# Novial/Pronunciation 1

Novial home – Pronunciation Guide
Contents – Lesson 1 – Lesson 2 – Lesson 3 – Lesson 4 – Lesson 5 – Lesson 6 – Lesson 7
Prefixes – Suffixes – Proforms

## Pronunciation Guide

Otto Jespersen, who devised Novial, was a professional linguist. He carefully designed the spelling and pronunciation of Novial to be as easy as possible for people of different language backgrounds while using West European root words as the basis of the vocabulary.
Novial uses the standard 26 letters of the modern Latin alphabet. There are no accents which makes it easy to write on any Latin alphabet keyboard. The letters C and Z occurs only in foreign names (proper nouns). There are only five vowels: A, E, I, O and U which are generally pronounced with their continental values, i.e. similar to Spanish and Italian. However, their very distinct sounds allow some leeway for speakers of different backgrounds while still avoiding miscomprehension.
Three digraphs are used: CH, SH and QU. Q occurs only in the combination QU. As in English S is pronounced differently from SH but the use of a hyphen between S and H when they are two separate sounds prevents any ambiguity. Every word is pronounced as spelled according to the pronunciation rules: Novial spelling is therefore phonemic (commonly called phonetic).
The stress generally lies on the vowel before the last consonant. If there is no vowel preceding a consonant it is on the second from last vowel. One exception is words ending in -ee where the stress is on the second from last -e.
Examples with stressed syllable in bold: abandona, fala, egal, vie, musee
Note that where alternative pronunciations are given, all are correct allowing easier pronunciation for people of different language backgrounds.
| Letter | Sound (IPA) | Sound (example) | Example | Example |
| A | a | a as in English father | abandona | abandon |
| B | b | b as in bet | bebe | baby |
| C | s or k | foreign names only. Generally: s before e and i as in Celsius, otherwise k as in Cairo | Caracas | Caracas |
| CH | ʃ or tʃ | sh as in shine or ch as in church | chanse | chance |
| D | d | d as in deep | defini | define |
| E | e or ɛ | é as in French fiancée or e as in in English pet | egal | equal |
| F | f | f as in food | fala | fall |
| G | g | g as in get | garda | guard |
| H | h | h as in hot | helpa | help |
| I | i | ee as in seen but shorter or i as in French petite | impeda | impede |
| J | dʒ or ʒ | j as in jet or s as in pleasure | jirafe | giraffe |
| K | k | k as in ski | kioske | kiosk |
| L | l | l as in let | lande | land |
| M | m | m as in moon | magnetisa | magnetize |
| N | n | n as in never | nature | nature |
| O | o or ɒ | o as in Italian Roma or o as in British English on | observa | observe |
| P | p | p as in sport | papa | daddy |
| QU | kw or kv or ku | qu as in question or qu as in German Quelle or cu as in Spanish cuesta | questione | question |
| R | r or ɹ | rolled r as in Scots English or English r | rapid | rapid |
| S | s or z | s as in summer or s as in rise | sune | sun |
| SH | ʃ or tʃ | sh as in shine or ch as in church | shuta | shoot |
| T | t | t as in step | teknike | technique |
| U | u | u as in put | unik | unique |
| V | v | v as in victory | variatione | variation |
| W | w or u or v | w as in west or ou in French ouest or w as in German West | watt | watt |
| X | ks or gz | x as in axe or x in example | auxiliari | auxiliary |
| Y | j | y as in you | yuna | young |
| Z | z or s | foreign names only. Generally: z as in Zambia or as in original language if different | Suez | Suez |
When writing if you do not know or remember whether CH or SH is the usual form simply use either. _____________________________________________________________________________________
Novial home - Pronunciation Guide
Contents – Lesson 1 – Lesson 2 – Lesson 3 – Lesson 4 – Lesson 5 – Lesson 6 – Lesson 7
Prefixes – Suffixes – Proforms