Re: clan of the cave bear conlang

On Fri, 7 Jan 2000 16:44:00 -0500, Nik Taylor writes:
> andrew wrote:
> > vowels: I E A & @
> > Consonants: d t p b s z v f m n T D
>
> Would there've been any
> restrictions on what kind of clusters they could make?
>
ISTR a rambling brawl that took place some time ago in the
newsgroup sci.anthropology.paleo which lead to the conclusion
that they'd probably be able to produce the same range of clusters
(within (+/-) the above phoneme set) as modern man, though with
sufficient difficulty that they'd be unlikely to turn up in the kind of
limited-lexeme lang that Steg was discussing.

More details from the aforementioned slugfest include:
(Disclaimer: this is all *very* IIRC, AFAIK, FWIW, YMMV, "Batteries
Not Included" and some of it partly IMHO)

H. neanderthalenis (?) would probably not have had as good breath
control as later species (all control from the diaphram (sp?),
nothing from the pharynx or larynx).  Utterances are likely to have
been very short, probably stress, tone and tenseness (and poss.
length?) would not have been phonemic.  Also, they'd have been
fairly strictly timed to the natural breath rhythm.

I don't recall whether they lacked an alveolar ridge, but I think
those (alveo)dentals would have been pure dentals.  Tongue control
within the (much smaller) mouth cavity would have been as good
as ours (certainly towards the tip), but lip control may well have
been worse.  /b/ would probably be indistinguishable from /B/
and likewise /p/ from /p\/ (X-SAMPA throughout).  Lip rounding
is a very good question, I don't recall what was decided in the end,
possibly /w/ and /u/ may have existed as allophones.

*Very* much IMHO; /f/, /v/ and /A/ are somwhat questionable,
though I might be tempted to add what might technically be /x/
and /G/ but would probably sound more like /C/ and /j\/.
Nasals might be a problem (/n/ more problematic than /m/) as
ISTR H. n. had no soft palette.

I suggest an experiment:  Chew a coupla sticks of gum and use 'em
to fill up your vaulted hard palette.  Try and talk using only lung
control (no control from the throat) and keeping the main body of
your tongue relaxed.  That'll probably give some clues.

---
Pb

PS There's a whole other thing about the lack of laryngeal descent
in (pretty much) pre-sapiens species and how that meant they
couldn't *possibly* have spoken, but I'm not a fan of that particular
theory.  If I were you, I'd avoid mentioning this particular issue in
sci.anthropology.paleo, unless by now the lunatics have taken over
the asylum or you want to start a medium-sized jihad <G>.

My take on that theory is that chimps lack fully descended
larynxes and they can vocalise on demand, so ner-ner ni ner-ner...