Skywind: Morrowind reenvisioned! 2024
Alar for Ashlander (all gender)
Ashlanders should follow the same accent guide as regular Dunmer, but with a few changes.
Whereas “House” Dunmer avoid the rhotic R, Ashlanders should have a lightly rolled R instead. Their Cyrodilic (English) recitation should be choppier to help distinguish them from the other Dunmer. Depending on how good they are with Cyrodilic (English) their accent may even sound Dothraki or Mongolian.
Speaking native Dunmeri words, the choppiness is gone from Ashlanders, and should become something more akin to Dothraki, or Polish (many of our Ashlander Voice Actors are Polish - so this is just a thing that happened).
Ashlander females need to crank up the elderly wisdom vibe to 11. Ashlander males will sound dismissive, suspicious, and cold when speaking to non-Ashlanders.
Dunmeri Pronunciation: Foremost, the vowels. There are 6 major vowels, and they're almost universally spoken in the same way:
A as in father ( ä )
E as in egg ( ĕ )
I as in pig ( ɪ )
O as in home ( ō )
U as in rule ( u )
Y as in very (or any word ending in 'ly' - sort of an ee sound) ( ē )
Dunmeri vowels are to be pronounced discretely from each other, as in Japanese. Karaoke, for instance, maintains the a and the o in the middle as distinct sounds - same for the Dunmeri word 'Oad', meaning harbor. It's not just a long O sound (like toad), it's long-O and then A as in 'father' - two syllables. Double vowels of the same type are to be held for a slightly longer duration - again as in Japanese. The Dunmeri alcoholic beverage 'greef' is not to be pronounced with a long 'E' sound, but rather E as egg. Just hold the vowel sound a bit longer.
Three exceptions to these rules are: An "ay" together will have a long "A" sound (as in "say", ā ), rather than separate ah-ee sounds; an "ai" together will have a long "i" sound (as in "die" or "sigh", aɪ ), rather than separate "ah-ih" sounds; and an "i" at the end of a word (excluding when it is part of an "ai" pair) will have a long "e" sound (similar to real-world names like Bobbi, ē ). Other exceptions would be explicitly noted in your script (e.g. Gnisis: KNEE-sis).
Dunmeri consonants are the same as English consonants for the most part, with a few quirks. Double 'L's you can pronounce just like regular 'L'. The name Llethri would be normal 'L' sound, 'e' as egg, 'th' as 'thistle', 'i' as pig.
Please read both the English and Dunmeri lines below. The Dunmeri translations are provided for context, but should not be read.
- female adult
- male adult
- female senior
- male senior
- polish
- neutral (polish)
- ukrainian
- bosnian
[Dialogue, Male English] - Ho, look! An outlander. Are you lost, poor thing? Did the big, bad beasts bite you, so you need a healer? Or do you need our trader, so he can take your gold and give you things we would throw away or give to our guar? [Dunmeri] - Osuhn harig bahr sey. Oas edur ot errat daesohn, lacor osuhn. En oas edur neif aln am as bivri osuhn ean shotelaka ghar isk malfurdigh bal. Ju'okor oas homa el, as fahraj ebahr udirif opumelu. (Translation:We have no other option. He’s an outcast, just like us. And he’s probably the only friend we’re going to find on this damned island. Besides, the way he tells it, the killing was perfectly justified). ---------- [Dialogue Female English] - South and west of Kushtashpi, the old Daedric place west of Ahemmusa camp, is the entrance to an old cavern called Sanit. That is where they found two hunters dead, their flesh white and bloated by the corprus. That is not a place where a wise man would go. [Dunmeri] - Ohn ur'ish eshtik sanaachlan? Ohn have'an damjulan cin gher as kefri calhnsan. Neibahri ohn juhlmiar el eri os balmari lah marida sanaachlan et ohn maridich ohm shoviya? (Translation: You need more spearheads? You’ve gone through four in the last month. Perhaps you would like me to craft some practice spearheads so you can hone your aim?)
[Combat taunts, English] - You n'wah!- This is the end of you, s'wit.- You will suffer greatly. [Dunmeri] - Ohn n'wah!- Isk edur ohm dra, s'wit.- Ohn merakhen gah hadarsha!
[Taking damage]- Hurragh!- Groan.- AAAIIEE.- Umpfh.
