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A vowel is the sound of utmost sonority in a syllable. It makes up a syllable with or without consonants joined in front and/or rear of it. Given below is a complete listing of Hoyloy vowel sounds represented by transcriptive symbols in brackets. Note that a few of them are particular to some accents only. Most of these vowel sounds have substitutes in Englsih with or without suggested modifications.
A. Straight Vowels
1. [a] for the sound like that of 'a' in 'father'.
2. [e] for the sound like that of 'e' in 'grey'.
3. [i] for the sound like that of 'ea' in 'eat'.
4. [O] for the sound like that of 'aw' in 'law'. Note the symbol for this vowel is a uppercase 'O' in contrast to a lowercase 'o' for the vowel described next.
5. [o] for the sound of either [o1] or[o2]. The sound of [o1] is articulated with the root of tongue pulled backward and held as high as for the sound 'o' in 'so' and the mouth kept relaxedly open with unrounded lips. The sound of [o2] is the similar to the English sound of 'o' just mentioned. Most Hoyloy people especially those of younger age, however, can not tell the vowel sound of 'aw' in 'saw' from that of 'o' in 'so'. Note the symbol for this vowel is a lowercase 'o' in contrast to the uppercase 'O' for the vowel described previously.
6. [u] for the sound like that of 'oo' in 'zoo'. Native Hoyloy speakers normally have the lips less rounded for this sound.
7. [e]/[ej] articulated similar to the sound of 'e' in 'her' without the trailing 'r'. This sound occures regularly only between an initial consonant and the final consonant [ng]. The combination is transcribed as [Ng] when preceded by an initial consonant such as [sNg=] (sour) [dtNg"] (turn). With the initial consonant [h] or without an initial consonant the transcription [Ng] may be pronounced as the combination of [e] and [ng] for final consonant, or simply [ng] for vowel, such as [hNg-] pronounced as [heng] or [hng-] (far). Otherwise, this sound is particular to a certain accent only. In this case either [we] or [e] may replace this sound, such as [hwe"] or [he"] for [he"] (fire).
There is not an ASCII code number assigned specifically to the italicized letter of 'e'. For transcription files to be transmitted electonically using plain ASCII code, replace this symbol of an italic 'e', with the digraph 'ej'. In handwriting, this symbol may take the form of a 180-degree rotated letter of 'e'.
8. [j] articulated with the mouth opened as for the sound of 'ea' in 'eat' and the back of the tongue held about the height for the sound of 'oo' in 'zoo'. This sound is heard only among people speaking with a certain accent. In most cases it may be replaced with either [u] or [i], such as [dti-] or [dtu-] for [dtj-] (chopsticks).
9. [E] for the sound like that of 'e' in 'there'. This sound is rarely heard and interchangeable with [e]. The symbol for this vowel is an upper case 'E' in contrast to the lowecase 'e' for the vowel described elsewhere (in item 2).
B. Diphthongs
1. [ai] articulated with [a] continuously followed by [i], similar to the sound of 'eye'.
2. [au] articulated with [a] continuously followed by [u], similar to the sound of 'ow' in 'cow', though normally the lips are less rounded for the [u] in Hoyloy than in English.
C. Nasalization
When the breath is allowed to escape partially through the nasal passage during the articulation of a vowel sound, the vowel sound becomes nasalized. Any vowel sound following a nasal consonant(see Part Three) is nasalized and we don't have to mark it out. Otherwise a tilda [~] (instead of a capital [N] as proposed previously) following the transcriptive symbol of the vowel denotes nasalization of the vowel.
D. Nasals
Two nasal consonants (see Part Three) may be extended in articulation and turned into vowels as described below. Note that the same symbols for transcribing these two consonants are kept in use for the vowels.
1. [m] articulated with lips closed and vocal chords set in vibration, releasing the breath through the nasal passage and keeping lips closed. This vowel sound forms a syllable by itself and may not take any inititial consonant except for the sound caused by puffing a little bit of breath out through the nose before setting the vocal chords in vibration. The combination is transcribed as [hm]. Note that [m] and [hm] make up different words. Occassionally [sm] is heard as in the word for 'forest' [sm-lim+], a varied pronunciation of [sOm-lim+].
2. [ng]/[Ng] articulated with the mouth relaxedly open, the back of the tongue held in contact with the soft palate and the vocal chords set in vibration, releasing the breath through the nasal passage and keeping oral passage closed with the back of the tongue. If you say the English word 'ting' with a leveling intonation and prolong the last nasal sound right after the 'i' by keeping the vocal chords in vibration, you end up with this nasal vowel. It may form a syllable by itself or in combination with a preceding consonant. The capital 'N' in the digraph [Ng] indicates the articulation in conjunction with the semi-vowel denoted by an italic [w] described in the following section.
E. Semi-vowels
Semi-vowels are special consonants since each of them may take place only in conjunction with the vowel in a syllable. They are different from regular consonants for lack of 'stricture' or obstruction critical to the articulation of consonants. Described as follows, three semi-vowels are used in Hoyloy, although only two are essential for providing different meanings.
1. [w] for the sound like that of 'w' in 'water'.
2. [y] for the sound like that of 'y' in 'yacht'.
3. [w] always articulated in conjunction with either [k] or [ng] as final consonant, or the final vowel of [ng]. The speech organs formed for the articulation is similar to that for the vowel sound of [u] but with the mounth held unrounded and relaxedly open such as for [e]. The symbol of [w] is omitted when the capital letters of [K] and [Ng] are used to indicate such joint articulation. Although neglect of this sound in a word typically pronounced with it won't confuse the meaning, learning this phonetic feature helps enable you to speak Hoyloy the way native speakers do. Thus, for asking someone to carve a piece of wood, for instance, [kiK"] is better than 'kick'. Or, in a positive answer to the question "Are you willing to..?", [kiNg"] is better than 'king'. There is no ASCII code number for an italic 'w'. Replace it with the digraph 'wj' for transmittal over electronic devices if necessary.
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