.

• /ai ui au ɛu iu ɛɪ œy ɔu iə yə uə/ = [aiː wiː auː euː juː əiː əɨː ouː jəː ɨəː wəː]
• /œ/-/ə/ merger: the merged /ə~œ/ is very low and back [ɒ].
• /k kʰ/ = [kʲ kʰʲ] when not followed by /ʟ/
• b d g /p t k/ are consistently voiceless.
• ł /w/ is purely velar [ɰ]; it can merge with /ʟ/
• r devoices before voiceless consonants and also before /m n ŋ ʟ/
• Long /ɛ œ ɔ/ are raised to [eə: øə: oə:].
• Raising of /a/ before /k/ or /h/ to [eə:].
• Initial hm, hn, hñ and m, n, ñ are distinct.

Cøøvean

Influenced somewhat by the Eetøøm accent

• nasal vowels are pronounced with [-ŋ]
• /ɛi/ is pronounced [ei] when followed by a consonant and [æi] otherwise.
• /sm sn sŋ sʟ sr sp st sk/ are retracted in all positions to [s̺m s̺n s̺ŋ s̺ʁ s̺r s̺p s̺t s̺k~ɧ] (cf. Swiss German)
• Initial hm, hn, hñ and m, n, ñ are distinct.

Sirahda

One of the less well-known accents, this is the accent of the Fyxoomian city of Sirahda and its environs.

• /ç/ is fronted to [ɕ] and triggers retraction of /ʃ tʃ/ to [ʂ tʂ].
• /χ/ is fronted to [x].
• /œ/ = [ʊ]
• Stressed /i/ and /u/ lengthen to [i:] and [u:] before /mC nC/ sequences.
  • For example, frindu 'music' is pronounced [fri:ndʉ].
• A chain vowel shift ("Sirahda Vowel Shift") affects the following non-nasalized vowels.
  1. /ɛu, ui/ > [eo~eə~ɛː, oe~oə~oː]
  2. /au, ai/ > [æw, ɑɪ]
  3. /ou, øy, ei/ > [œw~œː, œi, æj]
  4. /u, y, i/ > [ʊ, ʏ, ɪ]
  5. /uə, yə, iə/ > [uː, yː, iː] before C
• Front nasal vowels are realized as rhotic nasal vowels: /ẽˁ~ø̃ˁ, ɛ̃ˁ~œ̃ˁ/ are realized as rhotic nasal vowels [ɚ̃, ʌ̃ɚ] or even rhotic oral vowels [ɚ, ʌɚ].
• /θ ð/ > [t̪˭ d̪]
• Initial hm, hn, hñ and m, n, ñ are distinct.

Cnollta

Spoken in the Cnollta region in Fyxoom.

Similar to General Fyxoomian, but:

• /θ/ becomes a slit fricative [θ̠]. In broad Cnollta accents it may become [ʂ], especially after vowels. (may be spelled x in eye dialect)
• /ð/ > [ɹ~ʋ] especially after vowels. (may be spelled ł or v in eye dialect)
• /ʃ/ becomes [ɕ] in broad Cnollta.
• A chain shift of vowels known as the Cnollta vowel shift, affecting many vowels:
  1. The triggering shift is a merger of /ɔu/ and /œy/ into [əʏ~ʌʏ], similar to Estuary English GOAT, or [ɔʏ] like German eu, or most extremely [ɑʏ~ɒʏ]. The merged vowel is less front [ʌʉ] before /θ ð/. (may be spelled ou or au in eye dialect)
  2. /ɛu/ backs to [aʊ~ɑʊ].
  3. /au/ fronts to [æʏ~ɶː].
  4. /ɔ/ raises to [ʊ].
  5. /ai/ fronts to [æɪ].
  6. /ɛi/ raises to [eɪ] or [e:].
  7. /u/ may lower to [oʊ] or [əʊ].
  8. /uə/ monophthongizes to [u:].
  9. /yə iə/ may also monophthongize by analogy.
• Initial hm, hn, hñ and m, n, ñ are merged.

Hedarðøø

• There is no linking L.
  • wl~ool [õˁ~ɔ̃ˁ] > [uɐ̯]
  • il~eel~ul [ẽˁ~ø̃ˁ] > [iɐ̯]
  • el~øl~øøl [ɛ̃ˁ~œ̃ˁ] > [eɐ̯]
  • ol [ɔ̃ˁ] > [oɐ̯]
  • al [ãˁ] > [aː]
• /y œ/ = more front [y œ]; /u ɔ/ centralize/unround to [ü ʌ]; stressed /ə/ raises to [ɤ~ʊ]
• /m n ŋ/ denasalized initially to [b d g]
• j /j/ is fricativized to [ʝ]
  • Initial hm, hn, hñ and m, n, ñ are merged.

Þrwhas

Non-nasal like Alcvean Skellan, but no linking L

• Monophthongs /i y ə u ɛ œ a ɔ/ are short in closed syllables and long in open syllables.
  • /a/ is back [ɑ].
• /ai au/ = [æː æʊ]
• /ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ õ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃/ = [iy yʉ ʊu eø øo əo ɔo ɛœ aɑ ɑɔ]
• /ɛi œy ɔu/ = [eɪ øʏ oʊ]
• Unstressed /ə̃/ and /ɔ/ are realized as [o]
• /ui/ = [oi]

Early Modern Skellan

• The liquid l was always pronounced [lˠ]. Likewise, ll was [ɬˠ].
• The nasal ñ was always pronounced [ŋ].
• The letter y was pronounced /ɨ/.
• The vowel a was never reduced, and was always pronounced [a~ɐ].
• The diphthongs /ɛɪ œʏ ɔʊ/ (written ee øø oo) were long monophthongs [eː øː oː].
• The consonant ç /ç/ was /x/.
• In written diphthongs, the second element was longer unlike in most modern accents, i.e. ai wi aw ew iw ia ua wa = [ɐiˑ uiˑ ɐuˑ euˑ iuˑ iɜˑ yɜˑ uɜˑ]. Thus, for example, ai /ai/ [ɐiˑ] and aj /aj/ [aj] were phonemically distinct.

