Commonthroat: a language that only a dog could probably pronounce

[lurker]

rMLcdrg

/chuff, long low weakening grunt, short low weakening whine, chuff, short low weak growl/

rML (to think) + -cdr (suffix indicating a small tool)

A computer, handheld or otherwise.

Yinrih long ago abandoned the idea of cybernetics in favor of wearable tech. There are just too many risks associated with body modification to justify it except where a severe disability is being corrected, and even then it's considered a last resort.

The biggest risk is obsolescence, planned or otherwise. All devices eventually need to be serviced or replaced, and that's bad when doing so requires turning your innards into outards. Hacking is another issue.

It also helps that neurogel can act as an interface between electronics and the nervous system without any invasive implants, but neurogel is only used in amnions and in a few other applications where remote olfaction is necessary, in which case the gel is pumped into the nasal passages.

[WeepingElf]

Yinrih long ago abandoned the idea of cybernetics in favor of wearable tech. There are just too many risks associated with body modification to justify it except where a severe disability is being corrected, and even then it's considered a last resort.

The biggest risk is obsolescence, planned or otherwise. All devices eventually need to be serviced or replaced, and that's bad when doing so requires turning your innards into outards. Hacking is another issue.

Yep. Wearable gadgets are almost as convenient as implanted ones but much cheaper, chiefly because they do not require surgery to install, maintain, repair and remove. That's the reason why people in my personal future history use wearable and not implanted devices, too.

[lurker]

Yinrih long ago abandoned the idea of cybernetics in favor of wearable tech. There are just too many risks associated with body modification to justify it except where a severe disability is being corrected, and even then it's considered a last resort.

The biggest risk is obsolescence, planned or otherwise. All devices eventually need to be serviced or replaced, and that's bad when doing so requires turning your innards into outards. Hacking is another issue.

Yep. Wearable gadgets are almost as convenient as implanted ones but much cheaper, chiefly because they do not require surgery to install, maintain, repair and remove. That's the reason why people in my personal future history use wearable and not implanted devices, too.

I've heard some horror stories; people getting an experimental nerve modulator implanted in the brain to help with seizures, only for the trial to be ended and the company running it insisting that the one person the implant actually helped have it removed. There's also the company that made retinal implants that went belly up and won't support their devices anymore. It all sounds like stuff out of a cyberpunk novel.

I did a trial run with a sacral neuromodulator to help with overactive bladder, and as much as I'd love to abandon the weakness of my flesh and embrace the strength and certainty of steel, I don't want to be stuck with a battery in my butt that's out of warranty. You know all the talk of smart cars getting hacked? It'll be a billion times worse for connected implants.

[Arayaz]

Yinrih long ago abandoned the idea of cybernetics in favor of wearable tech. There are just too many risks associated with body modification to justify it except where a severe disability is being corrected, and even then it's considered a last resort.

The biggest risk is obsolescence, planned or otherwise. All devices eventually need to be serviced or replaced, and that's bad when doing so requires turning your innards into outards. Hacking is another issue.

Yep. Wearable gadgets are almost as convenient as implanted ones but much cheaper, chiefly because they do not require surgery to install, maintain, repair and remove. That's the reason why people in my personal future history use wearable and not implanted devices, too.

I've heard some horror stories; people getting an experimental nerve modulator implanted in the brain to help with seizures, only for the trial to be ended and the company running it insisting that the one person the implant actually helped have it removed. There's also the company that made retinal implants that went belly up and won't support their devices anymore. It all sounds like stuff out of a cyberpunk novel.

I did a trial run with a sacral neuromodulator to help with overactive bladder, and as much as I'd love to abandon the weakness of my flesh and embrace the strength and certainty of steel, I don't want to be stuck with a battery in my butt that's out of warranty. You know all the talk of smart cars getting hacked? It'll be a billion times worse for connected implants.

I'm off to write a cyberpunk story bye

(Or at least to imagine one; planning a creative piece is much easier and more enjoyable than the grueling task of producing it...)
(Not that it's not fun to write! Just hard sometimes.)

[Khemehekis]

(Or at least to imagine one; planning a creative piece is much easier and more enjoyable than the grueling task of producing it...)
(Not that it's not fun to write! Just hard sometimes.)

Writing The Bittersweet Generation was like that. It was hard work, but I actually had fun writing each of the scenes; I could manage to stick some believable wit, or at least satire, into many of the scenes.

[lurker]

(Or at least to imagine one; planning a creative piece is much easier and more enjoyable than the grueling task of producing it...)
(Not that it's not fun to write! Just hard sometimes.)

Writing The Bittersweet Generation was like that. It was hard work, but I actually had fun writing each of the scenes; I could manage to stick some believable wit, or at least satire, into many of the scenes.

