TGV/MGV - Lesson 1
Ba-|Iyi-Gol-Vuhlkansu - Tupa 1

PRONUNCIATION
Salasharaya

Traditional and Modern Golic Vulcan vowel-sounds are pronounced as follows, using the Intergalactic Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which was based on the Terran International Phonetic Alphabet, and Federation Standard English (FSE) examples, except where noted. (The phonetic symbols are being added to our dictionaries to aid pronunciation. Sorry, but this page may only display properly if your browser supports Unicode.) Some sounds are not used normally in contemporary Golic Vulcan usage but are used when transliterating or pronouncing non-Vulcan words. Vulcan vowels are almost never "unstressed" and are pronounced as is wherever they appear, unlike FSE where "unstressed" vowels are very common.

FSE was based on the Midwestern Dialect of North American English, the Earth language the Vulcans were originally exposed to at First Contact and which became the world-wide standard during recovery from the Post-Atomic Horror. Vulcan-assisted recovery took its foothold in what was once the United States and Canada.

a -- \ ɑ \ as "a" in ball, father (nala, pstha, vath)
aa -- \ ɑː \ as the sound in aah (aal, maat)
ah -- \ ɒ' \ as "o" in hot but faster; many MGV and most LGV speakers pronounce it \ æ \ as "a" in cat (dah, shaht). (It is always \ æ \ in words transliterated from other languages.)
ai -- \ aɪ \ as "i" in nice, night (aifa, kai, svai)
au -- \ aʊ \ as "ou" in house (ayau, kaukuh, maut)

e -- \ e \ as "e" in bed or "ea" in dread (kep, lesek, senepa). At the beginning of a word, before a single consonant sound, it is usually pronounced close to or identical to "ei" \ eɪ \.
ee -- \ eː \ an extended "e" sound (eef, sees). (Rare in MGV, except in old or borrowed words.)
eh (beginning/interior) -- \ ɛ \ as the "e" in net but faster (nehg, tehn, zehl)
eh (end of word) -- \ ɛʔ \ as the "e" in net followed by a glottal stop (kheh, leh, naliveh)
ei -- \ eɪ \ as "a" in same or "ei" in rein (eitau, nei, shei)

i -- \ i \ as "ea" in each or "ee" in seem (bling, dungi, mik)
ih (beginning/interior) -- \ ɪ \ as "i" in hit, itch (ihn, kiht, pihl)
ih (end of word) -- \ ɪʔ \; nearly all TGV, MGV and LGV speakers use >ih< + glottal stop at the end of a word (zih).
ii -- \ iː \ an extended "i" sound (kiit, wiin). (Rare in MGV, except in old or borrowed words.)

o -- \ o \ a pure "o" sound, not diphthongized, although many MGV speakers pronounce it \ oʊ \ as "o" in home or "oa" in roam (dom, nodolau, odva)
oh (beginning/interior) -- \ ɔ \ similar to "aw" in saw or "augh" in caught but shorter (similar to the Scandinavian "å") (ohmor, woht)
oh (end of word) -- \ oʔ \ an "o" in throat with lips rounded, followed by a glottal stop (moh, spoh, vloh)
oi -- \ ɔɪ \ as "oy" in boy (kroikah, sanoi, thinoi)
oo -- \ oː \ an extended "o" sound (ooch, moos). (Rare in MGV, except in old or borrowed words.)

u -- \ u \ as "oo" in soon or "u" in rude (navun, salur, zup)
uh -- In TGV, \ ʊ \ as "u" in put; In MGV, \ ʌ \ as "u" in cup, ugly (natuhn, wuhkuh). (Some rural MGV speakers and LGV speakers use \ ə \ in unstressed syllables, but it is nearly indistinguishable from \ ʌ \. LGV speakers, at the end of a word, use the difficult-to-pronounce \ ʌº \, similar to FSE "uh-oh".)
uu -- \ uː \ an extended "u" sound (huun, k'puu, uus). (Rare in MGV, except in old or borrowed words.)
uuh -- \ ʊː \ only used in transliterating the "oo" in FSE words like "book" or "wood" (although essentially the same as TGV "uh").

