logical language - Developers

often indistinguishable to lay native speakers of a given language, in that these allophonic variances do not change the meaning
of a word and thus play no functional role in the language. As an example, compare the two t-sounds in the English words top
and stop. The former is aspirated (i.e., accompanied by a distinct puff of air), while the latter is unaspirated, giving the two
sounds a different phonetic quality. However, because consonant aspiration does not function phonemically in English, the
difference in the two t-sounds is unnoticeable to most native speakers of English, even though it would be highly noticeable to
speakers of languages where consonant aspiration is phonemically relevant (e.g., Hindi and many other Indic languages).
Although such allophonic distinctions are arbitrary within a given language, they are not random; rather, their patterns are
completely regular and predictable for any given language (as is true for consonant aspiration in English). Failure to follow the
rules for allophonic distinctions when learning a foreign language will result in the speaker having a noticeable “foreign accent”
to native speakers of the language (as do most French, Italians, and Spanish-speakers when trying to pronounce English “top”
without aspirating the initial t-sound, due to the lack of consonant aspiration in Romance languages.)
1.2.5.1 Consonantal Allophones. The significant allophonic distinctions for Ithkuil consonants are as follows:
dy This consonant cluster may be pronounced either as it is spelled, or as the voiced dorso-palatal unaspirated plosive
found in Hungarian and Czech where it is spelled gy and d´ respectively. Sort of like a g+y sound as in English big
year pronounced rapidly, with the g-sound pronounced with the tongue against the hard palate as opposed to the soft
palate. IPA [ ]. X-SAMPA [J\].
hh The geminated version of Ithkuil h is pronounced in either of two ways: (1) as a “bi-dental” fricative, in that the jaw is
completely closed and the upper and lower teeth are in near-contact along their entire length; the resulting sound is
somewhat similar in timbre to both a voiceless interdental fricative (as in English thin) as well as the English f-sound,
however there is absolutely no contact by the tongue with the teeth or gums when pronouncing this sound; no IPA
equivalent; or (2) as the voiceless pharyngeal fricative found in Arabic (spelled ح)and in various Northwest and
Northeast Caucasian languages. This second allophone should not be employed if the resulting pharyngealization
distorts the timbre of the adjacent vowels to the extent that their place of articulation changes (e.g., the vowel û being
made to sound like ô).
ly This consonant cluster may be pronounced either as it is spelled, or as the voiced palatal lateral liquid continuant
found in Castillian Spanish calle, Portuguese olhar, or Italian egli. For English speakers, this can best be
approximated by placing the tongue in the position to say the y in yes, and while keeping the tongue in that position
flat against the hard palate, pronouncing an l-sound instead without touching the tip of the tongue to the alveolar ridge
behind the front teeth. IPA [ ]. X-SAMPA [L].
ny This consonant cluster may be pronounced either as it is spelled, or as the voiced palatal nasal found in Spanish año,
Italian agnello, Portuguese caminho, or French champagne. For English speakers, this can best be approximated by
placing the tongue in the position to say the y in yes, and while keeping the tongue in that position flat against the hard
palate, pronouncing an n-sound instead without touching the tip of the tongue to the alveolar ridge behind the front
teeth. IPA [ ]. X-SAMPA [J].
ř In normal speech, this phoneme is pronounced as a voiced dorso-uvular approximant (non-trilled) continuant, similar
to the throaty r-sound found in colloquial French and German, IPA [ ]. However, in emphatic articulation or hyperenunciated
speech, this sound becomes a voiced dorso-uvular trill, IPA [R].
řx The combination of ř before x causes the x to be pronounced as a voicelss uvular fricative, as in German Bach or the
Castilian pronunciation of Spanish j.
ty This consonant cluster may be pronounced either as it is spelled, or as a voiceless unaspirated dorso-palatal plosive,
the unvoiced counterpart to dy above. Like a k-sound but unaspirated (i.e., without any accompanying puff of air)
and produced farther forward in the mouth by pressing the tongue to the hard palate, not the soft palate as with
English k. The result should sound somewhat like a k+y as in backyard when spoken rapidly. IPA and X-SAMPA [c].