Re: [lojban-beginners] Lojban phonetics

[Alex Moore <alexjean9@gmail.com>]

It's not exactly technically correct (their is a little more variety in how each letter can be pronounced).  But for starting out the guide for vowels in "Lojban for Beginners" works well for all English speakers. http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/lojbanbrochure/lessons/less1.html

You should be able to pronounce the s and t as you normally do, I don't think that is much of a problem.
You have the option of making your normal r sound, or rolling it if you like.
x is difficult for English speakers.  If you find a video in lojban with lojban subtitles so you can pick out the pronunciation that might help you understand it.

I think reading the section on pronunciation out of The Complete Lojban Language is very useful.
http://www.lojban.org/publications/reference_grammar/chapter3.html

The official guide (strait out of The Complete Lojban Language) is this, but unless you fluent in this technical jargon it's not very helpful, unless you want to try to look it up online.
    '   [h]        a unvoiced glottal spirant
    ,   ---     the syllable separator
    .   [/]        a glottal stop or a pause
    a   [a], [A]  an open vowel
    b   [b]        a voiced bilabial stop
    c   [S], [§]  an unvoiced coronal sibilant
    d   [d]        a voiced dental/alveolar stop
    e   [E], [e]  a front mid vowel
    f   [f], [¸]  an unvoiced labial fricative
    g   [g]        a voiced velar stop
    i   [i]        a front close vowel
    j   [Z],[½]       a voiced coronal sibilant
    k   [k]        an unvoiced velar stop
    l   [l], [l`] a voiced lateral approximant
                    (may be syllabic)
    m   [m], [m`] a voiced bilabial nasal
                    (may be syllabic)
    n   [n], [n`],    a voiced dental or velar nasal
          [N], [N`]       (may be syllabic)
    o   [o], []   a back mid vowel
    p   [p]        an unvoiced bilabial stop
    r   [r], [¨], [R], [{], a rhotic sound
          [r`], [¨`], [R`], [{`]
    s   [s]        an unvoiced alveolar sibilant
    t   [t]        an unvoiced dental/alveolar stop
    u   [u]        a back close vowel
    v   [v], [B]  a voiced labial fricative
    x   [x]        an unvoiced velar fricative
    y   [«]        a central mid vowel
    z   [z]        a voiced alveolar sibilant

On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 8:36 AM, Alexander Simard <alesimar@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello everyone,

A few days ago, I learned about the lojban language, and thought it
was the coolest thing ever. I am now determined to become completely
fluent.

I am confused by the phonetics, however.

I have read this page http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?LojbanPronunciation
to understand the phonetics of lojban, but I am still confused by the
phonemes of several letters. I was hoping this group could clear up my
questions. Is there anywhere a definitive and correct guide to
pronounciation? the letters a, o, r, s, t, x and y still confuse me.

Thanks to anyone who reads or answers to this for your time and help.

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