Eilert Erdoten Accent
Alright, this is a little something I did in my free time when I was designing the character Apoth, Symazok's brother. I was absolutely convinced that the Istarian dragon language, Eilert Erdoten, had an accent of some kind that might carry through to the game's equivelant of English. So, for the majority of the day, I perused the language itself and came up with a few ideas on how it might actually sound. I tested it out, voiced it, and wrote it all down so that I might be able to RP it as correctly as I could imagine it. Below I will post first the letters and their pronunciations as I found them, and then some examples of speech, along with a small guide. I hope this proves interesting to a few people, who want to add a bit of an exotic sound to their dragons' speech!
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SCT. 1: Alphabet
A: "Ah"
B: "Beh"
C: "Shh"
D: "Dah"
E: "Ehh"
F: "Hff" (Like a forced, short exhalation of air, soft hiss)
G: "Gg" (Like a deep sound made in the back of the throat as though swallowing.)
H: "Th" (like F, only shorter.)
I: "Ihh"
J: "Zz"
K:"Kkh" (As though indicating the sound of a cracking acorn.)
L: "Lll"
M: "Mm"
N: "Neh"
O: "Ah"
P: "Peh"
R: "Rrr" (A rolling, growling sound.)
S: "Seh"
T: "Teh"
U: "Uh"
V: "Veh"
Letters that don't seem to exist in the dragon language and have been assigned to the closest-sounding syllables:
Q: "Keh" or "Koh"
W: "Veh" or "Voh"
X: "Zeh" or "Ssz"
Y: "Ay" or "Eye"
Z: "Zzs" or "See"
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Two-Letter Vowel Pronunciations:
AA: "Eeya"
AE: "Jah"
AI: "Ayy"
AO: "Jay"
EA: "Yeh"
EE: "Jeh"
EI: "Eea"
EO: "Eeah"
EU: "Ieu"
IA: "Yih"
IE: "Jih"
IO: "Yai"
II: "Eye"
IU: "Ueh"
OA: "Yoh"
OE: "Jah"
OI: "Oh"
OO: "Ooh"
OU: "Ah"
UA: "Yuh"
UE: "Joo"
UI: "You"
UO: "Uh"
UU: "Ow"
YA: "Yeah"
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Other:
TH: "Zz"
IS: "Isz"
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That looks really confusing!
To put it shortly, it kind of is. However, there are ways of dealing with this. Since the pronunciations look so dramatically different from the way they are actually supposed to be spelled, you can always RP your accent with the sound, rather than the actual 'spelling.' For example, "Their" could end up looking like "Theear," or "Bowtie" can end up being pronounced as "Botih." This is all depending on how heavily you decide to use the accent, of course. Some words, like the aforementioned "Their," just look so odd that it's good to work in actual words from Eilert Erdoten to replace with. It's a good idea to write down the more commonly used words so it's at easy access.
For example, I have these written down: We: "Leon," You: "Nieon/Nien," They: "Aeon/Aen," Mine: "Kieo," Ours: "Keien," Yours: "Neio," Theirs: "K'aeo/en." Others I have actually memorized due to using them so often. Working these into the accent can determine how heavy or light it is, and how much knowledge your character has of the language. It also aids in keeping some pronunciations from looking really, really strange. Additionally, there should be some grammar changes as well if your character's accent is heavy. One has to be careful with how they use the pronunciation, however, or it will look like complete nonsense! Istarian dragon language is short and to the point, while common seems to jump all over the place. For example...
"There is nothing I like better than to run through the forests at night!"
Can change into...
"Notheeng like rrun ihn night forrezt!"
An example of adding in Eilert Erdoten words to your accent can make as dramatic a change as this:
"Ihh dan't vante zaht..." INTO "Ieo dahn't vant zaht."
It rolls a little easier off the tongue, and for those who know the bare basics of Eilert Erdoten, they know what "Ieo" means more than "Ihh' does.
Now, much of the dragon language as I discovered it seems to contain a lot of growls, hisses and guttural sounds. This makes sense, as well as gives a wonderful array of sounds, from high as a crow's voice to deep as a crocodile's. Their long tongues, sharp teeth and long jaws result in a more 'airy' sound, which means they could struggle with TH's to the point it could be a lisp. So they could have a 'Lithhp,' or a 'Lizsp.' Personally, I like the latter better. I find a certain pleasure in typing "Thissz" or "Zzat" and even "Uzzer" (Other).
So now that we've seen all of these pronunciations, let us put it to use in a scenario, shall we? I will type down a short conversation below between a dragon with a heavy accent, and a dragon with a light accent. Heavy will simply be referred to as "Red," and light will be referred to as "Blue." Underneath each phrase, I will type it normally in italics, in case there is some issue in discovering exactly what words are being used (Always a problem when it comes to RPing an accent.)
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Red: "Neia lookh tired. Haau long neia hassz fly?"
"You look tired. How long have you been flying?"
Blue: "Too long. My vings feel like sztone!"
"Too long. My wings feel like stone!"
Red: "Nexzzt time, Ieo vihl komme along?"
"Maybe next time I will come along?"
Blue: "No. Yah szmell like ae sick Grrulet most of ze time."
"No. You smell like a sick Grulet most of the time."
Red: "Zaht vat Ieo get, tzu be nice. Ieo hope neia nekzzt fly isz tehn time asz long!"
"That's what I get for being nice. I hope your next flight is ten times as long!"
Blue: "Ah, dahn't be mad. Neio can't ever take ae zjoke."
"Oh, don't be mad. You can't ever take a joke."
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It always takes a short while in order to get used to the posting style. For me, it took several roleplays before I was comfortable with the accent. Remember, this is just a guide, and you don't have to follow it exact. Find which pronunciations you enjoy the most, and integrate them in. I generally do not include the double-vowel system; while interesting to hear how dragons pronounce in Eilert Erdoten, it completely warps the common language out of control to the point that people will constantly be asking you what the heck you just said! If it were related to any other currently existing language in the real world, it probably would borderline Italian and German/Russian to a few small extents. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them, and I'll elaborate further if any big issues arise. Now go hiss and growl to your heart's content!
Re: Eilert Erdoten Accent
Originally Posted by Racktor
