1.5. Graphemes ✅

1.5.1. Table of Graphemes

GRAPHEME	SOUND	EXAMPLE	TRANSCRIPTION
<a>, <à>	[a]	vacca, àngolo	['vak.ka], ['aŋ.golo]
<æ>	[ɛ]	cæco (etymological variant of cèco)	['ʧɛːko]
<b>	[b]	bène	['bɛːne]
<c>	[k] before <a, o/ò, u>	casa	['kaːsa]
	[ʧ] before <e/è, i>	cèlo	['ʧɛːlo]
<ch>	[k]	màchina	['maːkina]
		chòro (etymological variant of còro)	['kɔːɾo]
<cî>	[ʧ] before <a, o/ò, u>	cîusma, crocîare (derived from croce)	['ʧuz.ma], [kɾo 'ʧaːɾe]
<d>	[d]	dama	['daːma]
<dz>	[ʣ]	verdza	['veɾ. ʣa]
<e>, <é>	[e]	estella, léttera	[es't̪el.la], ['let.t̪eɾa]
<f>	[f]	fòrte	['fɔɾ.t̪e]
<g>	[g] before <a, o/ò, u>	gom.ma	['gom.ma]
	[ʤ] before <e/è, i>	lege	['leːʤe]
<gh>	[g] before <e/è, i>	portughese	[poɾ.t̪u 'geːse]
<gî>	[ʤ] before <a, o/ò, u>	fugîa	['fuːʤa]
<gn>	[gn] or [ŋn]1	legno	['leg.no] / ['leŋ.no]
<h>	[ ]	havere	[ a'veːɾe]
<i>, <í>	[i]	artista, vía	[aɾ't̪is.ta], ['vi.a]
<i>	[j] in diphthongs	aria, plebèio	['aːɾja], [ple'bɛ.jo]
<j>	[ʤ]	ja	[ʤa]
<k>	[k]	kilogramma	[ki.lo'gɾam.ma]
<l>	[l]	lègere	['lɛːʤe.ɾe]
<lî>	[ʎ]	lîama	['ʎaːma]
<m>	[m]	mare	['maːɾe]
<n>	[n]	nòve	[‘nɔːve]
<o>, <ó>	[o]	gomma, pólvere	['gom.ma], ['pol.ve.ɾe]
<ò>	[ɔ]	còrpo	['kɔɾ.po]
<œ>	[e]	pœna (etymological variant of pena)	['peːna]
<p>	[p]	patre	['paːt̪ɾe]
<ph>	[f]	graphía (etymological variant of grafía)	[gɾa'fiːa]
<qu>	[kw]2	aqua	['aːkwa]
<r>	[ɾ]	ròsa, marito	['ɾɔːsa], [ma'ɾiːt̪o]
<rh>	[ɾ]	rhetòrica (etymological variant of retòrica)	[re't̪ɔːɾi.ka]
<rr>	[ɾ]	carro	['ka.ro]
<s>	[s]	casa	['kaːsa]
<sî>	[ʃ]	sîèrpa	['ʃɛɾ.pa]
<t>	[t]	tèmpo	['t̪ɛm.po]
<th>	[t]	theatro (etymological variant of teatro)	[t̪e'a.tɾo]
<ti>	[ʦj] before vowel, but not before <s>3	optione	[op 'ʦjoːne]
<ts>	[ts]	altsare	[al 'ʦa.ɾe]
<u>, <ú>	[u]	tu, súccaro	[t̪u], ['suk.ka.ɾo]
<u>	[w] in diphtongs	causa	['kaw.sa]
<v>	[v]	vino	['viːno]
<w>	[w]	whisky	['wis.ki]
<x>	[ks]	pròximo	['pɾɔk.si.mo]
<y>	[i]	whisky	['wis.ki]
		typo (etymological variant of tipo)	['t̪iːpo]
	[j] in diphthongs	Nòva York	[ˌnɔ.va 'joɾk]
<z>	[z] or [ʣ]	zòna	['zɔːna] / ['ʣɔːna]

As is seen in the table, Neolatin presents -as happens in all Romance languages- some digraphs (<ch, gh, ts, dz, …> and diacritical signs (< ◌́, ◌̀, ◌̂ >). This is necessary to represent sounds that were unknown in Latin and its alphabet, both consonants ([ɲ, ʎ, ʧ, ʤ, ʦ, ʣ, etc.]) and vowels ([ɛ, ɔ]), maximally conserving the Latin spelling. For example, thanks to the digraphs <ch, gh> (màchina, portughese) we can continue writing words that currently do not sound like [k, g], with the use of <c, g> before e or i, such as cèlo, lege (written in Latin as CAELUM, LEGEM despite the distinct pronunciation)⁴.

• The letter <h> is used to indicate that the consonants <c, g> do not palatalize before <e, i>: portughese is read with the g of legale, not of lege. Like so, the digraphs <ch, gh> are formed, where the mark <h> is not pronounced.
• The modified letter <î> (<i> with a circumflex) is used⁵ to indicate that some consonants palatalize: Fugîamos! is read with the sound of fugire, not of fuga. The digraphs <cî, gî, lî, nî, sî> are formed, where the mark <î> is not pronounced: crocîare (derived from croce), fugîamos (form of fugire), lîama (American animal), nîam! (onomatopoeia imitating the act of eating), sîerpa (Tibetan).

The circumflex accent in the mark <î> is necessary because, without it, the i would be pronounced normally, like in edificio [-ʧjo], religione [-ʤjo-], fòlio [-ljo], Hispania [-nja], visione [-sjo-]. In any case, it is infrequent.

Furthermore, Neolatin uses the acute (◌́) and the grave (◌̀) accents. They indicate phonetic accentuation, vocalic opening, non-diphthongization, and they differentiate some homophones.

1.5.2. Accentuation

Footnotes

1. The sequence <gn> was pronounced in Latin as [ŋn]; and the first consonant is nasal in all Romance languages. From Latin /ŋn/ (like in LĬGNU): /mn/ in Romanian (lemn), /nn/ in Sardinian (linna < plural LĬGNA) and /ɲɲ/ in Italian (legno), and /ɲ/ in Portuguese (lenho), Spanish (leño), Catalan (lleny) and French (old French leigne < LĬGNA). ↩

2. <qu> can sound like [k] in the following words: que, qui, quèn and compound words containing any of these words. Regularized spellings also exist: che, chi, chèn. ↩

3. This etymological spelling, present in loanwords (<ts> is used in inherited words), is not possible before a tonic <i>: primatsía (not *primatiia). On the other hand, after <s>, the pronunciation is [tj] (not [ʦj]), like in questione, cristiano. ↩

4. Part of Sardinian is a notable exception here. ↩

5. See the reason for the existence of <î> in Chapter 1.6 (Section “Spelling of Palatal Sounds”). ↩