Alphabet and pronunciation
The most important part in learning any language, is to start off with the alphabet. You might find that the Atoh alphabet is much easier than English, and you'd be right. The Atoh alphabet is known as a phonetic language, meaning every letter makes one sound and will always keep that sound. There's also no mute letters like the English 'E' in the word 'mute.' There's 18 basic letters in the alphabet.
A C E G H I K L M N O P S T U V W Y Ch Sh
The letters, b, d, f, j, q, r, and x, make the same sounds as in English, but not used in Atoh, unless they're used in a loan or English word. Most of the actual letters make the same sound as in English, but some are a little different.
A - Makes the ah sound as in father, and car.
C - Is not used by itself. Don't worry about what sound it makes.
E - Makes the eh sound as in egg.
G - Makes the hard g sound as in game, and give.
I - Makes the ee sound as in see.
K - Is the k or c sound as in kite or cat.
O - Makes the oh sound in boat or smoke.
U - Is the oo sound in loose.
V - Is the weirdest letter. It does not exist in English. It's a mix of the oo sound in book, mixed with the u sound in up.
Atoh does things a little differently than in English, such as long vowels and consonants. There's also a use in vowel combinations. Look at this Atoh word:
Hekkv - means dry, and pronounced as (heck-kuh)
Tattv - means neck. (tat-tuh)
Êgv - means egg. (eh-guh)
Âin - means yes. (ah-een)
Another important thing about the spelling is the stress. The syllable of a word that's most emphasized. English word table has a stress on the first syllable. Actor is also on the first syllable. In Atoh, the stress is mostly on the first syllable, but can be changed by the elongated vowel as an exception to the rule. You will always see the long vowel with the accent on top of the letter, and that's the only accent.
Something you may notice while reading this language, is that words are a little longer than the average English word.
Hello / bye - olehme
Yellow - ayappa
Name - lahsha
House - ahti
Foot - ahkânna
Table - aîmpa
Fox - atoh
