Hello everyone!
I've been taking a look at Talossan orthography and pronunciation. If I'm not mistaken, the latest official learning resource is this (https://wiki.talossa.com/SIGN:Dals_Recomend%C4%83s_s%C3%BCr_el_Glhe%C3%BE_Talossan), right?
According to it, it seems that a lot of Talossan sounds can be represented by sundry graphemes, notably:
f : f, ph
θ : þ, tg
s : s, ss, ß, ç
ʃ : sh, sch, x
h : h, fh, th
t : t, ts
k : c, ch, k
ʦ : ts, tz
ʧ : tsch, c
ʤ : xh, g
v : mh, bh, vf
ð : dh, ð, intervocalic d, initial l
z : s, z
d : d, dd, initial dt
g : g, initial gc
m : m, initial mb
n : n, initial nd
ɲ : nh, gnh
ʎ : lh, glh
j : j, y
w : vh, w
Some of these alternatives are clearly explained, for instance:
y and w in loanwords / j and vh elsewhere ;
þ & tg being equivalent ;
dt & gc being restricted to word-initial positions...
However, this does not explain why those variations exist in a first place.
But some other alternatives are less obvious, for instance: what differentiates glh from lh? gnh from nh? fh from th? f from ph? sh from sch? t from ts?
To be clear, I do not intend this as a critic of Talossan writing. I'm not complaining about this complexity; on the contrary, it can give quaintness and uniqueness to a language. However, I would like to understand if those specificities are random and arbitrary, or if there are hidden rules behind them. How did this diversity arise?
Overall, my question is: what led Talossan spelling to be this irregular? Are all those orthographic variations based on predictable reasons, can they by used up to one's preference, or do they just have to be learnt by heart?
Thanks in advance for any help!
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Quote from: Alexandre Golliet on April 10, 2025, 04:54:19 PMOverall, my question is: what led Talossan spelling to be this irregular?
The basic answer is: it was developed entirely by one person, a teenager/young man with no formal linguistic training, iteratively over a period of 15+ years, with no criterion for consistency or quality than enjoying quirks. Not only spelling: Talossan was
born with about a dozen irregular verbs. The reason for Talossa's inconsistencies and quirks is "Ben Madison", like the reason for Esperanto's quirks is "L. L. Zamenhof".
After he quit Talossa, a couple of spelling reforms have taken the "edge" off the quirkiness to some extent. Here's a historical document explaining more. (https://web.archive.org/web/20000818022757/www.execpc.com/~talossa/glhetg.html)