Individual characters in the game pronounce things differently when speaking the Dragon Language, and people have a lot of questions about that. What is acceptable? Can people have their personal accents/dialects? Is any pronunciation better than others?

In an attempt to help out, I have taken notes on the pronunciations of the main dragon-voiced people in the game; Paarthurnax, Alduin, Odahviing, Sahloknir, the Greybeards, and even The Song of the Dragonborn.

The notes, in seperate posts, are a bit tedious, so here is a very basic overveiw of my findings and interpretation:

• Paarthurnax is the only one to use ah gutturaly, but doesn't always.
• The plural suffix is often cut off in speech and is not pronounced.
• Sillesejoor is pronounced /sɪlɪsjÊŠÉ™r/, “silisyour”, by both Alduin and Odahviing.
• Suggests that any two-of-same-letter diphthong may be pronounced as if it had an apostrophe ("o'o", "i'i", etc.).
• Greybeard's and The Song of the Dragonborn are largely "by the book"
• "j" is also pronounced as /Ê’/
• Odahviing seems to pronounce things in a more lax/casual way
• Not much is known about Sahloknir's pronunciations; he does not speak much at all in the game (he has one line).

Here is my interepretation/possible explaination:

These individuals have all developed their knowledge of the language in different ways:

• Alduin has been overlord for a long time, then cast forward into time.
• Paarthurnax has been in solitude for a long time, not speaking to others.
• Odahviing was a servent to Alduin, so may have often come in contact with many other servents, therefore developing a more lax/casual pronunciation.

These situations seemed to have shaped their pronunciations in different directions.

My following posts to this thread are the individual notes. I mainly just took notes on things that stood out as potentially questionable or not "by the book" pronunciations. Please understand that I am not a linguist by any means, so my IPA pronunciations may be off. I did the best that I could with a chart. The left of the colons are the Dovahzul and the right part of the colons are the notes on it.

Paarthurnax:

-emphasis after every last vowel in sentence or phrase (in English, too)

-ah: largely /ə/ or /aː/?, also can be /aːx/ (sometimes at end of sentence or phrase and depending on placement when internal)

-no difference in pronunciation with plurals and singulars; plural suffix oft not pronounced, with exeptions

-aa: /É’/, "lOt"

-joor: rhymes with English "door"

-hadrimme: “-mme” pronounced "mey"

-q: /k/ when first letter of word

-ii: /iː/

-k: /x/?

-dez: /dez/

-motmahus: /moÊŠtmaxu:s/

-rok:  /rÉ’k/, "rahk"

-ni mey: /niː/ + /meɪ/

-r: rolled at beginnig of word with alveolar trill (in rinik)

-krosis: /kroʊsɪs/

-monahven: /moʊnɒvɛn/

-zok /zoÊŠk/

-kelle: /kɛleɪ/

-meyye: /meɪjeɪ/

-suleyk: /suːjeɪk/, “soo-yayk”

-amativ: /ɑːmɑːtiːv/

-krent: r rolled with alveolar trill

-tiid-ahraan: glottal “ah” and rolled “r”

-dovahkiin: /doʊvəkiːn/

-sahrot: /səxroʊt/

-vomindok: /voʊmɛndɒk/, /ɛ/ is strange

-thu’um: /θuːm/, no glottal stop

-rotmulaag: /roʊtmuːlɑːg/ and / rotmuːlɑːg/

Alduin:

-no guttural

-dovahkiin: /doÊŠvÊŒkiːn/, “ah” pronunciation, every time

-ulse: /ÊŒlsÉ™/

-geh: /gÉ›/

-zu’u: /zuːʔuː/, with glottal stop, common with him

-do: /duː/, “doo”

-hi: /haɪ/, pronounced as “high”, repeted

-joor: /Ê’uːr/, “j” pronunciation

-joorre: /juːr/, plural suffix is not pronounced

-losei: /luːsaɪ/

-unslaad: /ÊŒnslɑːd/, “u” pronunciation

-aav: /əʔəv/, with glottal stop; http://youtu.be/PRvbKgXjdbU?t=51s

-faal: /fÊŒl/, “aa” pronunciation

-nivahriin: /niːvrÉ™riːn/, added r after “v”, likely just a mistake

-Paarthurnax: /pɑːxɑːrθuːnæks/, “paharthunax”, interesting “aa” pronunciation and (slight?) lack of “r”, repeted

-sillesejoor: /sɪlɪsjÊŠÉ™r/, “silisyour”, pronounced same as Odahviing

-zok: /zɔːk/

-sahrot: /sɑːrÉ’t/, “o” pronunciation

Odahviing:

-no guttural

-double-letter diphthongs sometimes held out?

