Zalanthan Phonetic Alphabet Table

[Incognito]

A - Allanak
B - Borsail
C- Cenyr
D - Drov
E - Erdlu
F - Fale
G - Ginka
H - Heshrak
I - Inix
J - Jakhal
K - Krath
L - Lirathu
M - Mul
N - Nenyuk
O - Oash
P - Psionic
Q - Quirri
R - Raptor
S - Scrab
T - Tuluk
U - Uaptal
V - Vestric
W - Winrothol
X -
Y - Yppr
Z - Zalanthas


I can't find a phonetic for X - suggestions?

Other options were:
Bahamet, Dragon, Gortok, Izdari, Jozhal/Jihae, Kadius/Kurac, Mantis/Mekillot, Nilaz, Reynolte, Spice/Silt/Sorceror/Salarr, Tektolnes/Templar, Void.

So now, when you're waying someone, you can :
Psi XYZ My name is Amos, as in Allanak Mul Oash Scrab!

I was bored...


**Edited to add: K - Krath

[Incognito]

Or if you're out and about in RL with a friend from Arm, you can go : "Winrothol Tuluk Fale" dude?

[Erythil]

Your alphabet has no 'K.'

[Barzalene]

Your alphabet has no 'K.'

Not required.

We can just let c do overtime.

[Dakota]

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[Cutthroat]

X - Xytrix-Za

[Xeran Van Houten]

Not sure how you can use that in-game if your PC doesn't know how to spell things.

Might be funny if a Templar or Noble did that to people though.

[MeTekillot]

Rubbing his hand over his face wearily, the tall, muscular man says in sihirish:
     "Oh, fuckin' A. Did you really?"

Perplexedly gazing at the tall, muscular man, you ask in sihirish:
      "What the fuck is an 'A'?"

[Taven]

So now, when you're waying someone, you can :
Psi XYZ My name is Amos, as in Allanak Mul Oash Scrab!

It's sort of neat to see a list like this, but I don't think it would actually be helpful for PCs. How they speak isn't based on letters, it's based on pronunciation. It makes more sense to say "Ah-mohs" or "Aye-mos" or "Am-ohs" or whichever way your Amos says their name. I don't know, for example, that a PC could pick out the "A" sound from Allanak, or if it would be tied up in the "L" sound. Furthermore, as players we don't tend to agree on word pronunciation. Is Allanak "Ah-la-nak" or "Ay-la-nak" or "Allah-nak" or "Ah-la-n-aye-k" or what?

Here are some threads about pronunciation of various Zalanthian words, and how people say them differently:

http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,28167.0.html
http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1007&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15&sid=c47474f03201a4e3903babc27fa76510
http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,1007.0.html
http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,23137.0.html

Somewhere (on the GDB? In those threads? I don't know) there's a post by Sanvean saying the "official" pronunciations, but we all know how much that's byn used. People will tend to favor their own pronunciations, because it's hard to change the way you think of a word. So even if a PC could understand the concept, as players, we might come up with totally different pronunciations of a name, based on how we think of it.

[Wasteland Raider]

Most PCs indeed would have no concept of letters, let alone spelling or how their name is spelled, to say nothing of the fact that it might be spelled differently/with different letters in different languages.

Some nobles already do spell things in-game when speaking; the best I've ever seen this done is with phonetic spellings of the letters, and I've seen some great scenes set around spelling things near PCs who (ICly) cannot spell.

"She went to the Tee Oh Oh Tee Aych the other day, disguised as a commoner."

[Nyr]

I recall one noble or merchant or templar using "air quotes" in an emote.  Even the way the emote was written was amusing.  Something like:

Code Select Expand

emote places "air quotes" around the word in a gesture that goes over the heads of the non-reading populace.

or something.

[manipura]

Sort of a derail regarding letters and whether most Zalanthans would even be aware of something like their ABC's...There is a bench in-game with a description along the lines of 'beneath the slab, the legs of this bench resemble an upside U.' 

[Feco]

There are plenty of letter references ingame.  However, they are for us, not our characters.

[Spoon]

Y- Yppr

You want something with a Y sound for it to be phonetic. Would yppr be 'ee-pur'?

[SMuz]

Heh, I've always found it a bit hard to roleplay as an illiterate commoner when doing so much damn reading. There was one time when I tried to get my character thinking about what it's like to be literate and it was screwing my OOC brain as I typed out the thinks.

