View source for Universal Transcription System (Jörg Rhiemeier)

For many years, [[User:WeepingElf|Jörg Rhiemeier]] used a '''Universal Transcription System''' to transcribe all his conlangs.  Today, with a more refined understanding of [[phonology]], he no longer uses this system as such, but designs transcriptions according to the phonological needs of the languages, though some of the transcriptions Jörg uses for his conlangs are still loosely based on it.

The transcription system is charted below.  The sounds represented in the scheme are essentially a union of the English and German phoneme inventories, which means that many possible human speech sounds are not represented in the "Universal" Transcription System.

==Consonants==

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!&nbsp;
!Labial
!Dental
!Alveolar
!Postalveolar
!Palatal
!Velar
!Glottal
|-
!Voiceless stops
|p
|colspan="3"|t
|&nbsp;
|k
|'
|-
!Voiced stops
|b
|colspan="3"|d
|&nbsp;
|g
|&nbsp;
|-
!Voiceless fricatives
|f
|th
|s
|sh
|jh
|kh
|h
|-
!Voiced fricatives
|v
|dh
|z
|zh
|&nbsp;
|gh
|&nbsp;
|-
!Nasals
|m
|colspan="3"|n
|nj
|ng
|&nbsp;
|-
!Laterals
|&nbsp;
|colspan="3"|l
|lj
|&nbsp;
|&nbsp;
|-
!Rhotics
|&nbsp;
|colspan="3"|r
|&nbsp;
|&nbsp;
|&nbsp;
|-
!Semivowels
|w
|colspan="3"|&nbsp;
|j
|&nbsp;
|&nbsp;
|-
|}

The letters '''c''', '''q''' and '''x''' were only used in the following ''synonyms'':

* '''c''' = '''ts'''
* '''ch''' = '''tsh'''
* '''qu''' = '''kw'''
* '''x''' = '''ks'''
* '''xh''' = '''ksh'''

In an early version, '''r''' was used for a voiced velar fricative (later changed to '''gh'''), reflecting an idiosyncrasy of the author's native idiolect!

Obviously, this misses several entire places (e.g., retroflex, uvular, pharyneal) and manners of articulation (e.g., lateral fricatives, ejectives, implosives, clicks) of whose existence the author wasn't aware back then.

==Vowels==

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!&nbsp;
!Front<br>unround
!Front<br>round
!Central<br>unround
!Back<br>round
|-
!High
|i
|y
|&nbsp;
|u
|-
!Mid
|e
|oe
|&nbsp;
|o
|-
!Low
|ae
|&nbsp;
|a
|ao
|-
|}

Again, many possible vowels are not covered.

[[Category:Conscripts]]