Lots of phonemes (was Re: Umlaut (was: More questions))

Hallo!

On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 20:56:40 -0500,
Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> wrote:

> WC8 is the most electic collection of phonemes I've put together, except
> for two aborted projects, mQlò and the language which bore the name
> Thagojian at the time (what you see me posting recently is more properly
> Thagojian C). mQlò contisted of clicks, lateralisation of clicks,
> prenasalisation of clicks (two kinds), four vowels, phonemic nasalisation
> and phonemic tone. The original Thagojian had 224 (or 244? I forget)
> consonantal phonemes (including valid homorganic consonant sequences) and
> two vowels. Both were a priori.
224 phonemes?  You are beating Danny Wier out of the field!
But then, I too have a skeleton in the closet.  For one project,
I came up with the following monstrous consonant inventory:

p   b   ph   bh   p'   b'   pf   bv   p'f   b'v   f   v    hm   m
pj  bj  phj  bhj  p'j  b'j  pfj  bvj  p'fj  b'vj  fj  vj   hmj  mj
pw  bw  phw  bhw  p'w  b'w  pfw  bvw  p'fw  b'vw  fw  vw   hmw  mw
p`  b`  ph`  bh`  p'`  b'`  pf`  bv`  p'f`  b'v`  f`  v`   hm`  m`
                            tl   dl   t'l   d'l   hl  l
                            tlj  dlj  t'lj  d'lj  hlj lj
                            tlw  dlw  t'lw  d'lw  hlw lw
                            tl`  dl`  t'l`  d'l`  hl` l`
                            tr   dr   t'r   d'r   hr  r
                            trj  drj  t'rj  d'rj  hrj rj
                            trw  drw  t'rw  d'rw  hrw rw
                            tr`  dr`  t'r`  d'r`  hr` r`
t   d   th   dh   t'   d'   ts   dz   t's   d'z   s   z    hn   n
tj  dj  thj  dhj  t'j  d'j  tsj  dzj  t'sj  d'zj  sj  zj   hnj  nj
tw  dw  thw  dhw  t'w  d'w  tsw  dzw  t'sw  d'zw  sw  zw   hnw  nw
t`  d`  th`  dh`  t'`  d'`  ts`  dz`  t's`  d'z`  s`  z`   hn`  n`
                            tsh  dzh  t'sh  d'zh  sh  zh
                            tshw dzhw t'sjw d'zhw shw zhw
                            tsh` dzh` t'sj` d'zh` sh` zh`
t.  d.  t.h  d.h  t.'  d.'  ts.  dz.  t's.  d'z.  s.  z.   hn.  n.
t.w d.w t.hw d.hw t.'w d.'w ts.w dz.w t's.w d'z.w s.w z.w  hn.w n.w
t.` d.` t.h` d.h` t.'` d.'` ts.` dz.` t's.` d'z.` s.` z.`  hn.` n.`
kj  gj  khj  ghj  k'j  g'j                        hj  j    hnh  nh
kjw gjw khjw ghjw k'jw g'jw                       hjw jw   hnhw nhw
kj` gj` khj` ghj` k'j` g'j`                       hj` j`   hnh` nh`
k   g   kh   gh   k'   g'                         x   gx   hng  ng
kw  gw  khw  ghw  k'w  g'w                        hw  w    hngw ngw
k`  g`  kh`  gh`  k'`  g'`                        h`  `    hng` ng`
q   qg  qh   qgh  q'   qg'                        qx  qgx
qw  qgw qhw  qghw q'w  qg'w                       qxw qgxw
                                                 `h  `
                                                 `hw `w
                  '                               h
                  'w                              hw


Unless I have mis-counted, that's 304 consonants.  However, that project
never went anywhere past this consonant inventory, but was ditched
immediately after.  It was far too unwieldy, and if I had carried on,
I would have wound up not using the majority of those 304 phonemes
in any word.

And I know very well about the difference between a huge phoneme
inventory and an interesting phonology.  In my "Q" project, I use
a very tame inventory.  Proto-Q has the following phonemes:

  p   t   c
  b   d   g
  ph  th  ch            i   y   u
      s       h
  m   n   ñ               e ø o
      l
      r                     a
  v       j

As you see, it's just 18 consonants and 7 vowels.  The fun is in
what I *do* with these 25 phonemes.  You have seen some of what
happens earlier in this thread, and in my second post in the thread
"Some Proto-Quendic grammar".  And I can promise you that there
is a bit more going on.

Greetings,

Jörg.

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