Adoël – ah-doh-el
The Adoël have their own sort of language, which involves loosely connected strings of sound with no distinguishable words. It is a very abstract language, fluent in expressing emotions and general concepts, but not useful for giving specific descriptions or instructions of any kind. They speak the common tongue with an accent that comes from older versions of the common language, a form studied by scholars but not spoken by anyone in the time of the Adoël.
The most notable feature of their distinct accent is that they tend to pronounce every syllable, even in words where you normally would not. So, for example, the name Raendel would be pronounced like ray-en-del by the Adoël themselves, especially in formal settings. Non-Adoël people tend to slur the syllables – Prince Kenan pronounces Raendel’s name more like rain-duhl, when he doesn’t just shorten it to Rae, which he pronounces ray.
Pronunciation of vowel sounds in Adoël names
Every vowel makes a distinct sound, there are no diphthongs, but the sound of some vowels changes depending on whether it is followed by a consonant or another vowel.
A – when followed by a consonant, ah as in water – when followed by another vowel, ay as in maze.
Adoël – ah do el. Raendel – ray en del. Aeriel – ay-eh-ree-el.
E – always pronounced eh as in wet.
I – when followed by a consonant, ih as in sit – when followed by another vowel, ee as in pizza.
Miriel – mih ree el.
O – when followed by a consonant, ah as in olive – when followed by another vowel, oh as in open.
Othniel – awth nee el. Joel – joh el.
U – only ever used in front of another vowel, yoo as in cube.
Penuel – pehn yoo el.