PronunciationsSYMBOLSPOEMSGENEALOGY TREE

Pronunciations

A Note on Pronunciation

MOST Annaren proper nouns derive from the Speech, and generally share its pronunciation. In words of three or more syllables, the stress is usually laid on the second syllable; in words of two syllables, (e.g., lembel, invisible) stress is always on the first. There are some exceptions in proper names; the names Pellinor and Annar, for example, are pronounced with the stress on the first syllable.

Spellings are mainly phonetic.

a—as in flat. Ar rhymes with bar.
ae—a long i sound, as in ice. Maerad is pronounced MY–rad.
aë—two syllables pronounced separately, to sound eye–ee. Maninaë is pronounced man–IN–eye–ee.
ai—rhymes with hay. Innail rhymes with nail.
au—ow. Raur rhymes with sour.
e—as in get. Always pronounced at the end of a word: for example, remane, to walk, has three syllables. Sometimes this is indicated with ë, which indicates also that the stress of the word lies on the e (for example, ilë, we, is sometimes pronounced almost to lose the i sound).
ea—the two vowel sounds are pronounced separately, to make the sound ay–uh. Inasfrea, to walk, thus sounds: in–ASS–fray–uh.
eu—oi sound, as in boy.
i—as in hit.
ia—two vowels pronounced separately, as in the name Ian.
y—uh sound, as in much.
c—always a hard c, as in crust, not ice.
ch—soft, as in the German ach or loch, not church.
dh—a consonantal sound halfway between a hard d and a hard th, as in the, not thought. There is no equivalent in English; it is best approximated by hard th. Medhyl can be said METH’l.
s—always soft, as in soft, not noise.