Category:Language/Kobaian

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[edit] The Kobaïan Script

Kobaïan is a language invented by French composer and drummer Christian Vander, and mostly used by his band Magma. The Kobaïan script uses roman characters and makes heavy use of diacritics. The following image illustrates this:

Some of the resulting characters can not even by transcribed by using Unicode. Therefore, the following approach has been taken when digitizing Kobaïan lyrics:

• Diacritics are kept if the combined characters are present in Unicode.
• "W with slash on top" is simply transcribed as "W".
• The ligature of "/" with "ë" is transcribed as "/ë".
• "S with crown(?)" is transcribed as "Š", which is the Unicode character closest to it.
• "small-caps G with horns(?)" is transcribed as "G", even inside a word.

[edit] Pronunciation

There is no official guide to the pronunciation of Kobaïan. The following has been deduced by comparing the printed lyrics with the actual performances:

• "ï" is a clear "i".
• "ë" varies between "eh", "ä", and "ö" (the latter referring to German umlauts).
• "ä", "ö", "ü" are like "ah", "oh","uh" (i.e. not like German umlauts).
• "W with slash on top" is like a regular "W".
• "small-caps G with horns" is like a regular "G".
• "/ë" is an open "O" (somewhere between "Å" and "O").
• "Š" is like "sh".
• "§" is a very sharp "S".

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