Ahrens Labs

Kyrachyng • Lesson 1

Alphabet and Sounds

Learn the writing system first. This lesson organizes the alphabet into sound groups, then gives quick practice steps before moving into sentence lessons.

1. Learn the Core Letter Groups

Kyrachyng letters map to specific IPA sounds. Learn these sound mappings first, since they are the foundation for reading and writing in Kyrachyng.

Consonants

B = b = /b/
C = k = /k/
D = d = /d/
G = g = /g/
M = m = /m/
N = n = /n/
W = ng = /ŋ/
P = p = /p/
R = r = /r/
S = zh = /ʒ/
T = t = /t/
Z = z = /z/
J = ch = /tʃ/
H = th = /ð/

Vowels and diphthongs

A = a = /æ/
I = ai = /ai/
Q = oh = /oʊ/
O = awe = /ɑ/
Y = oi = /ɔɪ/

Kyrachyng letters: B C D G M N W P R S T Z J H A I Q O Y
IPA sequence: /b k d g m n ŋ p r ʒ t z tʃ ð æ ai oʊ ɑ ɔɪ/
Open Alphabet Explorer

2. Capitalization

In Kyrachyng, letters are capitalized by adding a dot somewhere above or below the letter. Each letter has a specific place where the dot is put and in the alphabet page you can see the difference between the capital, listed first, and the lowercase, listed second for each letter. There are two different things that capitalization can communicate:

1. Plurality:

There are three different pluralities in Kyrachyng unlike the two in English. These consist of singular, plural, and extra plural. Singular is signified by no capitalizations in the word, plural is signified by a capital letter at the beginning of the word, and extra plural is signified by a capital letter at the beginning and end of the word. The reason that someone would use extra plural rather than just plural is to emphasize that there is a lot of the plural noun. There are no specific rules for when you would use extra plural rather than just plural it is up to the speaker to decide when its appropriate.

Singular style (no capitalizations): chair = griztan
Plural style (first letter capitalized): Chair = Griztan
Extra plural style (first and last capitalized): ChaiR = GriztaN
2. Proper nouns:

Proper nouns are words that are the name of a specific person, place, or thing. In Kyrachyng, the last letter of proper nouns are capitalized which is slightly different from English.

Proper noun example: Chicago = chicagO

3. Quick Alphabet Quiz

Choose the correct IPA sound for each Kyrachyng letter.

1) What IPA sound does W represent?


Expected answer
/ŋ/ (the “ng” sound)
2) What IPA sound does J represent?


Expected answer
/tʃ/
3) What IPA sound does H represent?


Expected answer
/ð/
4) What IPA sound does Q represent?


Expected answer
/oʊ/
5) In Kyrachyng nouns, what are the two things that capitalization can represent?


Expected answer
Plurality and proper nouns

Lesson progress

When you are finished with this lesson, mark it complete so the path on Lessons Home lights up and Lesson 2 unlocks.