Spelling and pronunciation

Panlingue is phonetic in two directions:

When you read a word, you can always pronounce it.
When you hear a word, you can almost always write it. (Foreign names can be an exception.)

Once you have learned the few rules and the way letters are pronounced, you can read Panlingue aloud and be understood.

Basic Latin Alphabet

Panlingue is written in the basic Latin alphabet – the same as English! It doesn't have any of the accented letters, which are different from language to language. So it can be typed, printed and used with computers and smart devices in most countries without any difficulty.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V X Y Z

Note on phonetic notation

In this page, we use the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to show pronunciation in writing. We use square brackets and slashes to show that we're talking about a sound and not a letter.

Physical speech sounds are written between square brackets, for example [r] and [ɹ] indicate two different r-sounds, the trill and the glide. However, [r] and [ɹ] are not distinguished in Panlingue, but they are perceived as one sound. These mental sounds or phonemes can cover several physical sounds and are written between slashes. So, speakers of Panlingue perceive mentally always one sound, /r/, regardless of which physical sound, [r] or [ɹ], is actually heard. It is said that Panlingue has the phoneme /r/, which has alternative physical pronunciations [r] and [ɹ]. This can be annotated /r/ = [r] ~ [ɹ].

Sounds

Panlingue has its own sound system and its own spelling system that are mostly similar to those of the languages of continental Europe and Latin America.

The complete speech sound inventory of Panlingue is presented in the table below. Pronunciation of only those letters is specified whose pronunciation differs from the corresponding International Phonetic Alphabet symbol.

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stops	b p	t d		k g
Affricates		c [ts]	ch [tʃ] j [dʒ]	x [ks]
Fricatives	f	s z	sh [ʃ]		h
Nasals	m	n		ng [ŋ]
Lateral		l
Trill		r
Semivowels	v [w]		y [j]
High vowels	u		i
Mid vowels	o	-	e
Low vowels		a
	Back	Central	Front

Vowels

Panlingue has six oral vowel sounds. The five cardinal vowels are represented by the letters a, e, i, o and u. The sixth vowel is the mid central vowel and it is represented by the hyphen in the writing system.

The list below shows how each vowel is pronounced by using the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as well as pronunciation advice in plain English.

a = [a]
A is pronounced as in father.
e = [e]
E is pronounced as in bet.
i = [i]
I is pronounced as in machine.
o = [o]
O is pronounced as in or.
u = [u]
U is pronounced as in rule.

There are also several common vowel sequences – au, eu, ou, ai, ei, oi – which are pronounced as the consecutive vowels with or without a hiatus in between.

Semivowels

A semivowel is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions like a consonant as the syllable boundary. Panlingue has two semivowels.

Semivocalic i is written as i in the end and as y in the beginning of a syllable. Therefore the i in rai 'an opinion' changes to y in raya 'to opine, to think'. It is pronounced as the y in yet.

Semivocalic u is written as u in the end and as v in the beginning of a syllable. Therefore the u in deu 'a god' changes to v in devi 'godlike, divine'. It is pronounced as the w in wet but some speakers may pronounce it more like the v in vet.

The letters y and v appear only in the beginning of a syllable and they are always followed by a full vowel.

Consonants

Panlingue has 18 consonant sounds. Each sound is represented by a unique letter. Most of them are pronounced in roughly the same way as in English. So pronunciation ofy.

If alternative pronunciations are possible, they are joined with the tilde (~).

b = [b]
c = [ts]
Like ts in bits.
ch = [tʃ]
Ch is pronounced always like ch in chat, never as in chateau or choir.
d = [d]
f = [f]
g = [g]
G is always hard as in get, never soft as in gel.
h = [h] ~ [x]
H can be rougher than in English.
j = [dʒ]
J is pronounced always as in judge or as the soft g in gel.
k = [kʰ] ~ [k]
K is preferably always pronounced with a puff of air as in kin.
l = [l]
L is always "light" as lip in and never "dark" as in cold.
m = [m]
n = [n] ~ [ŋ]
N is pronounced with the tip of the tongue except in combinations nk and ng, where it is velar [ŋ] like in banker and finger. In the end of a word, the g in ng can be silent. So the word pang can be pronounced [paŋ] as well as [paŋg].
p = [pʰ] ~ [p]
P is pronounced with a puff of air as in pin.
r = [r] ~ [ɹ]
R is preferably trilled as in Scottish and Indian English, or smooth as in American English. Never silent!
s = [s]
S is always voiceless like s in sissy.
sh = [ʃ]
Sh is pronounced as in shop.
t = [tʰ] ~ [t]
T is pronounced with a puff of air as in tin.
x = [ks] ~ [s]
X is pronounced as ks when it is between vowels. For example maxim is pronounced /maksim/. In other positions it may be pronounced as s, for example max /mas/, xenon /senon/.
z = [z] ~ [dz]

External letters and sounds

There are also additional letters and letter-combinations, which can be used only in external words, which do not belong to the ordinary vocabulary of Panlingue, like names of places and people. They are not used in any common Panlingue words.

kh = [x]
Voiceless velar fricative, like ch in Loch in Scottish.
gh = [ɣ]
Voiced velar fricative
ph = [ɸ]
Voiceless bilabial fricative
bh = [β] Voiced bilabial fricative
q = [q]
Voiceless uvular stop.
qh = [χ] Voiceless uvular fricative.
rh = [ʀ] ~ [ʁ]
Voiced uvular trill or fricative like rh in rhume in Parisian French.
th = [θ]
Like th in thing.
dh = [ð]
Like th in they.
zh = [ʒ]
Like z in azure.
w = = [w] ~ [ʋ] ~ [v]
W is pronounced the same as v.

