Your Name When Speaking Xi’an

Many people who are learning uo’aXy’an are eager to know how to introduce themselves in the
language. They want to know how to filter their name through Xi’an phonology or to figure out if they
should try to translate any inherent meaning in their names into Xi’an syllables.

The Language Overview Document has a good deal of information about how Xi’an native names and
introduction conventions work, so this article should be considered supplementary to that.

Relevant Background On Names in Xi’an Society

The Xi’an essentially do not care about your family unless you are famous or the particular Xi'an with
whom you are speaking is a student of Human history and extremely knowledgeable regarding our
genealogy. Their “everyday” names translate most pragmatically into the equivalents of Teacher
Mary, or Cook John, or Pilot Harry. So, more than getting your family name pronounced correctly, it’s
strongly recommended that you learn how to describe your role in Human society. That is something
that they do care about and will ask about if you do not include it in your self introduction.

If you are unemployed (having lost a job) or yet-to-be employed (due to the fact that you have just
graduated from school, etc.) then your role is likely either nyayokran (person not currently doing
brain-centic “white collar” work) or nyayo’h.ūn (person not currently doing manual “blue collar”
labor). Many other societal roles are listed in the Overview Document and the dictionary. If you
cannot find the appropriate term, please request that it be added to the dictionary. In extremely rare
cases, Humans have been quasi-adopted into Xi’an Lines as a member of a Xi’an House. But, if this
is your situation, you’re likely already fluent in Xi’an.

The Xi’an Empire is vast and their culture is ancient. Individuals from far-flung worlds have birth
names that can vary wildly from those that are common in the Proper language. Because of this, the
written language has evolved to offer a “vowel muting” symbol that corresponds roughly to the
numeral for “zero.” This allows them to write series of letters that normal syllable blocks cannot
accommodate natively in Xi’an Proper. Luckily for Humans, we can also use it. So, if you have a
name like Livingston or Galadriel or Bruce that contain sounds that the Xi’an don’t normally put
together in Proper, there are convoluted mechanisms for you spell those somewhat accurately.
However, that does not mean that the Xi’an will be able to learn those spellings easily and nor does it
guarantee that they will pronounce them correctly; especially if they do not speak UEE Standard.
Proceed with patience.
The Role of the Service Dialect In Pronouncing Human Names

Fortunately for us Humans, the Xi’an Service Dialect has many of the sounds of our languages that
the Proper language does not. And, almost every Xi’an citizen speaks the Service Dialect fluently.
Here are the sounds normally produced in the Service Dialect for the following Proper kyexiin
(letters).

p k t s h m n ng th l r thl x xy ch kl kr y u_

onset b g d z (_) m n ng th r r dr ĵ jh ĵ gr gr y v_
ŋ θ ɾ ɾ dɾ͡ dʒ͡ ʒ dʒ͡ gɾ͡ gɾ͡ j v/β

coda – g – – – n n n d l/r r – – – – – – – –

This inventory of dialect sounds combined with the sounds of Xi’an Proper means that almost any
Xi’an native speaker can produce almost all of the bare consonant sounds of UEE Standard.
However, that does not mean that they can properly pronounce “squirrel” (/ˈskw rəl/) due to the
complex combinations of consonants and rhotacization and pseudo-vowels that occur in it. Squirrel
would likely come out roughly s.âk’uāl if tackled by a Xi’an trying to imitate a Human. They also lack
several of our common vowels and must rely on substitutions if they are not very well trained in UEE
Standard.

‘a’ in cat (/æ/) ››››› e

‘ou” in cough (/ɔ/) ››››› o or ao

‘i’ in sit (/ /) ››››› i

‘ur’ in burp (/ɚ/) ››››› ā

Another unusual artifact of how the Service Dialect shows up in our phonology is the combination of
pu_ in Proper. In the Service Dialect u_ produces v_. ua /wa/ yields /va/ or for some speakers /βa/.
Therefore pua ›››› /b ͡βa/ which we typically hear as /fa/. This accounts for how several Xi’an place
names ended up spelled with the letter ‘f’ in UEE Standard. If your name is Phil, you’ll come closest to
getting it pronounced correctly if you spell it Puil.

The Xi’an are also universally bad at pronouncing a voiced TH (/ð/). They pronounce “the” as thie(f)
(/θiː/) in most cases. Occasionally it becomes zā (/zaː).

