Alphabet
ol£oþið
The Dagostinian alphabet is based on European and Western Asian phonetics and is reduced to its minimalistic necessities. Two or 3 common letters or sounds are combined based on their linguistic relations into one letter. The result is a 14 letter alphabet. This system was first developed in early 2002 with the working name 'bobonics'. It was named as a play on 'ebonics' using the 'bo' nickname. The system since developed into it's current state.
The linguistic relation is determined by how the sound is formed in the mouth. For example, 'b' and 'p' are both formed by closing the lips and expelling air to force them open. The main difference is in the force of the air. Likewise, 'd' and 't' are both formed by the tongue contacting the hard palate at the front of the mouth.
Note that all letters have one case only. There are no capitals. A proposal has been made for capital letters but there is no time frame for approval.
Alphabet:
` (ha) - as in English 'h' or German '/ch/', an aspiration of breath
o (owa) - as in English 'oh', 'ah', or similar
þ (bip) - Runic 'Thorn' representing 'b' and 'p'
ð (delth)- Irish 'Eth' representing 'd', 't, 'th', and 'TH'
£ (fev)- British pound sign representing 'f' and 'v'
q (gique) - as in English 'go', 'ko', or similar
i (eeya)- as in English 'ih', 'eh', 'ee', or similar
j (eechee) - as in English 'dz', 'jh', 'zh', 'ch', and similar
l (eelee) - as in English 'el'
m (eema) - as in English 'em'
ŋ (eenya) - Latin 'Eng' representing 'n' and 'ng', sometimes 'ny'
r (arra) - as in English 'ro' or trilled forms
ß (siz) - Latin sharp 's' representing 'so', 'zo', 'sho' and German 'sz'
∫ (sizlo) - Latin 'Esh' to be used as final form when pluralizing a word
u (oowa) - as in English 'uh', 'whu', 'oo', and similar
Examples:
Welcome to Dagostinia! - uilqum ðo ðoqoßðiŋio!
We're glad you came - uir qloð iu qim
Learn the Alphabet - lirŋ ði ol£oþið
Comparison to Phonetics
The Alphabet:
o þ ð £ q i j l m ŋ r ß u
Proposed Uppercase:
O Þ G E Ø I J L M Ŋ R B U
Phonetics vowels:
i: as in read - i
i as in sit - i
ʊ as in book - u
u: as in too - u
iə as in here - i
ei as in day - i
e as in men - i
ə as in america - o
ɜ: as in word - i
ɔ: as in sort - o
ʊə as in tour - u
ɔi as in boy - oi
əʊ as in go - o
æ as in cat - o
Λ as in but - u
ɑ: as in part - o
ɒ as in not - o
eə as in wear - i
ɑi as in my - i
ɑʊ as in how - o
Phonetics consonants:
p as in pig - þ
b as in bed - þ
t as in time - ð
d as in do - ð
θ as in think - ð
ð as in there - ð
f as in five - £
v as in very - £
g as in go - q
k as in cat - q
h as in hello - `
kh as in 'ach' - `
t∫ as in church - j
dʒ as in judge - j
s as in six - ß
z as in zoo - ß
∫ as in short - ß
ʒ as in casual - ß
m as in milk - m
n as in no - ŋ
ŋ as in sing - ŋ
l as in live - l
r as in read - r
w as in window - u
j as in yes - i
Note that the last two phonetics consonants are vowels in the Dagostinian alphabet.
You can find a phonetics transcription tool at http://upodn.com/