Lesson #1 - Letters, Punctuation, & Pronunciation
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Learn about Vowels, Consonants, Marking, Pronunciation Rules, and Punctuation
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[comments] trsnlessonslesson 1
1. Lesson #0
11. Proverbs
For the next lesson, click here!Table of Contents
This is Lesson 1 in Tareséasen (Taresian)!
In this lesson, you will learn the letters of Tareséasen, and their pronunciations.
Since the alphabet of Tareséasen is different than Latin or Cyrillic alphabets, it’s best to start by learning the letters and how they sound.
The Tareséasen alphabet has only one case per letter (no upper/lower case), with only one sound per letter (with some rare exceptions) - making pronunciation of words relatively simple and easy to understand.
[top]Vowels
Normal Vowels and Marked Vowels
Tareséasen, like English, has five vowels - a,e,i,o, and u. However, each vowel makes a different sound, depending on whether or not they are “marked” (accented when Romanized, denoted with an apostrophe in the orthography). The pronunciation of each vowel, both marked and unmarked, are shown in the table below.
| Vowel | IPA | English Comparison | TRSN Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | a | the “a” in “alphabet” | amgam - dog |
| á | ɔ: | the “a” in “law” | ára - hour |
| e | ɛ | the “e” in “bet” | epól - shoulder |
| é | i | the “ee” in “bee” | él - eel |
| i | ɪ | the “i” in “lid” | insúle - apartment |
| í | aɪ | the “i” in “light” | ícebem - missile |
| o | ɑ | the “o” in “log” | och’ - rock |
| ó | əʊ | the “o” in “boat” | óda - smell |
| u | ʌ | the “u” in “shut” | undatey - Monday |
| ú | u | the “oo” in “boot” | úʃ - water |
Vowel Digraphs:
In most cases, vowels can never be put next to each other in a Tareséasen word. Instead, they are separated by - (/ʔ/).
ejem (Example):
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However, there are three exceptions to this rule.
| Vowel | IPA | English Comparison | TRSN Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ae | eɪ | the “ai” in “chain” | ch’aezó - cheese |
| éa | iə | the “ia” in “California” | éa - country |
| aú | au | the “ou” in “loud” | aúl - owl |
[top]Consonants
Tareséasen's two consonant digraphs, ch' and rr' (also written as ŕ), are marked in a similar manner as vowels, to denote their status as digraphs. This is done so the reader doesn't confuse them for the individual letters that form them. All other consonants can never be marked, and as such, only have one pronunciation.
| Consonant | IPA | NatLang Comparison | TRSN example |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | b | the “B” in the English word “BIN” | bagót - sheep |
| c | t͡ʃ | the “CH” in the English word “CHIN” | cech’la - bicycle |
| d | d | the “D” in the English word “DIM” | der - deer |
| f | f | the “F" in the English word “FIN” | famla - family |
| g | g | the “G” in the English word “GUN” | gá - girl |
| h | x*† | the “CH” in the German word “BUCH”, meaning “book” | hata - city |
| j | d͡ʒ | the “J” in the English word “JAM” | janú - door |
| ch’ | k / kʰ† | the "K” in the English word “KIN” | ch’am - bed |
| l | l | the “L” in the English word “LIT” | lach’óta - field |
| m | m | the “M” in the English word “MET” | malar - duck |
| n | n | the “N” in the English word “NET” | naga - waterfall |
| p | p | the “P” in the English word “PIN” | paló - pillow |
| r | ɾ / ɹ† | the “R” in the Spanish word “PERO”, meaning “but” / the “r” in the word “OAR” | ra - woman |
| rr' / ŕ | r† | the “RR” in the Spanish word “PERRO”, meaning “dog” | ŕelagéla - traffic light |
| s | s | the “S” in the English word “SIT” | sacó - fruit |
| ʃ | ʃ | the “SH” in the English word “SHIN” | ʃch’óŕó - scorpion |
| t | t | the “T” in the English word “TIN” | tóhach’ - axe |
| þ | θ | the “TH” in the English word“THIN” | þér - ball |
| v | v | the “V” in the English word “VAN” | veжa - flag |
| w | w | the “W” in the English word “WIN” | wadjet - beetle |
| ж | kʃ | the “KSH” in the English word “BOOKSHOP” | жemé - criminal |
| x | x* | the “CH” in the German word “BUCH”, meaning “book” | sóbex - crocodile/alligator |
| y | j | the “Y” in the English word “YES” | yótec - jungle |
| z | z | the “Z” in the English word “ZOO” | zifó - knife |
| - | ʔ | the “-” in “uh-oh” | hí-ó - neck |
† See 'Other Pronunciation Rules'
[top]Other Pronunciation Rules
There are some cases where the position and/or combination of letter(s) within a word can change the resulting pronunciation of the word.
CONSONANTS
Word final ng are pronounced as /ŋ/
ejem
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Word final r (normally pronounced /ɾ/), as well as r found after vowels (except when followed by another vowel), are pronounced as /ɹ/.
ejemes
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If rr' is doubled, /r/ is lengthened ( /r:/ ).
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If ch’ (normally pronounced /k/) is found before a vowel, it becomes aspirated (/kʰ/)
ejem
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If h is found after a word final vowel, the vowel is lengthened.
ejem
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VOWELS
Word final e (normally pronounced /ɛ/) is pronounced as “eɪ”
ejem
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Word final ey is pronounced as /eɪjɪ/.
ejem
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[top]Pronunciation of Words
Syllabic Stress
In Tareséasen, stress is always placed on the penultimate syllable of the word.
Compound Words
Many words in Tareséasen are compound words - words formed by combining two smaller words. In these words, the pronunciation of the original words, as well as the syllabic stress of these words, are kept, rather than changed to be as if the compound word was a single word. For more on compound words, see Lesson 9.
ejem
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[top]Punctuation
Tareséasen also has different marks for punctuation than typical Latin symbols. These are shown in the table below.
| Punctuation | English Equivalent | English Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| , | , | Comma |
| .__. | . | Period |
| ¿_? | ¿_? | Question Mark |
| ¡_! | ¡_! | Exclamation Mark |
| “_” | “_” | Quotation Marks |
| / | / | Slash |
| : | : | Colon |
Note that question marks and exclamation marks surround the sentence, as in Spanish.
[top]Your Turn
How is the word aram (Bird) pronounced?
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How is the letter é pronounced?
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How is the word aple (Apple) pronounced?
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True or False: The word ch’uж (to cook) is pronounced “ t͡ʃhʌx”
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What does the word caen mean?
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If you’re ready to move onto the next lesson, click here!
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