-grind: /grɪnd/

-drun: /druːn/

-dovah: /doʊvɑː/, no guttural

-zu’u: /zuːʔuː/, with glottal stop, repeted, pronounced without glottal stop once

-thu’um: /θuːʌm/, “thoo+um”, split into two syllables between u’s, repeated

-siiv: /siːɪv/, “see-iv”; split into two sylables between I’s, like “si’iv”

-Alduin: /ælduːɪn/, “al+doo+inn”, though pronounced “al+doo+een” in English

-rinik: /rÉ›niːk/, different “i” pronunciations

-vahzah: /vɑːzɑː/, no guttural

-bovul: /boÊŠvɑːl/, “u” pronounced as “a”

-meyye: /maɪjeɪ/, “my+ay”, unique

-sillesejoor: /sɪlɪsjÊŠÉ™r/, “silisyour”, Pronounced same as Alduin

-pah ok: /pɑːʔoʊk/, two words seperated with glottal stop

-middovahhe: /mɪdÉ’veɪ/, “midavey”, shortened

-lahvraan: /lɑːvɑːrɑːn/, added syllable between v and r (flows better?)

-til: /tiːɪl/, inflection on “i”

-hin: /hɪn/

-tiid: /tɪʔɪd/, glottal stop, as “ti’id” http://youtu.be/vOPgC24HYv4?t=4m45s

-uth: /Ê”uːθ/, glottal stop in beginning

-stinselok: /stɪnsɛlɒk/

Sahloknir:

-no guttural

-Alduin: /ÊŒlduːiːn/, “a” pronunciation

-suleyksejun: /suːjiːksɛʒuːn/, unique

Greybeards Alltogether:

-no guttural

-strundu’ul: no glottal stop

-naal: /nÊŒl/?

-thu’umu: /θuːʔuːmuː/, with glottal stop

-dahmaan: /dɑːmɑːn/

Song of the Dragonborn:

-no guttural

-jul: /ʒuːl/

-jun: /Ê’ÊŒn/

-stin: /stɪn/

Great writeup! Nothing much to add here except that it's accurate as far as I've heard.

I'm not sure I hear the glottal stop in Alduin's aav. It sounds pretty straightforward

I listened to it again, and the glottal stop in aav is definately there! To make it clearer, try turning up the volume. I had to do that several times in order to clarify some pronunciations.

Alduin's pronunciation of Paarthurnax:

http://youtu.be/PRvbKgXjdbU?t=1m44s

http://youtu.be/PRvbKgXjdbU?t=2m23s

http://youtu.be/PRvbKgXjdbU?t=3m30s

The last one is different and the "r" is much more... there.

Hmm, this is the aav at :51, yes? I don't hear a glottal stop at all.

For comparison, here's the waveform of Alduin's glottal stop in zu'u. The red line marks the glottal stop, with two visually distinct syllables:

Here's the waveform of aav uv dir. The wave form of aav is before the red line:

Each word is visually distinct and you can even see that the v in aav and uv have the same general wave pattern. Unlike the first waveform there is no glottal stop.

The glottal stop in zu'u is much more pronounced and much longer than in aav; aav is said much faster. I can hear the stop clearly, I'm sure of it. Perhaps the reverberation in his aav is causing interference with the wave form?

Hmm. Well listening with headphones, I hear ... something. I also hear it in uv. I wouldn't call it a glottal stop though. Remember that a glottal stop is a full obstruction, as would happen if you said "uh-oh!" I don't think whatever is happening in aav and uv is significant enough to label as a glottal stop.

I hear a full, yet quick glottal stop. Exactly as would be in "uh-oh". And I sure do hear it very clearly with my computer speakers, my phone speakers, and my headphones. I can't prove this, but I assure you it's there!