Re: vowel scheme for new language

On Wed, 19 May 1999, dunn patrick w wrote:

> Well, that looks like a general consensus of "no way".  Hrmm.  I noticed a
> tendency of it to run away from me anyway.  That damned /i/ insisted on
> showing up.
>
> > Or:     i     u
> >          e   o
> >            a
>
> What's a pity is I like this vowel scheme.  Always have.  But I'd *hate*
> to use it since it's so damned common.  Conlang guilt, you know?
For my conlang Tokana, I assuaged my guilt by adding a sixth, central
vowel to the mix, giving:

        i     u
         E @ O
           a

This system is much less common - although by no means unprecedented
(Romanian has it).

Another thing you could do is go the West African route, and have
tense /e,o/ and lax /E,O/ be different phonemes, giving a seven
vowel system:

        i     u
         e   o
          E O
           a

Or you could add front rounded vowels to the mix, giving a different
seven vowel system:

        i/y        u
           e/oe  o
               a

Or you could add a length distinction, or nasalisation...  Lots
of ways to minimally modify the common five vowel system to get
something a bit more 'exotic'...

Matt.