Re: Unilang: the Phonology

David Peterson wrote:
> you'd have to leave all liquids out completely.
I disagree.  Ninety-six percent of all languages have at least one
liquid, 72% have more than one.  I say, have one liquid.  It could be
written "l" or "r", it doesn't matter, but both pronunciations would be
legal.  That single liquid could be, for instance, a lateral alveolar
approximate, an alveolar approximate, a retroflex approximate, an
alveolar tap, whatever.

> And then what about the languages that have no [l], where the sound
> [l] has changed to [d] over time or [w] or even [n] I've heard of?
Those usually have an /r/ of some sort.  Thus, the single liquid would
still work.

> I would leave [f] out, too, due to its odd, labio-dental nature.
According to a survey of the world's langauges done at the University of
California, "The most frequent fricative is a dental/alveolar sibilant:
83% of the languages have some form of /s/.  Next comes /S/ and /f/.

So, if there's two fricatives, I'd suggest /f/ being the second.

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