Consonants
Despite the many similarities in the speech sound anatomy of piglins and humans, what differences are present have led to-- what is for us-- a quirky phonological inventory. American English is used here and onwards as the point of phonological reference. Definitions provided are basic glosses.
Familiar consonants
| Letter | IPA | English Approx. | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | /b/ | bedrock |
bej (mushroom) |
| bh | /bʱ/ | Like b, but with burst of air, like the "p" in "pet" | bhí (with) |
| d | /d/ | dirt | dā (I) |
| dh | /dʱ/ | Like /d/, but with a burst of air | dhe (in) |
| g | /g/ | gold | guagr̄ (glowstone) |
| gh | /gʱ/ | Like g, but... you know | gho (we) |
| m | /m/ | mushroom | mînh (dance) |
| n | /n/ | nether | nur (it) |
| nh | /ɲ/ | lasanga | nhî (test) |
| ng | /ŋ/ | twisting | ngau (that) |
| j | /d͡ʒ~d͡ʑ/ | jukebox, with often with tongue against palate | jà'o (bread) |
| r | /ɹ/ | root | re (oil) |
| h | /h~ɦ/ | hopper, often with voicebox activated | háu (wind) |
/bɹ/, /dɹ/, /gɹ/, and /d͡ʒɹ/ (spelt 'jr') are the only valid consonant clusters, found at the beginning of syllables.
Of these consonants, only nasals, /d͡ʒ/, and /ɹ/ the following can close a syllable.
Special consonants
The following sounds have unique phonotactics and have no equivalent in English.
| Letter | IPA | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ’ | /ʕ/ | The voiced pharyngeal fricative only found in-between vowels. Start by saying "ah", then push back the root of your tongue. | rê’a (to eat) |
| hg | /ʀ↓/ | The archetypal snort, transcribed here as an ingressive voiced uvular trill. Open your mouth, then inhale roughly with a constrained throat. Occurs monosyllabically (only on its own). | rý-hg! (happy) |
| hh | /h↓/ | Like /h/, but... reversed. Think a sharp inhale or inverse sigh. Like above, 'hh' occurs monosyllabically. | hh-hg! (must) |
Hypens are used to seperate 'hh' and 'hg' syllables from others in the same word.