Lexionum 1: Alfabetum e pronuncia

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I. The Sebastianish alphabet

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Below, it will follow a review of the Sebastianish alphabet, with English examples of pronunciation. The pronunciation is pretty much like in Italian and Ecclesiastical Latin.

Aa Like in English «ca
Bb Like in English «burned»
Cc Like in English “chicken” before “i” and “e”, otherwise as in «cow»
Dd Like in English «diamond»
Ee Like in English «best»
Ff Like in English «coffee»
Gg Like in English "ginger" before “i” and “e”, otherwise as in «game»
Hh Not pronounced
Ii Like in English «peacock»
Ll Like in French «louvre», never as the English L like in «hill
Mm Like in English «sam
Nn Like in English «noble»
Oo Like in English «chord»
Pp Like in English «park»
Qq Stands always before "u"; like in English «quest»
Rr Like the Italian R, same as in American English «whatever», «somebody» etc.
Ss Like in English «pric
Tt Like in English «tea»
Uu Like in English «would»
Vv Like in English «venom»
Xx Like in English «six»
Zz Like in English «cats»

As we see, the letters J, K, W and Y does not exist.

II. Letter combinations

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cc Same rules as for the single C
ch Hard K, like in English «task»
gg Same rules as for the single G
gh Hard G, like in English «God»
ou Same as U
gn Like in English «canyon» (like the Spanish ñ)
qu Like in English «question»
sc Like in English «sharp» before "i" og "e", otherwise like in «scar»

III. Pressure and accent

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The pressure will be on the second last syllable (usually a vowel), at least there's no accent over the letter that shows the pressure should be on another syllable. F. ex. the weekdays have the pressure on the second last syllable, except from mercrédiem and giovédiem, since these ones got the acute accent over the syllable you are supposed to lay the pressure on (which actually appears in many words).

Exercise 1

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Read the text below loud for yourself, so you learn the pronunciation:
"Bonum diem. Esto natevum in les Etates Unizeves, ma habito in Britannia Granda. Avo cinquantaquattrum agnes e habito in Londónium. Ego laboro como professorum pré un' escola per des infantes. Studo sebastianum per l'instánzia, et avo finivo l'exercisa, finalementum. Nunc mangieravo dinerum cum ma família".


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