Editing D'ni (language)
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'''D'ni''' is the eponymous language and alphabet of the [[D'ni (race)|D'ni]] people | '''D'ni''' is the eponymous language and alphabet of the [[D'ni (race)|D'ni]] people. | ||
== Alphabet == | == Alphabet == | ||
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The table below lists all letters in the D'ni alphabet, in the D'ni alphabetical order. You can copy letters from the "Letter" column to get the Latin character used in the [[#Official D'ni font|official font]]. | The table below lists all letters in the D'ni alphabet, in the D'ni alphabetical order. You can copy letters from the "Letter" column to get the Latin character used in the [[#Official D'ni font|official font]]. | ||
{| class="wikitable linguists mw-collapsible" | {| class="wikitable linguists mw-collapsible" | ||
! colspan=" | ! colspan="3" | D'ni letters and their Roman script equivalents | ||
|- | |- | ||
! Letter | ! Letter | ||
! [[#Old Transliteration Standard|OTS]] | ! [[#Old Transliteration Standard|OTS]] | ||
! [[#New Transliteration Standard|NTS]] | ! [[#New Transliteration Standard|NTS]] | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>v</dni> | | <dni>v</dni> | ||
| v | | v | ||
| v | | v | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>b</dni> | | <dni>b</dni> | ||
| b | | b | ||
| b | | b | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>t</dni> | | <dni>t</dni> | ||
| t | | t | ||
| t | | t | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>s</dni> | | <dni>s</dni> | ||
| s | | s | ||
| s | | s | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>S</dni> | | <dni>S</dni> | ||
| sh | | sh | ||
| š | | š | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>j</dni> | | <dni>j</dni> | ||
| j | | j | ||
| j | | j | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>g</dni> | | <dni>g</dni> | ||
| g | | g | ||
| g | | g | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>y</dni> | | <dni>y</dni> | ||
| y | | y | ||
| y | | y | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>k</dni> | | <dni>k</dni> | ||
| kh | | kh | ||
| x | | x | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>K</dni> | | <dni>K</dni> | ||
| k | | k | ||
| k | | k | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>a</dni> | | <dni>a</dni> | ||
| ah | | ah | ||
| a | | a | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>I</dni> | | <dni>I</dni> | ||
| | | i | ||
| á | | á | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>f</dni> | | <dni>f</dni> | ||
| f | | f | ||
| f | | f | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>p</dni> | | <dni>p</dni> | ||
| p | | p | ||
| p | | p | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>i</dni> | | <dni>i</dni> | ||
| | | ih | ||
| i | | i | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>E</dni> | | <dni>E</dni> | ||
| ee | | ee | ||
| í | | í | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>e</dni> | | <dni>e</dni> | ||
| | | eh | ||
| e | | e | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>A</dni> | | <dni>A</dni> | ||
| ay/ai | | ay/ai | ||
| é | | é | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>r</dni> | | <dni>r</dni> | ||
| r | | r | ||
| r | | r | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>m</dni> | | <dni>m</dni> | ||
| m | | m | ||
| m | | m | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>T</dni> | | <dni>T</dni> | ||
| th | |||
| th | |||
| þ | | þ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>d</dni> | | <dni>d</dni> | ||
| dh | |||
| dh | |||
| ð | | ð | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>D</dni> | | <dni>D</dni> | ||
| d | | d | ||
| d | | d | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>h</dni> | | <dni>h</dni> | ||
| h | | h | ||
| h | | h | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>o</dni> | | <dni>o</dni> | ||
| o/oh | | o/oh | ||
| o | | o | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>O</dni> | | <dni>O</dni> | ||
| oy | | oy | ||
| ó | | ó | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>c</dni> | | <dni>c</dni> | ||
| ch | | ch | ||
| ç | | ç | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>w</dni> | | <dni>w</dni> | ||
| w | | w | ||
| w | | w | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>u</dni> | | <dni>u</dni> | ||
| u | | u/uh | ||
| u | | u | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>U</dni> | | <dni>U</dni> | ||
| oo | | oo | ||
| ú | | ú | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>x</dni> | | <dni>x</dni> | ||
| ts | | ts | ||
| c | | c | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>l</dni> | | <dni>l</dni> | ||
| l | | l | ||
| l | | l | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>å</dni> | | <dni>å</dni> | ||
| a | | a | ||
| æ | | æ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>z</dni> | | <dni>z</dni> | ||
