Re: Proboscidean phonology

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 21:46:45 +0200, Rodlox <Rodlox@...> wrote:

>----- Original Message -----
>From: Geoff Horswood <geoffhorswood@...>
>To: <CONLANG@...>
>Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 2:48 PM
>Subject: Proboscidean phonology
>
[snip]
>
>  would the ultrasound from the (forehead?) be a consonant or a vowel?
>*curious*
>
Isn't it _infra_sound rather than ultrasound?  I seem to recall something
about elephants producing sounds too _low_ for the human ear to perceive.
Maybe that's part of the tonal system?  3 tonal registers:  high, low and
infrasound?

Or perhaps everything shifts down to infrasound for long-distance
communication, so infrasound is something akin to organic telephony.

Hmmm....

>
>> As far as the creatures themselves go, I'm thinking to give them a little
>> more dexterity than a terrestrial elephant by increasing both number and
>> length of the finger-like extensions on the end of the trunk- possibly up
>> to as many as 8, in four pairs around the trunk.
>
> just a thought, but why not keep the "fingers" normal...and have
>object-manipulations be joint efforts between two or more individuals?
>
I like it.  I don't like the picture conjured up in my head that a forked
trunk gives (a la fithp, in John's suggestion), but I think I will give
them slightly more adept "fingers", maybe 4, a little proportionally longer
than those of an Indian Elephant, but not so much so that they become more
like tentacles.

Then they'd probably base their numeral system on a base-4 system
(elephants' toes not being of enough size or dexterity to count well- you
can't fold them down or open them out as you count).

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