Random phonology/phonemic inventory thread [2011–2018]

[Incorruptus]

Proto-Masconde:
[p t̪ ts k q ʔ] /*p *t *ć *c *k *q/
[ɸ θ s x χ h] /*v *đ *s *ś *ħ *h/
[m n̪ -ɴ -l̪-] /*m *n *-nn *l/
[i i: e̞ e̞: a a: (ə)] /*i *í *y *ý *e *é/
[u u: o̞ o̞: ɒ ɒ:] /*u *ú *o *ó *a *á/
(only rising diphthongs)

Syllable Structure: (*_C: p t̪ k q ʔ m n̪ )
((ts ɸ θ s x)*(C)(i u m n̪ l̪))V(p t̪ k ʔ χ m n̪ ɴ -l̪-)

My hope is that this is a workable proto-form to an existing project. I like it, regardless.

[zyma]

/m n ŋ ŋʷ mʱ nʱ ŋʱ ŋʷʱ/
/p pʰ b bʱ t tʰ d dʱ k kʰ g gʱ kʷ kʷʰ kʷ' gʷ gʷʱ q qʰ ɢ ɢʱ ʔ ʔʰ/
/ɸ ɸʰ β βʱ s sʰ z zʱ x xʰ ɣ ɣʱ xʷ xʷʰ ɣʷ ɣʷʱ h ɦ/
/l ɹ ɰ w lʱ ɹʱ ɰʱ wʱ/

/ɐ ə ɨ/

Phonotactics:
(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C)
I'm thinking of words like /sʰtɹɨʔkfʰp ɢznʱɐʔxʷpt txʷlʱɐɦzgdʱ/

I like the simply vowel inventory and the large amount of breathy-voiced consonants.

My new African-like language, Ngu-Cam [ŋu qam):
/a e i o u/<a e i o u>
/a: e: i: o: u:/<ā ē ī ō ū>
Phonemic pitch accent

/m n ŋ ŋʷ/<m n ng nw>
/p p’ b t t’ d k k’ g kʷ k’ʷ gʷ q q’ ʔ/<p ṗ b t ṭ d k ḳ g kw ḳw gw c ċ q>
/f v s z x ɣ xʷ~ʍ ɣʷ~w/<f v s z x j wh w>
/t͡s t͡s’ k͡x k͡x’/<tz ṭz kg ḳg>
/l r j/<l r y>

I can't say it looks particularly African to me, but I quite like it! I like the way you're romanizing the ejectives in particular.

<kg> /k͡x/ is in at least one African language (which one it was I can't remember offhand), and I used that convention for romanizing Kgáweq'.

If I had to guess right now without doing any real research into the matter, I'd probably bet on it being a language spoken in the part of Africa controlled by the Netherlands for a period of time. <g> /x/ feels like a Dutch-inspired romanization to me.

Proto-Masconde:
[p t̪ ts k q ʔ] /*p *t *ć *c *k *q/
[ɸ θ s x χ h] /*v *đ *s *ś *ħ *h/
[m n̪ -ɴ -l̪-] /*m *n *-nn *l/
[i i: e̞ e̞: a a: (ə)] /*i *í *y *ý *e *é/
[u u: o̞ o̞: ɒ ɒ:] /*u *ú *o *ó *a *á/
(only rising diphthongs)

Syllable Structure:
((ɸ θ s ts)(C))(i/u)V(p t̪ k q ʔ m n̪ ɴ -l̪-)

I like it. <ś> for /x/ is interesting. The vowel romanization is quite bizarre, but that's the only real "complaint" I have. Would the schwa be unwritten always? Am I correct in interpreting the hyphens as meaning that the uvular nasal only appears syllable/word-finally and that the lateral approximant only occurs syllable/word-medially?

[Incorruptus]

Proto-Masconde:
[p t̪ ts k q ʔ] /*p *t *ć *c *k *q/
[ɸ θ s x χ h] /*v *đ *s *ś *ħ *h/
[m n̪ -ɴ -l̪-] /*m *n *-nn *l/
[i i: e̞ e̞: a a: (ə)] /*i *í *y *ý *e *é/
[u u: o̞ o̞: ɒ ɒ:] /*u *ú *o *ó *a *á/
(only rising diphthongs)

Syllable Structure:
((ɸ θ s ts)(C))(i/u)V(p t̪ k q ʔ m n̪ ɴ -l̪-)

I like it. <ś> for /x/ is interesting. The vowel romanization is quite bizarre, but that's the only real "complaint" I have. Would the schwa be unwritten always? Am I correct in interpreting the hyphens as meaning that the uvular nasal only appears syllable/word-finally and that the lateral approximant only occurs syllable/word-medially?