Other Factors

Most Xi’an names (even when ‘exotic’ from remote dialects) are still only one or two syllables. If you
want to make your name approachable to them, you will find a version of your name that fits this
pattern. If you are male and your name is a single syllable, the Xi’an will be even more likely to
remember it if you set it at a true low pitch when saying and spelling it in Xi’an. Examples:
K.iith (Keith), T.ām (Tom ), P.il/B.il (Bill), Dr.ū (Drew (note: spelled Thl.ū). If your name is Anthony
En”tho’n.ii) it will be more Xi’an-friendly if you just go with To’nii when speaking with them. If your name
(E
is Bethany (Pe’thanii), then they’d likely latch better onto Peth”/Beth”. If your name is Richard, you could
drop the final D, filter your name through French and become R.ix’ār to the Xi’an, or simplify things
even further with just R.ik. Two syllable names in a rising pitch are more likely to sound female
to the Xi’an, but there is no taboo against any name in any phonological pattern per se.

The Xi’an also have a strong preference to write names using only one syllable block whenever
possible. Therefore, if your name is Ian (I’an). You might want to write that as:

@iàN’ instead of í
@ ’


an
as might be expected. It will be more amusing (in a good way) and memorable to them. You still have
to work with the letterforms on the standard tables. It is not possible to cram Ellen or Allen into just
one block and have the Xi’an recognize that as legitimate. They would not put such a spelling on a
contract, for example.
Nicknames

The Xi’an often call close friends and family members by nicknames. It is fine for you to have a
nickname, but it is most likely to work best as a raw tai (elemental) that has something to do with
your role in society. The Xi’an distinctly separate concrete things from abstract things and both of
those from people. It would seem extremely odd (possibly even disturbing) to them for your
nickname to be “tractor,” but not “farmer” or even “farming” in the abstract sense. You could be
nicknamed Leth (speed(y)) or Rai (haul(er)), or Lā (art(ist)) or Pān – if you’re always quite loud or
bombastic – and nobody would flinch at that. But, the Xi’an shy away from anything that is overtly
self-praising, so having the nickname Thle’a for example, would probably actually have a negative
connotation of OVER-ly picky or prudish. So, if you would like to be known by other Xi’an speaker
using a nickname, it’s likely best if a friend give it to you, or if you choose one for yourself, it’s best to
err on the side of something that is neutral or slightly self-deprecating.

If you have a community (nick)name that sounds/looks really culturally specific in UEE Standard like
Phant0m, or F3L!X you could look for a nickname that hints at a similar meaning in Xi’an, but don’t
expect it to carry the same panache cross-culturally. Sua’sa (happy; joyful) could be substitute for
F3L!X, but it does not carry the same “punch.” It just means “happy.” If that is not representative of
your everyday character (i.e. you’re just as likely to be grumpy as happy), then you may just want to
be Pui’lik (pronounced Bvi’lik ››› Fi’lik).

Being Picky About Each Sound

Whenever the Xi’an see a name that looks “foreign” to them, they are already in a mode to know that
they need to pay special attention to all of the sounds in it. Even in some of their non-Proper names,
there could be a need to mix pronunciation modes. That means that one syllable might come from a
Proper pronunciation mode and the other from the Service dialect. If you were to spell your name
(Zachary) in SRX as Ze’kari, the first sound (Z) is Service. The next one (K) is Proper and the ‘R’ could
occur in either dialect. You could insist that everyone remember the first ‘Z’ sound, or you could just
“give in” and call yourself Se’kari or Zek or Z.eg. The Xi’an don’t care. The more you can remain
detached from having your name pronounced perfectly by the Xi’an, the happier everyone is likely to
be.

The Tradeoff

Ultimately when naming yourself in Xi’an you are likely making some compromises. This happens in
cross-linguistic Human communication as well. The German name Wolfgang (/ˈvɔlf.ɡɑŋ/) is often
(mis)pronounced by non-Germans as “wolf-gang”. Japanese men introduce themselves as Ken
instead of Kenjirou. Karl goes by Carlo in Italy and Carlos in Spain. You will have to decide how you
want to handle this challenge if your name does not “fit well” into the sounds of Xi’an.

H andwriting and Signatures

The Xi’an sign official things when personal consent is required on traditional documents. They have
unique signatures and in certain circles it is customary to write things by hand. The Xi’an have
advanced technologies for speech recognition and dictation for digital typography, so writing by
hand is not common in daily life, but yixiin e ti no e thle’a (“the custom of writing using a proper
hand”) is a valued tradition in their society and the arts. When writing “elegantly” (..u to’ath)
letterforms are highly simplified and abstracted. This will likely be very difficult for most Humans to
read initially, but most of the conventions inherent in the simplifications follow a logical writing
stroke order or are fairly easy to memorize when studied formally. Examples of written names are
included for your reference.
My name is Britton.
e sen Pri’tan no’a.
 Marty Angelo Marie Bruce Kurt
0ą·WLL (Q·İHOR 0DU·LL 3UŞV .ąW

Keith Sherry Herb Terry Tony

.LLWK Cherie +ąS Teri Toni
;\H·UL 7H·UL 7R·QLL