Re: A Conlang, created by the group?

Tommie Powell wrote:

> Is this just me, or do natural languages that have back-of-the-throat
> consonants tend to not have f and v?
To my knowledge, it really doesn't have anything to do with the
_phonology_ of the language (whether or not it has a sound as a
phoneme or not), but much more to do with the phonotactics of
the language.  For example, the sound [N] is nearly impossible
for many English speakers to pronounce at the beginning of a word
because English phonotactics disallow that sound at the beginning of
a word.  We also find such consonant clusters as [ps], [kt], [ks]
and so forth hard to pronounce, even though lots of languages have
those clusters (how do you think we got the spelling for <psychology>
in the first place? :)  ).  So, it has a lot to do with how sounds are
oriented around one another.

ON THE OTHER HAND, one might say that if a certain sound
only exists in a certain location of a word, and is rare to begin with,
then it might assimilate to some other word, or undergo some kind
of phonetic change to something else to make it easier.  So, in some
sense, consonant clusters CAN affect the phonology, but it's a
really complex history.  I can't think of a good introductory historical
linguistics book offhand, but Hans Hock wrote a rather lengthy and
very exhaustive (literally and figuratively!) book called  "Principles of
Historical Linguistics", I think, pub. by Mouton de Gruyter.  Look there for
more info. :)

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

"Why should men quarrel here, where all possess /
as much as they can hope for by success?"
 - Quivera, _The Indian Queen_ by Henry Purcell
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