Re: The Romanized Orthography of My Conlang

"R. Nierse" wrote:

> Hi Austin,
>
> I read your mail with interest.
As did I. :)

> > > First, language sounds tend to be organized in groups.  That is,
> > > when a language has one sound in one type of category (say,
> > > voiceless stops, consonants that completely stop the airflow and
> > > where the vocal chords aren't vibrating at the same time), it will
> > > tend to have all or most of the other sounds in that category. So,
> > > if your language has /t/ and /k/, it's more likely to have a /p/ too.
> > > But that in itself is not the clincher:  you could just say that your
> > > language doesn't have labial sounds (like /p/); though rare, two
> > > languages I'm studying in class now, Atkan Aleut and Onandaga,
> > > both lack labial consonants (more or less).  The thing is, though,
> > > your phonology here also has an /f/, a labial fricative (a sound which
> > > allows "frication" or rustling of the air), and so if you're going to
> > > say your language lacks labial consonants, you'll need to be
> > > consistent about it.
>
> I don't agree. As you stated, there are languages that lack bilabial
> consonants *and* are inconsistent. Take Cherokee. No /p/ or /b/, but there
> is /m/.
Right.  And Aleut has an /m/, too, but no /p/ and /b/.   What I meant
to say was that these are just tendencies;  of course individual languages
may have incompletely filled categories.  But note that I did say "...when
a language has one sound in one type of category... it will tend to have
all or most of the other sounds in that category."  If it was not clear that
I intended that tone for the entirety of the critique, I apologize.

Also, in case it wasn't clear, I didn't mean any personal criticism of
Austin's conlang -- I was just approaching it from a more holistic
linguistic perspective, speaking of how languages work in general.
Sorry if I caused any offense.

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

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