Type Symbol IPA Example V a æ “a” in “bad” - Near-open front unrounded vowel C b b “b” in “bad” - Voiced bilabial plosive F c ʃ “sh” in “sheep” - Voiceless postalveolar fricative C d d “d” in “bad” - Voiced alveolar plosive V e ɛ “e” in “bed” - Open-mid front unrounded vowel F f f “f” in “fun” - Voiceless labiodental fricative C g ɡ “g” in “go” - Voiced velar plosive F h ç “ch” in “ich” (German) - Voiceless palatal fricative F h x “ch” in “ach” (German/Scottish) - Voiceless velar fricative V i i “ee” in “sheep” - Close front unrounded vowel F j ʒ “si” in “vision” - Voiced postalveolar fricative C k kʰ “k” in “king” - Aspirated voiceless velar plosive C l l “l” in “lemon” (NOT in “wool”) - Alveolar lateral approximant N m m “m” in “man” - Bilabial nasal N n n “n” in “nun” - Alveolar nasal N n ŋ “n” in “singer” - Velar nasal V o ɒ “o” in “on” - Open back rounded vowel C p pʰ “p” in “sheep” - Aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive V q ɔ “oo” in “door” - Open-mid back rounded vowel C r ɹ “r” in “robot” - Alveolar approximant C r ɾ almost like “tt” in American English “kitty” (NOT in “floor”) - roll an "r" but only hit the roof of your mouth once (so like a mini-roll) - Alveolar flap F s s “s” in “so” - Voiceless alveolar fricative C t tʰ “t” in “ted” - Aspirated voiceless alveolar plosive V u u “oo” in “boom” - Close back rounded vowel F v v “v” in “van” - Voiced labiodental fricative C w w “w” in “wit” - Voiced labio-velar approximant F x θ “th” in “three” - Voiceless dental fricative C y j “y” in “yellow” (NOT in “pay”, “soya”, or any other dipthong) - Palatal approximant F z z “z” and the “s” in “zoos” - Voiced alveolar fricative V - ɑ “a” in “father” - Open back unrounded vowel V / ɪ "i" in "bit" - Near-close near-front unrounded vowel V ' ɜ "i" in "bird" - Open-mid central unrounded vowel V $ ʊ "oo" in "foot" - Near-close near-back vowel How to pronounce double letters Two different vowels should be pronounced distinctly as separate syllables, and NOT as a diphthong (so don't try to blend them together into one). Two identical vowels should be pronounced with a glottal stop in the middle - ʔ pronounced like the “-” in “uh-oh” - Voiceless glottal plosive. In the "Type" column, V is vowel, F is fricative consonant, N is nasal consonant, and C is other consonant. If a letter is listed twice, they are two alternative forms of the same letter that can be interchanged with each other. It is usually obvious which one is easiest to say in which place, but if you say the other, it will not change meaning at all. On top of this, affricates (A) can be produced by adding ~ between the two "base" consonants. These are the current affricates in VOS: A t~s t͡s “ts” in “cats” - Voiceless alveolar affricate A t~c t͡ʃ “ch” in “church” - Voiceless postalveolar affricate A d~z d͡z “z” in Italian “zero” (no English equivalent, but just say d followed by z in the same quick manner as ts) - Voiced alveolar affricate A d~j d͡ʒ “j” and "g" in “judge” - Voiced postalveolar affricate The phonology rules of VOS are rather straightforward: 1) C and A must not be followed by anything but V or nothing 2) F and N can be followed by V, C or nothing 3) Other than that, any combinations of letters can be used, but if they cause consonants to "blend" together (hw as an example), they must be pronounced distinctly (which usually involves putting the second consonant in another syllable). BLENDING IS ILLEGAL! The schwa (ə, English "a" in "above") can be inserted ANYWHERE into a word without affecting its meaning. Unlike English, it CANNOT be used as a substitute for real vowels. However, to avoid butchering "standard" pronunciations and impeding rapid understandability, it is recommended that adding a schwa to a word only be used where it is otherwise difficult or ambiguous-sounding to pronounce the word. As these are purely for pronunciations, there is no written equivalent for a schwa in Timlan. All the examples are SOUTHERN BRITISH ENGLISH (unless otherwise indicated). Consult the IPA for the exact sound. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA