Taurahe

Taurahe is the language spoken by the Tauren from the Warcraft universe.

Alphabet
There are 16 letters in the Taurahe alphabet. The alphabet is extremely seldom used except by those few Tauren who choose to learn it. Very few do choose to learn to write since it is cumbersome to carry many writing tools around while being nomadic, and that most others can't read or write, so it serves little purpose to be literate in an almost unused script.



Transliteration
The alphabet is transliterated into English as follows. Note the variation:

A/AA Y/E/EE/I W/O/OO/U R/Œ/ŒŒ T D S/Sh Ch/Ts/Tsh St/Sht/Shn L N P F M K H

There is no official way to transliterate the language, and a many enduring transliterations use a non-standard method. For example, the Bloodhoof were first interpreted as pronouncing the word for spirit-biter as "washte pawne." It would instead be more appropriate to write "Waste Paane", as the "aw" diphthong doesn't exist in Taurahe, and most speakers say "st" rather than "sht" (or "shn", which is uniquely Bloodhoof). This page uses a standardized system, which results in many familiar words being written differently, and more accurately.


 * Ishamuhale = Eesamuhale
 * Lar'korwi = Lara Kœwee
 * Mazzranache = Masara Natse
 * Mojache = Motsatse

Orthography
Taurahe uses a basic CV (consonant-vowel) syllable form. Syllables contain exactly one vowel, and one consonant, although no consonant is required at the beginning of an utterance. The majority of words are CVCV, often compounded to form CVCVCVCV. Consonants are Y, W, R, T, D, S, Ts, St, L, N, P, F, M, K, and H. Vowels are A, E, O, and Œ.

Examples

 * o - it
 * stœ - eight
 * kee - smile
 * tsee - you


 * pooka - love
 * teekee - hoof
 * peso - ear
 * sooha - two


 * kodokoro - kodo-riding
 * dooletakee - weapon (fight-tool)
 * rawasoyo - reason (because-thing)

Phonology
This is the conventional IPA chart for Taurahe. No dialect uses exactly these sounds and only these sounds, but the variation is often very little.

Vowels
There are seven vowels. In traditional or ceremonial Taurahe, distinction is made between vowel length. For example, "oo" is held longer than "o", but they are pronounced the same otherwise. For typical modern speech, however, the vowels are raised instead. The distinction is like the "oo" and "o" in English "noose" vs "nose". Linguistic information follows.