Eetøøm

The Eetøøm accent (eetøøm, lit. 'common mold', is an older word for 'standard') is an artificial compromise between Fyxoomian and Skellan standard accents. It was largely codified by one man, Llyméer Saiñ, as a standard for "international eloquent Skellan" and was learnt by actors in Fyxoom and Skella. Today the Eetøøm accent is associated with old movies and classical singing; speaking it in a modern context would sound anywhere from quaint and weird, to pretentious, to foreign.

The accent fully distinguished orthographic ñ and l (l was always pronounced as a "clear L" [l] as in the Iasa accent), though most dialects lost the distinction in coda position in the 1100s. (Saiñ, who was from Iasa, considered nasalization and pharyngealization to be ugly sounds.)

[ʔ] was used to resolve vowel hiatuses due to conscious Windermere influence: syém 'flag' was pronounced [sɨˈʔɛm] (whereas modern speakers tend to use [səˈɛm]).

/œ y/ = [œ y] as in Standard Skellan

/ai ui au ɛu iu ɛɪ œy ɔu iə yə uə/ = [ae ui ao eo iu e ø o iə yə uə]

ll l ñ = [ɬ l ŋ] everywhere

ç and h before C = [x]

Unstressed a /ə/ and y /ɨ/ are distinct

Eetøøm vowels are uniform in length.

Non-native accents

Windermere

Windermere accents are relatively weak as foreign accents of Eevo go. Most accent features come from the fact that Skellan makes some contrasts not found in Windermere:

• Windermere speakers may have difficulty with some vowels, especially /œ ø~œy/, stressed /ə/, diphthongs in closed syllables, and long vowels in some accents of Skellan.
• Voiced fricatives /v ð/ may be confused with /f θ/.
• /ç/ may be confused with /ʃ/ or /χ/.
• /z/ may be confused with /s/.
• /hm hn hŋ χ r̥/ may be pronounced [xm xn xŋ xʟ xr].
• Difficulty with final /h/, which may be confused with final /χ/.

Talman Windermere speakers may use a non-nasal accent; Bjeheondian Windermere speakers may always pronounce ñ and l as written, as in archaic or Eetøøm Skellan.

Anbirese

Difficulty with final /h/ vs final /χ/

Cienian

Difficulty with final /h/ vs final /χ/

Difficulty with Skellan monophthongs

Sowaár

Sowaár speakers have a very noticeable accent.

• Difficulty with vowel qualities, diphthongs, and nasal vowels, as Sowaár has only 4 vowel qualities, few diphthongs, and no nasal vowels.
• Difficulty with vowel reduction.
• Difficulty with voiceless resonants (especially when learning Skellan Eevo).
• Possible difficulty with affricates /ts tʃ/. Both may be pronounced [ts] or they may be pronounced [tɕ tʂ] or [ts tʂ], depending on the speaker's native Sowaár variety. (High Sowaár, the standard variety, has only one affricate /tɕ/; other varieties may differ.)
• Difficulty with /f v θ ð z ç/.
  • /f/~/pʰ/ confusion
  • /θ/~/tʰ/ or /θ/~/s/ confusion
  • /ð/~/t/, /ð/~/s/, /ð/~/θ/ or /ð/~/z/ confusion
  • /v/~/w/ confusion
  • /z/~/s/ confusion
  • /ç/ may be pronounced like Sowaár /ɕ/.
• Difficulty with /ŋ/ and consonantal /ʟ/; they may be confused with each other or /ʟ/ may be confused with /χ/.
• /r/ may be pronounced [ɻ] or [ɭ].
• /ʃ tʃ/ may be pronounced as [ʂ tʂ~ʈ] or [ɕ tɕ].
• Less difficulty with allophonic or phonemic vowel length, as Sowaár has long vowels.
• No difficulty with final [h].

Clofabosin

• /j/ may be confused with /z/ - perhaps the most stereotypical Clofabian accent feature.
• /w/ may be confused with /v/.
• Voiced-unvoiced distinction in stops instead of unaspirated-aspirated.
• Difficulty with final /h/.
• Difficulty with many Skellan vowels as Clofabosin has only /a e i o u/. Difficulty with vowel reduction.

Shalian

Vowels:

• [ɪ], [eː] or [ɛɪ] for /e~ɛi/
• [ɛː] for /ɛ/
• [æ] for /a/
• [oː] for /ɔ/
• [ʊ], [oː] or [əʊ~əʏ~ɛʊ] for /ɛu/ and perhaps /o~ɔu/ (depending on accent learnt)

Consonants:

• Trouble with voiced fricatives /v ð z ʒ/, replaced with [f θ s ʃ].
• /r/ may be replaced with [ɹ]. Difficulty with /r/ not before a vowel, which may not be pronounced at all.
• /ʟ/ may be replaced with [ʕ].
• Unaspirated stops /p t k/ may be voiced [b d g] even word-initially.
• /ç/ may be replaced with [x] or [sʲ~ɕ].
• /χ/ may be replaced with [ħ] or [x].