Re: ng vs w

En réponse à alexandre lang <allexpro@...>:

> Hello,
> I just subscribed to this mailing list because i have just started
> building
> a conlang as part of a school project.
Welcome, and nice! There was no problem from teachers from accepting your
project idea?

> Here are some points that i have found:
> * W appears in 6 of the 11 most spoken langauges
> * NG appears in 5 of the 11 most spoken langauges
> * W is in the other symbols section on the IPA chart
> (http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/gifs/ipachart.gif)
But that's only because W is a coarticulation, both labial and velar, and thus
cannot find its place in a single column of the pulmonic consonant chart. It
doesn't say anything about its intrisic difficulty.

> * In this book I take my data from, Concise Compendium of the World's
> Languages, J and W are both sorted together as the only semi-vowles, so
> i am
> thinking that if i have one, i should also have the other.
Not necessary. And [j] and [w] are not the only semi-vowels. There's also [H],
or "upside-down h" in IPA (the semi-vowel in French "lui") for instance.
Actually, "semi-vowel" is a rather imprecise term, and we prefer talking
about "approximants".

> I would like to hear opinions on this, thank you.
>
Well, it all depends on whether you want to go for exoticness (from a European
point of view) or not. If so, take [N] (your NG) and allow it at the beginning
of syllables :)) . If not, [w] will do :)) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

It takes a straight mind to create a twisted conlang.

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