Re: Conworld language sound inventory

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