Re: Conlang for giant caterpillars

Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...> wrote:
>
> Pablo Flores wrote:
>
> >Vowels: i a u (unrounded, and all of them unvoiced!)
>
> Just a suggestion, what about considering fricative vowels instead?
> This makes more sense to me for a whispered insectisoid language
> with the very basic triangular vowel system. In other words, <i>
> would be a syllabic palatal fricative, while <u> would be a syllabic
> bilabial fricative - all voiceless. Proto-Bantu is said to have had
> such vowels, and some Chinese dialects also have fricative vowels
> (though voiced, so yours would have to be voiceless of course). Your
> <a> could just be a syllabic /h/. So your vowel inventory would look
> something like /S h P/.
Well, it certainly looks interesting. The problem is that
these guys have no glotis (not like ours) and no lips, so
/h/ and /P/ are impossible.

>
> -----<snip>-----
> >The interdental fricative <|h> is produced by "showing
>
> >the teeth" and letting some air pass between them. The
>
> In most literatures I have read, this sound is called a bidental
> fricative. Rare in human languages, but it has been documented.
>
>
> >lateral <|l> is similar, but the tongue is pressed
> >against the lower teeth and raised in its middle part.
>
> I don't get this one. When I do what you have described, I get a
> palatal fricative. But maybe that's because I do not have three
> tongues like you caterpillars. 8)
No problem. I'm taking <|l> out of the language... I was
trying to have laterals in all positions where I had
fricatives, but that's not how it works.


--Pablo Flores