Natively, the Alurhsa language is written with a set of runic characters that have a one to one correspondence with the collection of phonemes in the language. Other writing systems, used in pre-unification languages, are occasionally used for decorative purposes, and are beyond the scope of this grammar.
Note: In the text of the grammar itself the Romanized version will be employed. The 70-letter Alurhsa alphabet is complex to learn, and it is generally felt that such complexity will only hinder the progress of the student or linguist. However, if the desire is ultimately to be able to read native works, then the alphabet should be studied once reasonable proficiency in the language is achieved. For those who wish to study the Aluric script, a table showing the equivalents is available by clicking here.
The following is a table showing the Alurhsa Alphabet, the commonly used Latin equivalents, and the sound of that character. The sequence is that used by most natives in their linguistic works.
Á,á long A like A in Father. A,a shorter A, like á only clipped. Ä,ä ultrashort A, like first and last A in America. Â,â nasal A, as AN in french Sans. À,à modified A, as A in Cat. É,é long E as E in They but without y-glide at end. As long É in french. E,e short E as E in Bed. Ë,ë ultrashort E, like E in Passeth or O in Conclusions. Very short clipped vowel. Ê,ê nasal E, as EN in french Combien. È,è modified E, similar to ER in Her. In some dialects, like Hindi R-vowel, or like ù below. Í,í long I as I in Machine. I,i short I as I in Hit. Ï,ï ultrashort I as I in Insurance, said quickly, clipped. Î,î nasal I. Same process as nasals  and Ê, but using short I sound. Ì,ì modified I. In Kritsen, Geneshlikha, Asketana, and Plains regions, like I in Like. In other regions, varying, ranging from I in Like with Irish pronunciation to Russian hard I, made with back of tongue raised. Ó,ó like O on Boat O,o like AW in Lawn Ö,ö ultrashort O as first O in Oceanic said quickly and clipped. Ô,ô nasal O. Like French on in Voyons. Ò,ò modified O. Say a long O sound but with the lips relaxed, not rounded at all. Sounds similar to english O in Hot, but distinct from A in Father. Ú,ú like OO in Moon U,u like OO in Look Ü,ü Standard dialect, like U in But. Colloqially often pronounced like an extremely shortened oo in look, almost obscured. Û,û Nasal U, like U in French Brun. Ù,ù Standard dialect, like EU in French Jeu. Put the lips as for OO but say the A in Hay instead. In Geneshlichha, Jaskarna, and Vayna, like U in French Tu. Put the lips as for OO but say EE in Seen instead.
B,b like B in Book Bh,bh like Spanish V in Ávila, made with the lips loosely joined, allowing air to pass. V,v like V in Victory P,p like P in Peter F,f like F in Find W,w like W in William M,m like M in Mouse Dd,dd like Spanish or Italian D in "del", with tip of tongue pressed against upper teeth D,d like D in English "Day", with tip of tongue touching palate Dh,dh like TH in Though Tt,tt like Spanish or Italian T in "tu", with tip of tongue pressed against upper teeth T,t like T in English "Tom", with tip of tongue touching palate Th,th like TH in Thin Ts,ts Like TS in cats, even at the beginning of words N,n like N in Nice Z,z like Z in Zebra Zh,zh like S in Pleasure, French "j" S,s like S in Sam Sh,sh like SH in Shoe Shh,shh like "sh" but tip of tongue is curled back, causing a deeper sound Shth,shth like a combination of "sh" and "th" together, formed by starting the tongue at the "sh" position and beginning the sound, then sliding it quickly forward towards the "th" position as the sound progresses. Sz,sz a whistling "s" formed by gritting the front teeth, placing the tongue just behind them, and hissing. L,l like L in like Lr,lr An L made by touching the tip of the tongue to the bottom teeth and curving the middle of the tongue upwards to touch the edge of the palate Ll,ll A deeper L made by pushing the tongue back towards the throat and touching the tip to the palate. Similar to Russian "back" L Lh,lh Similar to Welsh LL. Put the tongue in the position for L, but hiss instead. Dl,dl Similar to Klingon "tlh" but voiced. Press the entire tongue flat against the roof of the mouth, then release the presure at the back teeth while making an L sound. Sounds similar to a flat D and an L pronounced consecutively. R,r A trilled R like Spanish or Italian. Rh,rh In eastern and standard pronunciation, similar to English "r" in "run" but slightly throatier In northern and western speech, more like French "r" in "rue". Rr,rr A heavily trilled R like Spanish RR. Like "r" above with more breath and trills. Rz,rz Rather like a trilled S. Let the tongue hang loosely, while the teeth are in position for SH. Now curl the tip of the tongue upwards and hiss while trilling. Note: This is the most difficult sound in the language, even for native speakers. Fortunately it occurs in relatively few words. Ç,ç like CH in Church J,j like J in Judge G,g like G in Go, never soft as in "general" Gh,gh like a voiced version of the CH in German Buch K,k like K in King X,x the rasping sound of CH in Scottish Loch or German Buch Ñ,ñ like NG in Sing, even at the beginning of words Q,q Standard dialect, like KW (English QU in Quiet). In some regions, including Jaskarna, western Lyivia, and Vayna, a deep "k", made by putting the back of the tongue further into the throat. C,c A smooth fricative, roughly halfway between x and hh H,h like H in How Hh,hh A rasping H formed with the back of the tongue slightly raised, closing the throat Y,y like Y in Yes ÿ a y-like glide, used mainly after n and l, but also found after other consonants ¿ a glottal stop, similar to the London way of saying bottle (bo’’el). A catch in the throat.
