Satu Kitan - Characters and Pronunciation

Characters and Transcription

List of Characters
a a	u u	o o	e e	i i
ya ya	yu yu	yo yo	ye ye	v v
m m	p p	b b	f f	w w
n n	t t	d d	s s	z z
q q	k k	g g	h h	x x
r r	' '	, ,	; ;

Satu Kitan is written in its own script called ritu kitav (Ritu Kitan), or Kitan characters. However, to make Ritu Kitan easier to handle on computers, each character is mapped to a Latin letter, and it is acceptable to write using these Latin letters. This representation using Latin letters is called transcription.
Technically, the Ritu Kitan notation on this page is written internally in transcription, and Ritu Kitan is displayed using a dedicated font. Therefore, if you copy a word as text, you will get the transcription in Latin letters.

Letters

The letters used to write words in Ritu Kitan are the 26 shown below. There are 23 letters for Satu Kitan and 3 additional ones for foreign words.
Ritu kitav is a phonemic script, so each character does not have meaning by itself, but there are loose common images associated with the words they are used in.

Letter	Name	Trs. IPA	Tend to Meaning
a	a a	a /a/	1 main, unique
u	u u	u /u/	2 contrast
o	o o	o /o/	3 indirect
e	e e	e /e/	4 complement
i	i i	i /i/	5 continue, many
ya	ya ya	ya /ja/	6 main
yu	yu yu	yu /ju/	7 contrast
yo	yo yo	yo /jo/	8 indirect
ye	ye ye	ye /je/	9 complement
v	em em	v /n/*1	0 empty
m	ma ma	m /m/	negative reverse
p	pa pa	p /p/	living thing feeling
b	ba ba	b /b/	place space
f	fa Fa	f /ɸ/	minor lower
n	na na	n /n/	time knowledge
t	ta ta	t /t/	result end
d	da da	d /d/	major higher
s	sa sa	s /s/	operation action
q	qa nga	q /ŋ/	sky holy
k	ka ka	k /k/	process begin
g	ga ga	g /g/	positive possible
h	ha Ha	h /x/	question
r	ra Ra	r /ɾ/	number calculate
z	za za	z /z/	for foreign words
x	xa Ga	x /ɣ/	for foreign words
w	wa wa	w /w/*2	for foreign words

*1 See Basic Pronunciation section
*2 Also pronunces /v/ or /β/.

Digits

Satu Kitan uses the decimal system and is written using the modern Arabic numerals commonly used today.

Digits in Satu Kitan
0	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9

Punctuation

Punctuation marks also use Satu Kitan-specific characters. However, three of these marks are pronounced, so they are distinguished and called symbol-like letter.

Character	Name	Trs. IPA	Meaning
'	ete ete	' /t/	By enclosing a sentence with " ' " and " , ", a modifier clause is formed. Modifier clauses are explained on the Syntax.
,	ete eke	, /k/	Same as above
;	epe epe	; /p/	Used to form nested clauses. Nested clauses are explained on the Syntax.
#	ere eRe	#	Used to indicate that a string that could be mistaken for a word or number is a number.
.	teme teme	.	Placed at the end of a sentence, it functions like a period.
!	ateme ateme	!	Placed at the end of a sentence, it expresses assertion or exclamation.
?	hateme Hateme	?	Placed at the end of a sentence, it expresses a question or inquiry.

Basic Pronunciation

Vowels
i i		u u			yu ju
e e	v əm	o o	ye je		yo jo
	a a			ya ja

Consonants
; p		' t		, k
p p	b b	t t (tʃ)	d d (dʒ)	k k	g g
m m		n n		q ŋ
f φ		s s (ʃ)		h x (ç)
		r ɾ

※ ( ) marks a pronunciation change to palatalized consonant

In this page, Satu Kitan pronunciation is shown using lowercase. In general, reading as written in lowercase will give the correct Satu Kitan pronunciation, but for sounds not found in English or those with large differences, UPPERCASE is used as an exception.

Note that words are pronounced exactly as they are written (also lowercase). Each letter (or letter combination) always has the same sound, so you can read it straight from the spelling without silent letters or irregular rules.

Characters with Special Pronunciation Notes
Character		Pronunciation	IPA	Description
v	v	n, m, ng	/n/ [n],[m],[ŋ]	Same sound as the Japanese "ン" (n). the sound "v" is a nasal that changes its place of articulation depending on the following consonant, so you might pronounce it like “m,” “n,” “ng,” or just as a nasalized vowel.
f	f	F	/φ/	It is similar to the Enghish "f". But unlike English, do not touch your teeth to your lips; instead, round your lips to pronounce.
q	q	ng	/ŋ/	Pronounced as a nasalized "g". (e.g. singing)
h	h	H	/x/	The same sound as German "ch", different from the English "h" row. Pronounced with friction at the back of the mouth.
r	r	R	/ɾ/	Same sound as the Japanese "ラ行" (usually written "r"). It is similar to the Enghish "r" or "l". But the "r" sounds are a quick tongue tap against the ridge behind your upper teeth, unlike the English “r” or “l.”

Also, in Satu Kitan, letters in a word basically appear as "consonant + vowel" sets. However, there are the following exceptions.

There are words without a consonant at the beginning
Words are conjugated by adding s, v or f to the end
In compound words, s is inserted between word parts
Symbol-like letters are always pronounced as consonants without vowels

Special Pronunciation

Pronunciation of v

v is a special character that is treated as both a vowel and a consonant.
In most cases, this character appears at the end of a word as a consonant to conjugate the word into a modifier form. At this time, it is pronounced as any of [n], [m], [ŋ] that is easiest to say.

In a very few words ending with "consonant + v", it is treated as a vowel, and a schwa /ə/ is inserted before the consonant pronunciation of v.
Example: rv /rəm/ (zero)
When these words are conjugated into modifier form, the ending becomes vv, and in this case, the first v is pronounced /əm/ (not /ən/ or /əŋ/).
Example: rvv /rəməm/ (of zero)

Palatalized Consonants

To make pronunciation easier, when one of the vowels ya /ja/, yu /ju/, yo /jo/, or ye /je/ follows certain consonants, it is common to change the pronunciation as follows. However, these do not affect the meaning or distinction of the word, so the original pronunciation is also accepted.

The following table shows only the case where the vowel is ya, but the other three vowels follow the same rules.

Letters	Change Rule	Original	Changed
tya	`[tj]` → `[tʃ]`	`[tja]` tya	`[tʃa]` cha
dya	`[dj]` → `[dʒ]`	`[dja]` dya	`[dʒa]` ja
sya	`[sj]` → `[ʃ]`	`[sja]` sya	`[ʃa]` sha
hya	`[xj]` → `[ç]`	`[xja]` Hya	`[ça]` hya

Accents

Syllables with an accent are pronounced higher and longer (pitch + length accent). Accents are placed according to the following rules.

All verbs have an accent on the last syllable. Example: petas (petás)
In compound words, a weak accent (pitch accent only) is placed on the last syllable of the first part of the word. Example: sipusgoski (sipúsgoski)

Other nouns, modifiers, and conjunctions have a weak accent (pitch accent only) on the last syllable.

Examples of Words and Pronunciation

fupotyev: Fupochen; bad

baqya: bangya; world

hona: Hona; when

sapokas: sapokás; be improved