(no subject)
Second Age Accents.
As of now, I have defined three distinct accents. The first is the V'Saine accent, which is used most prominently. The second is Asmodean's half-breed accent between the urban V'Saine, and the rural Shorelle accent. The third is the rural Shorelle accent used by Lyrae Addam. Notably, the first is based primarily on Ancient Hebrew, the third on Classical Latin with the middle being a combination.
Generally, the consonantal variations are present always, and the vowel differences only done heavily in words and names unique to the Second Age. This does not include people's names which are pronounced by the Second Age people how they are pronounced for them (unless they read the name first). The exception to this is the 'th', 'sh', and 'ch' sounds with the Shorelle accent, these are pronounced in standard English (just weakly) for most standard english words.
Rudiments of V'Saine accent:
I am going to highlight the difference between this one and standard American English.
Consonantal differences:
1. r's are rolled once.
2. the letter x is always pronounced as 'ks' instead of 'gz'
3. c's and g's are always hard in non-english words.
Vowel differences:
the letter a ... This is pronounced according to British English in both the long and short vowel sounds
the letter e ... in the short form it's pronounced like the e in pet, in the long it's pronounced like the sound in grey. (The long a in American english)
the letter i ... in the short form it's pronounced like the i in sit, in the long form it's a long e sound like sweet.
the letter u ... in the short form it's standard english, in the long form it's the vowel sound in tooth.
the letter o ... standard american english
the letter y ... pronounced similar to i, as it's not normally in V'Saine accent kind of words.
Diphthongs: These tend not to be pronounced as heavily with both letters usually voiced. The exception to this is in doubled letters which signal an emphasis.
Asmodean's accent: Consonants as in the V'Saine accent. Vowels as in the Shorelle, including the diphthongs.
Shorelle Accent:
Consonantal difference:
In addition to the V'Saine accents differences, the following also exist:
the sound sh is pronounced simply as 's' (with slightly more breath in it).
the sound th is pronounced simply as 't' (with the same caveat as above).
the sound ch is pronounced simply as 'kh' (as in KHAAAAAAAN!)
Vowel differences:
The only difference in vowels from the V'Saine is the letter 'y' which has an extremely odd voicing.
It is pronounced as the italicized sound in curious.
The main difference with vowels is in the area of diphthongs:
the combination 'ae' is pronounced with a long i in standard american english like 'smile'
the combination 'oe' is pronounced with a sound like the vowel sound in oil. (but not in a southern drawl way)
the combination 'eu' is a sound not found in english and is an amalgamation of the e and u sounds as above said rapidly in one syllable. This will simply sound weird and is very hard to do. (Rance had to practice a lot just to do it badly).
Examples of pronunciational differences:
The name Ishamael:
V'Saine Accent: i-shah-MAH-el
Asmodean's Accent: ee-shah-MILE
Shorelle Accent: ee-sah-MILE
The name Graendal:
V'Saine Accent: GRAH-en-dahl (with the middle two syllables mushed together quite a bit)
Asmodean's Accent: GRYEN-dal
Shorelle Accent: Same as above.
The town Shorelle:
V'Saine Accent: SHOR-el (the V'Saine accent often drops final vowel sounds)
Asmodean's Accent: shor-EL-le
Shorelle Accent: sor-El-le
The name Lyrae:
V'Saine Accent: LEE-rah-eh
Asmodean's Accent: He pronounces this in accordance to Shorelle rules, since it's his mother's name
Shorelle Accent: LYOU-rye (with the very curious y sound as above)
This is preliminary guide, subject to change and revision with other Second Age muns input (as I need to talk with them as well).