Xïlusia/Lesson 5

The primary writing system in Xïlusia is the Shavian alphabet. Although all Carthatians are able to read in Latin and Shavian, the Shavian alphabet is the most often-used system due to its phonemic simplicity and lack of diacritics. Since 1990, the government has used Shavian as its primary alphabet.

From now on, all lessons will be written in the Shavian alphabet.

Vowels
Because of the lack of diacritics, vowels are not classified as class I and class II. If the sound [j] precedes a vowel or the sound [ɪ] follows a vowel, then the letter "𐑘" is written.

𐑬 - like in father [a]

𐑱 - like in café [e]

𐑰 - like in freeze [i]

𐑴 - like in old [o]

𐑵 - like in loop [u]

𐑩 - like in umbrella [ə]

𐑨 - like in apple [æ]

𐑦 - like in ill [ɨ]

𐑿 - no English equivalent, similar to ö in German and Swedish or ø in Norwegian and Danish [ø]

𐑭 - no English equivalent, similar to ü in German or y in the Scandinavian languages [y]

𐑷 - like in all [ɔ]

Consonants
𐑚 - like in bald [b]

𐑗 - like in chair [ʧ]

𐑹 - no English equivalent, similar to ch in German [x]

𐑲 - no English equivalent, similar to r in French (the symbol "ɔ" is seen as an inverted "c" rather than an open "o") [ʁ]

𐑛 - like in dog [d]

𐑓 - like in fool, but slightly harder [ɸ]

𐑺 - like in yet, but slightly harder [ʝ]

𐑞 - like in the [ð]

𐑜 - like in goat [g]

𐑙 - like in heat [ç]

𐑔 - like in thump [θ]

𐑠 - like in treasure [ʒ]

𐑒 - like in coffee [k]

𐑤 - like in lemon [l]

𐑥 - like in mouse [m]

𐑯 - like in noose [n]

𐑪 - nasalizes the vowel it follows (it never follows a consonant), like in French or Portuguese [˜]

𐑐 - like in pull [p]

𐑾 - like in wrong [ɹ]

𐑽 - no English equivalent, like a Spanish "rr", but with a single trill [ɾ]

𐑮 - no English equivalent, like a Spanish "rr" [r]

𐑼 - like an "𐑽" and a "𐑛" pronounced together [ɾd]

𐑖 - like in ship [ʃ]

𐑕 - like in seat [s]

𐑑 - like in time [t]

𐑝 - like in violin [v]

𐑢 - like in win [w]

𐑫 - like in white [ʍ]

𐑘 - like in yet [j]

𐑠 - like in treasure (before e, ė, i, and ï) [ʒ]

𐑟 - like in zoom [z]

𐑡 - like in bridge [ʤ]

Practice Exercise
Practice saying these words:

𐑔𐑵𐑑𐑱

𐑤𐑠𐑰𐑝𐑴

𐑯𐑘𐑴𐑾𐑛𐑰

𐑘𐑴𐑝𐑵𐑘𐑦𐑐

𐑚𐑠𐑰𐑤𐑠𐑱

𐑷𐑲𐑱

𐑞𐑾𐑛𐑰𐑯

𐑜𐑴𐑘

𐑺𐑱𐑾

𐑹𐑬𐑑𐑘𐑬𐑑

𐑖𐑱𐑾𐑿

𐑭𐑥𐑟𐑱

𐑦𐑪𐑑𐑬𐑒𐑘𐑩𐑛𐑘𐑰

''Listen to the words in the video and write them down. Compare to those in the video to your answer.''