Sicaron

Sicaron is the English-derived national language of the fictitious Socialist Republic of Sicaro, in Hank Delisle's novel in progress One America, which takes place in a future North America. Sicaro is a nation located in the northwestern former United States, with Krasnograd (formerly Olympia, Washington) as its national capital, and is named for its three major mountain ranges: the Sierra Nevadas, the Cascade Ranges and the Rocky Mountains. Sicarons are a peace-loving and self-reliant lot who work hard to maintain not only a sustainable lifestyle for themselves but also to keep other nations from getting in the way of those aims.

Orthography
Sicaron is written in the Latin script. The Sicaron alphabet lacks the letters q and x, using x only as a Roman numeral, and also three non-English letters. There are 27 letters, named and pronounced as follows:
 * A a — alva [a] as in taco
 * B b – bekar [b] as in birch
 * C c – icvar [ŋ] like ng in lung
 * D d – dilta [d] as in dark
 * E e – ekor [ɛ] as in smell
 * F f – fawst [f] as in finch
 * G g – gølf [ɡ] as in green
 * H h – hotal [h] like sh in short
 * I i – indor [i] as in liter
 * J j – jowd [j] like y in yellow
 * K k – kilor [k] as in kitsch, aspirated [kʰ] before j, l, r, w or a vowel except after s or š
 * L l – limar [l] as in lemon, more like the British dialect sound
 * M m – marit [m] as in mine
 * N n – nojar [n] as in north
 * O o – ostor [ɔ] like aw in British raw but short
 * P p – papri [p] as in pinch, aspirated [pʰ] before j, l, r, w or a vowel except after s or š
 * R r – rowi [ɻ] as in American English rose
 * S s – siger [s] as in south
 * Š š – šarli [ʃ] like sh in short
 * T t – tanor [t] as in torch, aspirated [tʰ] before r, w or a vowel except after s or š
 * U u – unvar [u] as in truth
 * V v – vikor used only as a Roman numeral 5
 * W w – weski [w] as in weed
 * Y y – ypsil [y] like u in French tu
 * Z z – zejd [z] as in zone
 * Ž ž – žuld [ʒ] like si in lesion
 * Ø ø – øskel [œ] like ö in German löffel

Phonology
Every vowel in Sicaron (a e i o u y ø) forms the core of its own syllable, and stress is always on the first syllable of a word. The following consonant clusters are permitted at the beginning of a syllable before the vowel:

b bj bl br bw d dr dw f fj fl fr fw g gj gl gr gw h k kj kl kr kw l m mj n p pj pl pr pw r s sk skj skl skr skw sl sm smj sn sp spj spl spr sr st str sw š šl šm šn šr šw t tr ts tš tw v vj vl w z ž

The following consonant clusters are premitted at the end of a syllable after the vowel:

b c ck cs cst ct d f fs fsk fst ft g j jb jc jck jcs jct jd jf jfs jft jg jk jks jkt jm jn jnd jns jnt jnz jp jps jpt js jsk jst jš jšt jt jts jtst jtš jtšt jv jz jž k ks kst kt l lb ld lf lfs lft lg lk lks lkt lm ln lp lps lpt ls lsk lst lš lšt lt lts ltsk ltst ltš ltšt lv lz lž m mp ms msk mst mt n nd ns nsk nst nš nšt nt nz nž p ps psk pst pt r rb rd rf rfs rft rg rk rks rkt rm rn rnd rns rnt rnz rp rps rpt rs rsk rst rš ršt rt rts rtsk rtst rtš rtšt rv rz rž s sk sp st š št t ts tsk tst tš tšt v w wb wd wf wfs wft wg wk wks wkt wm wn wnd wnz wns wnt wp wps wpt ws wsk wst wš wšt wt wts wtst wtš wtšt wv wz wž z ž

When a consonant may exist at the end of one syllable and at the beginning of the following syllable, it’s considered part of both syllables but written only once. Thus, the syllables of water, meaning water, are considered to be wat and ter, but only one t is written.