Letters in Láadan

Note that words cannot end with the letters "h", "w", or "y".

Accented Vowels

A letter with an accent mark gets pronounced with a slightly higher pitch, and slightly more emphasis.

• Low tone has no accent mark – o
• High tone has an accent mark – ó

With two vowels side-by-side, there can be an accent on the first vowel or the second vowel. These have different sounds:

• Loó – LoO
• Lóo – LOo

There is no break in-between the vowel sounds, but a change in pitch.

If you're at a computer where you cannot type accent marks, it is usually suggested to write accented characters as caps. For example: LAadan.

Typing accented characters

If you're on Windows, you can use these keycodes to type accented characters.

1. Hold the left ALT key and keep it pressed down.
2. On your numpad, type the number code.

You can also install keyboards in your operating system, or even add a plugin to your web-browser to allow you to add these letters in while you're typing.

Euphony

When combining words together in Láadan, specific letters may be added in-between to enforce the rule that no two consonants and no two vowels (of the same tone) touch.

1. Split up double-consonants with the letter "e".

Example: hesh = grass, hoth = place, hesh+e+hoth = heshehoth = park.

2. Split up double-vowels with the same accents with the letter "h".

Example: ra = not, en = understand, ra+h+en = rahen = misunderstand

3. Two vowels next to each other are only allowed if one of them is accented.

Example: Láadan, Aáláan

Note: There are rare words with the "br" sound, and this is allowed. ^[1] (example, onion = bremeda)

Beginner Phrases

Let's introduce a few basic phrases so you can practice the sounds!

Practice

Let's try to transliterate names! Remember these core rules of Láadan:

1. A consonant must be followed by a vowel
2. Two vowels cannot be side-by-side, unless they are different tones
3. Words cannot end with "h", "w", or "y"

Not all sounds will match 1:1 from English to Láadan. You might have to substitute a "ch" sound with a "sh" or "t", depending on preference. There is no 100% "correct" way to transliterate your name - it is your preference!

Notes

1. ↑ http://laadanlanguage.org/node/9#3