Romanization Goals

Summarized below is a unified romanization approach leveraged across all languages.

The romanization choices were made with the goal of allowing a monolingual English speaker to approximate the sounds of each language while needing to learn the fewest unique rules as possible. “Approximate” is a key verb here — success would be achieved if a native speaker understands the average English speaker’s pronunciation.

Romanization Considerations

Given this goal, some of the romanization choices below may be nonstandard, but the logic was as follows:

• Avoid diacritic marks given English speakers are not used to them
• For consonants
  • Use single characters as much as possible, which simplifies reading and coda/onset confusion
    • The majority of consonant choices are self explanatory / one-to-one with the IPA
  • Exceptions to single characters include, “ng,” “ch,” “th,” “sh,” “dz,” “dh,” “zh,” and “rr”
    • The first four would be natural to an English speaker
    • The last four would need to be explained as there is not a obvious English spelling equivalent
  • Use “c” for /t͡s/ even though it requires an explanation / may naturally be pronounced as /s/
• For vowels
  • Use “most common” English spelling, when possible, to approximate vowels
    • “e” for /ɛ/
    • “a” for /a/
    • “u” for /ʌ/
    • “oo” for /u/
  • Accept that some “most common” English diphthong spellings might best approximate vowels
    • “o” for /oʊ/, which approximates /o/
    • “ay” for /eɪ/, which approximates /e/
  • Accept some vowels will need to be explained
    • “i” for /i/ ; English speakers may have familiarity with Spanish, which uses “i” for /i/
    • “uu” for /ɯ/ as there is no equivalent English sound, but we can use the comparison with “oo” to help
• For diphthongs
  • Cry in frustration
  • Use direct IPA-to-romanization as, surprisingly, English speakers may naturally approximate the actual diphthongs

Syllable Breaks

An apostrophe is used to separate syllables that would otherwise likely be interpreted incorrectly.

(Side note: for page names or links, the apostrophes are omitted due to limitations in how computers process apostrophes.)

Explanation Example

Using the system outlined below, I believe an explanation as simple as the below could be sufficient for an English speaker to read the examples correctly.

Pronounce all words as you naturally would in English while applying the following specific rules:

• Consonants
  • “c” - like the “ts” in “cats”
  • “dz” - like the “ds” in “adds”
  • “dh” - like the “th” in “the,” not in “thunder”
  • “zh” - like the “z” in “azure”
  • “rr” - a rolled r, like heard in Spanish
• Vowels
  • “oo” - like the “oo” in “boots”
  • “ay” - like the “ay” in “play”
  • “i” - like the “ee” in “feet”
  • “uu” - like the “oo” in foot
  • For any two vowels written together, say them as a single syllable

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Examples

From Kinookibeo

Single Words

IPA	Romanization	Meaning	More Info
dap.ta.mam Link to original	daptamam Link to original	storm, has wind / thunder / lightning Link to original	daptamam
pe.na.no.neo Link to original	paynanoneo Link to original	rain over the ocean Link to original	paynanoneo
mo.tu.no Link to original	motoono Link to original	deep water, water from which you might not be able to swim back Link to original	motoono
eŋ.mu Link to original	ayngmoo Link to original	they (two), excluding listener Link to original	ayngmoo
uŋ.pa Link to original	oongpa Link to original	you (more than two), including listener Link to original	oongpa

Sentences

IPA	Romanization
am a.ga ta.pa.tam neo	Am aga tapatam neo
am o.go bo.ti.kim ton tu.no.ku	Am ogo botikim ton Toonoku
in.pa bo.ti.ki ton ki.be naŋ ta.pa.ka neo	Inpa botiki ton kibe nang tapaka neo

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From Mwanithra

Single Words

IPA	Romanization	Meaning	More Infor
mɛ.ʃa Link to original	mesha Link to original	she, her Link to original	mesha
tɛ.ʃa Link to original	tesha Link to original	he, him Link to original	tesha
re.foi Link to original	rrayfoi Link to original	this (something next to the speaker) Link to original	rrayfoi
ʃo.foi Link to original	shofoi Link to original	that (something not close to either speaker or listener) Link to original	shofoi
mwa.tai Link to original	mwatai Link to original	mother (spoken, colloquial) Link to original	mwatai

