Re: ideas and questions

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 21:19:22 -0500, Etak <tarnagona@...> wrote:

> I couldn't pronounce any labials, or most
> dentals.  I was wondering if it was possible to make a
> conlang which would still sound good even though it
> was lacking these sounds.  Any thoughts and ideas are
> welcome.
I'm working on a conlang (still unnamed, but provisionally "Lizardman")
that has only dorsal and laminal consonants (stops and fricatives only),
and lacks rounded and open vowels. The total phoneme count is 25 or 32
(depending on how you count), so it's certainly in the realm of natlangs.
Does it phonetically "work"? Yes. Is it euphonious? Heh, that's a question
for someone other than me.

FWIW, the sounds are:

Consonant POAs
	Laminal Alveolar |d|
	Palatal |j|
	Velar |g|
	Uvular |q|

Consonant MOAs (example with |d|)
	Stop |d|
	Geminate Stop |dd|
	Fricative |dh|
	Geminate Fricative |dhh|

Vowels
	Close Front Unrounded |i|
	Close Mid Unrounded |y|
	Close Back Unrounded |u|
	Mid-Close Back Unrounded |o|

Vowels may be short or long (written doubled), and may be plain or
"growled" (traditionally approximated in human speach by
pharyngealisation, and written with an apostrophe before the vowel).

Syllables are CV(C). Words may be multisyllabic. Geminate consonants may
not occur word-initially.





Paul