INTERSLAVIC alphabet and pronunciation

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Latin	Cyrillic	IPA	Pronunciation
Aa 	Аа 	/a/	as the "a" in father
Bb 	Бб 	/b/	as the "b" in boat
Cc 	Цц 	/ʦ/	as the "ts" in hats
Čč 	Чч 	/ʧ/	as the "ch" in church
Dd 	Дд 	/d/	as the "d" in dog
Ee 	Ее 	/ɛ/	as the "e" in metal (see info)
Ff 	Фф 	/f/	as the "f" in fun
Gg 	Гг 	/ɡ/	as the "g" in get
Hh 	Xх 	/x/	as the "h" in hat
Ii 	Ии 	/i/	as the "i" in machine (see info)
Jj 	Јј 	/j/	as the "y" in yes
Kk 	Кк 	/k/	as the "k" in kitchen
Ll 	Лл 	/l/	as the "l" in link
Mm 	Мм 	/m/	as the "m" in man
Nn 	Нн 	/n/	as the "n" in never
Oo 	Оо 	/ɔ/	as the "o" in open
Pp 	Пп 	/p/	as the "p" in pot
Rr 	Рр 	/r/	as the "r" in run
Ss 	Сс 	/s/	as the "s" in so
Šš 	Шш 	/ʃ/	as the "sh" in sharp
Tt 	Тт 	/t/	as the "t" in tea
Uu 	Уу 	/u/	as the "u" in tulip
Vv 	Вв 	/ʋ/	as the "v" in vapor
Zz 	Зз 	/z/	as the "z" in zoo
Žž 	Жж 	/ʒ/	as the "s" in pleasure
INTERSLAVIC uses two alphabet styles - "Latin" and "Cyrillic". The Latin version has 23 "basic" letters, 8 caron/haček accented letters - 5 of which are written as a kind of small letter ' v ' atop the letter: (č, ň, ř, š and ž) and 3 are written as apostrophes after the letter: (ď , ľ, ť). The sounds represented by these letters, while common among all of the Slavic languages, are only familiar to English language speakers in 3 instances: č, š and ž.
Because many website forums and browsers or non-Slavic keyboards do not accommodate recognition of the accented caron/haček letters, the alternative proper way to represent them in INTERSLAVIC is follows:
For č, š and ž - the letters c, s, z followed by the special letter "x"- cx, sx and zx (e.g.: Škola becomes Sxkola).
The accented letters ň, ř, ď, ľ and ť become "nj", "rj", "dj", "lj" and "tj".
The INTERSLAVIC Cyrilic alphabet is based upon either the "Serbian" or "Russian" Cyrillic alphabets - or a combination of both:
The SERBIAN CYRILLIC ALPHABET includes the Latin letter "J", which in English is represented by the sound of "Y" as in "Yes".
The RUSSIAN CYRILLIC ALPHABET includes two letters which are not in the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet: "Ю" and "Я", which in English are pronounced like the sound of the letter "U" (or the word "you") and the sound represented by "YA", respectively (in the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, these would be represented as "JU" and "JA", respectively).
INTERSLAVIC does not use the letter "q" unless foreign language words are quoted.
===Pronunciations===
Except for "e" and "i", the rest of the letters are usually pronounced as shown in the table to the right. Thus, the pronunciation of the letters "e" and "i" are the choice of the speaker. In addition, there will be many different pronunciations of all Interslavic words - because each speaker will bring his or her own language accent. This should be fully expected. However, the model for most Slavic langauges is that the penultimate syllable the syllable before the last syllable is stressed. This is the same accent as in the Polish, Italian or Esperanto languages.
However, please take note that Interslavic will primarily be used as a "written" medium - over the internet, in books, brochures and signage.
====Letter "e"====
The letter “e”, while “officially” pronounced like the “e” in “metal”, may also be pronounced like the sound “ye” of “yes” – which in Interslavic is also represented by the combined letters “je”.
====Letter "i"====
The letter "i" is officially pronounced like the "i" in "machine"; and for most English-speakers, this will be its primary pronunciation. However, the letter "i" may also be pronounced like various different sounds that other Slavic languages have for other letters which are similar to the letter "i" but are nonetheless different - represented in the Slavic languages by such letter symbols as: " и, й, і, í y ý, ї " and " ы " - and also sometimes the combination letters " ji ".
====Accented Letters====
The special letter "w" - which is not an official Interslavic letter - is sometimes used by Interslavic writers to represent the sound šč. It is derived from the Cyrillic alphabet letter representing that specific sound = Щ . Officially, however, the combined letters šč is preferred in Interslavic.
In order to accommodate a greater use of certain sounds more commonly used Slavic languages than in English, Interslavic, like all Slavic languages, has augmented its Latin alphabet with 3 accented letters - č, š and ž - that are used alone or in letter combinations to represent 5 sounds that are depicted in English by "ch" as in "'church" (Č'č), "j" as in "jump" (DŽ dž), "sh" as in "ship" (Šš), "shch" as in "fresh cheese" (ŠČ šč or special letter "w") and "zh" as in "pleasure" (Žž).
The accent mark over these letters - technically called "diacritics" or "diacritical marks" - are sometimes referred to as a "caron" or "breve" or "upside-down hat" in English, and as a "haček" or "hacxek" in Interslavic. These accented letters are the "official" standard in Interslavic.
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Category:Learning INTERSLAVIC in English