Re: Brr (was: Re: A few questions about linguistics concerning my new project)

ROGER MILLS wrote:
> Ray Brown wrote:
>
>>
>> Thinks: How does one give a language that Brr factor?
>
> Back in the 70s, my Natl.Public Radio station ran a series produced in
> Alaska-- folk tales of the Aleut (IIRC) people. The title ("The things
> that were said of them") was given in the language, as were the names of
> course and occasional phrases. It was all spoken very quietly and was
> full of [q]s and [?]s, and perhaps [x]s and [G]s.  Somehow it felt
> "cold"*-- I imagined that the language had evolved that way so that the
> people wouldn't have to open their mouths very wide in the freezing
> cold  :-))
Interesting idea   :)

Yes, not only the three vowels, but also[q], [?] and velar (or possibly
uvular) fricatives.

If one created a conlang that had a similar sort of resonance with Inuit
as Sindarin has with Welsh, then maybe one gives the language a certain
brr factor - but, of course, only if a person is vaguely familiar with
Inuit in the first place!

(Sindarin must have a quite different feel for those who have no
knowledge whatever of Welsh than the language has for me, for example).

> *maybe too, because of the subject matter,
I think that is the important factor.
-------------------------

Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:
[snip]
 > Icelandic does it with a lack of voiced stops,
 > lots of strong aspiration and preaspiration

Scots Gaelic's like that also - we southerners find it quite cold up
there in Scotland    :)

 > and most importantly voiceless sonorants.

Voiceless sonorants are not too common, but are they really more
prevalent in languages from cold climates?

Again one could, in order to give the language a Brr factor, construct
one with a vaguely Icelandic feel - but again it would, of course, be
completely lost on those who know nothing of Icelandic.

Personally I doubt very much that any phonetic or phonological system is
"cold language" per_se. To give the language a Brr factor, one surely
needs to have its literary texts dealing quite a bit with its snowy, icy
environment in which the language is spoken.

 > --
 > Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch atte melroch dotte se
 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 >    a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot
 >                                 (Max Weinreich)

So Basque iz a dialekt von voss?

--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
Nid rhy hen neb i ddysgu.
There's none too old to learn.
[WELSH PROVERB]

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