Note #1: Single GV vowels are normally a pure sound, and rarely, if ever "diphthongized", except in a few rural areas.
Note #2: Unlike FSE, where non-stressed vowels often become \ ə \ or \ ɪ \, GV vowels are normally pronounced pure no matter where they are in a word. You must take care not to slur vowels whenever possible.
Note #3: Doubling an individual vowel lengthens the sound, never changes it. (Golic has native >aa<, >ii< and >uu<, plus >ee< and >oo< in ancient or borrowed words.)
Note #4: >Eh< & >Heh<, the words for "and", are always pronounced as the beginning/interior variant, never the ending variant.


Golic Vulcan consonant sounds are nearly the same as their FSE counterparts. The only exceptions are:

ch, tch -- \ ʧ \ always hard as "ch" in cheese or "tch" in watch (achut, isachya, tchol)
dzh -- \ ʤ \ like the "j" in jam or "dg" in edge (dzharel, dzhelu, dzhyan-tukh). (A single letter "j" appears in some ancient and non-Golic languages but never appears in TGV or MGV.)
kh -- \ x \ nearly identical to "ch" in German Bach or Scottish loch (ahkh, dakh, khush) (Note: In transliterating non-Golic words, the "ch" sound in German ich is indicated with \ ç \.)
ng -- \ ŋ \ always like "ng" in ring or bang (kling, veng).
th -- \ θ \ in all the Golic languages, always hard like "th" in both, thank (kethtra, math, thonek) (Note: In transliterating non-Golic words, the soft "th" sound in though is indicated with "eth" (Ð,ð) \ ð \.)
y -- \ j \ always a consonant, as "y" in yellow (daya, sayek, yel)
zh -- \ ʒ \ like the "s" in vision or pleasure (bezhun, di'kizh, zhit)

Although doubled consonants are not very common in TGV, MGV or LGV, mostly being ancient and/or borrowed words, when they do occur, they are pronounced as follows:

dd -- \ dʰ \ an aspirated "d" at the end of a word (fihdd), otherwise always syllabic.
ff -- \ fʰ \ an aspirated "f" at the end of a word (guhff), otherwise always syllabic.
kk -- \ kʰ \ an aspirated "k" at the end of a word (gahkk), otherwise always syllabic.
ll -- \ ɫː \ slightly drawn out, always with tip of tongue against back of upper teeth (d'mallu).
mm -- \ \ at the end of a word only, like a very short "muh" (samm).
nn -- \ \ at the end of a word only, like a very short "nuh" (stonn).
rr -- \ R \ when not syllabic, drawn out and usually slightly rolled (harr).
ss -- \ sʰ \ when not syllabic, an aspirated "s" (like a short hiss) (tessaya).
tt -- \ tʰ \ when not syllabic, an aspirated "t" (littau).

Note: Doubled consonants are fairly common in other Vulcan languages.

TGV, MGV or LGV have rare "false doubled consonants". These are similar vowel sounds that when found together are always syllabic. For example:

ssh -- always interior and syllabic, the "s" is pronounced with the preceding syllable and the "sh" is pronounced with the following syllable.
tth -- always interior and syllabic, the "t" is pronounced with the preceding syllable and the "th" is pronounced with the following syllable.
zzh -- always interior and syllabic, the "z" is pronounced with the preceding syllable and the "zh" is pronounced with the following syllable.

