L10
Speaking the Code
Somka was made to be said by any mouth: eight consonants, five pure vowels, and a rhythm you already know from the back cover.
| Sound | Say it as |
|---|---|
| a, e, i, o, u | Pure vowels, as in Spanish or Italian, never swallowed |
| k, t, m, n, s | As in English |
| r | A light tap, as in Spanish pero; rolled when it is doubled or stressed |
| kh | The rasp in Scottish loch |
| the catch (') | The break in uh-oh; inside a word the romanisation writes it as an apostrophe |
Syllables are a consonant and a vowel, sometimes with one consonant after: so, som, ka, kan. Two consonants meet only across a syllable: som·nu, rem·in. A word may begin with a vowel; it starts with a light catch that disappears when you speak quickly.
n before k or kh is said as ng: kan ka sounds like kang ka.
The stress falls on the first syllable of every root, and the little words (ka, kha, na, se, ke) are unstressed. That gives the creed its beat: SOM ka RE-tu.
Many short words look like English ones and are not. no means blood, so means ledger, to means rise, and me means and.
The author is recording every syllable, the words and the phrases. Until the recordings are here, the stress marks are your guide.