Re: Xinkutlan 1- Phonology

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 13:58:47 -0500, Adam F. <hypaholic@...> wrote:

>I like the phonology. I have one question. Why did you decide to
>have /d/, /t/, /s/, /z/, /S/, /ts/, /dz/, and /tS/, but not /Z/, and /dZ/?
>I can't wait to see more.
>
>- Adam
Internally to the Xinkutlan world, there are historical reasons. The
ancestors of the present Xinkutlan were a seafaring people, culturally
somewhat similar to the Polynesians, and when they bumped into the
continent where they now live, they decided to stay.
The ancestral language (I'll call it "proto-X" for want of a "real" name)
had /Z/ and /dZ/ as well, but the ancestors of the Xinkutlan spoke a
dialect of proto-X where these were not normally voiced.
If you say a word with a /S/ or /tS/ sound in as if it has /Z/ or /dZ/,
you'll be understood.  It may be a dialect thing, but that's for future
development.

Externally to the Xinkutlan world, because.
(Why does anyone put and slightly random feature in their conlang?) ;)

Actually, I started out that way and then felt like I'd got too far without
them to try to splice them in.#

G

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