Triparic Pronunciation

Consonants

Single letters

b, d, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z	as most commonly used in English
c	Always /k/ before a, o, u; always /s/ before i, e
g	Always hard, as in English get
q	Only occurs as part of a digraph qu representing the cluster /kw/
x	As in English axe, except at beginning of words, where it is pronounced as z
y	When before a vowel, consonantal as in English, like yet

Digraphs

There are two acceptable orthographies for consonants: digraphs, and accented letters. A given text should consistently use one or the other.

Digraph	Accented	Sound
cz	č	As in English church
sz	š	As in English shoe
nz	ň	As the ny in English canyon
dz	ð	As the th in English that
tz	þ	As the th in English think

Vowels

Original	Proposed	IPA	Sound	Variation
a, e, i, o, u			as in romance languages
y			When used vocalically, usually at the end of words, pronounced like i
ã (tãng, hãbby)		/ʌ/	hut	English "short U", not really close to /a/ at all
æ (ðæ, gæo)		/aɪ̯/	aye	Diphthong of /a/ + /i/
å (plåx, schåft)		/æ/	hat	/a/ fronted and raised
ä (häm)		/eɪ̯/	hate (same as ê)	Diphthong of /e/ + /i/
ê (dêm)		/eɪ̯/	hate (same as ä)	Diphthong of /e/ + /i/
î (wîn, trîmfer)		/ɛ̃/	nasal "i"	Between /e/ and /a/ and nasalized
ö (cö [sic], miaö)		/aʊ̯/	out	Diphthong of /a/ + /u/
õ (jõnt, drõt)		/ɔɪ̯/	boy	Diphthong of /o/ + /i/
ø (kønig, før)		/œ/	German Göttin	Between /e/ and /a/, rounded
ô (mäjordôm)		/o̞ʊ̯/	boat	Long /o/, or diphthong of /o/ + /u/
ü (fü, küssen)		/y/	German müssen	Rounded /i/
û (ûnçivilan)		/œ̃/	nasal "u"	Between /e/ and /a/, rounded and nasalized

Diacritics used in vowels and their roles

Diacritic	Uses
Tilde	For one palatalized consonant (ñ) For one completely different vowel (ã is not near a) For one -i diphthong, of the apparent vowel (õ = o+i)
Ring	For one fronted-and-raised vowel (å = fronted and raised a)
Aesch	For a diphthong that might be made of a+e but is usually analyzed as a+i
Umlaut	For one -i diphthong, but not the apparent vowel (ä = e+i) For one -u diphthong, but not the apparent vowel (ö = a+u) For one rounded version of a different vowel (ü = rounded i)
Slash	For one completely different vowel (ø = rounded between-e-and-a)
Circumflex	For two long diphthongized vowels, where the diphthong matches the frontedness of the apparent vowel (ê = ei, ô = ou) For two nasalized versions of a different vowel (î = nasalized between-e-and-a, û = î but rounded)

Carrie and Shawn discussion, 20 March 5:15pm

Points:

1. Eliminate the sound û, replacing it in the negative prefix with ã.
2. Eliminate the sound î, replacing it with å or i per root.
3. Respell ê with ä in all places.
4. Eliminate ô, respelling as o. Native English speakers are going to diphthong long Os whether we like it or not.
5. We now have this list of weird ones:
   • ã
   • ä
   • å
   • æ
   • ø
   • õ
   • ö
   • ü
6. Now, ä and ü match their German counterparts. Tri ø matches German ö; Tri ö is the only u-diphthong on this list, so let's swap the glyphs ø and ö, so now all three of ä ö ü match the German ones, and ø (the only slashed letter) is unique as the only u-diphthong.
7. These remain:
   • ã
   • å
   • æ
   • ø (in case we come up with some other way to write it)
   • õ

Chat resumed

1. Ways to spell the /æ/ sound, as in "cat" or "hat" in languages using Latin letters: Most commonly by far are < a >, < ae > or < æ >, or < ä >.
2. The reasonable options for that sound, given that < ä > is used already, are: ring (å), breve (ă), circumflex (â), or aesch (æ).
3. A-ring has the virtue of being the only letter in European languages which uses the ring diacritic, and so it's kinda unique; furthermore, it has Triparik historic warrant. So let's keep it for now.
4. These remain:
   • ã
   • æ
   • ø (in case we come up with some other way to write it)
   • õ
5. If we like the three umlaut vowels because German, why wouldn't we like æ because Latin? Then these remain:
   • ã
   • ø (in case we come up with some other way to write it)
   • õ
6. Now for the /au/ diphthong, we consider the breve because it looks like a little "u", and then between "ă" because it's -au- in both German and Latin, or "ŏ" because this is closer to As She Is Writ, and based on some testing Carrie likes ă better and although Shawn likes historical warrant he doesn't feel too strongly on this particular one, so we lean towards saying /au/ is written "ă".
7. That leaves:
   • ã (hUt, cUt) (as in tãng)
   • õ (oi) (as in jõnt)
8. Screw it, ø is a historical Triparik letter, and the slash even looks kinda like an I or part of a Y. So: drøt, jønt, driføl, etc. But, ô is also an original letter, and maybe the Prince of Grønbjerg hates being confused with Groinbyerg, so we can also accept jônt, drifôl, etc. We should run this by Alan.
9. And since we decided hacek is palatal and Enye is now ň, we can keep the ã.

Alan must help decide: ă or ŏ for /au/, and ø or ô for /oi/.