# Sound and Spelling

# Overview

Names follow the sounds of Duskaran Creole (see the Language Handbook).

- Five vowels: *a, e, i, o, u*. No *y* as a vowel, no *ae*.
- Simple syllables: consonant plus vowel, with an optional final consonant (*Tan-ko*, *Mei-lin*, *Ka-li-naw*).
- *ŋ* is the sound of "si**ng**". *j* is the sound of "**j**ar". *sh* and *ch* as in English.
- No *th*, *kh*, *zh*, *x*, *q*, and no clusters such as *thr* or *vy*.
- Old Mandarin names are respelled: *zh* becomes *j* (Zhang: *Jaŋ*), *x* becomes *sh* (Xu: *Shu*), final *ng* becomes *ŋ* (Wang: *Waŋ*).
- Two to four syllables for names of the settler stocks; one or two for names of the crew stocks.

Names are not marked for gender. The Creole has no grammatical gender, and any name can belong to anyone. Heritage names keep a loose traditional leaning that a writer may follow or ignore.