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Re: vowel scheme for new language

From:R. Nierse <rnierse@...>
Date:Thursday, May 20, 1999, 6:03
> On Wed, 19 May 1999, dunn patrick w wrote: > > > Does this sound like a plausible vowel scheme? > > > > a -- low back > > e -- mid front > > i -- high front > > o -- round low back > > u -- round mid front > > If by "plausible" you mean "likely to occur in natural languages", > I would have to say no. Human languages prefer to have 'balanced' > vowel systems, e.g.: > > i u > a > > Or: i u > @ > a >
<snip>
> > Or something like that. Your vowel system is suspiciously > lopsided, so that all the vowels run in a straight line > from low/back to high/front: > > i > e/u > a/o > > I would think there would be pressure for one of those > vowels to develop into a high back vowel, or something... >
In Circassian (Caucasian language) there is just e, a, and @. (IIRC there is even a languagee with just e and @). What happens in that language is that they developed a lot of allophones. So why don't you consider doing the same? Say, k + u = [ku]. That makes the language sounds 'balanced'. Rob