Last updated 20/3/2023
Phonology
Though a human will never be able to pronounce gnollish the same way a gnoll would, the phonemes can be approximated. This is not a guide to speaking gnollish, however - it's just a place for me to record my discoveries, and all the information is subject to change as I examine my noemata more. The orthography is phonetic, meaning all words would be pronounced exactly as they're spelled.
| Phoneme | Grapheme | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ɑ: | A/a | Open back unrounded vowel | Pronounced like the a in car. |
| ɔ | Ɐ/ɐ | Open-mid back rounded vowel | Pronounced like the a in raw. |
| æ | Ä/ä | Near-open front unrounded vowel | Pronounced like the a in cat. |
| ɛ | E/e | Open-mid front unrounded vowel | Pronounced like the e in bed |
| i | Ï/ï | Close front unrounded vowel | Pronounced like the ee in knee |
| ə | I/i | Mid central vowel | Pronounced like the i in bird |
| o̞ | O/o | Mid back rounded vowel | Pronounced like oh |
| u | U/u | Close back rounded vowel | Pronounced like the oo in pool |
| ʊ | W/w | Near-close back rounded vowel | Pronounced like the w in how |
| j | Y/y | Voiced palatal approximant | Pronounced like the y in yes |
| h | H/h | Voiceless glottal fricative | Pronounced like the h in house |
| ɢ | G/g | Voiced uvular plosive | A G made with the very back of the tongue, touching the uvula and producing a sort of clicking sound. |
| n̤ | N/n | Voiced alveolar breathy nasal | A regular N, but more breathy. |
| ŋ | Ng/ng | Voiced velar nasal | Pronounced like the ng in sing |
| t' | T/t | Voiceless ejective alveolar | A sound in-between a T and a D, produced by contracting air until after the sound as been made, producing a slight pause between the T and the following sound, as in Na'vi, Mayan, and Khoisan languages. |
| p̪ | ₱/ᴘ | Voiceless labiodental plosive | A sound in-between B and P, produced with the upper teeth and the lower lip. |
| N/A | S/s | Voiceless denti-palatal ingressive fricative | A sound in-between S and H, produced by pressing the tongue to the roof of the mouth while touching the lower teeth with the tongue-tip, and sucking air in. |
| r | R/r | Alveolar trill | A rolling R, as in Spanish. |
| ʀ | ℝ/ʀ | Voiced uvular trill | A guttural R, as in French and Danish. |
| ɹ | ᴚ/ɹ | Voiced alveolar approximant | American English R. |
| ʜ | Hr/hr | Voiceless epiglottal fricative | A breathy guttural R, as in Arabic. |
| x | Kh/kh | Voiceless velar fricative | Pronounced like the ch in loch. |
| - | ' | Glottal stop | - |
| - | * | Indicates that the next syllable in the word is stressed | - |
Pronouns
Though gnoll sexes exist on a bimodal spectrum like those of humans, and gnolls mostly consist of males and females, both the outward appearance and the societal expectations of the genders are wildly different from what you'd find in human societies. So, since gnolls have very different perceptions of gender from humans, I decided to make some neopronouns to reflect this. I will refer to them as feminine and masculine pronouns, since they're primarily used by females and males, respectively – with the caveat that what's typically considered feminine to a gnoll is typically considered masculine to a human, and vice versa.
Feminine pronouns (rae/raer pronouns)
Subjective: Rae (used in place of she)
Objective: Raer (used in place of her)
Possessive determiner: Rair (used in place of her)
Possessive pronouns: Rairs (used in place of hers)
Reflexive: Raerself (used in place of herself)
Rae rhymes with they
Raer rhymes with their
Rair rhymes with their
Rairs rhymes with theirs
Raerself rhymes with theirself
Example:
Hello! Today I met a gnoll who goes by Ɐwhrayɐ. Rae has a wonderful personality. That smile of rairs really makes me happy. I could talk to raer all day although rae doesn't talk about raerself much. I wonder if rair day has been wonderful. I hope so!
Masculine pronouns (hri/hrir pronouns)
Subjective: Hri (used in place of he)
Objective: Hrir (used in place of him)
Possessive determiner: Hrir (used in place of his)
Possessive pronouns: Hrirs (used in place of his)
Reflexive: Hrirself (used in place of himself)
Hri rhymes with he
Hrir rhymes with her
Hrirs rhymes with hers
Hrirself rhymes with herself
Example:
Hello! Today I met a gnoll who goes by Ïʀya. Hri has a wonderful personality. That smile of hrirs really makes me happy. I could talk to hrir all day although hri doesn't talk about hrirself much. I wonder if hrir day has been wonderful. I hope so!
Glossary
I've only discovered very few words by playing around with sounds, and those few words I have found may not be entirely accurate. I'm uncomfortable with inventing words for this language, which, unfortunately, means I'll probably never find more than a handful of words.
*khivʀa - clear/true/transparent/open
*khivʀa*ᴘoʀ - crystal
ᴘoʀ - rock
'o*weᴘo - small rocks
Grammar
Adverbs are at the beginning of sentences. "Greatly I prefer this" is correct, while "I greatly prefer this" is incorrect.