Re: vowel scheme for new language

> 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