Constructed Language - spelled like it sounds?
Note: This may be more suited to Worldbuilding SE. I believe it belongs here, because it is about how to write a conlang, but if not, please feel free to move it.
I am constructing Elvish. In my Elvish, there is no letter 'K'. Instead, the elves use 'C' to form the K sound. Additionally, the letter 'C' cannot form the S sound, as it can in English. It can only be pronounced as K.
This presents a problem. In English, we can usually tell whether a 'C' should be pronounced S or K by the letters about it. This means that in some Elvish words, readers will assume the letter 'C' is pronounced S, when it is in fact supposed to be pronounced K.
Example:
Looking at the word Acir, you would pronounce it ah-SEER. It is supposed to be pronounced ah-KEER.
I have thought of a way around this problem, but I am not sure if I should use it. My method is to write the Elvish words the way they sound, and not the way they would be spelled in Elvish. To take the above example, Acir would be spelled Akir.
The reason I am hesitant to do this is because there are no 'K's in Elvish for a reason. The letter 'K' looks (and sounds) too harsh to be an Elvish letter. Elvish should be soft and flowing, all S's and L's. If I write Elvish the way it sounds, it won't look soft and flowing, which could throw off the feel of the entire language.
Should I write my language as it sounds anyway? Will the reader still see it as 'soft and flowing'? Or should I stick with the Elvish lettering and trust to a glossary to correct the reader's pronunciation?
Further Note: Just removing the K sound from the words that have it would be the obvious answer. However, I've already built a lot of roots, and I would prefer to not have to rewrite those that have it.
2 answers
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I think @jm13fire has the right idea: use accents, and give readers a quick pronunciation guide at the beginning.
I would go for a caron over a C, which looks like č, as ç (with a cedilla) is used for a soft C. I would definitely read Ačir as "Akir."
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You are producing a written work. The look of it matters, as a written document. And a c looks different to a k, and sets off different associations in the mind.
Notably, Latin has no k (it has a hard c, as you are proposing), and very few high-register words in English have a k. It is for this reason that Tolkien, master philologist, chose to represent the k sound in Adûnaic and Khuzdul with a k, but the same sound in Quenya and Sindarin with a c.
In other words, I think your idea is a good one. You are writing for the eye as much as, or more than, the ear. K is harsh to the English eye; c is refined. K is Germanic and low register; c is Latinate and high register.
A short and simple pronunciation note will do the trick: these are hardly unusual in fantasy novels. Some readers will skip it, but this is not a problem: if some readers’ internal voice pronounce some names incorrectly, so be it.
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