Parseltongue: And how to speak it

Chapter 2: Pronunciation

First, let's go over the range of sounds that are used in this snakelike language.
I'll be using a lot of fancy words to describe the sounds available in Parseltongue. They're defined down in the glossary if you get lost, but don't worry. The sound they make is more important than the term used to describe it, and knowing the term is not required for class, but will be extra credit.
Most words can be broken down into syllables including a plosive or fricative consonant and a vowel. Fricatives such as s, f, v, h, and ʃ are often extended, producing that snakelike hiss often associated with Parseltongue. (Note that ʃ is called 'esh' and pronounced like 'sh'; see its glossary entry at the bottom of the lesson.) The lateral consonant is used only to shorten the 's' fricative, producing the shorter 'sl' sound rather than the usual extended Ssss.
The muted form of the alveolar trill and the alveolar nasal are other commonly used sounds in Parseltongue.
Plosives: p, b, t, d, k, g
Fricatives: f, v, s, h, th, ʃ
Lateral Consonant: l
Alveolar Trill: r
Alveolar Nasal: n
Vowels: a, e, i, o, u
I should add a quick note about vowels: the vowels spoken by most snakes in Parseltongue are barely audible and mainly serve as breaks between the consonants that make up the core of the language sounds. The standard way to transcribe Parseltongue vowels for use by English speakers is to write the vowels as they would be pronounced in Latin. A rough Latin pronunciation guide can be found here for reference - and when an English speaker uses a single vowel to represent a vowel sound, they usually have one of the following sounds in mind (some of which are more common than others):
a - like the "a" in "father" (more common) or like the "a" in "cat"
e - like the "a" in "ate", the "e" in "get", or the "e" in "the" (less common)
i - like the "ee" in "free" or like the "i" in "kid"
o - like the "o" in "go" or like the "o" in "not" (less common)
u - like the "u" in "put", the "u" in "sun", the "i" in "kid" (less common), or the "oo" in "too" (less common)
Most typically in Parseltongue you get sounds by combining a consonant with a vowel. [Examples: fa, so, ʃa, ko.] But occasionally you may have to combine consonants to produce an affricate. This is typically done by combining a plosive and a fricative.
Affricates: ts, pʃ, tʃ
-"ts" is pronounced as in the English word "ants"
-"pʃ" is the sound of the "psh" in the exclamation "Pshaw"
-"tʃ" is the sound of "ch" in the English word "cheese"
​Similarly, some vowels will be combined to form a diphthong.
Diphthongs: ae, ai, au, ei, oe, ou
The diphthongs are normally pronounced as follows:
ae - like the word "I"
ai - like the word "I"
au - like the word "ow"
ei - like the "ei" in the word "eight"
oe - like the "oy" in the word "boy"
ou (occasionally recorded as "uu")- like the word "you" without the 'y'
​However, some consonant sounds do NOT exist in Parseltongue! The list below gives some sounds that do not exist in the language and various substitutions you can use instead.
​Sounds not used in Parseltongue
c - substitute k instead (if it sounds like an 's' you can just use the 's').
j (or 'soft g') - substitute tʃ (pronounced like the English 'ch'; see Note 2 below) or ʃ instead.
l - substitute sl instead.
m - substitute n instead.
q - substitute k instead.
w - substitute v instead (but also see Note 3 below).
x - substitute ʃ instead.
y - substitute i instead.
z - substitute s instead.
THREE CLARIFYING NOTES ON CONSONANT SOUNDS
1) Although this lesson had previously described "th" as an affricate, the two letters represent a single fricative sound familiar to English speakers. The sound made by these letters is always the sound at the end of the word "with" (or at the beginning of the word "think") - NOT the buzzing sound at the beginning of the word "the" (or in the middle of the word "wither")!
2) The "ch" sound, as found in names like "Charlie" and words like "chess", is ALWAYS denoted as "tʃ" in our transcription system for Parseltongue. German speakers may recognize this sound as being spelled "T-S-C-H" in that language.
3) While English speakers with consonantal "w" sounds in their name traditionally use the "v" sound to replace the "w" sound in Parseltongue, it is not unheard of to use the "ou" sound (as in the vowel sound ending the English word "you") instead (especially if the "w" sound in question is not at the very beginning or end of the word or name). I should also point out that some dialects of Parseltongue, spoken by whipsnakes, contain a 'whipping' sound that is best approximated by making an 'h' sound and, in the middle of the sound, moving your lips as if you were going to make the 'w' sound. This sound is denoted as "hw" and is used, for example, in the word hwipsnek​ (which is what whipsnakes call themselves).
We will finish the Pronunciation section with two more conventions on how we express Parseltongue sounds in the English alphabet (it should be stressed that there is no such thing as a Parseltongue alphabet; the symbols above are purely for helping humans understand the sounds in the language.)
1) It is considered very poor form to use the same symbol twice in a row in Parseltongue - with an occasional exception for the archaic form "uu".
2) Normally, if two vowels are next to each other, they are pronounced together as a diphthong. However, if you want to pronounce two vowels separately, use the symbol ' to separate out the vowels.
For examples using the two conventions above, look at the "Names" section.