I don't think Uaptal makes for good phonetics. I don't know if it's pronounced "wipe-tell" or "ooh-arp-tell". And I think Salarr is pronounced as "Yarr" XD

[Ocotillo]

...I say up-tall, those barely make sense to me.

This normally isn't a problem - until you get someone trying to do a thick accent or something with sound, and everyone gets all confused.

[msninja]

I know this is kinda derailing into pronunciation of Zalanthan words, but there are several things that my friend and I pronounce differently - EG "Al-Siek" - I say al-seek, she says al-see-yeck.

Is there any official clarification on any commonly mispronounced Zalanthan words?

[Taven]

I know this is kinda derailing into pronunciation of Zalanthan words, but there are several things that my friend and I pronounce differently - EG "Al-Siek" - I say al-seek, she says al-see-yeck.

Is there any official clarification on any commonly mispronounced Zalanthan words?

There's a few scattered staff posts, but even staff disagrees. Here are some relevant posts for you:

Tuluk = TUH-luck

Allanak = AL - ah - nak

Allundean = ah - LUN - dee - an

Negean = NEE - gee- an

Luirs = Loors

Tektolnes = Teck - TOLL - nees

Tan Muark - Tan MOO-ark

Anyali - AN- yah - lee

There's really no right way to say many of these words.  Like a book, we all have an internal pronunciation for words we read whether it's what the author intended or not.  There are people that feverishly debate if Drizzt is pronounced "Drizzt" or "Drizz-it".

(Note that LoD is a player GDB handle, but that I found this quote relevant)

Ask the Staff Different Staff Opinions On "Oash" Pronunciation

All of these quotes were dug out from the links I previously posted, by the way. Feel free to look those over for more relevant posts and opinions on the pronunciation issue. However, there doesn't seem to be a complete listing of words (at least not that I found). I also can't seem to locate the "byn" as "bin" post, so feel free to do more searching.

[msninja]

I know this is kinda derailing into pronunciation of Zalanthan words, but there are several things that my friend and I pronounce differently - EG "Al-Siek" - I say al-seek, she says al-see-yeck.

Is there any official clarification on any commonly mispronounced Zalanthan words?

There's a few scattered staff posts, but even staff disagrees. Here are some relevant posts for you:

Tuluk = TUH-luck

Allanak = AL - ah - nak

Allundean = ah - LUN - dee - an

Negean = NEE - gee- an

Luirs = Loors

Tektolnes = Teck - TOLL - nees

Tan Muark - Tan MOO-ark

Anyali - AN- yah - lee

There's really no right way to say many of these words.  Like a book, we all have an internal pronunciation for words we read whether it's what the author intended or not.  There are people that feverishly debate if Drizzt is pronounced "Drizzt" or "Drizz-it".

(Note that LoD is a player GDB handle, but that I found this quote relevant)

Ask the Staff Different Staff Opinions On "Oash" Pronunciation

All of these quotes were dug out from the links I previously posted, by the way. Feel free to look those over for more relevant posts and opinions on the pronunciation issue. However, there doesn't seem to be a complete listing of words (at least not that I found). I also can't seem to locate the "byn" as "bin" post, so feel free to do more searching.

Ah missed that post, sorry! I tend to skim-read quite a lot. But thanks

[Taven]

Ah missed that post, sorry! I tend to skim-read quite a lot. But thanks

Sure thing. 

[Is Friday]

I recall one noble or merchant or templar using "air quotes" in an emote.  Even the way the emote was written was amusing.  Something like:

Code Select Expand

emote places "air quotes" around the word in a gesture that goes over the heads of the non-reading populace.

or something.

Reiloth's Hlum IIRC.

[MeTekillot]

I recall one noble or merchant or templar using "air quotes" in an emote.  Even the way the emote was written was amusing.  Something like:

Code Select Expand

emote places "air quotes" around the word in a gesture that goes over the heads of the non-reading populace.

or something.

Was it this?

The immense, rune-inked man makes quote mark symbols, which probably mean nothing
to the lofty, cunyati-tanned man, or ninty-percent of the room.

At a highly polished table, you overhear the lofty, cunyati-tanned man say in so
uthern-accented sirihish, quote-marking back at the immense, rune-inked man:
     "Uh? What is this? Tregil ears?"