I started writing The House of Friendship because I had an overwhelming desire to do something that others could extrinsically appreciate. Honestly I'd rather depict this world through drawing but there's a hard limit to what I can do visually. I was always praised (and sometimes accused) of having a needlessly advanced vocabulary as a kid so you'd think writing would come naturally, but it's really hard, and not at all relaxing, to translate the ideas in my head to words on a page. I'm in the middle of trying to turn my little writeup on Tod's backstory into an actual story since I found it really compelling, but I'm having a hard time making my words all purdy. Sometimes a muse will bash me over the head and I'll spend a week cranking out something. That's how I wrote The Tornado.

One thing that is really fun about writing is thinking of an idea or a character, and suddenly wanting to "learn" more about them, as though I met them in real life instead of just making them up. I came up with the idea that yinrih think people with red fur are unlucky and people with black ears are dumb because I thought it was a funny inversion of the usual depiction of foxes as clever, then I thought about what someone like Tod would have to go through, people constantly making what they think are harmless jokes about his appearance, not knowing that it hurts him because that's literally the first thing out of most people's mouths upon first seeing him.

Experimenting with different media in which to depict this project has given me a better understanding of the limitations and strengths of written vs visual storytelling. It would be very difficult to have the yinrih use perfumes instead of clothing if this were a web comic, for example, because conveying a yinrih's occupation or status succinctly would be very difficult. Same thing with the tree dwellers. Their whole deal is that they're almost indistinguishable from the yinrih visually.

[Visions1]

I've had similar thought when reading. But then, sometimes you just want so badly to see a book as a movie.

[hecd us en iursunonf]

Wow this is really well thought out! Much interesting :). Sorry if my english isn't good.

[Arayaz]

Wow this is really well thought out! Much interesting :). Sorry if my english isn't good.

Welcome to the board, hecd us en iursunonf! And I agree; lurker's world is among my favorites I've ever seen.

May I ask, what is your native language?

[hecd us en iursunonf]

My native language is Zulu
Ulwimi ululodwa alonelanga :)

[lurker]

Wow this is really well thought out! Much interesting :). Sorry if my english isn't good.

L rLPqp BCqb sFsFqn j L sFDr g rfcqN!
Light shine upon you, friend, and bless your gut!
("hello" and "thank you" respectively)

[Khemehekis]

My native language is Zulu
Ulwimi ululodwa alonelanga :)

Wow. I was wondering if you were from South Africa, since your screenname had an Afrikaans ring to it.

[lurker]

<FBrcg>

/long falling weakening whine, chuff, short low strong whine, short low weak growl/

from FBr (moon, natural satellite) + -c (pertaining to, related to, -y)

1. (Chiefly Welkinstead) a resident of a lunar colony
2. a rural person, a hick, a hillbilly.

The cloud cities floating in Welkinstead's upper atmosphere are the economic center of the region, and the planet's residents see the moons and their inhabitants as rather rustic. (This is in contrast to Moonlitter, where the planet's many lunar colonies are the economic center, and the relatively sparse smattering of sky cities on the planet itself are considered the 'outback'.)

There is a distinct moony accent, actually there are many, but good luck getting someone who isn't a moony to tell the difference. The accent carries many of the same connotations as the English accents of the American South. Tod, a moony hatched and raised, has a rather thick moony accent.

Moonies make up a disproportionate number of Welkinstead's armed forces, and most military installations are located either on the moons or in orbital colonies.

[DV82LECM]

Wow this is really well thought out! Much interesting :). Sorry if my english isn't good.

Actually, it's quite good. You even used a cheeky phrasing, to boot, like you have always known it.

[DV82LECM]

<FBrcg>

/long falling weakening whine, chuff, short low strong whine, short low weak growl/

from FBr (moon, natural satellite) + -c (pertaining to, related to, -y)

1. (Chiefly Welkinstead) a resident of a lunar colony
2. a rural person, a hick, a hillbilly.

The cloud cities floating in Welkinstead's upper atmosphere are the economic center of the region, and the planet's residents see the moons and their inhabitants as rather rustic. (This is in contrast to Moonlitter, where the planet's many lunar colonies are the economic center, and the relatively sparse smattering of sky cities on the planet itself are considered the 'outback'.)

There is a distinct moony accent, actually there are many, but good luck getting someone who isn't a moony to tell the difference. The accent carries many of the same connotations as the English accents of the American South. Tod, a moony hatched and raised, has a rather thick moony accent.

Moonies make up a disproportionate number of Welkinstead's armed forces, and most military installations are located either on the moons or in orbital colonies.

This language is so beautifully eccentric. I was wondering if you could actually render some form of audio clip on this site of how some of this sounds. Let's be honest, you made a language for Furries.

