+++
title = 'Mosici Lesson 1: Reading and Pronouncing the Mosici language'
date = 2024-02-28T01:40:41+01:00
+++

## Phonology of Mosici

Mosici has the following sounds:

### Consonants

|                 | Labial                     | Alveolar                   | Palatal                    | Dorsal                     |
|-----------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|
| **Nasal**       | <span class=ipa>m</span>   | <span class=ipa>n</span>   |                            |                            |
| **Plosive**     | <span class=ipa>p</span>   | <span class=ipa>t</span>   |                            | <span class=ipa>k</span>   |
| **Fricative**   | <span class=ipa>ɸ β</span> | <span class=ipa>s z</span> | <span class=ipa>ɕ ʑ</span> | <span class=ipa>ʀ</span>   |
| **Approximant** | <span class=ipa>w</span>   | <span class=ipa>l</span>   | <span class=ipa>j</span>   | <span class=ipa>(w)</span> |

### Vowels

|           | Front                      | Back                     |
|-----------|----------------------------|--------------------------|
| Close     | <span class=ipa>i y</span> | <span class=ipa>u</span> |
| Close-Mid | <span class=ipa>e ø</span> | <span class=ipa>o</span> |
| Open-Mid  | <span class=ipa>ɛ</span>   | <span class=ipa>ɔ</span> |
| Open      | <span class=ipa>a</span>   |                          |

## Written Mosici

Mosici uses the Nahan script. Here are the letters, their translitteration in the Latin alphabet and their base value:

| Letter                            | Latin translit. | Value                                        |
|-----------------------------------|-----------------|----------------------------------------------|
| <span class=script-nahan>p</span> | p               | <span class=ipa>p</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>o</span> | o               | <span class=ipa>o</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>l</span> | l               | <span class=ipa>l</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>h</span> | h               | Silent, lengthen a preceeding vowel          |
| <span class=script-nahan>i</span> | i               | <span class=ipa>e, j</span> (before a vowel) |
| <span class=script-nahan>a</span> | a               | <span class=ipa>a</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>r</span> | r               | <span class=ipa>ʀ</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>t</span> | t               | <span class=ipa>t</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>c</span> | c               | <span class=ipa>k</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>n</span> | n               | <span class=ipa>n</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>e</span> | e               | <span class=ipa>ɛ</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>z</span> | z               | <span class=ipa>z</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>v</span> | v               | <span class=ipa>β</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>m</span> | m               | <span class=ipa>m</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>f</span> | f               | <span class=ipa>ɸ</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>u</span> | u               | <span class=ipa>w</span>                     |
| <span class=script-nahan>s</span> | s               | <span class=ipa>s</span>                     |

There are also **accented** versions of the vowels:

| Letter                            | Latin translit. | Value                    |
|-----------------------------------|-----------------|--------------------------|
| <span class=script-nahan>á</span> | á               | <span class=ipa>ɔ</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>é</span> | é               | <span class=ipa>i</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>í</span> | í               | <span class=ipa>i</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>ó</span> | ó               | <span class=ipa>u</span> |

And a handful of multigraphs:

| Letter                             | Latin translit. | Value                    |
|------------------------------------|-----------------|--------------------------|
| <span class=script-nahan>si</span> | si              | <span class=ipa>ɕ</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>zi</span> | zi              | <span class=ipa>ʑ</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>ai</span> | ai              | <span class=ipa>ɛ</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>aí</span> | aí              | <span class=ipa>e</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>ao</span> | ao              | <span class=ipa>ɔ</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>aó</span> | aó              | <span class=ipa>o</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>oi</span> | oi              | <span class=ipa>ø</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>oí</span> | oí              | <span class=ipa>y</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>ei</span> | ei              | <span class=ipa>i</span> |
| <span class=script-nahan>eí</span> | eí              | <span class=ipa>i</span> |

Finaly a vowel followed by a nasal is nasalized, and a coda *n* is not pronounced aside from the nasalisation.

### Punctuation marks

A middle dot ({{%script"nahan"%}},{{%/script%}}) is equivalent to a comma, a double dot ({{%script"nahan"%}}.{{%/script%}}) is equivalent to a period.
An hyphen ({{%script"nahan"%}}-{{%/script%}}) is used to affix grammar particles

## Some examples.

- {{%script"nahan"%}}nahánc an-cirta{{% /script %}} *nahánc an-cirta* {{%ipa "/naːɔ̃k ãkeʀta/" %}} (The Nahan script)
- {{%script"nahan"%}}mosécéc an-ila{{%/script%}} *mosécéc an-ila* {{%ipa"/mosikik ãnela/"%}} (The Mosici language)
- {{%script"nahan"%}}ansi i oílisi{{%/script%}} *ansi i olisi* {{%ipa"/ãɕ i yleɕ/"%}} (here and now)

## Exercise

Translitterate and give the pronounciation of the following phrases (copy pasting the text in a different font is cheating)

- {{%script"nahan"%}}an-ilat volnaref{{%/script%}} (I know the language)
- {{%script"nahan"%}}sinea oílivia, na-iosnelos{{%/script%}} (In the fullness of time, it will be done)

These will be corrected in the next part.