The romanization was last minute. I wanted certain patterns to match others. You know? But the vowels are a favorite aspect of this, actually. I like the fact /ie/ is <iy>, for example. I like the Russian <-iy>. Just do. Also, since there are two columns, I wanted the front vowels to be paired to letters "associated" to that region. As for my little pain in the butt, I am not sure where I stand on the schwa...it's tentatively hypothetical.

And good eye about the hyphens. They are as you said. The eventuality is to merge the nasals phonemically, analytically, where the nasal vowels to come are assigned orthographic notation denoting ALL nasalization as a function of nasal vowels. Get it? Masconde is weird. :P

[zyma]

The romanization was last minute. I wanted certain patterns to match others. You know? But the vowels are a favorite aspect of this, actually. I like the fact /ie/ is <iy>, for example. I like the Russian <-iy>. Just do. Also, since there are two columns, I wanted the front vowels to be paired to letters "associated" to that region. As for my little pain in the butt, I am not sure where I stand on the schwa...it's tentatively hypothetical.

No problems then - as long as you like it.

[Shemtov]

/m n ŋ ŋʷ mʱ nʱ ŋʱ ŋʷʱ/
/p pʰ b bʱ t tʰ d dʱ k kʰ g gʱ kʷ kʷʰ kʷ' gʷ gʷʱ q qʰ ɢ ɢʱ ʔ ʔʰ/
/ɸ ɸʰ β βʱ s sʰ z zʱ x xʰ ɣ ɣʱ xʷ xʷʰ ɣʷ ɣʷʱ h ɦ/
/l ɹ ɰ w lʱ ɹʱ ɰʱ wʱ/

/ɐ ə ɨ/

Phonotactics:
(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C)
I'm thinking of words like /sʰtɹɨʔkfʰp ɢznʱɐʔxʷpt txʷlʱɐɦzgdʱ/

I like the simply vowel inventory and the large amount of breathy-voiced consonants

Thanks.
It's now called Zǧlhe'spht.

[zyma]

Multiple rhotics and kind of weird fricatives. I'm not entirely sure why the "reduced" high vowels are pharyngealized, but I like it anyway. Choosing to use <h> for /ʔ/ was pretty fun, from my point of view

/p b t d k g ʔ/ p b t d k g h
/f s ç xʷ/ f s ch hw
/t͡s d͡z/ c j
/m n ŋ/ m n ŋ
/ɹ j w/ ṛ y w
/ɾ/ ṙ
/r/ r
/l/ l

/i ɪˤ e ɛ/ i ï e ê
/a/ a
/u ʊˤ o ɔ/ u ü o ô

Phonotactics: (C)V

C = any consonant
V = any vowel

Pharyngealized vowels cannot form clusters, but all other vowels can.

Allophony and such:

/t d k g ʔ s xʷ t͡s d͡z n ŋ ɹ w ɾ r l/ become /tˤ dˤ q ɢ ʕ~ǫ sˤ χʷ t͡sˤ d͡zˤ nˤ ɴ ɹˤ ɰ ɾˤ rˤ lˤ/ before "reduced" vowels (whether or not the vowels are pharyngealized themselves), and /p b f ç m j/ become /k g x xʲ ŋ ɰʲ/ in the same environment.

I know I want there to be more allophony, but that's all I can think of at the moment.


Examples:

safaja /safad͡za/
kagü /kagʊˤ/
uôchem /uɔçem/

[thetha]

I'm not entirely sure why the "reduced" high vowels are pharyngealized, but I like it anyway.

When people talk about reduced vowels a lot of the time it can also be described as [-ATR] which is qualitatively similar to pharyngealization.

[Nortaneous]

This is an a posteriori conlang. Can you guess which language it's descended from?

Klingon?

English.

[wintiver]

Random idea:

Vowels
/i i: u u:/ <i ii u uu>
/ɪ ʊ/ <î û>
/ɜ~ɐ/ <ê>
/ɛ ɛ: ɔ ɔ:/ <e ee o oo>
/a a:/ <a aa>

Consonants
Nasals: /m n/ <m n>
Unaspirated Plosives: /p t̪ t͡s ʈ k/ <p t c ṭ k>
Aspirated Plosives: /pʰ t̪ʰ t͡sʰ ʈʰ kʰ/ <ph th ch ṭh kh>
Voiced Plosives: /b d/ <b d>
Voiceless Fricatives: /f θ s x/ <f þ s x>
Voiced Fricatives: /v ð z ɣ/ <v ð z g>
Voiceless Rhotics: /r̥/ <rh>
Voiced Rhotics: /r ɽ/ <r ṛ>
Approximants: /l j ʍ w/ <l y wh w>

CVC maximum

[zyma]

I like this, especially the free variation between /ɜ~ɐ/ and the fact that it's romanized as <ê>, the small amount of voiced stops, and the voiceless rhotic. The fricatives are also nice.