The additional letters and digraphs are used locally. Their purpose is to help to transfer names in local languages to the international language, so that local people can recognize them. It's OK if you don't know how to pronounce any of these sounds. The letters c, q, and w can be pronounced the same as ch, k, and v, and all digraphs can be pronunced as if the h was not there. So, for example, zh can be pronounced simply as z in the simplified international accent.

For example, the capital of Greece is called "Αθήνα" /aθina/ in the local language, Greek. The Panlingue version of this name is "Athina". It can be pronounced either /aθina/ (as the Greek do) or /atina/ (in the simplified international accent).

More examples:
Khartum Khartoum (the capital of Sudan)
Rhone Rhône (a river in France and Switzerland)

Word Structure

Panlingue words are structurally rather simple. A syllable can include in maximum:

one initial consonant
one liquid consonant (l or r)
one or two vowels, and
one final consonant from the following: m, n, ng, l, r, f, s, sh, h, y, and v.

Certain consonant clusters are also allowed only between vowels, like x /ks/ and zn.

Some of the heaviest words in practice are problem and simpli.

Adapting Loan Words

As a general rule, loan words are adapted to the phonetic spelling system of Panlingue. This rule is applied to both common words and proper names.

Common words

A common word refers to a thing as a member of a group, not as an individual. For example dog is a common word but Sam is not, it is a proper name.

Common words, which are in general use, must fit into the normal word structure, and they can include only the normal sounds of Panlingue.

Most Panlingue words are structurally simpler than the corresponding English words. Difficult consonant groups are avoided in the beginning, middle and end of words, so stadium is estadia, act is ate, and saint is santi in Panlingue. Also final stop consonants are avoided, so for example soup is supe in Panlingue.

Proper names

Infrequently used common nouns and proper nouns can be more complex than ordinary words. They can even include sounds that don't belong to the normal sound inventory of Panlingue.

For example, family name Smith may remain Smith in Panlingue, although it is structurally more complex than common Panlingue words, and it has the external th sound. However, foreign people probably will pronounce this name incorrectly. Therefore it is advisable to adapt also proper names to the phonetic system of Panlingue.

Large and Small Letters

Panlingue is normally written only in small letters (i.e. lower case letters). Large letters are used only in special cases.

There are three reasons why large letters and rules about their usage are not necessary.

Writing represents speech and there are no "capital letters" in speech. Yet, understanding spoken words is as easy as understanding written words.
Most of the scripts and alphabets of the world have only one letter type, i.e. they don't have separate large and small letters.
It is simpler to use only small letters. No need for special rules for capitalization.

Note! It's not a mistake to use the capital letters. Sometimes people do it because they are accustomed to them in other languages. But still capital letters are unnecessary and not recommended in Panlingue.

Proper names

Proper names may be capitalized according to the writers preference. Family names may be written completely in large letters. It is helpful because names are written in different way from language to language and they can include several given names and family names. However, all names may be written completely in small letters too.

Examples of written names:
(1) ludoviko lazaro zamenhof, edgar de val, mizuta sentaro
(2) Ludoviko Lazaro Zamenhof, Edgar de Val, Mizuta Sentaro
(3) Ludoviko Lazaro ZAMENHOF, Edgar de VAL, MIZUTA Sentaro

Acronyms

Initialisms, like ASEAN, EU, NAFTA and UN, are always written in large letters. Other acronyms may use a mixture of large and small letters, like for example GULag, which is an acronym of the Russian words "Glavnoye Upravleniye Lagerey".

Capital letters are also used in the standard international acronyms. For example: 10 Mb (desi megabite), 100 GB (senti gigabaite), 2 mm (dui milimetre), 1 kJ (uni kilojule).

Syllabification

« - » Words may be divided into syllables with a hyphen. The hyphen is placed between spoken syllables. For example: bus, ka-fe, hu-mor, pos-te, kon-ca-nis-tia.

Punctuation

« . » All kinds of sentences may end with a full stop.

« ? » Questions may end alternatively with a question mark.

« ! » Exclamation mark indicates loudness or emphasis.

« ... » Three dots (i.e. ellipsis) indicates incompleteness or uncertainty.

« : » Colon indicates the beginning of an explanation, quotation or list.

« , » Comma indicates a small pause or separation between clauses or listed items.

Tip! Because the first word of sentences is not capitalized, sentences can be set apart with more than one space. One may (1) insert two spaces after the punctuation mark, or (2) insert one space before and after the punctuation mark. This practice helps to separate sentences more clearly.

(1) salam!  te sa boni, he?  me vola ga pa kafekan.  te vola laya kon me, he?
(2) salam ! te sa boni, he ? me vola ga pa kafekan . te vola laya kon me, he ?

In informal texts, smileys, emoticons and emojis may be used like punctuation marks to end sentences but in addition they indicate the mood of the speaker.