5 vowels — always the same sound

a /a/ "ah" — as in father, spa
e /e/ "eh" — as in bed, café
i /i/ "ee" — as in machine, ski
o /o/ "oh" — as in go, more
u /u/ "oo" — as in blue, flute

13 consonants

p as in pin
b as in bat voiced p
t as in top
d as in dog voiced t
k as in kite
g as in go (always hard) voiced k
f as in fan lip against teeth
m as in map
n as in net
s as in sun (always voiceless)
l as in lip
w as in win rounded lips
v as in van
z as in zoo (buzzing s) voiced/buzzing s
j as in yes, you, yard ⚠️ NOT like English "j" in "jump"

Rules

Every syllable is one consonant + one vowel (like "ma", "to", "ki") or a lone vowel ("a", "o"). No consonant clusters. No closed syllables. Every human on earth can pronounce this.

Stress: always on the first syllable of each word. No exceptions.

To help mark word boundaries across different native languages, the last syllable of each word should be slightly prolonged (~50% longer). This makes it easy to tell where one word ends and the next begins.

g is always hard (as in "go"), never soft (not like "gem").

s is always voiceless (as in "sun"), never buzzing (not like "rose").

j always sounds like English "y" (yes, yard). Never like "jump".

Flexibility

Pronunciation is intended to be flexible. If a sound is unfamiliar in your native language, use the closest sound available to you. For example: if you cannot produce z (voiced s), use š ("sh"). If w is difficult, use u or v instead. The goal is mutual understanding, not perfect replication.

Pronunciation examples

lo "loh" attraction
ni "nee" speed
go "goh" quality
gu "goo" ownership
wu "woo" scale: 8
ge "geh" pain
alo "ah-loh" maximum love
opu "oh-poo" rage (zero calm)