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Re: Conworld language sound inventory

From:Amanda Babcock Furrow <langs@...>
Date:Sunday, January 27, 2008, 14:28
On Sun, Jan 27, 2008 at 02:07:36PM +0100, Geijss Streijde wrote:

> I am working on my own conworld, and am in the process of making > languages for this world. For the ancestor languages of the draconic > languages, I'd like to hear what you think of this sound inventory.
I'm not all that good with sound inventories. Even a sound inventory plus a syllable structure does not capture the soul of a phonology; only examples can do that, for me. The inventory plus syllable structure leaves out the all-important issue of frequency: which sounds are the most frequent? In association with which other sounds? But I would still need sample text to decide if I liked it. However, there are some things one could say... Ok, I've gone and deleted the list of vowels from this reply already, but were there more vowels than consonants, or just nearly-the-same amount? Either way, that could give it an interesting flavor. I note the absence of voiced obstruents (consonants other than, in this case, the nasals). Usually this will lead to voicing being allophonic. So you probably wouldn't end up with a language that sounds as hissy and clipped as you're aiming for, because the speakers won't know to avoid voicing consonants since they won't be able to tell the difference. (If I wanted an unvoiced-sounding language, I'd make one that had voiced consonants, but used them sparingly; and include something like final devoicing, for extra Germanic flavor.) I did find the following interesting:
> [sx] = /ks/ (Start of syllable only) > [ks] = /x/
Nice :) tylakèhlpë'fö, Amanda