Walnerian orthography

The Walnerian orthography (Walnerian: Rausbérisse ortografie) is a set of rules, that guide the written form of the Walnerian language.

Alphabet

Walnerian alphabet Rausbérisses alfabét
First ever Walnerian printing press, 1650's
Type	Alphabet
Languages	Walnerian language
Parent systems	Latin script Walnerian alphabet

A a /a ~ ɑ/	Á á /aː ~ ɑː/	B b /b/	C c /ts/	Cs cs /tʃ/	D d /d/	E e /ɛ ~ e/	É é /ɛː ~ eː/	Ë ë /ə/	F f /f/
G g /ɡ/	H h /ɦ ~ h/	Ch ch /x/	I i /i ~ ɪ/	Í í /iː ~ ɪː/	J j /j/	K k /k/	L l /l/	M m /m/	N n /n/
O o /ɔ ~ o/	Ó ó /ɔː ~ oː/	P p /p/	Q q /kv/	R r /r/	Ŕ ŕ /ʁ̩ ~ ə/	S s /s/	Ss ss /ʃ/	T t /t/	U u /u/
Ú ú /uː/	V v /v/	W w /w/	X x /ks/	Y y /y ~ yː/	Z z /z/

Historical development

From a historical digraph alphabet, the script developed from the Early New High German orthographies. The changes either follow the phonetic shifts (for example the phonetical shifts from /æ/ and /œ/ to /ɛː/, or shift from /a͡u/ to /ɔː/).

Changes in orthography without the phonetical shift include:

• SS → S
• S → Z
• Z → C
• Ü → Y

Later in the mid 17th century, accute was introduced for the long vowels, replacing the digraphs:

• IE/IH/II → Í
• AH/AA → Á
• EH/EE → É
• OH/OO → Ó
• UH/UU → Ú

Current usage

R Accute

Ŕ ŕ
Ŕ ŕ

The letter R Accute (Ŕ) was introduced in early 19th century, replacing the digraph ER in cases, where the phonological shift /əˑʀ/ → /ʁ̩ ~ ə/ happened.

Digraphs

There are three digraphs in the Walnerian language (CS for /t͡ʃ/, CH for /x/, SS for /ʃ/). They are a remnant of the old digraph orthography and some people support their replacement with diacritic characters. The most popular of those proposal suggests replacing the digraphs with circumflexed letters C, H and S, possibly being inspired by Esperanto, which gained popularity in Walneria in mid 1950's.

• Cs cs → Ĉ ĉ
• Ch ch → Ĥ ĥ
• Ss ss → Ŝ ŝ

E Diaeresis

Ë ë
Ë ë

The letter E Diaeresis (Ë) was introduced around the same time as the Accuted R (Ŕ), replacing the letter E in endings and other syllables, where it either became silent and another sound became syllabic, or the /ɛ/ sound was reduced to /ə/. The most common example may be the -ën ending in the infinite forms of the verbs. Examples of the words including multiple syllabic letters may be:

• Lófën (English: "To run", IPA: /lɔːfn̩/)
• Ézël (English: "Donkey", IPA: /ɛːzl̩/)
• Róbë (English: "Seal", IPA: /rɔːbə/)

S vs. SS

Ss ss
Ss ss

In front of the letters P, T, if in the first syllable of a word, or a word compound, the letter SS, representing the /ʃ/ sound is written only as a S. Examples of the orthography may include:

First syllable of a word

• Sterbën (English: "To die", IPA: /ʃterbn̩/)
• Spílën (English: "To play", IPA: /ʃpiːln̩/)

Other syllables of a word

• Liste (English: "List", IPA: /liste/)
• Knospe (English: "Bud", IPA: /knɔspe/)

First syllables of a coumpound word

• Haupstád (English: "Capital city", IPA: /ɦaupʃtaːd/)
• Balspiel (English: "Ball game", IPA: /bɑlʃpiːl/)

J vs. I

J j
J j

For the sound /j/ behind a vowel, letter I is used instead of a J (That means that in -AJ- should be replaced with -AI-). This rule doesn't apply to the compound words.