Golic Vulcan includes consonant combinations that rarely, if ever, occur in FSE. Since there are no silent letters in Golic Vulcan words, you must pronounce all letters. For example:

dvun \ dvun \ -- try saying "duh-vun" but as one syllable.
fmak \ fmak \ -- try saying "fuh-mak" but as one syllable.
fnesh \ fneʃ \ -- try saying "fuh-nesh" but as one syllable.
gmor \ gmor \ -- try saying "guh-mor" but as one syllable.
gnal \ gnal \ -- try saying "guh-nal" but as one syllable.
gwuth \ gwuθ \ -- identical to the "gu" sound in "guacamole" or "Guam". (All words with "gw" are from the Di'lathi culture.)
khlup \ xlup \ -- try saying "khuh-lup" but as one syllable.
khnau \ xnaʊ \ -- try saying "khuh-nau" but as one syllable. (Considered the rarest consonant combination in TGV and MGV.)
khrash \ xraʃ \ -- try saying "khuh-rash" but as one syllable.
ksau \ ksaʊ \ -- try saying "kuh-sau" but as one syllable; this is the interior or ending "x" of FSE.
ktorr \ ktoR \ -- try saying "kuh-torr" but as one syllable.
kvesh \ kveʃ \ -- try saying "kuh-vesh" but as one syllable.
kwai \ kwaɪ \ -- >kw< is identical to the "qu" sound in FSE words like "queen" and "quick".
mlan \ mlan \ -- try saying "muh-lan" but as one syllable.
pseth \ pseθ \ -- try saying "puh-seth" but as one syllable; this is the interior or ending "ps" of FSE.
pstha \ psθa \ -- try saying "puhs-tha" but as one syllable.
pthak \ pθak \ -- try saying "puh-thak" but as one syllable.
sfith \ sfiθ \ -- try saying "suh-fith" but as one syllable.
svep \ svep \ -- try saying "suh-vep" but as one syllable.
tsat \ tsat \ -- this is the interior or ending "ts" of FSE; try saying "not-sot" then drop the "no".
tvik \ tvik \ -- try saying "tuh-vik" but as one syllable.
vlur \ vlur \ -- try saying "vuh-lur" but as one syllable. (should not be pronounced \ vlur \).
vnol \ vnol \ -- try saying "vuh-nol" but as one syllable (should not be pronounced \ vnol \).
vravshau \ vrav - ' ʃaʊ \ -- try saying the first part of the word as "vuh-rav" but as one syllable.
zli \ zli \ -- try saying the name "Beasley" then drop the "Bea".

All these examples show the consonant combinations at the beginning of an example word, but they may appear in the middle of a word as well. Of these, spelling rules allow only "ks", "kt", "ps" and "ts" to appear at the end of a Golic Vulcan word.

In words or names with a single letter prefix, whether a prepositional prefix, ancient word, or word from another Vulcan language, such as d'mallu, k'kan or T'Pau, the apostrophe is pronounced as a very light schwa sound \ \ and there is usually just a syllabic break when it is followed by a consonant. For example, d'mallu is written phonetically \ d - ' ma - ɫːu \ and T'Pau is written phonetically \ t - ' paʊ \. If it is followed by a vowel, the prefix is pronounced with the first syllable without any pause. For example, d'ohan is pronounced like "doh-an" (NOT "do-han", since "d'oh-" is the root).

In other words with apostrophes, whether prefixed, suffixed or of ancient origin, for example, such as di'kizh or pi'sef, whether they are an individual word or a word with a prepositional prefix, the apostrophe is pronounced as a glottal stop. The word segments must never be run together, there is a definite break in pronunciation in the word.

In all words with hyphens, regardless of whether they are a compound word or an affixed word, the hyphen is not pronounced per se, but you must take care not to run the parts of the word together. Therefore, many hyphenated words can sound like there is a very short pause, not quite a glottal stop, between their segments.

Refer also to the separate Pronunciation & Phonetics page for additional explanations and more advanced concepts.

This lesson was first put online on
January 1, 2001.
And updated on
February 2, 2007, August 15, 2012, October 26, 2014, March 8, 2015
and December 16, 2015.




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