Vowels and Vowel Length

The vowel letters are:

a e i o u

Each has one fixed short realization and one fixed long realization.

Approximate English anchors:

“Long” does not mean “pronounce the English letter name.” It means the fixed long member of that vowel’s pair.

Length rules

Vowel length is determined within the morpheme containing the vowel.

1. A vowel followed by one consonant unit is long.
2. A vowel followed by a doubled consonant is short.
3. A vowel followed by a consonant cluster is short.
4. A single vowel in an open syllable is short.
5. A doubled vowel in an open syllable is long.
6. A following affix does not alter the vowel length of the preceding morpheme.

Examples:

• bit — long i
• bitt — short i
• but — long u
• butt — short u
• timb — short i because mb is a cluster
• mann — short a
• ka — short a
• kaa — long a
• ne — short e
• tvaa — long final a
• þrii — long final i
• nii — long i

Doubled vowels

Vowel doubling is a special spelling device used only in an open syllable to select the long vowel.

It is not a general alternative spelling for a long vowel. If a syllable is closed, the ordinary consonant-based rules apply instead.

For example:

• mer is valid and already has a long e because it is followed by one consonant.
• meer is invalid because doubled vowels are not used in a closed syllable.
• hus is valid and already has a long u.
• huus is invalid for the same reason.

Doubled consonants

A doubled consonant is primarily orthographic information marking the preceding vowel as short.

It is not pronounced as a long or geminated consonant.

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are disallowed by default.

A doubled vowel used under the open-syllable length rule represents one long vowel, not two syllables. Other adjacent vowels represent separate syllables unless a specific diphthong is deliberately added to the language later.