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Language of saurian/reptilian beings

From:Roberto Suarez Soto <ask4it@...>
Date:Sunday, September 22, 2002, 20:46
        I don't know if this has popped up before, but if so, pointing
me to any url or the like would do O:-)

        I'm thinking on the language that a saurian race (for a RPG
world, of course) could speak. This race is, physically, like a cross
between a velociraptor on two feet and an anaconda. Yes, weird, but I
don't know how to describe it better :-) The things that matter here are
that they have long and wide necks, and possibly well developed (i.e.,
equal or better than humans') phonic organs. As it's a invented race,
read this "possibly" as a "for sure" :-)

        From now I'm just interested in the sound of the tongue, to
craft a few words to get the thing going :-) Maybe some day I'll try to
do a grammar for this, but don't count on it. I'm still working on
Unahoban :-)

        Anyway, at first I was going to fall on the topic of a sibilant
tongue, but after thinking about it I realized that that's only a
folcloric thing, and a topic that I'm eager to break :-) What I've
thought now is that these saurians could have a very complex tongue:

        - Tonal (birds descend from dinosaurs, so this one is easy to
          justify)
        - Full of clicks (just for the fun of it)
        - Without labials (let's just suppose that their lips are too
          tight and undeveloped for this)
        - With a very limited array of vowels (because of the lips,
          again).
        - Without nasals (because ... well, just because %-))

        So, to avoid bothering you with more drivel, I'd like your
comments. Does it make sense? Is there any detail that I've not
realized? Any experience on this?

        Thanks in advance :-)

--
        Roberto Suarez Soto

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Jan van Steenbergen <ijzeren_jan@...>