This document summarises all the symbols of a Mmuock alphabet.

You may want to look at sample phrases. A wall chart is available for letters of the alphabet.

Table of contents
  1. Letters
    1. Alternatives
    2. About Diagraphs
    3. A Note on ⟨ow⟩
  2. Tones
  3. The dot above
  4. Representing the glottal stop
    1. Dot below
    2. Apostrophe
    3. ⟨h⟩
  5. Quotation marks
  6. Appendix
    1. How to type symbols
    2. More information

Letters of a Mmuock alphabet

A Mmuock alphabet: The Letters
lettera b c d dz
capitalA B C D Dz
sound[a][b][t͡ʃ][d] [d͡z]
exampleṖā
a bag
Bekéq
beans
Ċœah
a hat
Nděm
God
Ndzěm
darkness
lettere f g h i
capitalE F G H I
sound [ǝ] [f] [ɡ] [h]/[ʔ] [i]
exampleMbēm
a grain
Fong
a cow
Ŋgěq
a gun

here
Kih
namesake
letterj k l m n
capitalJ K L M N
sound[ǰ] [k] [l] [m] [n]
exampleNjiè
clothing
Kěq
a bed
Lekǎ
a whistle
Mbā
a residence
Nēq
sunlight
letterñgn (ŋ, ng)æ ir (ɛ) r
capitalÑGn (Ŋ, Ng) Æ Ir (Ɛ)R
sound [ɲ] [ŋ] [ɛ] [ɪ][ɐ]
exampleÑiā
an animal
Ŋēq
a person

people
lèlɛ̄
to hide
lèqœr̄
to go
lettererø (or)š o œ
capitalErØ (Or) Š O Œ
sound[ɘ] [ɯ] [ʃ] [ɔ] [ɨ]
exampleḞer
a leaf
Ṫǿ
a drum
Šià
a market
Ndóng
a cup
Lώ
ants
letterp pf owq ur
capitalP Pf OwQ Ur
sound [p] [p͡f] [o] [ɣ][ɜ]
exampleṖā
a bag
Lepfσ́
the sky
ow
yes
Qemlē
a fig tree
lèsūrh
[mm] to come
letterar (ǝ) s t ts u
capitalAr (Ǝ) S T Ts U
sound[e] [s] [t] [t͡s] [u]
examplepǝ̣̀ǝ̄
that way

an elephant

dad
Ṫsσ́
a head
Q̇u
an illness
letterv w x y z
capitalV W X Y Z
sound [v] [w] [ʒ] [j] [z]
exampleVálé
disorder
Ẇáh
epilepsy
Ẋúóh
a yam
Ẏǐk
odour
Żéq
a thing

A note on alternative letters (allographs)

Some "letters" (symbols) can be writtten in more than one way. In the table above, some of the alternatives are written within brackets. A complete list follows:
  1. ⟨ng⟩ for ⟨gn⟩ after a single vowel letter. If ⟨ng⟩ should not mean ⟨ŋ⟩, then ⟨n'g⟩ is used. This is mandatory.
  2. ⟨ŋ⟩ for ⟨gn⟩ and ⟨ng⟩.
  3. ⟨n⟩ for ⟨gn⟩ if followed by ⟨g⟩ or ⟨k⟩
  4. ⟨π⟩ for ⟨ŋ⟩
  5. ⟨ɛ⟩ for ⟨ir⟩
  6. ⟨ǝ⟩ for ⟨ar⟩
  7. ⟨or⟩ for ⟨ø⟩
  8. ⟨ae⟩ for ⟨æ⟩
  9. ⟨oe⟩ for ⟨œ⟩
  10. ⟨nh⟩ for ⟨ñ⟩
  11. ⟨sh⟩ for ⟨š⟩
  12. ⟨φ⟩ for ⟨ow⟩
  13. ⟨σ⟩ for ⟨er⟩
  14. ⟨ω⟩ for ⟨ur⟩.