Sentences

Not yet developed enough

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From Shacerhuun

Single Words

IPA	Romanization	Meaning	More Info
vɛ.zul Link to original	vezool Link to original	water Link to original	vezool
wɛ.t͡ʃaʃ Link to original	wechash Link to original	wind Link to original	wechash
gat͡ʃ.nʌl → gat.nʌl Link to original	gachnul → gatnul Link to original	it (plural) Link to original	gatnul
drʌ.grɛʃ Link to original	drugresh Link to original	cold (non-living thing, weather, food, etc) Link to original	drugresh
ʒan Link to original	zhan Link to original	mountain Link to original	zhan
d͡zɯɹ Link to original	dzuur Link to original	three Link to original	dzuur

Sentences

IPA	Romanization
ʒan.nek wit.ti.ka.tas.sɛ.θu	zhannayk witti katas se’thoo
t͡so.ʌl ba.gin.nɛʃ lɯ.fan.ni.sek t͡so.ɛʃ ʒan.nek ɯlɯ wit.tɛ.θa	co’ul baginnesh luufannisek co’esh zhannek uuluu witte’tha
fi.ɛʃ ɛ.re t͡ʃa.ʃɯɹ.ɹi.kɛt͡ʃ d͡ʒi.tat.t͡ʃal waɹ.ɹɛ.θa	fi’esh eray chashuur’rikech jitatchal war’re’tha

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Consonants

IPA	Romanization
Stops
p	p
t	t
k	k
b	b
d	d
g	g
m	m
n	n
ŋ	ng
Affricatives
t͡s	c
t͡ʃ	ch
d͡z	dz
d͡ʒ	j
Fricatives
f	f
θ	th
s	s
ʃ	sh
h	h
v	v
ð	dh
z	z
ʒ	zh
Other
r	rr
ɹ	r
l	l
w	w
j	y

Vowels

IPA	Romanization
Front
i	i
e	ay
ɛ	e
a	a
Back
ɯ	uu
ʌ	u
Back, Round
u	oo
o	o

Diphthongs

IPA	Romanization
iu	iu
io	io
ei	ei
eu	eu
eo	eo
ai	ai
au	au
ao	ao
ui	ui
oi	oi

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Background

Romanization of conlangs can be complex and choices are ultimately decided based on the goal of the designer. At the same time, I believe the more approachable a romanization method is, the more likely a non-linguist is to engage with a conlang, whether the setting be just as friends, for worldbuilding, for games, etc. This means romanization can be viewed as socially important.

Thus, I wanted to design an approach that increases accessibility to my conlangs. Specifically, I hope to allow a monolingual English speaker to approximate the sounds of each language while needing to learn the fewest unique rules as possible.

I took three conlangs, pulled all of the phonemes together, and came up with the below system that could be used across all three.

Questions

1. Have you ever designed a romanization system specifically targeted at a monolingual speaker of a language? What is your system and how did you arrive at your key points?
2. Have you used the same romanization system across multiple languages, and if so, did that drive any unique choices?
3. Does anything in what I show below appear poorly designed?

Thank you!

Explanation Example

I believe an explanation as simple as the below could be sufficient for an English speaker to read the examples correctly:

Pronounce all words as you naturally would in English while applying the following specific rules:

• Consonants
• • “c” - like the “ts” in “cats”
    • “dz” - like the “ds” in “adds”
    • “dh” - like the “th” in “the”
    • “zh” - like the “z” in “azure”
    • “rr” - a rolled r, like heard in Spanish
• Vowels
• • “oo” - like the “oo” in “boots”
    • “ay” - like the “ay” in “play”
    • “i” - like the “ee” in “feet”
    • “uu” - like the “oo” in foot
    • For any two vowels written together, say them as a single syllable
• Apostrophes, if used, represent the end / start of syllables

