Brooding
Introduction
Brooding is a language spoken in the land of Harken. You can't get there from here!
Sounds
Consonants
| b | /b/ | as in 'bee' |
| p | /p/ | as in 'pea' |
| d | /d/ | as in 'deed' |
| t | /t/ | as in 'tea' |
| g | /g/ | as in 'get' |
| k | /k/ | as in 'key' |
| f | /f/ | as in 'fee' |
| th | /θ/ | as in 'thin' |
| s | /s/ | as in 'see' |
| z | /z/ | as in 'zed' |
| sh | /ʃ/ | as in 'she' |
| kh | /x/ | as ch in German 'Bach' |
| h | /h/ | as in 'he' |
| ch | /t͡ʃ/ | as in 'cheek' |
| m | /m/ | as in 'me' |
| n | /n/ | as in 'need' |
| ng | /ŋ/ | as in 'ring' |
| l | /l/ | as in 'leaf' |
| r | /ɹ/ | as in 'reed' |
| w | /w/ | as in 'we' |
| y | /j/ | as in 'yea' |
- All but kh are pretty much pronounced as in standard English
- th is always pronounced as the 'th' in thin (/θ/), never as the 'th' in thee or they (/ð/)
- l always pronounced like the 'l' in leaf (/l/), never like the 'll' in all or ball (/ɫ/)
- g is always pronounces like the 'g' in get (/ɡ/), never like the 'g' in 'gee' (d͡ʒ)
Consonant Blends and Clusters
Several of the sounds have a 'blended' version. A consonant blend is two consonants in a row pronounced one after the other. Most of these blends only appear at the beginning of syllables. While these blends are represented by a single letter in Brooding orthography, they are two consonant sounds (and this subject to Brooding word structure rules that apply to two consonants in a row).
| br | /bɹ/ | as in 'bread' |
| pl | /pl/ | as in 'plea' |
| dr | /dɹ/ | as in 'drum' |
| tl | /tl/ | not an English sound. t followed immediately by l |
| gr | /gɹ/ | as in 'grow' |
| kl | /kl/ | as cl in 'clean' |
| fl | /fl/ | as in 'flee' |
| thl | /θl/ | not an English sound. It sounds a lot like sl as said with a lisp. |
| sl | /sl/ | as in 'sleep' |
| zr | /zɹ/ | not an English sound. z followed immediately by r |
| shl | /ʃl/ | as schl in 'schlep' |
| khl | /xl/ | not an English sound. x followed immediately by l |
| hl | /hl/ | not an English sound. h followed immediately by l |
| sk | /sk/ | as in 'skill' |
| sp | /sp/ | as in 'spill' |
| st | /st/ | as in 'still' |
- As noted above a few of the blends do not occur in English. They take a little practice to say, but aren't hard. Avoid putting a sound between the sounds - English speakers might have a tendency to insert a vowel in there (like some people pronounce sphere as 'suh-fear')
Vowels
| a | /ɑ/ | as a in 'father' |
| aa | /æ/ | as a in 'bat' |
| ae | /e/ | as ay in 'bay' |
| ai | /aɪ̯/ | as ie in 'bit' |
| au | /aʊ̯/ | as ow in 'cow' |
| aw | /ɔ/ | as ou in 'bought' |
| e | /ɛ/ | as e in 'bet' |
| ee | /i/ | as ee in 'bee' |
| i | /ɪ/ | as i in 'bit' |
| o | /o/ | as oa in 'boat' |
| oo | /u/ | as oo in 'boot' |
| uh | /ə/ | as u in 'but' |
Contrasting Vowels
Brooding has a concept of contrasting vowels. These are pairs of vowels that are used in various grammatical operations. Some processes require you to take a vowel from a word and change it to its contrasting vowel. For example, if the vowel is 'oo', it changes to 'o'. If it is 'o', it changes to 'oo'.
Here are the pairs of contrasting vowels:
| oo | / | o |
| ee | / | i |
| ae | / | e |
| aa | / | a |
| aw | / | uh |
| ai | / | au |