Easy guide to reading accent and diacritical marks for pronunciation.
Accent Rule Guide
To ensure clarity and consistency in pronunciation, this page provides a guide on how to pronounce and read the spellings of names and words through using accent marks. As identical accent marks have different uses in different languages it is important to understand how the author intends for them to be used in her novels. This guide explains each mark. S. R. Usher uses five diacritical marks (loosely modeled after the French usage of accent marks) to guide the pronunciation of names and words.
What are accent marks?
Accent marks, also known as diacritical marks, indicate the pronunciation of vowels and consonants, whether they are long, short, or mimic another vowel or consonant’s sound; as well as show where emphasis and stress should be placed on a word. These marks help distinguish unique sounds that other arrangements of letters fall short to express (without losing the beauty of the chosen spelling). Without the marks the names and words sound entirely different from what S. R. Usher intended for them to sound like. While S. R. Usher encourages readers to enjoy the story and read names as they prefer, below is how she intended the accent marks to aid in pronunciation.
Acute accent (´)
Used to indicate a long vowel sound. A few examples are as follows: The “á” in “áôwa” is pronounced “ay” as in the name Able, and not the short vowel sound “ah” as in the word apple.
It can be used on any letter.
Grave accent (`)
Used to indicate a short vowel sound. An example is the “À” in the name “Àthêre”. It is pronounced “uh” as in the word "adjust," and not “A” as in Able.
It can be used on any letter.
Circumflex accent (^)
Used to indicate a change. It can be used on vowels.
â = aw, as in the drawn out sound of “awww a baby”, instead of the short vowel sound “a” as in apple.
ê = eh, like the short vowel sound of “e” in “egg”; (note: “ê” with a circumflex makes the same sound as an “è” with a grave accent, but the difference is that the circumflex “ê” is pronounced with an abrupt end, as where the grave accent “è” is drawn out).
Circumflex “ê” sometimes can be a diphthong (a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable) which means depending on the arrangement of the letters that surround “ê”, its sound can be absorbed into the grouped sound. However, if you slow down the grouped sound, “eh” can still be heard. As in the middle of the name “Àthêre” where the "êre" is pronounced with a short vowel sound, despite the silent vowel on the end, causing the diphthong “ere” to be pronounced as “ear”.
î = “ee”, mimics the long vowel sound of “E”. (Note: for the purpose of simplicity, “î” is not affected by diphthongs, nor which vowels come before or after it, as it is in the French system).
ô = oh, makes a soft “o” sound, as in the word “toe”.
û = yew, sounds like “you” but you're blowing out a candle, or sneezing, at the end while saying it.
Cedilla accent (¸)
S. R. Usher uses the Latin usage of cedilla instead of the French usage. Used only on the letter "c" to indicate that it is pronounced as a "k" sound, as in the word "façade" (pronounced "fah-kahd"). And also in the Old English term for church, “çîrîçè” (KEE-ree-ke), where the “c” is pronounced as a "k" sound.
Umlaut/Diaeresis (¨)
All the uses of this accent mark are two dots (¨) placed over a letter.
The first use is for the letter “ü” only and is called Umlaut. Umlaut indicates a sound change. For example, "ü" in “Ádünaŕë” is pronounced “oo” as in “dune”, not "u" as in “run”.
The second use is for the letter “ë” only and is called diaeresis. When two dots are placed above an “ë”, it indicates that the “ë” mimics the long vowel sound of an “A”, similar to the word “hay”. So, “Ádünaŕë” is pronounced (A-doon-ahr-A). Note: an umlaut should not be placed over an “e” to make an “e” say its own long vowel sound. That is the job of an acute accent mark.
The third use is for the remaining vowels, “ӓ, ï, and ӧ”, and is likewise called Diaeresis. Diaeresis is used to indicate that two vowels, which normally influence the other’s pronunciation, are now meant to be pronounced independent of one another. These vowels can be found paired beside one another or sandwiched around a consonant, such as in the case of silent letters at the end a of word. The diaeresis would make the silent letter talk. The sound of the vowel with diaeresis can vary depending on the word, and doesn’t indicate any particular sound just that there is a sound, but often an independant vowel says its name.
An example of two vowels paired beside one another which are separated by a diaeresis is found in the name "Üthéöthis" (oo-THEE-oh-thuhs). The two dots above the “ö” indicate that the “ö” is said separate from the “e”; so both vowels make an independent sound. The é says (EE) because of the acute and the ö says (oh) because of the diaeresis, defaulted to the rule that most independant vowels say their proper name. Note: for this name-example the acute was needed on the é to keep it saying its name, because the o which originally caused it to say its name was made independant of it by a diaeresis. In short and diaeresis is used to break up the “two vowels go walking, the first does the talking” rule. You may see an acute before a diaeresis often to preserve the first vowel’s long vowel sound.
What Is IPA?
If you’re still unsure if you’re saying the name or word right you can use an online IPA verbal reader to know for sure.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standardized system of symbols used to represent the sounds of spoken languages. It includes symbols for all possible sounds humans can produce, making it a more comprehensive system than accent marks which are only used to indicate pronunciation changes in a specific language or writing system. IPA is used by linguists and language learners to accurately transcribe and study speech sounds. Since the IPA is a comprehensive system, it cannot be explained here in simple terms. However, you don't need to learn it. There are free IPA readers available online. Copy the IPA spellings in the “Character alphabet name list” and paste them into an IPA reader to hear the phonetic pronunciation of each word spoken aloud.