An Ant Language [in-language name to be determined]

[Senlozan]

I was browsing through the forum and saw an old mini-idea for a conlang. It was by k1234567890y, and it was described as a language based on more "exotic" means, later describing combination pheromones as a potential language for sapient ants. Then, I went into researching and found nobody's done this. I'll bring you... uh... Whatever the name is. Remind me to edit an answer. Suggestions are HIGHLY encouraged, as I am a new conlanger.

Phonology!!

Starter "Vowels" (SV) [descriptive; sort-of like prefixes]:
ɉ: Intensity Vowel - Strong Pheromone; Indicates high importance
ʉ: Intensity Vowel - Weak Pheromone; Indicates low importance
ɉ + ʉ would mean a Normal Pheromone, indicating a middle-ground importance
θ: Animacy Vowel - Alive/Animate
ⱱ: Animacy Vowel - Inanimate

Ending "Vowels" (EV) [descriptive; sort-of like suffixes]:
ɪ: Amount Vowel - Singular OR Can Be Done Solo
ɐ: Amount/Describing Vowel - Plural OR Requires Help
ɺ: Topic Vowel - Self [weak], Other [normal], or All [strong]

Consonants (C) [topics]:
ɱ: Edible thing
r: Inedible thing
y: Conceptual thing [numbers, thoughts, etc]

SV(SV)(SV)CEV(EV)

Sample!!!

ɉʉθɱɺɪ ɉθrɺ

Normal, Animate, Edible thing, Other [normal], Can Be Done Solo
Greeting somebody else.
Strong, Animate, Inedible thing, All [strong]
The entire planet, or world

"Hello, World!"

[Arayaz]

combination pheromones as a potential language for sapient ants

But this language is conveyed via phonemes, like a normal human language...

Edit: Wait, do the phonemes that you've written represent pheromones?

[Senlozan]

combination pheromones as a potential language for sapient ants

But this language is conveyed via phonemes, like a normal human language...

Edit: Wait, do the phonemes that you've written represent pheromones?

Yes, the phonemes represent pheromones. I'm thinking the ants would use these as a writing system, while actually speaking uses the pheromones.

[lurker]

yeeeeeah I love exolangs! I posted a topic about non human phonologies that you might be interested in.

Just to be clear, I'm assuming the symbols you've chosen aren't meant to be read phonetically, correct? They're just placeholders for the pheromones used as phonemes? (I really wish linguists could come up with a more general term for the unit below morpheme that doesn't imply it has to be a sound. I know signed languages are sometimes said to have cheremes but that ended up not sticking.)

[Senlozan]

yeeeeeah I love exolangs! I posted a topic about non human phonologies that you might be interested in.

I'll check it out! Thanks !

Just to be clear, I'm assuming the symbols you've chosen aren't meant to be read phonetically, correct? They're just placeholders for the pheromones used as phonemes? (I really wish linguists could come up with a more general term for the unit below morpheme that doesn't imply it has to be a sound. I know signed languages are sometimes said to have cheremes but that ended up not sticking.)

Yeah, the symbols were just placeholders I chose that would fit with the whole theme of pheromones and chemicals.

[Arayaz]

All right. It's confusing because you call them "vowels" and "consonants."

[lurker]

yeeeeeah I love exolangs! I posted a topic about non human phonologies that you might be interested in.

I'll check it out! Thanks !

Not to keep shilling my own threads, but you might also be interested in this thread on "xenoergonomics" as I like to call it, or the tools, clothing, architecture, weapons etc. of sophonts with non-human body plans. If you're also worldbuilding around this language and its speakers I'd love to hear more about that stuff.

Are they literally sapient ants from Earth, or just aliens/fantasy creatures that look like ants? Do they have a group mind like a lot of archetypal insect-based races? If they have a language I'd assume they're more individual.

Are they also the size of ants? I wonder how we could coexist with them if that were the case. One concept I'm kicking around for my own con-world are tiny remotely operated micro-mechs used in medical procedures. Think Fantastic Voyage but avoiding all the stupidly dangerous consequences of shrinking yourself and going into a living body. I suppose we could use something like that, but relatively larger, to interact with these ants.

[Imralu]

I really wish linguists could come up with a more general term for the unit below morpheme that doesn't imply it has to be a sound.

Emes.

[WeepingElf]

yeeeeeah I love exolangs! I posted a topic about non human phonologies that you might be interested in.

Just to be clear, I'm assuming the symbols you've chosen aren't meant to be read phonetically, correct? They're just placeholders for the pheromones used as phonemes? (I really wish linguists could come up with a more general term for the unit below morpheme that doesn't imply it has to be a sound. I know signed languages are sometimes said to have cheremes but that ended up not sticking.)

Segments.

[Senlozan]

yeeeeeah I love exolangs! I posted a topic about non human phonologies that you might be interested in.

I'll check it out! Thanks !

Not to keep shilling my own threads, but you might also be interested in this thread on "xenoergonomics" as I like to call it, or the tools, clothing, architecture, weapons etc. of sophonts with non-human body plans. If you're also worldbuilding around this language and its speakers I'd love to hear more about that stuff.

Are they literally sapient ants from Earth, or just aliens/fantasy creatures that look like ants? Do they have a group mind like a lot of archetypal insect-based races? If they have a language I'd assume they're more individual.

Are they also the size of ants? I wonder how we could coexist with them if that were the case. One concept I'm kicking around for my own con-world are tiny remotely operated micro-mechs used in medical procedures. Think Fantastic Voyage but avoiding all the stupidly dangerous consequences of shrinking yourself and going into a living body. I suppose we could use something like that, but relatively larger, to interact with these ants.

I'd imagine the ants would be human-sized, and yes, they are basically just evolved ants similar to those on Earth. I'm thinking they live on a different planet, though.

[Arayaz]

I'd imagine the ants would be human-sized, and yes, they are basically just evolved ants similar to those on Earth. I'm thinking they live on a different planet, though.

you'd be interested in Sovála, a similar worldbuilding project wherein after humans disappear (for reasons unknown), a strange substance mutates some mammals into anthropomorphic versions of themselves.

[Khemehekis]

I remember a few decades back in Weekly World News, the supermarket tabloid that brought us Batboy, there was a story about scientists decoding the language of ants. One of the scientists quoted in the article said the ants have no word for "I", but some 300-odd words for "we".