The Romanized form of the Alurhsa Language, as documented in the “Romanized” column of the above table, was invented by missionaries who wished to translate into the language before the ability to print in the native script became readily available to them. Because this form was used for several years, and because there was a cultural separation enforced on converts during this time, the Romanized form, known in Alurhsa as Rómánsá Vílár, became the standard form known to most terrans.
There is no chance of ambiguity in the native script, where each sound is represented by its own character. However, in the romanized equivalent used here, certain combinations may occur which can cause confusion, such as R followed by Z or ZH, which can easily be misinterpreted as RZ. To avoid this, a back-quote (`) is used between such letters when they indicate two different sounds, such as in nír`zálits (prison).
Punctuation is limited compared to English, having only the following:
. Full Stop , Pause ? Question Marker ! Intensity Marker : List or Suspension indicator ( ) Parentheses/Brackets " Open/Close quotation. Note that the Aluric script has two characters, one open, one close - Hyphen, Connector ; Appostrophe
Notes:
§ Full stop is equivalent to English Period. Note that in Alurhsa script this is a vertical bar.
§ Pause is similar to Comma in English, but is truly used to indicate a pause either for effect or breath, rather than syntactic or orthographic reasons.
§ Question Marker comes at the end of questions, as in English.
§ Intensity Marker is roughly equivalent to Exclamation point but more frequently used since it marks anything said intensely, whether shouted or not.
§ List or Suspension indicator is used to show the beginning of a list, similar to English colon, but also used where English would use a hyphen or suspension points to indicate a longer pause in anticipation of one or more items.
The remaining symbols are used to set off words within sentences:
§ Parenthesis is used similar to English, but not to set off unrelated clauses within a sentence, only to set off words or groups of words, and to indicate sets.
§ Open/Close quotation marks are used around spoken words.
§ Hyphen is used to connect words together grammatically, such as possessive pronouns to their object. See the pronoun section for more details on this usage. Hyphen may also be used to separate thoughts in a sentence.
§ The Apostrophe is used to indicate the dropping of the vowel in zhë (the), or poetically other pronouns ending in ë when added to a word beginning with a vowel. It also marks abbreviations, usually being placed after the first letter. Thus, Á'ÁH (Átsáren zh'Álurhsáyá Hályeyá, The Alurhsa Language Board).
Alurhsa uses a decimal configuration similar to that of Engish, although commas are not used to mark division between thousands. The actual Alurhsa symbols themselves are in some way designed to represent the first letter of the number-word itself, hence 1 is the initial downstroke of d in dwi (one). Alurhsa does not use commas for larger numbers. Numbers after the "decimal point" are underlined and written smaller than the rest. When used in Romanized form, Arabic numerals are used, and commas and decimal points employed as in English usage.
Stress in Alurhsa is marked by stronger pronunciation of one syllable, as in English. However, unlike English, the stress is quite predictable based on certain rules. The stress of most words is on the penultimate, unless:
· The word has an ultra-short vowel in the penultimate. In most dialects an ultrashort vowel can never bear the primary stress, so the stress must move to the ante-penultimate if available, or the final syllable if not. Note, however, that in rural dialects in Kritsen, including those near the capital, ü can bare stress. e.g. üsqel (outside. This is accented on the ultimate, but on the penultimate in rural Kritsen), bhïksen (village), simlesïgá (synonomous).
· The word is a noun, pronoun, or descriptive in an oblique case. Case endings in Alurhsa never change the stress of the base word.
· The word is a noun, pronoun, or descriptive having one of a few suffixes which do not change the stress such as -ár or -me. In this case the stress can be determined from the Nominative or base form of the word. Suffixes which do not cause stress change are discussed with their usage in the appropriate sections of the grammar.
· The word is a reflexive pronoun, which all end in í. The í always bears the accent. eg. ólyárí (yourselves, familiar plural) is accented on the ultima.
· The word is a locational ending in ì. The ì always bears the accent. eg. yáshevì (in public) is accented on the ultima.
Stress will vary on some words from region to region. Thus, although the standard states that húlnávárh (window) is accented on the second syllable, in Kritsen and much of the east, the accent is on the first. The student may always follow the above rules however, as they will be considered the standard.