[lurker]

Let's be honest, you made a language for Furries.

I made the yinrih quadrupedal specifically to make them less like straight-up Furries, but the kobolds from my previous setting that I based the yinrih on were bipedal, but lacked tails. I did think about including a post First Contact fashion trend whereby yinrih who aren't healers take the balding drugs that healers use in an effort to mimic human hairlessness.

There's no way Commonthroat could be pronounced by humans, but if I knew anything about audio design I could try splicing something together from samples. For now you'll have to settle for a high-level description: "like a dog trying to speak Mandarin in its sleep." The chief barrier I think is the presence of phonemic volume (strong, weak, strengthening, and weakening) and the phonemic timing of vowel contours (short, long, early, and late).

[criminalmammal]

Long time watcher, first time commenter: I really like Commonthroat! I'm not sure I entirely agree with you about the range of sounds a dog could produce given conscious control over their vocalizations, but it's an interesting limitation to work within and I think you've done well with it – in particular I think that contrasting volume as well as pitch and length is a cool way to get more distinctions out of your sound system. And I enjoy the subtly alien grammar, and every new word derivation you post makes me smile with its character. Keep up the good work

[Visions1]

you made a language for Furries.

I've been thinking this for a long time. That's why I like your work in a way, Lurker. I like anthropomorphic stuff, and you do it in a very pleasant, unique way they have not done, and maybe won't ever.
(Edit: on second thought, they probably will never. You are not one of them; therefore you are fundamentally an outsider, meaning that the tropes and perspectives they use will not be found in your work, and vice versa. This makes the Lonely Galaxy absolutely refreshing. Something spiritual, purer, something less human and more human in different places, something more accurate than just men with animal heads.)
(On third thought...)

Truthfully, I really wish someone would make a compilation of or guide(s) to non-human phonologies and languages. I'd really like to make a crow language for example (I like crows; we have a lot of them where I live, and they're so nice), but it isn't as accessible a thing to do as a human lang.

I honestly could imagine furries finding such a thread useful, for better or for worse. There's couple proper furs on this board (two just posted), and others who at least like talking animals (like you and me) and others who find the idea at least interesting or would make non-human species, so it would be wanted.
And like, I could honestly see a conlanging panel at furry cons being welcome. They do writing panels at them.

[lurker]

Long time watcher, first time commenter: I really like Commonthroat! I'm not sure I entirely agree with you about the range of sounds a dog could produce given conscious control over their vocalizations, but it's an interesting limitation to work within and I think you've done well with it – in particular I think that contrasting volume as well as pitch and length is a cool way to get more distinctions out of your sound system. And I enjoy the subtly alien grammar, and every new word derivation you post makes me smile with its character. Keep up the good work

If you're enjoying this thread, I have a companion thread on the worldbuilding subforum detailing the Yinrih's cultures and history which includes some attempts at storytelling as well. I'm more active there than on the Conlanging board.

Yinrih can make a few sounds that Terran canids can't, like a chuffing noise similar to the one tigers make (they even use it in an identical manner as a nonthreatening greeting noise in addition to its use as a consonant phoneme). They can also produce a plain or trilled hiss which is paralinguistic in Commonthroat but may be phonemic in other languages. Hissing is used to express frustration or unwelcome surprise.

I'd love to see what you think the phonetic space of a sapient dog would be. It took me ages for this sound scheme to click in my head, and I'm interested in how others would approach the same problem.

[lurker]

Truthfully, I really wish someone would make a compilation of or guide(s) to non-human phonologies and languages.

I made a thread asking about xenolangs on this board a while ago. I talked about how I came up with the phonetics. I could synthesize that and repost it in the Teach and Share subforum perhaps.

men with animal heads

That's precisely the trope I'm attempting to avoid. While this isn't a speculative evolution project, I have tried to give some justification for the yinrih's anatomy even if it's a little haphazard. They have prehensile paws and a prehensile tail because they're arboreal animals. They have whiskers because it helps them negotiate dense foliage as they travel through the trees. They have pads on their forefeet and hind feet because their feet have to bear their weight as well as carry things. I've learned through the course of researching for this project that obligate bipedality, at least as exhibited by humans, has quite a few mechanical and neurological prerequisites which the yinrih don't have.

But the biggest nit pick I have with talking animals (or anything sufficiently inhuman-looking) is how they're able to speak perfect English despite having a very differently shaped head, and presumably a differently shaped vocal tract. The vocal tract is like a musical instrument, and it sounds the way it does because it's shaped a certain way and has certain articulators that move in certain ways. You can't make a piano sound like a flute. So each party has to be bilingual in order to have a conversation since they can only speak their own language, or else synthesize the other's language if the other party is monolingual.