"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 02 - Darkspell" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

Acknowledgments


A thousand thanks to all my friends and relations, too numerous to list, who have had to put up with
my fits of absent-mindedness, compulsive writing stints, and downright obsession with this imaginary
world. Most of all, though, my thanks go to my husband, Howard Kerr, who has to live with me, after
all, when I’m working.
 A Note on the Pronunciation of Deverry Words


The language spoken in Deverry is a P-Celtic language. Although closely related to Welsh, Breton, and
Cornish, it is by no means identical to any of these actual languages and should never be taken as such.

Vowels are divided by Deverry scribes into two classes: noble and common. Nobles have two
pronunciations; commons, one.

A as in father when long; a shorter version of the same sound, as in/ar, when short.

0 as bone when long; as in pot when short.

W as the oo in spook when long; as in root when short. Y as the i in machine when long; as the e in
butter when short. E as in pen.

I as in pin.U as in pun.

Vowels are generally long in stressed syllables, short in unstressed. Y is the primary exception to this
rule. When it appears as the last letter of a word, it is always long, whether that syllable is stressed or not.

Diphthongs have one consistent pronunciation.

AE as the a in mane.

AI as in aisle.

AU as the ow in how.

EO as a combination of eh and oo.

EW as in Welsh, a combination of eh and oo.

IE as in pier.

OE as the oy in boy.

UI as the North Welsh wy, a combination of oo and ee.



Note that OI is never a diphthong, but is two distinct sounds, as in the name Benoic (BEHN-oh-ik).