Darynese Pronunciation

Usually the first syllable of a word that starts with a vowel is accented, or the second syllable of a word that starts with a consonant.

Most consonant pronunciation is close enough to English that an English-speaker can get by. There are a few unusual things in Darynese.

ConsonantSoundExample
BVoiced Bilabial PlosiveEnglish slob
PVoiceless Bilabial PlosiveEnglish tap
DVoiced Alveolar PlosiveEnglish bad
TVoiceless Alveolar PlosiveEnglish cat
KVoiceless Velar PlosiveEnglish king
trJoined T and R sound
MVoiced Bilabial NasalEnglish my
NVoiced Alveolar NasalEnglish need
ñVoiced Palatial NasalSpanish sueño
SVoiced Alveolar FricativeEnglish sang
ZVoiceless Alveolar FricativeEnglish zoo
RVoiced Alveolar ApproximantEnglish bar
LVoiced Alveolar Lateral ApproximantEnglish love
yVoiced Palatial Lateral ApproximantSpanish llave

The vowels and dipthongs are pretty much as in Spanish, with 'y' representing a very short /i/. The consonants surrounding the vowel e is usually aspirated, while ae in most dialects is pronounced as a long /e/.

Darynese Dialects

In spoken homeworld-Darynese, the singular first and second pronouns (and occasionally others) are dropped when they can be marked by gestures. This comes across in transcribed versions of spoken word. Pronouns and genders tend to be the most often changed features in Darynese dialects, besides pronunciation.

TranslationISingular YouHim/Her/It
Original Pronoun r*kaed*bey*mi
Kemaryn Darynese1r*d*y*
Ilubolryn Daryneser*kaed*by*mi
Yizalryn Daryneser*keid*by*mi

TranslationWe (inclusive)We (exclusive)You (plural)They
Original Pronound*kaeday*kaedaald*soaly*ru
Kemaryn Darynese1daedayaedaalsoalru
Ilubolryn Darynesedaedayaedaalsoalru
Yizalryn Darynesed*keiday*keidaald*soaly*ru

Ilubolryn Darynese and Yizalryn Darynese have dropped many of the genders of the language. Ilubolryn reduced genders to two -- people (-a) and things (-e). Speakers also tend to drop shorter vowels, such as /y/ and /e/ when speaking, especially at the ends of words.

Yizalryn Darynese has four genders -- masculine (-ao), feminine (-ai), things (including animals and plants) (-e), and spirits (-ae), and drops shorter vowels. The language has also undergone substantial pronunciation shift, to the point where other speakers often have a difficult time understanding them.

Most Darynese can understand standard homeworld-Darynese.


1 Also used by spacers in the main system.