| z | | z | ||
| z | | z | ||
|- | |- | ||
| <dni>n</dni> | | <dni>n</dni> | ||
| n | | n | ||
| n | | n | ||
|} | |} | ||
The D'ni alphabet consists of 35 characters, compared to the 26 in the standard English alphabet. | The D'ni alphabet consists of 35 characters, compared to the 26 in the standard English alphabet. Most of these additional characters are specific vowel sounds, providing more precise definition to spoken words, instead of the mish-mash of sounds each vowel can produce in English. Additionally, there are several consonants which have two forms: "hard" and "soft". Soft consonant sounds are more breathy than their harder alternate forms, and in the Old Standard of transcription, this was indicated by the addition of an H after the consonant. Because of the different manner in which the D'ni represented sounds, the letters Q and X are not present in the D'ni alphabet, though the sounds associated with them in English are still possible using other D'ni letter combinations. For instance, the D'ni letter "<dni>x</dni>" effectively functions as "x", though it is more accurately pronounced like the English "ts" sound. | ||
=== Fonts === | === Fonts === | ||
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The OTS is something of a misnomer, as there is little standard to the way in which it handles some D'ni characters{{emdash}}especially vowels. Although this is the standard in which all D'ni words have been written by Cyan in the past, it is often not clear what characters make up the word in the actual D'ni alphabet. Depending on the word, the OTS uses multiple Roman letters for each D'ni letter. For example, "shorah" is actually sh|o|r|ah in D'ni, not s|h|o|r|a|h. The extra h's in the Romanization of the word are there as pronunciation guides, to ensure that the word is spoken properly when read aloud. | The OTS is something of a misnomer, as there is little standard to the way in which it handles some D'ni characters{{emdash}}especially vowels. Although this is the standard in which all D'ni words have been written by Cyan in the past, it is often not clear what characters make up the word in the actual D'ni alphabet. Depending on the word, the OTS uses multiple Roman letters for each D'ni letter. For example, "shorah" is actually sh|o|r|ah in D'ni, not s|h|o|r|a|h. The extra h's in the Romanization of the word are there as pronunciation guides, to ensure that the word is spoken properly when read aloud. | ||
Other letters, such as the long "i", are sometimes written in capital letters, again to ensure that they are pronounced correctly. However, this often negatively impacts readability and generates confusion among some fans as to why letters in the middle of a word are capitalized. | Other letters, such as the long "i", are sometimes written in capital letters, again to ensure that they are pronounced correctly. Cyan has actually done this in Uru, referring to the "Judges of Yahvo" as the "regolantantEok Yahvo". However, this often negatively impacts readability and generates confusion among some fans as to why letters in the middle of a word are capitalized. | ||
To make matters more confusing, Cyan has a habit of dropping h's and other secondary letters from transliterated words if it improves their readability on the page. For instance, "Releeshahn" should actually be spelled "Rehleeshahn" if one were to strictly adhere to the "standard". For that matter, "D'ni" should actually be spelled "D'nee" as the last letter is a long E in D'ni, not an i. | To make matters more confusing, Cyan has a habit of dropping h's and other secondary letters from transliterated words if it improves their readability on the page. For instance, "Releeshahn" should actually be spelled "Rehleeshahn" if one were to strictly adhere to the "standard". For that matter, "D'ni" should actually be spelled "D'nee" as the last letter is a long E in D'ni, not an i. | ||
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==== Font Transliterations ==== | ==== Font Transliterations ==== | ||
With only a couple of minor exceptions, all of the D'ni fonts have nearly identical character mappings, making it possible to post D'ni text in Roman characters for others to paste into a word processor and convert directly to D'ni characters. This is not a commonly-used technique, as Roman font-mapped text can still be difficult to read and pronounce, but it does make it easier to convert back to D'ni | With only a couple of minor exceptions, all of the D'ni fonts have nearly identical character mappings, making it possible to post D'ni text in Roman characters for others to paste into a word processor and convert directly to D'ni characters. This is not a commonly-used technique, as Roman font-mapped text can still be difficult to read and pronounce, but it does make it easier to convert back to D'ni. | ||
==== Mappings ==== | ==== Mappings ==== |