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

Letters of a Mmuock alphabet

A note on alternative letters (allographs)

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.

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

Symbols for the glottal stop

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

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:

• Ŀahà —date
• lèŋóhó —to bend
• pǝ̀hǝ̄ —(adverb) in that direction

Quotation marks

• Opening single quotation mark: ‹
• Closing single quotation mark: ›
• Opening double quotation mark: «
• Closing double quotation mark: »

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:

• send an email or
• ask on facebook.

References

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

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