Sounds
This page lists the sounds of Zulapa, and how the Latin spelling writes them. A word between two slashes is written in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
The consonants §
Zulapa has twenty consonants.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||||
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | q | |||
| Fricative | f | θ | s z | ʂ ʐ | x | ||
| Approximant | w | j | |||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Lateral | l |
In a pair, the first sound has no voice and the second has voice. The
letter w is w, said with rounded lips. The table of the Phonology card
has ʋ instead. The letters sh are ʂ: the tip of the tongue is raised
and pulled back, and the lips are not rounded. The Phonology card has ʃ
instead. The letter j is ʐ, the same sound with voice. The Phonology
card has ʒ instead.
The vowels §
Zulapa has five vowels, and a semivowel.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Open | a |
The semivowel j is a consonant before a vowel, as in ya. After a
consonant it takes the place of a vowel, as in my. At the start of a word,
before a consonant, it is said ji, as in yfa jifa, Look!
Two vowels may stand together in a root: noa, gui, au. Each is said
on its own, and the two do not merge into one sound.
The spelling §
Each letter has the sound of its sign in the alphabet above, except for these.
| Spelling | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
e |
ɛ | nefe nɛfɛ |
o |
ɔ | noa nɔa |
sh |
ʂ | sho ʂɔ |
th |
θ | dutha duθa |
j |
ʐ | joda ʐɔda |
y |
j | ya ja |
Zulapa has no letter h of its own: it is found only in sh and th. Some
older words were written with an h where they now have an x, such as
hapan, now xapan, goat.
The stress §
The stress falls on the root, on its syllable before the last. A root of
one syllable takes the stress itself. Prefixes and suffixes do not count:
the stress always marks the meaning, and the subject, the tense and the
mood stay light around it. esoluzu, I am being loved, is ɛsɔluˈzu.
Two vowels together are two syllables: noa is ˈnɔa. In a word of two
roots, the first root takes the stress and the second a lighter one:
dothtana is ˈdɔθˌtana.
The Phonology card says stress on the penultimate syllable before suffix.
Its examples are keOda, lamigOa, agUwu and afOliri. The four fit
this rule: in afOliri, a is the subject and fo the root. keoda and
lamigoa are not in the first compiler, which does not mark the stress
either. The cases with a stress differ from it until the new compiler
exists.
The script §
Zulapa is also written in the Telugu script, which is an abugida: a sign
is a consonant with its vowel. A consonant alone carries the vowel a, and
a mark on it gives another vowel. The tables list every sign that the first
compiler writes. A sound in bold differs from the sound of the sign in
Telugu.
| Letter | Sign | In Telugu | In Zulapa |
|---|---|---|---|
m |
మ | m | m |
n |
న | n | n |
p |
ప | p | p |
b |
బ | b | b |
t |
త | t̪ | t |
d |
ద | d̪ | d |
k |
క | k | k |
g |
గ | g | g |
q |
ఖ | kʰ | q |
f |
చ | tʃ | f |
th |
థ | t̪ʰ | θ |
s |
స | s | s |
z |
ఠ | ʈʰ | z |
sh |
శ | ʃ | ʂ |
j |
జ | dʒ | ʐ |
x |
none | x | |
w |
వ | ʋ | w |
y |
య | j | j |
r |
ర | r | r |
l |
ల | l | l |
A vowel has a sign of its own at the start of a word, or after another
vowel, and a mark on a consonant elsewhere. The marks are shown on మ, m.
| Letter | Alone | On a consonant | In Telugu | In Zulapa |
|---|---|---|---|---|
a |
అ | మా | a, and aː on a consonant | a |
e |
ఎ | మే | e, and eː on a consonant | ɛ |
i |
ఇ | మి | i | i |
o |
ఓ | మో | oː | ɔ |
u |
ఉ | ము | u | u |
y |
ఐ | మై | ai | j |
A consonant with no vowel takes the mark ్, as in మ్. At the end of a
word, m is ం and n is ఁ.
The cases below show the script that the first compiler writes, under each
word. It has no sign for x, and does not write a th inside a word:
lexawi is లేxఅవి and dutha is దుtహా.
The rules §
One letter, one soundSounds
A letter is always said the same way. Most letters have the sound that the International Phonetic Alphabet gives them.
e and o are openSounds
The letter e is the open ɛ, and the letter o is the open ɔ.
sh and thdiffers from legacy
Two sounds are written with two letters: sh is ʂ, and th is θ. The tip of the tongue is raised and pulled back for ʂ, and the lips are not rounded. It is not ʃ, the sound that the Phonology card gives it.
jdiffers from legacy
The letter j is ʐ, the sound of sh with voice. It is not ʒ, the sound that the Phonology card gives it.
ydiffers from legacy
The letter y is j. Before a vowel it is a consonant. After a consonant it is a vowel, and may end a word. At the start of a word, before a consonant, it is said ji: the glide that begins an order.
x and qSounds
The letter x is the fricative x, and the letter q is the plosive q, further back than k.
wSounds
The letter w is w, with rounded lips. It is not ʋ, the sound that the table of the Phonology card gives it.
The stressdiffers from legacy
The stress falls on the syllable before the last of the root. A root of one syllable takes the stress itself. Prefixes and suffixes do not count, and do not move it. Two vowels together are two syllables. In a word of two roots, the first root takes the stress, and the second a lighter one.
No hdiffers from legacy
Zulapa has no letter h. Some words were written with an h: hapan, hajo, gahilus. That h was an old spelling of x, and the words are now written xapan, xajo, gaxilus. The engine gives the h no sound.