Examples

From Kinookibeo

Single Words

IPA	Romanization	Meaning	More Info
dap.ta.mam	dapta’mam	storm, has wind / thunder / lightning	daptamam
pe.na.no.neo	paynanoneo	rain over the ocean	paynanoneo
mo.tu.no	motoono	deep water, water from which you might not be able to swim back	motoono
eŋ.mu	ayngmoo	they (two), excluding listener	ayngmoo
uŋ.pa	oongpa	you (more than two), including listener	oongpa

Sentences

IPA	Romanization
am a.ga ta.pa.tam neo	Am aga tapatam neo
am o.go bo.ti.kim ton tu.no.ku	Am ogo botikim ton Toonoku
in.pa bo.ti.ki ton ki.be naŋ ta.pa.ka neo	Inpa botiki ton kibe nang tapaka neo

From Mwanithra

Single Words

IPA	Romanization	Meaning	More Infor
mɛ.ʃa	mesha	she, her	mesha
tɛ.ʃa	tesha	he, him	tesha
re.foi	rrayfoi	this (something next to the speaker)	rrayfoi
ʃo.foi	shofoi	that (something not close to either speaker or listener)	shofoi
mwa.tai	mwatai	mother (spoken, colloquial)	mwatai

Sentences

Not yet developed enough

From Shacerhuun

Single Words

IPA	Romanization	Meaning	More Info
vɛ.zul	ve’zool	water	vezool
wɛ.t͡ʃaʃ	wechash	wind	wechash
gat.nʌl	gatnul	it (plural)	gatnul
drʌ.grɛʃ	dru’gresh	cold (non-living thing, weather, food, etc)	drugresh
ʒan	zhan	mountain	zhan
d͡zɯɹ	dzuur	three	dzuur

Sentences

IPA	Romanization
ʒan.nek wit.ti.ka.tas.sɛ.θu	zhannayk witti katas se’thoo
t͡so.ʌl ba.gin.nɛʃ lɯ.fan.ni.sek t͡so.ɛʃ ʒan.nek ɯlɯ wit.tɛ.θa	co’ul baginnesh luufannisek co’esh zhannek uuluu witte’tha
fi.ɛʃ ɛ.re t͡ʃa.ʃɯɹ.ɹi.kɛt͡ʃ d͡ʒi.tat.t͡ʃal waɹ.ɹɛ.θa	fi’esh eray chashuur’rikech jitatchal war’re’tha

Romanization Considerations

Some of the romanization choices below may be nonstandard, but the logic was as follows:

• Avoid diacritic marks given English speakers are not used to them
• For consonants
• • Use single characters as much as possible, which simplifies reading and coda/onset confusion
    • • The majority of consonant choices are self explanatory / one-to-one with the IPA
    • Exceptions to single characters include, “ng,” “ch,” “th,” “sh,” “dz,” “dh,” “zh,” and “rr”
    • • The first four would be natural to an English speaker
        • The last four would need to be explained as there is not a obvious English spelling equivalent
    • Use “c” for /t͡s/ even though it requires an explanation / may naturally be pronounced as /s/
• For vowels
• • Use “most common” English spelling, when possible, to approximate vowels
    • • “e” for /ɛ/
        • “a” for /a/
        • “u” for /ʌ/
        • “oo” for /u/
    • Accept that some “most common” English diphthong spellings might best approximate vowels
    • • “o” for /oʊ/, which approximates /o/
        • “ay” for /eɪ/, which approximates /e/
    • Accept some vowels will need to be explained
    • • “i” for /i/ ; English speakers may have familiarity with Spanish, which uses “i” for /i/
        • “uu” for /ɯ/ as there is no equivalent English sound, but we can use the comparison with “oo” to help
• For diphthongs
• • Cry in frustration
    • Use direct IPA-to-romanization as, surprisingly, English speakers may naturally approximate the actual diphthongs