Re: Syllable structure - HELP!!!

Sorry I can't help--this is coming from the guy whose
lang has sentences like "Emesohaleka Yawehi" and
"Akodimesika meha", and whose word for "zebra" is
"kehinekakwili".  (If you must know, my phonology is
an Anglicized form of Cherokee.)

Good luck.
Kalinida Hitsakisoni Makeli
aka Clint Jackson Baker


--- John-Emmanuel <jokerhand@...> wrote:
> I am currently appealing to everyone's creative and
> artistic abilities :D
> I have finally polished the phonology and
> blends/diphthongs for my upcoming
> conlang, and started creating a few roots and
> designing the grammar (at
> least for nouns so far).  However, I want to create
> a syllable structure
> that doesn't have too many big consonant structures,
> but at the same time
> doesn't sound like Japanese or a Polynesian
> language.  (I have nothing
> against them, of course, but I prefer the, well,
> Elvish sounds ;)
>
> Consonants:  Nasals:  M, m, N, n;
> Stops:  p, b, t, d, k, g;
> Fricatives:  f, v, T, D, s, z, s, ç, x, h;
> Approximants:  R, r, j, W, w, L, l
> (M, N, R, W, L are voiceless versions of their
> lowercase counterparts)
> (T, D sound like th as in THing and THen,
> respectively)
> (ALL voiceless consonants are aspirated)
> (z is rare, and usually only found in borrowed
> words)
>
> Vowels:  a, e, é, i, o, ó, u, y (rounded i), ö
> (rounded é), @ (schwa)
> (using Tolkien's orthography - for Quenya at least)
> (y and ö are not common)
>
> Diphthongs:  ai, au, eu, éu, oi, ói
>
> Blends:  Start:  stop/fricative -(ç, x, h) +
> approximant
> End:  vocalic (i.e. R, r, L, l) +
> nasal/stop/fricative/lateral
> (the only exception is an alveolar obstruent
> followed by a lateral i.e.
> t/d/T/D + L/l)
>
> There are other blends possible of course, but the
> above are the only ones
> that are present in roots.  A blend has a MAXIMUM of
> two consonants in it.
> And blends are way less common than single
> consonants.
>
> If a voiced follows a voiceless consonant (or
> vice-versa) then the voicing
> reverts to that of the second consonant if possible
> EXCEPT at the beginning
> of words, where if either are voiceless, then BOTH
> become voiceless.
> e.g.  -rt > -Rt; -Ld > ld; dr- > tr-; pw- > pW;
>
> The penultimate syllable is stressed ALWAYS.
> However, I am rethinking this
> slightly.
>
> As I HATE capital letters, my romanisation goes a
> little like this:
> T and D are replaced by th and dh respectively.
> e.g.  Tal > thal;
> Seeing as h stands alone ALWAYS, a h next to a
> consonant devoices it.  Thus
> M, N, R, W, L become mh, nh, rh, wh, lh OR hm, hn,
> hr, hw, hl.  If such a
> consonant is next to a vowel, then the h goes
> between the consonant and the
> vowel, otherwise it follows the consonant.
> e.g.  Lon > lhon;  foRt > fohrt;
> Also, a j before any vowel except i and y can be
> written as i
> e.g.  fjord > fiord;  pjen > pien;
> Finally, if you wish, since adjoining consonants
> have the same voice
> qualities (if possible), you may be able to leave of
> the h if no confusion
> would arise.
> e.g.  fohrt > fort pronounced [foRt]
>
> So basically, what are your ideas?  Should I stick
> to monosyllabic roots, or
> should ones like VCVC be possible?  Should roots
> only end in vowels,
> consonants, or both?  And how should I combine
> roots?  I have spent many a
> sleepless night on this problem, and have yet to
> come up with an
> aesthetically pleasing solution.  So I make a call
> to arms brother (and
> sister) conlangers to smite this evil beast! :)
>
> John.
>
> p.s.  a few roots:  lhis- or lhisa-: love
> sin- or sina-: beauty
> john-: create (pronounced like yawn, but with a
> voiceless n)
> (I had to have SOME humour in my conlang ;)

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