Notes on digraphs

  1. Some letters of the alphabet—including the alternatives— appear as if they consist of two other characters. The letters include ⟨dz⟩, ⟨pf⟩, ⟨ow⟩, ⟨ts⟩, ⟨sh⟩, etc. The two characters must always together be considered as one (digraph).
  2. Should a tone mark or other diacritic be placed on a digraph, the mark is placed on the first character of the digraph. For example, ⟨έ⟩ is also written as ⟨ír⟩ and ⟨Ṧ⟩ as ⟨Ṡh⟩.
  3. When only digraphs are used, we say that the alphabet is simplified.

A note on ⟨ow⟩

  1. Tone is indicated on o, for example: öw.
  2. ⟨ow⟩ normally is never followed by a vowel letter, except itself. Therefore, the letter combination ow, when followed by a vowel letter, does not represent ⟨ow⟩ but ⟨o⟩⟨w⟩.
  3. In the unlikely event that a vowel letter (e.g. ⟨a⟩) needs to follow ⟨ow⟩— there really are no examples of that happening—, a hypen must be placed between the letters, viz.: ow-a.

Tones of the Mmuock language

We will use letter ⟨a⟩ as example and indicate the tone on it.

A Mmuock alphabet: The Tones
No.NotationExample
2(none)pang the colour red
0â or a0 pangpâng adjective: red
ndengndêng equally
1ā or a1 aPāa bag
«Te lā» Don't cry
Żøtē insult
lèpīto peel
Ngōng world
Fø̄ a ruler
Lešū a sack
3á or a3 Nkáp money
Njíé smoke
lèpí to become insane
Ngóng farming
lècú to descend
aLǽ blood
Ṫǿ a drum
Żá láThat one should cook it
ā́ or a3^ Żá lā́ That one will cook it
A le pá qā́ She blamed me
4à or a4 Tà! Guess it!
«Te là» Don't cook it
Njiè clothing
Kì! Take it!
they
a child
Tø̀ a stone
5 or ǎ or a24a male parent
Nděm God
Ndǒng a lazy person
Mæ̌ a palace
a female parent
Ṡø̌ a saw
6àā or å or a41ntå five
7áa or or a32ndáa tå twenty-five francs
8àá or or a43«A ta̋.» She has guessed it.
9 or or a23«Tă.» Do not return.
10âà or ã or a04 Tǎ Tã the father of the father
«A lã.» She will cry.
11áā́ or ȁ or a33^«A le tȁ» She [overstayed and] did not return.
12 or or ȃ or a20paâng Mbā red compound
13aáā or or or a231Ya̐! interjection: shame on you!
14àa or ä or a42A ndä túh She cooks it at night
15àâ or or a40Ṫetàâ zè the courtyard is his
Compare to: Ṫetàa zè — his courtyard

The Dot Above

The dot above a consonant letter (at the begining of a word) indicates that there is an elided [a] before the letter. When the dot is used, the ⟨a⟩ must not be written. Examples:

Alternative symbol for the dot above

When a word starts with a capital letter, the dot above can be replaced with a small letter a. Examples:

Symbols for the glottal stop

There are 3 different symbols that can be used interchangeably to indicate the glottal stop. These are:
  1. the “dot below”
  2. The apostrophe ', and
  3. the letter ⟨h⟩ (only sometimes).

The Dot below

The dot below a vowel letter indicates a glottal stop after the vowel. Examples of the “dot below”:

The apostrophe

An apostrophe may be used instead of the “dot below”. Examples:

Letter ⟨h⟩

When the glottal stop is not followed by a vowel, ⟨h⟩ can be used instead of the dot and the apostrophe. That happens when the stop is at the end of the word, or is followed by ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨t⟩ and other consonant letters. Examples:

The following are wrong, since ⟨h⟩ is followed by a vowel letter:

Quotation marks

Appendix

How to type characters

  1. Notes on producing tone marks under Android
  2. On mobile device using android keyboard
  3. Using the orthography parser
  4. On the desktop

More information

If something does not work, or you need help or further info:

References

  1. The Sound of Mmuock, 2nd ed. isbn: 978-9956-645-28-2

Last updated: September 14, 2021
Copyright (©) Mmuock Language Society