The last syllable

[foxroe]

OK, been lurking for the answer, but haven't come across it.

I understand that the syllable with the accent gets the stress, but my instinctive tendancy when pronouncing Tsolyani words that have the accent on the last letter/syllable is to make it the least stressed syllable... it just seems awkward otherwise. But is this right?

For example, I would pronounce Tsolyani as "t-soul-ee-AH-nee" (accent on the "a"; that's right, right?) but I want to say Salarvya (accent on the last "a") as "SAH-LAR-VEE-ah". According to the "rules", Salarvya should be pronounced "sah-lar-vee-AH", but I honestly have a hard time getting that out.

Is there a last-syllable rule WRT to accents that is not in the original EPT book?

[geoffrey]

Hello!


I have M. A. R. Barker's two-volume The Tsolyani Language. It gives the following pronunciation rules on page 2:

ts: the ("ts") of English "fits," a voiceless grooved dental affricate

y: the [y] of English "yes," a voiced palatal continuant


I also own Barker's novel, The Man of Gold. Barker gives the following pronunciations on p. 365:

Salarvya is "sah-lahrv-YAH"

Tsolyani is "tsohl-YAH-nee"


Hope that helps!

[foxroe]

Cool, thanks Geoffrey.

I can see now that my hang-up with the stress on the last syllable is because I was counting the Y as a separate sylablle.

How are the language books? Do you have the CD (from Tita's), and if so, is it any good?

[geoffrey]

Jul 18, 2011 6:38:57 GMT -6 foxroe said:

How are the language books? Do you have the CD (from Tita's), and if so, is it any good?

My apologizes for the delay in my answers!

The language books are hard-core. Think of a college textbook for an Asian language.

I have the CD. It's been a while since I've listened to it. I thought it quite good. It has M. A. R. Barker giving proper pronunciations of many names and words. It ends with an audio recording of a cultic ritual. A demon summoning? Or a liturgy in honor of one of the Gods of Change? I can't remember exactly. But I thought it very interesting.

[thetekumelproject]

IMO, the CD is more hardcore than the language books, though possibly only by a slight margin.

I am finding the language books useful b/c looking through the dictionary parts gives me clues or reminds me about different aspects of Tsolyani society that I either didn't realize or had forgotten.

Like the colloquial term for a priestess of Dlamelish or Hrinhayel is "Temptress."

Or the way "mother" and "aunt" are distinguished, and I suppose, father and uncle.

[Brett Slocum]

Mother/Aunt and Father/Uncle

This is caused by the clan structure of Tsolyanu. A person's mother's sisters are all considered 'clan-mothers' and your father's brothers are all 'clan-fathers'. Your mother's brother's are 'uncles', and your father's sisters are 'aunts'.