Re: Revising my consonant inventory

>I know that the choices you make for a sound system are largely subjective,
>but I want it to be somewhat realistic. I have no idea whatsoever what
>consonant clusters are realistic, which is the main reason I'm asking these
>questions.
Realistic? Any consonant cluster that you can pronounce without an -help me
out here- epithetic? vowel is to some extent, 'realistic'. If you're talking
about realistic as in resembling natural languages, English or whatever your
L1 is might be a good start. Wikipedia has
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonant_cluster, which is not so helpful in
your case however (it only talks about the number of consonants allowed in a
row (please do not get started on that one, I'd rather not have another 30
posts with words that contain long consonant clusters)).

Consonant clusters in natural langs range from none to a lot, so you don't
have to worry to much about being realistic. After all, you're not
auxlanging, are you?

For most of us (I believe) in word beginnings any other consonant -
plosives, fricatives, affricates, you name it- followed by /l/ or /r/ falls
within 'realistic'.  Unvoiced sibiliants (and sometimes voiced) can be
followed by /m/,  /n/, or an unvoiced (and sometimes voiced) plosive. For
word endings, /l/ and /r/ can be followed by most consonants and still not
be hard to pronounce.

The constraints on consonants of Ithkuil are described neatly on the
phonology page, section 1.4.4, here http://home.inreach.com/sl2120/Ch-1
Phonology.htm (scroll the very bottom) and can be used as a standard for
langs with a lot of consonant clusters (mainly because it has a lot of
consonants).

Replies