Pronunciation

With thanks to Caitlin Matthews & Magpie Wolfe

The main languages on Yardoz are like Cymraeg, the Welsh language,  and the Irish and Scottish Gaelic. They share a common proto-Celtic root.

Cymraeg

Vowels, both short and long, are roughly equivalent to Italian sung vowels, with the exception of …

• u          – as in ill or the French tu (e.g. Culhwch = Kil’hookh)
• w         – as n look (eg Gwri = Goo’ree)
• y          – as in pin (e.g. Glyn Cuch = Glin Kikh)
• y – the definite article y and in first syllables of  multi-syllabic words, as the u in bun (e.g. Yspaddaden = Uspatha’den)

Diphthongs are logically pronounced …

• Ae, ai, ei          – as in fire (e.g. Caer = kire)
• wy       – as in French pronunciation of Louis: Loo-ee
• aw       – as in out (e.g. Llaw = Hlou)
• oe, oi   – as in boil (e.g. Goe’win = Goywin)

Consonants are pronounced as in English with the following exception …

• c          – is always hard as in cake (e.g. Custennin = Kusten’in

Stress falls on the penultimate syllable of a multi-syllable word or on the first syllable of a two-syllable word.

Further notes probably forthcoming from Jimson on the Gaelic pronunciation …