[wintiver]

I like this, especially the free variation between /ɜ~ɐ/ and the fact that it's romanized as <ê>, the small amount of voiced stops, and the voiceless rhotic. The fricatives are also nice.

Thanks! I'm sort of obsessed with voiceless trills. I try to use them in just about all my languages.

[Man in Space]

<kg> /k͡x/ is in at least one African language (which one it was I can't remember offhand), and I used that convention for romanizing Kgáweq'.

If I had to guess right now without doing any real research into the matter, I'd probably bet on it being a language spoken in the part of Africa controlled by the Netherlands for a period of time. <g> /x/ feels like a Dutch-inspired romanization to me.

I think it was. I encountered it reading The Seed Is Mine for a class dealing with the history of Africa.

[Dezinaa]

/m n ŋ/ <m n ng>
/p t k/ <p t k>
/s z X/ <s z h>
/ʋ ɾ l j ʁ/ <v r l y rh>
/i u ɛ ɔ ɑ/ <i u e o a>

[Man in Space]

/p t k/ <p t k>
/ʋ ɾ l j ʁ/ <v r l y rh>

Why not /ɾ ʁ/ <d r>?

[Ahzoh]

<kg> /k͡x/ is in at least one African language (which one it was I can't remember offhand), and I used that convention for romanizing Kgáweq'.

If I had to guess right now without doing any real research into the matter, I'd probably bet on it being a language spoken in the part of Africa controlled by the Netherlands for a period of time. <g> /x/ feels like a Dutch-inspired romanization to me.

I think it was. I encountered it reading The Seed Is Mine for a class dealing with the history of Africa.

By the same token, could <td> represent /ts/?

[zyma]

<kg> /k͡x/ is in at least one African language (which one it was I can't remember offhand), and I used that convention for romanizing Kgáweq'.

If I had to guess right now without doing any real research into the matter, I'd probably bet on it being a language spoken in the part of Africa controlled by the Netherlands for a period of time. <g> /x/ feels like a Dutch-inspired romanization to me.

I think it was. I encountered it reading The Seed Is Mine for a class dealing with the history of Africa.

By the same token, could <td> represent /ts/?

You're misinterpreting the "token". It's not about "voiceless stop symbol + voiced stop symbol = voiceless affricate".

In Dutch, <g> is pronounced as something like /ɣ/ most of the time, and <k> is pronounced like a voiceless velar stop /k/, so from a Dutch point of view <kg> makes sense as /k͡x/. Since the Netherlands colonized part of Africa for a time, the languages of that region have some Dutch influence in their Latin orthographies/romanizations.

So, unless <d> is /z/ or /s/… <td> as /t͡s/ makes no sense.

[Incorruptus]

Something I thought would be fun, one day listening to one of my favorite songs. There is a song on an old CD called Celtic Moods named Adiemus. (A freaking beauty of a song.) Sounding like another language, it is in a CV "word" style, but is essentially gibberish, admitted by the writer. This is the phonology:

/m n/
/t d k/
/v s/
/w j/
/l ɾ/

/i e u o a/

All would written as the symbols indicate, with no noted length and /s/ appearing to break the writer's rule as it does show up in coda position in the song.

[Dezinaa]

/p t k/ <p t k>
/ʋ ɾ l j ʁ/ <v r l y rh>

Why not /ɾ ʁ/ <d r>?

I didn't think of that. I guess I did <r rh> for aesthetics.

[Sumelic]

So, unless <d> is /z/ or /s/… <td> as /t͡s/ makes no sense.

So, it could make sense in an orthography based off of the Vietnamese one!

I didn't think of that. I guess I did <r rh> for aesthetics.

That's as good a reason as any. I think r and rh look better in consonant clusters, and as long as you don't have /ɾX/ sequences it wouldn't even be ambiguous. (Even if you do, ambiguity's not that much of problem, and you could just spell the cluster <rch> or something.)
If you do decide to be as concise as possible, you could also use a plain <g> for /ŋ/ since you don't have a real /g/. But do whatever fits the language best.

[DesEsseintes]

/p t k/ <p t k>
/ʋ ɾ l j ʁ/ <v r l y rh>

Why not /ɾ ʁ/ <d r>?

For what it's worth, I prefer <r rh>.