Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: Similar Soundong Languages

From:Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>
Date:Friday, July 25, 2003, 20:56
Quoting Nikhil Sinha <nsinha_in@...>:

> What do you need to have in a conlang so that it sounds like > another existing natlang or conlang? One thing I know is that > their phonology should be similar (consonants, vowels, word > formation, etc.). What else is required?
Well, clearly the language that will sound *most* like that other conlang will simply be a dialect of the same language. In that sense, the way you make it "sound like" that other language is to use the same or similar lexicon with a few grammatical and phonological changes. But if you're assuming these two conlangs are not "related", then the way you go about it is two-pronged: they need to have the same or similar inventory of phonemes *along with* the same or similar distribution of those phonemes, as well as same or similar syllable structure. ========================================================================= Thomas Wier "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally, Dept. of Linguistics because our secret police don't get it right University of Chicago half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of 1010 E. 59th Street Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter. Chicago, IL 60637