The Door into Sunset (56 page)
But there are a few general hints for the determined. The main stress of a word almost always goes on the first vowel or diphthong to make an appearance. In words beginning with one or more consonants (
nn’s’raihle
), the rule remains the same, but all consonants preceding the diphthong or vowel must be separately pronounced.
Nn’s’raihle
therefore has, not three syllables, but six: approximated for ease of human pronunciation, “en-ne-s-R’EYE-heh-leh”. This last example demonstrates how it sometimes helps, when trying to speak Dracon, to “fake” a vowel or two in a long string of consonants; even in a short one—like the honorific/species-descriptive
lhhw
, which can safely be pronounced “lhew”, as long as the sound is kept breathy. In the case of multiple vowels, the multiplicity is intended to indicate unusual length—of duration rather than sound. Singing the vowels in question may help, though it by no means makes them last as long as they’re really supposed to. Dracon is a leisurely language, as might be expected when members of the species that speaks it can live a thousand years before shedding their skins for the last time and going
mdahaih
, at which time (free of the hectic demands of living bodies) they settle down to work on complete mastery of the tongue. Humans, who have less time, or more on their schedules, must just do the best they can.
Diane Duane has been a writer of science fiction, fantasy, TV and film for more than thirty years.
Besides the 1980’s creation of the
Young Wizards fantasy series
for which she’s best known, the “Middle Kingdoms” epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek
TM
universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a considerable amount of time on the New York
Times
Bestseller List, and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there.
She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of more than twenty years, the screenwriter and novelist
Peter Morwood.
A more complete biography is
here:
DD’s full bibliography / filmography is
here.
Her favorite color is blue, her favorite food is a weird kind of Swiss scrambled-potato dish called
maluns
, she was born in a Year of the Dragon, and her sign is “Runway 24 Left, Hold For Clearance.” She can often be found Tweeting about this and that at
@dduane
.
For more info on other works by Diane Duane, visit