Inyarondu - the Inyaronian Language of the Fae
(These aren't old notes. These are new notes. This is me blatantly cheating to pile EVEN MORE SPAM upon you. Hoo hoo hah haah.)
I've just been playing around with this singy language for a long, long time now, so yesterday I decided to finally settle on some rules. And lo, it was fun. This is already becoming one of my favourites (but don't tell the Dark Elves).
The following ramble describes my current working rules for the tones in the fae language. Note that 'working' denotes 'in progress', not 'properly functional and tested'. Yet. ;P
And I daresay this will bore 90% of the population to tears, but if you're in the excepted 10%, read on by all means. ^_-
Inyarondu has relatively few distinct vowel sounds: nine versus English's bajillion. I've settled on a (car, not cat), e (ever, not evil), i (in), o (off, not open), u (boot, not up), y (tree), au (awe), ai (eye), ei (hey). Since the fae also distinguish sounds by pitch, though, this multiplies the total number of vowels by either four or five, depending on the number of tones in the dialect.
The tones in the language are based on intervals rather than specific notes. For example, ā doesn't necessarily mean 'middle C'; it means 'three tones above the base note, ă'. It isn't necessarily as exact as a straight musical scale, either, and wouldn't sound as pretty. ;)
The 'clean' Inyaronian accent - ie. someone speaking plum-mouthed - has only four tones: ă (first interval), à (fifth interval), á (seventh interval) and â (octave). So if someone spoke in C major, that would make ă = middle C, à = G, á = B, â = higher C.
Different accents in regional Inyaron tend to have five tones. Parts of Hainmarra and Corruth have six. The only accent I've settled on so far (obviously ;) is the Canuel variation, because that's what Arathalian, Inyamenna and Maios speak.
Canuellian Inyarondu has five tones: ă (first interval), à (second interval), ā (third interval), á (sixth or seventh interval) and â (octave). So if someone spoke in C major, that would make ă = middle C, à = D, ā = E, á = A or B and â = higher C.
All of these intervals are based on the major scale. I've half-formed a theory that the minor scale indicates anger or nerves, but of course you'd only hear the difference in ā and possibly á (as third and seventh intervals). I also have a few mini-rules for sounds that indicate questions, commands, whining, that sort of thing, but they're messy and I might give them another month or two to percolate.
So much for my notes so far. Here's purely silly fun stuff. ... Well, I think it's fun, so there! B-)
* I think of Inyamenna's voice in a very high F. When she does her naggy 'Thalianyanyany' thing, it's like this:
Thālìānyānyāny ... (y is lowest, first-interval y - can't find the character to represent it** :P)
* Arathalian's voice strikes me as a low D, so here's him telling Inya to shut up - in minor key, since he's annoyed:
Ĭnyāmênná, shí hò!
* Here are the names of the Seven and Ancaladis (in Arathalian's voice):
Áncālādîs, Ăscălàin, Cōchályón, Cūlúndár, Fîânnás, Îlínmé, Nēbêshánín
I've a vague notion that very high-pitched names are 'girly' ...
* And I forgot Arathalian:
Àrăthālìān
* There is no J, K, Q, W or X in standard Inyarondu. There's a beast fae dialect I have in mind which uses K for a guttural, but I haven't finished with it.
** Note to me: this is why you started using final e as in 'Ilinme' for the same pronunciation, dumbayss. Fix.
Cut-and-paste for future access:
ă à ā á â
ĕ è ē é ê
ĭ ì ī í î
ŏ ò ō ó ô
ŭ ù ū ú û
(y) ỳ ÿ ŷ ý
I'm going to work out Mithyarondu (Cochalyon's version) next, which is probably working backwards, but eh. Oh, and put some vocabulary somewhere before it gets lost. All sixteen words or whatever. XD
By the way, thoughts and crits very welcome, if you read it ...
I've just been playing around with this singy language for a long, long time now, so yesterday I decided to finally settle on some rules. And lo, it was fun. This is already becoming one of my favourites (but don't tell the Dark Elves).
The following ramble describes my current working rules for the tones in the fae language. Note that 'working' denotes 'in progress', not 'properly functional and tested'. Yet. ;P
And I daresay this will bore 90% of the population to tears, but if you're in the excepted 10%, read on by all means. ^_-
Inyarondu has relatively few distinct vowel sounds: nine versus English's bajillion. I've settled on a (car, not cat), e (ever, not evil), i (in), o (off, not open), u (boot, not up), y (tree), au (awe), ai (eye), ei (hey). Since the fae also distinguish sounds by pitch, though, this multiplies the total number of vowels by either four or five, depending on the number of tones in the dialect.
The tones in the language are based on intervals rather than specific notes. For example, ā doesn't necessarily mean 'middle C'; it means 'three tones above the base note, ă'. It isn't necessarily as exact as a straight musical scale, either, and wouldn't sound as pretty. ;)
The 'clean' Inyaronian accent - ie. someone speaking plum-mouthed - has only four tones: ă (first interval), à (fifth interval), á (seventh interval) and â (octave). So if someone spoke in C major, that would make ă = middle C, à = G, á = B, â = higher C.
Different accents in regional Inyaron tend to have five tones. Parts of Hainmarra and Corruth have six. The only accent I've settled on so far (obviously ;) is the Canuel variation, because that's what Arathalian, Inyamenna and Maios speak.
Canuellian Inyarondu has five tones: ă (first interval), à (second interval), ā (third interval), á (sixth or seventh interval) and â (octave). So if someone spoke in C major, that would make ă = middle C, à = D, ā = E, á = A or B and â = higher C.
All of these intervals are based on the major scale. I've half-formed a theory that the minor scale indicates anger or nerves, but of course you'd only hear the difference in ā and possibly á (as third and seventh intervals). I also have a few mini-rules for sounds that indicate questions, commands, whining, that sort of thing, but they're messy and I might give them another month or two to percolate.
So much for my notes so far. Here's purely silly fun stuff. ... Well, I think it's fun, so there! B-)
* I think of Inyamenna's voice in a very high F. When she does her naggy 'Thalianyanyany' thing, it's like this:
Thālìānyānyāny ... (y is lowest, first-interval y - can't find the character to represent it** :P)
* Arathalian's voice strikes me as a low D, so here's him telling Inya to shut up - in minor key, since he's annoyed:
Ĭnyāmênná, shí hò!
* Here are the names of the Seven and Ancaladis (in Arathalian's voice):
Áncālādîs, Ăscălàin, Cōchályón, Cūlúndár, Fîânnás, Îlínmé, Nēbêshánín
I've a vague notion that very high-pitched names are 'girly' ...
* And I forgot Arathalian:
Àrăthālìān
* There is no J, K, Q, W or X in standard Inyarondu. There's a beast fae dialect I have in mind which uses K for a guttural, but I haven't finished with it.
** Note to me: this is why you started using final e as in 'Ilinme' for the same pronunciation, dumbayss. Fix.
Cut-and-paste for future access:
ă à ā á â
ĕ è ē é ê
ĭ ì ī í î
ŏ ò ō ó ô
ŭ ù ū ú û
(y) ỳ ÿ ŷ ý
I'm going to work out Mithyarondu (Cochalyon's version) next, which is probably working backwards, but eh. Oh, and put some vocabulary somewhere before it gets lost. All sixteen words or whatever. XD
By the way, thoughts and crits very welcome, if you read it ...