Great article! I’m curious about the use of apostrophes to denote a glottal stop, like the Arabic “bi’r” — obviously not common in English, but sometimes pops up in fantasy as a way to make something sound “foreign” like your example from Martin. There’s probably a whole line of analysis about apostrophes being a sign of Orientalism among western fantasists.
Would also note that Cthulhu doesn’t normally have an apostrophe, and R’lyeh is spelled a bit differently from how you’ve got it (I’d guess because the common pronunciation popularized by Sandy Petersen in the role playing game doesn’t quite line up with the spelling).
Enjoying the series! Thanks for sharing your explorations.
Oh, you're right about R'lyeh! The original spelling actually makes my point for me better so thank you. Cause "r" and "l" are both similar in manner of articulation (the air flows out on either side of the tongue) so having one next to the other without some conjunctive/dissociative element would just cause them to melt into each other
Oh yes! I unconsciously will sometimes read a fantasy apostrophe as a glottal stop, precisely from that convention of writing Arabic. Sometimes too, I'll interpret it as some other kind of "stoppage." If it follows a plosive consonant (a consonant characterized by the rapid block and release of air) like "t, d, k, g, p, b," it comes off as an unreleased sound to me. That is, the air flow is never let out. Or if it follows a consonant with more open air-flow like "r, l" I imagine the consonant as being much more "tense" and "vibratey."
Great article! I’m curious about the use of apostrophes to denote a glottal stop, like the Arabic “bi’r” — obviously not common in English, but sometimes pops up in fantasy as a way to make something sound “foreign” like your example from Martin. There’s probably a whole line of analysis about apostrophes being a sign of Orientalism among western fantasists.
Would also note that Cthulhu doesn’t normally have an apostrophe, and R’lyeh is spelled a bit differently from how you’ve got it (I’d guess because the common pronunciation popularized by Sandy Petersen in the role playing game doesn’t quite line up with the spelling).
Enjoying the series! Thanks for sharing your explorations.
Oh, you're right about R'lyeh! The original spelling actually makes my point for me better so thank you. Cause "r" and "l" are both similar in manner of articulation (the air flows out on either side of the tongue) so having one next to the other without some conjunctive/dissociative element would just cause them to melt into each other
Oh yes! I unconsciously will sometimes read a fantasy apostrophe as a glottal stop, precisely from that convention of writing Arabic. Sometimes too, I'll interpret it as some other kind of "stoppage." If it follows a plosive consonant (a consonant characterized by the rapid block and release of air) like "t, d, k, g, p, b," it comes off as an unreleased sound to me. That is, the air flow is never let out. Or if it follows a consonant with more open air-flow like "r, l" I imagine the consonant as being much more "tense" and "vibratey."