21
votes
Accepted
Are there conlangs using constructed sounds?
Click consonants are rare in natlangs, but rather popular in conlangs, though despite this, given the existence of things like !Xóõ reality is stranger than most fiction in this specific regard. ...
- 2,357
18
votes
Simplified Version of IPA?
If you're notating a language that uses [β] or [ɓ] but does not distinguish it from [b], that is, if there are no words such that changing one of these consonants to the other changes the meaning of ...
- 641
16
votes
Are there conlangs using constructed sounds?
There's also the brilliant masterpiece kay(f)bop(t), which features
the dextral lateral click (a click made on the right side of the mouth)
the sinistral lateral click (a click made on the left side ...
- 721
15
votes
How do you pronounce the ":" in Wede:i?
The phonology table shows it quite simply, it modifies the e to indicate that it is a long vowel. I don't know why the vowel table shows the dipthongs a:i and a:u but not e:i (or any others).
Note ...
- 3,720
15
votes
What is an overview of sound changes?
To answer part a), the basic syntax of the notation goes like this:
[before] > [after] / [context]
The part after the slash gives the situations in which the sound changes occur. For example, the ...
- 721
14
votes
Are there conlangs using constructed sounds?
In Ithkuil, a geminate /h/ can be produced as a bidental fricative, a sound which is only attested in a single dialect of a single natural language.
hh
The geminated version of ...
- 263
13
votes
Can features in the physical environment meaningfully affect the development of a local language's phonology?
Here is another researcher (Prof. Ian Maddieson) suggesting exactly such correlations:
In a presentation on Wednesday at the Acoustical Society of America fall meeting, Maddieson showed that ...
- 585
13
votes
Can features in the physical environment meaningfully affect the development of a local language's phonology?
There has also been evidence that suggests that ejectives tend to occur more frequently in areas of higher elevation, perhaps due to their being easier to produce in these regions:
We present ...
- 721
12
votes
How could a syllabary be adapted for a language with a complex syllable structure?
Linear B is an interesting example for this:
This system was apparently designed for a non-Greek language, as it did not fit the sounds of Greek very well. In fact, it is likely that Linear A was ...
- 251
11
votes
Accepted
How do tones disappear from a language?
I don't claim to be an expert on this, but I think it may be because that while tonogenesis is a "special" process, in that it produces a whole new dimension to the phonology (as opposed to something ...
- 2,357
11
votes
What reasons would there be for not having a human conlang with only vowels?
A vowel-only language is surely constructable (and I think, learnable, too), but I am afraid that it will be instable against evolutionary pressure.
Vowel sequences like /aua/ or /aia/ tend to ...
- 11k
10
votes
Accepted
Consider an isolated, close-knit community; which characteristics is their language likely to have?
Derek Bickerton and John McWhorter both have studied pidgins and creoles. A general observation is that communities that have to deal with other communities who don't speak their language, but still ...
- 1,731
10
votes
What reasons would there be for not having a human conlang with only vowels?
There are generally a lot fewer vowels than consonants in the phoneme inventory of human languages. That means, with fewer sounds you need to make the words a lot longer if you want to have a decent-...
- 4,018
10
votes
What reasons would there be for not having a human conlang with only vowels?
Well, there is always Solresol, which has several isomorphic representations, and some of those could be considered vowel-only (depending on the instrument used).
For natlangs, there are whistled ...
- 1,229
10
votes
Is there any general rule for constructing a word? Example: "q" or "w" should not end a word, something like this
Yes, there are but they are language-specific. These are called phonotactics. They are well explained in the book of David Peterson "The Art of Language Invention"(E-book download link). ...
10
votes
Accepted
Creating a language for intelligent, sapient creatures that resemble large cats
You would start with the phoneme-inventory. What kind of distinct sounds can these creatures make? How can they be combined to form longer units? Would there be a gesture-based system? A sound could ...
- 4,018
9
votes
Accepted
Simplified Version of IPA?
The reason that all the different characters for “the same sound” exist is because they’re not the same sound, and trained linguists/linguistic researchers can hear the difference. ...
- 1,082
9
votes
Why would a language created by humans lack both the /k/ and the /g/ consonants?
Your list of phonemes doesn't include any closures at the velum. You could simply say one of the anatomical differences from modern humans is that they can't produce a full closure there. Maybe there'...
- 4,016
8
votes
Accepted
What do double consonants specify in Esperanto?
There are two questions (with answers) on the Esperanto stackexchange dealing with this problem (and yes, it is perceived as a problem even among Esperanto speakers):
Double letters in Esperanto
...
- 11k
8
votes
Accepted
What is the key to realistic inventories
You should think of phonology in terms of distinction. You have to distinguish certain consonants and vowels from others, and you have to figure out the best way to do that.
A realistic inventory ...
- 1,444
8
votes
Can features in the physical environment meaningfully affect the development of a local language's phonology?
There have definitely been serious linguistic theories about environment affecting features like this - the ones I can remember off the top of my head are that certain sound changes in Proto-Germanic ...
- 3,391
8
votes
Four vowels, with no /i/ sound. Is it possible?
This would be very unstable in a human language. For an example of what happens when this vowel is missing, let's look at English's Great Vowel Shift. One of the first things to change was /i:/ ...
- 1,423
8
votes
Do I need to start with a phonology when creating a new conlang?
NO.
Videos and how to books often present a cookie cutter method of language construction. There is nothing wrong with this at all. Except that it leads many people to a) follow the recipe and b) get ...
- 3,245
7
votes
How could a syllabary be adapted for a language with a complex syllable structure?
The best solution to this is to not make your writing system syllabic if your language does not support the syllabic structure by having a low number of syllables.
I guess that one of the most ...
- 874
7
votes
Consider an isolated, close-knit community; which characteristics is their language likely to have?
There are a lot of hypotheses and conjectures floating around the linguistic community regarding typological features (like phoneme inventories, inflecting or isolating type etc.) and size of the ...
- 11k
7
votes
Accepted
What are the reasons behind ROILA's phonology?
The process of creating the phonology is described at length in Omar Mubin's PhD thesis "ROILA: RObot Interaction LAnguage" (available from the publications page). It seems to have happened in three ...
- 1,444
7
votes
Accepted
What decides where is the break between syllables?
I think as a general rule, a syllable comprises some combination of the following kinds of one or more of the sound types of your language: vowel, liquid, consonant.
You've decided on (C)CV. And ...
- 3,245
7
votes
Accepted
Strategies for dealing with limited/simple phonologies
One major problem is that a small phoneme inventory leads to longer words, as you have fewer short ones available. This kind of relates to the point you already mention, namely homophones: here you ...
- 4,018
7
votes
Syllabic restriction/word boundaries set by IPA? Or it is decided by language creator
The phonotactics of a language, what you have described, is the silent partner of phonology. The analogy I like to use is that a language's phonology is its periodic table (with individual phonemes as ...
- 323
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible