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A community for the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Thuum.org

A community for the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Question Board


Corvin
November 29, 2015

Pronunciation

So I was on the learning area of this site a couple of weeks ago and I noticed that the "j" sound was a soft g unless it came after a consonant. I understood that, that made sense, but later, I was playing through the main quest and when I met Paathurnax, he pronounced the j sound as a consonental i pretty much all of the time, so I was wondering, was the soft g rule made to bring in conformity or is it just a preference?

Category: General


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paarthurnax
Administrator
November 29, 2015

Hi Corvin, thanks for your question. The standard pronunciation for J is the /dʒ/ sound as in gentle and just. The pronunciation as /j/ after a consonant is not canon and should be disregarded.

Here's an example in Paarthurnax's dialogue with the pronunciation /dʒ/. I can't recall any instances of /j/ in Paarthurnax's dialogue, but I'd be grateful if you could point them out. (The linked video doesn't contain the entirety of his dialogue, so you may have to go digging elsewhere.)


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Frinmulaar
November 29, 2015

If the word that caught your attention happens to be "hofkahsejun", it is also good to remember that Paarthurnax pronounces "suleyk" as /'sulʲex/ once. Though the voice actors were instructed quite well, mistakes happen.


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Corvin
November 30, 2015

Okay, so I returned to a previous save to hear what it was that Paarthurnax said and I found a few different things. whenever Paarthurnax or Alduin say "Joorre" they pronounce it as "Joor" though for other plurals they change the pronunciation. Alduin also says "Sillesejoor" with a /j/, though he does not pronounce the e between the s and j so that makes some sense. The same happens when Paarth says "Hofkahsejun" meaning dragonsreach. He also says "Bronjun" meaning jarl with a /j/ sound, so how is that rule not canon? I do seem to have been mistaken though, it seems that the only times when the /j/ sound are used is when following a consonant or the silent vowels in compound words.

Ammendment 1:
I was on the memrise canon course and I finally reached the compound words section. The given pronunciation of bronjun was with a /dʒ/ sound, even though Paarth says it with a /j/. Here is Paarth saying it with a /j/ https://youtu.be/-1Oe7ofllL0?t=12m29s
And here is Paarth saying hofkasejun with a /j/ https://youtu.be/-1Oe7ofllL0?t=11m18s