Re: Nostratic (was Re: Schwebeablaut (was Re: tolkien?))

Staving Muke Tever:


>I have half a mind to invent a zero-vowel conlang, where only the
>consonants are phonemic.  Vowels would arise in descendents because
>anaptyctic schwas would naturally appear, and a uniform stress may or may
>not arise... analogy might put vowels in places where they wouldnt have
>been expected to begin with.
I have an idea for a language in which the information carried by vowels is
purely morphological. This is the cant based language I've been thinking
about. Roots are CVCCVC, and the second consonant of each root is of lower
sonority than the first, and the second vowel is diametrically opposed in
the chart

i       u\      u
e               o
&       a       Q

The language agglutinates by infixation, and the vowels tell you where
you're up to. The name of the language is probably ygwgndyg (examble
pronunciation [j&gwegnodjug], from Khangaþyagon yag- speak, gwend- hide).
Vowels may be varied without altering the meaning. It's thought that this
arose as a children's language game or slackbang and was incorporated into
the structure of the language to make it harder for outsiders to learn.

Pete