SL.O Alphabet and Pronunciation
The SL.O alphabet has 30 letters: 7 vowels and 23 consonants. Every letter has one fixed sound. The table shows the symbol, the Roman letter used for typing and the pronunciation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
| Symbol | Roman | IPA | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| ◉ | a | a | vowel |
| ⊖ | e | e | vowel |
| ⌾ | i | i | vowel |
| ◍ | o | o | vowel |
| ⊜ | u | u | vowel |
| ◌ | ə | ə | vowel |
| ◎ | ɨ | ɨ | vowel |
| ϟ | p | p | consonant |
| Ϟ | b | b | consonant |
| ⋔ | t | t | consonant |
| ⋉ | d | d | consonant |
| ⟆ | k | k | consonant |
| ⟇ | g | g | consonant |
| ⟁ | m | m | consonant |
| ⟊ | n | n | consonant |
| ⟑ | s | s | consonant |
| ⟒ | z | z | consonant |
| ⟓ | f | f | consonant |
| ⟔ | v | v | consonant |
| ⟕ | l | l | consonant |
| ⟖ | r | r | consonant |
| ⟗ | sh | ʃ | consonant |
| ⟘ | h | h | consonant |
| ⟙ | y | j | consonant |
| ⟚ | w | w | consonant |
| ⊗ | ch | tʃ | consonant |
| ⊕ | j | dʒ | consonant |
| ⊙ | ng | ŋ | consonant |
| ⊛ | th | θ | consonant |
| ⊞ | kh | x | consonant |
Pronunciation notes
- Single letters written with two characters. sh, ch, ng, th and kh are each one letter in SL.O. For example “sh” sounds like the start of “ship”.
- Separate letters. When you want the two letters s and h to be read separately, write
s'h. The same applies ton'g,t'h,k'handc'h. - Vowels. a, e, i, o and u sound as in many European languages. The extra vowels ə (like the “a” in “about”) and ɨ (a central “i”) are less common.
- Stress. The stress falls on the second-to-last syllable of a word.
- Direction. SL.O is written from left to right.
Roman letters and symbols
Use Roman SL.O whenever you type. The translator converts between Roman SL.O and the symbol script in both directions, so you never need a special keyboard. If the symbols look like empty boxes, your device is missing a symbol font; update your system fonts or use Roman SL.O.
Next: the grammar guide.