Re: Esthetics

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, "B. Garcia" <madyaas@g...> wrote:
>This came up a bit recently, but i'd like to know more from others.
>How do you all determine the esthetics of your conlangs? Do you have
>a formal system of rules governing combinations of vowels,
>consonants, dipthongs, etc. etc.? Or do you just go by "feel"?
Senyecan is a pre-PIE language.  I took the phonemes (and the
vocabulary) from Pokorny's "Indogermanisches Wörterbuch."  I
altered
some of the consonants so that they would fit in a 3 X 4 grid.  3:
stops, fricatives, sonorants.  4: bilabial, dental, alveolar,
palatal.  I did not want any sounds from farther back in the mouth
in an attempt to make the language "softer."  These are the consonant
phonemes:

bilabial: p  b  |  p\  B  |  m_0  m
dental: t_0  d_0  |  T_d  D_d  |  l_d_0  l_d
alveolar: ts)  dz)  |  s  z  |  4_0  n
palatal: c  J\  \  C  j\  \  j_0  j

The following PIE consonants in Pokorny were altered:
p_h > p\
b_h > B
w > m_0
t_h > T
d_h > D
g_w_h > l_0
k > ts)
g > dz)
g_h > j_0

I retained the five vowels a, e, i, o, U.  Each was also written with
a macron.  Those became long vowels  aa, ee, etc.
Intervocali "r" I altered to Q.  Formerly 9, but that doesn't quite
fit the pattern: i, e, a, Q, o, u.

Syllables can be CV or CVC.  Consonant clusters can be of no more
than two consonants.  There can not be two stops in a cluster.  If
word formation causes that, the first vowel undergoes lenition to its
corresponding fricative.  When word formation results in a 3-
consonant cluster a @ inserted between the 2nd and 3rd for euphony.

And there are 3 tones.  All this to make the language softer and more
melodious

Charlie
http:\\wiki.frath.net/User:Caeruleancentaur