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Re: Conlang for giant caterpillars

From:Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...>
Date:Monday, May 31, 1999, 5:32
Pablo Flores wrote:

>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.
Oh yeah, that's right, you mentioned no lips. But that's easily solved. Instead of syllabic /P/, why not use a syllabic version of the bidental fricative. Afterall, you already have a bidental fricative. And instead of syllabic /h/, you could have a syllabic /x/. If they don't have a velar section, then /X/. If no uvular section, then a syllabic pharyngeal fricative (the barred <h> in the IPA). If no pharyngeal section, then an epiglottal. I have seen your diagrams, so the possibilities are always there - somewhere. -kristian- 8)