Pronunciation and Phonetics

The letters of the Gilkesh language are grouped into four categories:  vowels, semivowels, strong consonants, and weak consonants.

Pure vowels a, e, i, o, u, are pronounced approximately as in Spanish.

The letters h, w, wh, y, and yh are considered semivowels.

Strong consonants comprise five families of stops: p, t, c, k, and q.  The voiced counterparts are b, d, j, g, and q' (written q + apostrophe).  The aspirated counterparts are ph, th, ch, kh, qh; and bh, dh, jh, gh, and q'h.

Aspirated letters may alternatively be pronounced as spirants; thus, th = either [t+h] or [θ].

The guttural q is similar to the Arabic q (qoppa).  Voiced and aspirated (q'h), it sounds like the Persian q in aqa.