Phonology
The Dothraki language has 20 consonants, 4 vowels and 2 glides.
Contents |
Transcription
| Dothraki | IPA | Informal | English example | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | a | aah | father | ||
| ch | t͡ʃ | ch | check | can be aspirated | |
| d | d̪ | d | dog | dental | |
| e | e | e | then | ||
| f | f | ff | fool | ||
| g | g | g | good | ||
| h | h | hh | ham | ||
| i | i | ee | machine | ||
| j | d͡ʒ | j | judge | ||
| k | k | k | kill | can be aspirated | |
| kh | x | x | Bach | ||
| l | l̪ | ll | left | dental | |
| m | m | mm | man, ham | ||
| n | n̪ | nn | no, tin | dental | |
| o | o | oh | mow | ||
| q | q | k | |||
| r | ɾ, r | rr | trilled when at the beginning of the word and followed by a vowel; at the end of the word; when doubled; tap medially elsewhere | ||
| s | s | ss | see, city | ||
| sh | ʃ | shh | ship | ||
| t | t̪ | t' | stop, top | can be aspirated, dental | |
| th | θ | th | thin | ||
| v | v | vuh | voice, have | ||
| w | w | wuh | wave, dowager | ||
| y | j | y' | yes | ||
| z | z | zz | zoo | ||
| zh | ʒ | azure |
Apart from names, the letters p, b, u and x do not appear in the ortography of diegetically modern Dothraki, and c appears only in the digraph ch.
Phonetics
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | t [t̪] | k [k] | q [q] | ||||
| Voiced Plosive | d [d̪] | g [g] | |||||
| Affricate | ch [t͡ʃ] | ||||||
| Voiced Affricate | j [d͡ʒ] | ||||||
| Voiceless fricative | f [f] | th [θ] | s [s] sh [ʃ] | kh [x] | h [h] | ||
| Voiced fricative | v [v] | z [z] zh [ʒ] | |||||
| Nasal | m [m] | n [n̪] | |||||
| Lateral | l [l̪] | ||||||
| Trill | r [r] | ||||||
| Tap | r [ɾ] | ||||||
| Glide | w [w] | y [j] |
The digraphs kh, sh, th and zh are all fricatives, while ch and j are affricates.
Voiceless stops may be aspirated. This does not change word meaning.
Vowels
Dothraki has four phonetically distinct vowels:
| Dothraki | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| i | i | |
| e | e | |
| o | o | |
| a | a |
Phonotactics
Geminates
There are geminated versions of all consonants. For phonemes that are marked with digraph, the geminate has a reduced ortography, eg. kkh instead of khkh. This does not affect the pronunciation, these are geminates just as any others.
| Dothraki | IPA | Never |
|---|---|---|
| kkh | xx | *kx |
| ssh | ʃʃ | *sʃ |
| tth | θθ | *tθ |
| zzh | ʒʒ | *zʒ |
| cch | tt͡ʃ |
Vowel clusters
Dothraki allows for sequences of vowels in a word. Each such vowel represents a separate syllable. Furthermore, Dothraki allows for two of the same vowel to appear one after other. These are never long vowels. As with all other vowels, each represents a separate syllabe. Note, though, that no such device as eg. glottal stop is used to separate the syllabes, so if neither syllabe is stressed, the difference to a long vowel may be small.
- kha·le·e·si·so·on; re·a·es
