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Alphabet
The Romulan alphabet consists of six vowels, 27 consonants and one special character. The Romulans have their own symbols for each letter, but to simplify reading for human audiences each letter is transcribed into its approximate English counterpart. Some of these counterparts may be represented by two English letters in combination. This form of transcription is call the Duane system, after author Diane Duane, who established much of the initial work on the Romulan language.
Vowels: a, æ, e, i, o ,u
Consonents: b, c, ch, d, dh, f, fv, g, h, hh, j, k, l, ll, m, n, p, r, rr, s, sh, t, th, v, w, y, z
Special Character: ' (glottal stop)
The letters l, ll, r, rr and y can also serve as a vowel in certain circumstances.
The letter h is also used as an aspiration marker.
In addition to the 34 letters and characters of the alphabet, many letters also form combinations that sound different than their individual parts. Below are charts outlining proper pronunciation of Romulan. Many people have a difficult time with some of these sounds, and it takes much practice to master them.
Each letter or letter combination should be pronounced distinctly except where noted.
| a | ah as in father |
| æ | ay as in fail |
| e | eh as in bet |
| i | ee as in machine |
| o | oh as in boat |
| u | uh as in but |
| Doubled vowels are pronounced long and are stressed. | |
| l | used as a vowel when found at the beginning of a word before another consonant or when found between two consonants. Pronounced as il. For example: the syllable klk would be pronounced like kilk. |
| ll | used as a vowel when found at the beginning of a word before another consonant or when found between two consonants. Pronounced like ilya. For example: the syllable kllk would be pronounced like kilyak. |
| r | used as a vowel when found at the beginning of a word before another consonant or when found between two consonants. Pronounced as ur but with a slightly trilled "r." For example: the syllable krk would be pronounced like kirk. |
| rr | used as a vowel when found at the beginning of a word before another consonant or when found between two consonants. Pronounced as ur but with a strongly trilled "r." For example: the syllable krrk would be pronounced like kirk. |
| y | when stressed, like ew in dew but said with the lips rounded, like the German ü. When unstressed, like i in bit. |
| lh | used as a vowel when found at the beginning of a word before another consonant or when found between two consonants. Pronounced like ilya. For example: the word kllk would be pronounced like kilyak. |
| llh | used as a vowel when found at the beginning of a word before another consonant or when found between two consonants. Pronounced i-lah with the lah voiced softly with the tip of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth. For example: the word kllhk would be pronounced like ki-lahk. |
| yy | like ew in dew but said with the lips rounded, like the German ü. |
| b | same as in English, as in bet |
| c | a pre-velar "k," pronounce "k" with the root of the tongue slightly further forward than usual |
| ch | same as in English, as in church |
| d | same as in English, as in dad |
| dh | th as in this |
| f | same as in English, as in fun |
| fv | a semi-voiced "v," a sound halfway between "f" and "v" |
| g | always as in get |
| h | as in hand. Note: see section on aspiration below for more on the use of "h". |
| hh | as Spanish "j," as in Jose |
| j | same as in English, as in joke |
| k | same as in English, as in kite |
| l | same as in English, as in link |
| ll | informally as a velarised "l," like in English ball. Formally with the tip of the tongue positioned at the back of the bottom teeth. |
| m | same as in English, as in man |
| n | same as in English, as in not |
| p | same as in English, as in pet |
| r | pronounced slightly trilled, as in the Spanish pero |
| rr | pronounced strongly trilled, as in the Spanish perro |
| s | same as in English, as in sun |
| sh | same as in English, as in ship |
| t | same as in English, as in ton |
| th | th as in that |
| v | same as in English, as in vet |
| w | same as in English, as in wet |
| y | same as in English, as in yet |
| lh | informally like an "l' followed by a "y." Formally like an aspirated "l." |
| llh | informally as a velarised "lh", which is something like "ll"+"y." Formally like an aspirated, voiceless "l" as in Tibetan Lhasa. |
| nh | ny as in canyon |
Glottal Stop
A glottal stop is a voiceless sound that occurs between two syllables where the first syllable is fully closed before the next is spoken. In English, this is represented in the word "button." Notice that when "button" is spoke allowed, the first syllable is distinct from the second instead of the two running together. The glottal stop occurs in Rihan in many natural places and is represented with an apostrophe in the Duane system.
It can also be used to denote separate pronunciation of two successive consonants. For example: in Rihan, a word such as enha would normally be pronounced as EH-nya, because nh is a sound combination. The word en'ha, however, would be pronounced as EN-ha.
The glottal stop is sometimes used when transliterating Rihan words into English where it would not normally be rendered in Rihan spelling. For example, a word like madhi would naturally be pronounced MAH-thee. It consists of the four Rihan letter symbols M-A-DH-I, and a native Rihan speaker would have no trouble distinguishing it from a separate word spelled M-A-D-H-I, a five-symbol word pronounced MAHD-hee. In the Duane transliteration, however, the words would be spelled the same in Latin characters, so it may be transliteration as mad'hi, which would indicated the proper pronunciation to an English speaking person. In Rihan, though, the glottal stop would not be part of the spelling.
The glottal stop is also used when two words are joined together to make one, e.g. dheno "security" and sæhne "officer" become dheno'sæhne "security officer."
Aspiration
Aspiration is an audible breath that accompanies a sound of speech. You can hear it when comparing the English consonants "t" and "d." Say "tan" and then "dan." Notice the puff of air released by the "t" but there is hardly any with the "d."
In Romulan, aspiration is represented by a special use of the letter "h." The following letter combinations should be pronounced as the initial letter in the charts above but with an added forceful puff of air:
bh, fh, fvh, gh, kh, mh, ph, rh, rrh, thh, vh
When "h" comes after a vowel in the same syllable, the vowel sound is clipped.
Aspiration will be noted with a superscript H or h when used to demonstrate the pronunciation of a word.
Stress
In general, stress on a Romulan word falls on the next to last syllable. In compound words, the next to last syllables of both parts of the word would be stressed.
æleir
ay-LEH-ir
outer space
khælfa
KHAIL-fah
dock, shuttle bay
æleir'khælfa
ay-LEH-ir'KHAIL-fah
spacedock
When a word contains a double vowel, the stress always falls on the double vowel.
Hwaveyiir
hwah-veh-YEER
Bridge (of a space vessel)
The stress falls on the last syllable of words ending in "-ar."
Shiar
shee-AR
Empire (only in reference to the Romulan Star Empire)
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