Interlingue/Lesson One
Pronunciation
[edit | edit source]Hodie it es quin annus desde que Occidental aparit ante li munde interlinguistic in li nov jurnal 'Cosmoglotta'. Ne existet ni grammatica, ni claves, ni vocabulariums … necos!
Try to pronounce the above paragraph:
- By means of English pronunciation. 'Hoadee it ez kwihn anyuhs deezd quah...'
- By means of English consonantal pronunciation, but with continental vowels. ah, eh, ee, oh, oo for a, e, i, o, u.
- With continental pronunciation overall. c is softened to 'ts' before e, i, y. In the same locations, t to 'ts', and g to 'zh' (that being always the sound of j). In some obvious cases, like que, reduce qu from the sound 'kw' to that of 'k' alone.
- With complete regularity of pronunciation. Note now stress - it should typically be on the second-last syllable of the word (the 'penult').
E támen omni interessates ha tre bon comprendet omnicos.
4b. Note now the accent mark - these are either used to show accentuation or to mark a distinction between two short words, one unstressed and one stressed - much like Spanish.