A Formal Proposal (LONG)
Ryan McReynolds 
Thu, 9 Jul 1998 18:40:26 -0500

What I'd like to do here is throw out my ideas concerning the dialect of
Vulcan that we call the Zvelebil Construction.  Before I begin, I want to
assure all who may read this that I am completely satisfied with the
language as it is progressing, and that this post is meant primarily in the
spirit of IDIC.  I am not a linguist, nor have I taken an active role in the
creation of this language, especially as of late.  I really like the
language as it stands, but I do have a number of thoughts that, in my
opinion, could improve it.  I know that some may find it arrogant of me to
even suggest some of the things I may suggest.  All I ask is that the reader
keep an open mind and remember that I am only contributing my two cents like
everyone else, and I in no way intend to force my opinion upon you.  You can
take these ideas for whatever you want.

A TRANSCRIPTION PROPOSAL

There has been many discussions on this list concerning the various ways to
transcribe Vulcan.  Furthermore, there is a great deal of speculation as to
exactly how to pronounce certain sounds.  Below, I offer my proposed version
of the "Vulcan alphabet."

VOWELS

a - as in "father"
e - as in "pet"
i - as in "sit"
ii - as in "zuchini"
o - as in "choke"
u - as in "look"
uu - as in "shoot"

DIPHTHONGS

Basically, any combination of the above is acceptable as a diphthong.
Obviously some are more difficult to pronounce, but Vulcan is not supposed
to be a human language as it is.  Some are also more common than others, but
that can be determined later.  With their sensitive ears, diphthongs such as
<iii> would be much more distinguishable than they are to our ears.

CONSONANTS

b - as in "boy"
ch - as in "attach"
d - as in "dog"
dh - aspirated d, like "duh" but terser
dzh - d+zh
f - as in "fool"
g - as in "god"
h - as in "hat"
k - as in "quick"
kh - as in "Bach"
l - as in "let"
m - as in "man"
n - as in "north"
ng - as in "pong"
ny - Spanish n+tilde, n~
p - as in "pod"
q - k but farther back, in throat; Klingon q
r - as in "red"; original rh?
rr - as in "burrito", original r?
t - as in "top"
th - as in "this"
ts - as in "cats"
v - as in "vole"
w - as in "what"
wh - the original w~
whl - the original w~l
x - as in "tax"
y - as in "yell"
z - as in "zap"
zh - as in "azure"
' - as in "uh-oh"

COMMON EXAMPLES

brakh - brax
imroiika - imroykah
plomiik - plomeek
t'haii'la - t'hy'la
Spakh - Spock, as pronounced by T'Lar in ST:TMP
Whl'q'n - W~l'q'n

NOTES

For the most part, it is primarily the vowels that are different between my
system and those which have preceeded it.  There are a few differences
elsewhere, but as I said, they are all things which I believe would improve
the learnability and "user-friendliness" of the language.  Thank you for
your time, and comments are always welcome.

-McReynolds