Constructed Language - how to spell words that will be mispronounced in English
I wasn't sure how to phrase the title, so it may be a bit confusing. Feel free to edit it if you can phrase it better.
This question may be better suited for Worldbuilding SE. However, it is about how to specifically write a constructed language in English, so I put it here.
Question: I have constructed a language. Being a new language however, it is pronounced differently than English. This means I have to take a few liberties with the spelling when translating it, so that readers will pronounce it correctly when they see it. This has given rise to a few problems with certain words.
For example, the letter Y, which we can pronounce as a vowel, is used only as a consonant in my language. This means that the word Syan, when seen, will likely be pronounced See-ahn when in reality it should be pronounced S yahn.
How can I get my reader to pronounce the word the proper way? One obvious method would be to spell the word in question as S'yan. I am hesitant to do this, however, because apostrophes are disturbingly over-used in constructed languages, and I am trying to stay as far away from cliches as possible.
Any ideas? Has this problem perhaps been encountered before by someone here?
EDIT: Further examples:
The word Seic. Likely pronounced Sayk or seyek. Should be pronounced Say-ik.
The word Ashe. Likely pronounced Aysh. Should be pronounced Ahs-hay.
1 answer
If it means that much to you, have a pronounciation guide up front — not an appendix, but before the main text. And then just sigh and accept that half your readers aren't going to get it right anyway.
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