Pre-introductory note: As anyone interested in linguistics will probably understand, this is forever a work in progress. Just today (September 2), for example, I have realized that there are two words for "why." I do not yet know what distinguishes one from the other.
Because of length, I will be posting the dictionary in installments, then linking them all up for better navigation.
Introduction
While
I was originally writing the book and exploring the language, I was in online communication
with a community called the Elenari, which was likewise working with its own
unique language. We discovered enough similarities between the two to theorize
that Elenari and Shiri (the outside-fiction name of the aeshie language) could be members of the same linguistic family, like
Spanish and French are both Romance languages. Thus, words marked Elen. in the glossary are in origin
Elenari words I deemed similar enough to their likely Shiri equivalents for
inclusion here. I am therefore indebted to the Elenari for that time of mutual
linguistic and cultural enrichment.
Pronunciation
Guide
‘ brief glottal stop or slight
extension of the previous syllable
A as in father
Ae as ‘ay’ in bay
Ai as the ‘i’ in binary
B as in book
C as in can
Ch voiceless velar fricative (X
in IPA); as in German buch
D as in dance
E as in bet
F as in father
G as in get
H very soft, without stop or
emphasis
I as ‘ee’ in bee
Ia,
ie, io as ‘ya,’ ‘ye,’ and ‘yo’
J as ‘zhy.’ Nearest English
equivalent would be as ‘z’ in azure
K as in kept
L as in lake
M as in made
N as in nose
O as in nose
Oi as ‘oy’ in toy. The two sounds are often given
equal weight.
P as in pot
Qu as in queen
R lightly flipped, as in
Spanish
S as in sit: often aspirated into sh
Sh as in shine
St always ‘sh’ + ‘t’, as in brushed
T as in tin. Ideally slightly softened, between English ‘t’ and ‘d’
U as ‘oo’ in cool
Ua,
ue, ui as ‘wa,’ ‘we,’ and ‘wi’
V as in very
Y as in yes
Z as in zoo
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