Consonants and Clusters
Special consonant values
| Spelling | Value |
|---|---|
g | always hard, as in go |
j | English y in yes |
tj | English ch in church |
dj | English j in judge |
þ | th in thin |
ð | th in this |
sh | sh in ship |
ng | ng in sing |
z, w, and r retain ordinary recognizable values.
Fixed digraphs such as tj, dj, sh, and ng count as one consonant unit when applying vowel-length rules.
ASCII fallbacks
Canonical Nordsippisk uses þ and ð, but plain-ASCII writing may substitute:
thforþdhforð
These are accepted practical fallbacks, not alternate canonical spellings. The two forms remain distinct so the original spelling can always be recovered.
Examples:
this→þisthat→þatthurf→þurf
Foreign and proper names
Foreign and proper names are preferably adapted to Nordsippisk phonology and orthography when written for a Nordsippisk-speaking audience. Original spellings are also acceptable when preserving the source form is more useful for the writer or audience.
For example, a name spelled Luci may be naturalized as Lusi, while the original spelling may remain unchanged in a journal, quotation, formal reference, or other context where the original written name matters.
This policy does not expand the native alphabet: letters outside Nordsippisk orthography remain foreign material when retained.
Consonant clusters
Broadly Germanic consonant clusters are allowed.
Clusters are pronounced literally unless a sequence is an established digraph.
Examples:
timb— bothmandbare pronouncedhund— bothnanddare pronouncedstark— the cluster is pronounced literallyhvem— bothhandvare pronounced
No consonant is silently dropped merely because a historical source language would do so.
Natural blending, assimilation, and smoothing in ordinary speech are expected, but they do not alter canonical spelling or morphology.
Example:
timb-de
The bd boundary may blend somewhat in speech, but the written form remains unchanged and the underlying morphemes remain timb + -de.
No repair rules
Affixation may create awkward clusters. Nordsippisk does not insert vowels, delete consonants, or change affixes merely to make those boundaries smoother.
The written morphology takes priority.