Editing D'ni grammar (section)

== Alphabet ==

* D'NI is the encoding used by the ''Dnifont'' typeface, and by RAWA to precisely write D'ni words: '''pAiferen'''
* OTS is the ''Old Transliteration Standard'', the most common way of writing D'ni in the Uru community: '''Payiferen'''
* NTS is the ''New Transliteration Standard'', devised by the [[Guild of Linguists (restored)|first Guild of Linguists]] to have a 1-to-1 equivalence between D'ni and roman letters<ref>{{cite web|url=http://linguists.riedl.org/old/transcr.htm|title=The New D'ni Transcription Standard|website=Guild Of Linguists Homepage|access-date=September 6, 2020}}</ref>: '''Péiferen'''
* LTS is ''Larry LeDeay's Transliterations Standard''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.florestica.com/hpotd/dni-fonts/index.html|title=D'ni Fonts and Transliteration Characters|website=The Lost Library of D'ni|access-date=September 6, 2020}}</ref>, with an approach similar to the NTS: '''Pāiferen'''
* RTS is ''Revised Transliteration Standard'', devised by KathTheDragon of the [[Guild of Linguists (restored)|new Guild of Linguists]] as a more consistent version of OTS: '''Peyiferen'''
* IPA is the ''[[w:International Phonetic Alphabet|International Phonetic Alphabet]]'', used by linguists to precisely describe the 'sound' of each letter, usually written between brackets: '''[peɪfɛɾɛn]'''


{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+ class="nowrap" | D'ni alphabet
! D'NI
! OTS
! NTS
! LTS
! RTS
! IPA
|-
| <dni>'</dni>
| '
| '
| '
| '
| ʔ/ɜ
|-
| <dni>v</dni>
| v
| v
| v
| v
| v
|-
| <dni>b</dni>
| b
| b
| b
| b
| b
|-
| <dni>t</dni>
| t
| t
| t
| t
| t
|-
| <dni>s</dni>
| s
| s
| s
| s
| s
|-
| <dni>S</dni>
| sh
| š
| sh
| sh
| ʃ
|-
| <dni>j</dni>
| j
| j
| j
| j
| d͡ʒ
|-
| <dni>g</dni>
| g
| g
| g
| g
| g
|-
| <dni>y</dni>
| y
| y
| y
| y
| j
|-
| <dni>k</dni>
| kh
| x
| kh
| kh
| x
|-
| <dni>K</dni>
| k
| k
| k
| k
| k
|-
| <dni>a</dni>
| ah
| a
| a
| ah
| ɑ
|-
| <dni>I</dni>
| ai
| á
| ī
| ay
| ai
|-
| <dni>f</dni>
| f
| f
| f
| f
| f
|-
| <dni>p</dni>
| p
| p
| p
| p
| p
|-
| <dni>i</dni>
| i
| i
| i
| i
| ɪ
|-
| <dni>E</dni>
| ee
| í
| ē
| ee
| i
|-
| <dni>e</dni>
| e
| e
| e
| e
| ɛ
|-
| <dni>A</dni>
| ay
| é
| ā
| ey
| e
|-
| <dni>r</dni>
| r
| r
| r
| r
| ɾ
|-
| <dni>m</dni>
| m
| m
| m
| m
| m
|-
| <dni>T</dni>
| th
| þ
| th
| th
| θ
|-
| <dni>d</dni>
| dh
| ð
| dh
| dh
| ð
|-
| <dni>D</dni>
| d
| d
| d
| d
| d
|-
| <dni>h</dni>
| h
| h
| h
| h
| h
|-
| <dni>o</dni>
| o
| o
| o
| o
| o
|-
| <dni>O</dni>
| oy
| ó
| oy
| oy
| oi
|-
| <dni>c</dni>
| ch
| ç
| ch
| ch
| t͡ʃ
|-
| <dni>w</dni>
| w
| w
| w
| w
| w
|-
| <dni>u</dni>
| uh
| u
| u
| u
| ə
|-
| <dni>U</dni>
| oo
| ú
| ū
| oo
| u
|-
| <dni>x</dni>
| ts
| c
| ts
| ts
| t͡s
|-
| <dni>l</dni>
| l
| l
| l
| l
| l
|-
| <dni>å</dni>
| a
| æ
| å
| a
| æ
|-
| <dni>z</dni>
| z
| z
| z
| z
| z
|-
| <dni>n</dni>
| n
| n
| n
| n
| n
|-
! D'NI
! OTS
! NTS
! LTS
! RTS
! IPA
|}


=== Letters-numerals comparison ===

Both basic letters and numerals are derived from basic shapes<ref>{{cite web|url=http://linguists.riedl.org/old/more-numbers.htm|title=The connections between the D'ni letters and the numbers|website=Guild of Linguists Homepage|access-date=September 6, 2020}}</ref>:

{| class="wikitable"
| <dni>'</dni>
| <dni>v</dni>
| <dni>t</dni>
| <dni>s</dni>
| <dni>j</dni>
| &nbsp;
| <dni>0</dni>
| <dni>1</dni>
| <dni>2</dni>
| <dni>3</dni>
| <dni>4</dni>
|-
| <dni>y</dni>
| <dni>k</dni>
| <dni>a</dni>
| <dni>f</dni>
| <dni>i</dni>
| &nbsp;
| <dni>5</dni>
| <dni>6</dni>
| <dni>7</dni>
| <dni>8</dni>
| <dni>9</dni>
|-
| <dni>e</dni>
| <dni>r</dni>
| <dni>m</dni>
| <dni>T</dni>
| <dni>d</dni>
| &nbsp;
| <dni>)</dni>
| <dni>!</dni>
| <dni>@</dni>
| <dni>#</dni>
| <dni>$</dni>
|-
| <dni>h</dni>
| <dni>o</dni>
| <dni>c</dni>
| <dni>w</dni>
| <dni>u</dni>
| &nbsp;
| <dni>%</dni>
| <dni>^</dni>
| <dni>&</dni>
| <dni>*</dni>
| <dni>(</dni>
|-
| <dni>x</dni>
| <dni>l</dni>
| <dni>å</dni>
| <dni>z</dni>
| <dni>n</dni>
| &nbsp;
| <dni>[</dni>
| <dni>]</dni>
| <dni>\</dni>
| <dni>{</dni>
| <dni>}</dni>
|}


=== Punctuation ===

Punctuation appears to be scarce in D'ni texts. We know of three symbols:

{| class="wikitable"
| <dni>.</dni>
| begin sentence
| &nbsp;
| <dni>'</dni>
| apostrophe
| &nbsp;
| <dni>×-×</dni>
| dash
|}

The 'full stop' usage is the really different one, as it is always placed at the beginning of the sentence, not at the end.

An apostrophe following a vowel represents a glottal stop; one following a consonant represents a schwa<ref>{{cite forum post|url=|author=RAWA|title=More than you wanted to know about Aitrus/Atrus|forum=DRC forums|date=May 18, 2006 [link unavailable]}}</ref>.

Example:
: <dni>.Sora b'Sem - ga b'zU</dni>
: <span style="font-size:85%">{{dni-text|.|shorah||b'-|shem}} - {{dni-text|gah||b'-|zoo}}</span>
: "peace to you - and to me."