Random phonology/phonemic inventory thread [2011–2018]

[Nachtuil]

Thinking about Greek inspired this little sketch for a Limestone rethink. Not sure yet whether I like it.

/m n/
/p t k ʔ/
/p͡s t͡s k͡s/
/t͡sx k͡x/
/t͡ɬ/
/s ɬ x/
/l j w/

/a i o/ or /a e i o/ + syllabic continuants, length and tone

Treating affricates as clusters results in the following reduced consonant inventory:

/m n/
/p t t͡s k ʔ/
/s ɬ x/
/l j w/

I find the tsx cluster doable though awkward but i really like the inventory a lot. I love ts and kx being in there.

[DesEsseintes]

Thinking about Greek inspired this little sketch for a Limestone rethink. Not sure yet whether I like it.

/m n/
/p t k ʔ/
/p͡s t͡s k͡s/
/t͡sx k͡x/
/t͡ɬ/
/s ɬ x/
/l j w/

/a i o/ or /a e i o/ + syllabic continuants, length and tone

I find the tsx cluster doable though awkward but i really like the inventory a lot. I love ts and kx being in there.

Thanks . Aspirated stops and affricates (including t͡s) are often pronounced with an [x] in Navajo, and I absolutely love that feature, so this was a perfect opportunity to use it.

I'm considering adding /k͡ɬ/ (realised [k͡ʟ̝̊] before a non-high vowel) to the inventory, though it would probably be relatively marginal.

[DesEsseintes]

Rhotic madness. Obviously, more phonemes need to be added to this, but I find this sketch thrillingly hideous.

/m n ŋ/
/mb nd ŋg/
/mbʙ ndr ŋgʀ~ɴɢʀ/
/p t k/
/pʙ̥ tr̥ kʀ̥~qʀ̥/
/r ʀ/
/r̥ ʀ̥/

Brief update: I've added palatals, laterals and approximants.

/m n ɲ ŋ/
/mb nd ɲdʒ ŋg/
/mbʙ ndr ŋgʀ~ɴɢʀ/
/p t k/
/pʙ̥ tr̥ kʀ̥~qʀ̥/
/r ʀ/
/r̥ ʀ̥/
/l ʎ/
/l̥ ʎ̥/
/j w/

Hmm. Should /j w/ also have voiceless counterparts? Or should the laterals and simple rhotics not have voiceless counterparts?

[Frislander]

The phonology of a little language for a sci-fantasy story I'm writing, called Kokanãi in the first version, now O Kanã. Think Guarani mixed up with Malagasy and you'll get pretty much all of what I've done here.

/p t t͡s ʈʳ k ʔ/ <p t c tr k ‘>
/ⁿb~m ⁿd~n ⁿd͡z~ɲ ⁿɖʳ~ɳ ⁿg~ŋ/ <b~m d~n j~nj/ñ dr~nr g~ng/
/s/ <s>
/w ɽ/ <w r>

/i e a o/ <i e a o> plus or minus nasality

The prenasalised stops often lose the prenasalisation word-initially and become nasals before nasal vowels.

Syllable structure is (C)V(V), where any two vowels may occur adjacent to each other and either form a diphthong, a long vowel or remain in hiatus. When a nasal vowel comes into contact with an oral vowel the oral vowel is nasalised.

[Nachtuil]

Question: How plausible is this inventory with the voicing gaps such that they are?

/m mʲ n nʲ/
/p pʲ t tʲ k kʲ kʷ/
/b bʲ d dʲ g gʲ ɡʷ/
/ts tsʲ/
/dz dzʲ/
/s sʲ ʃ x xʲ xʷ/
/v vʲ z zʲ/
/l lʲ j w/
/r/

Frislander: The prenasalised stops often lose the prenasalisation word-initially and become nasals before nasal vowels.

I like that a lot!

Hmm. Should /j w/ also have voiceless counterparts? Or should the laterals and simple rhotics not have voiceless counterparts?

I think you totally should try having the voiceless versions as well.

[Auvon]

Nachtuil: seems fine, no crazy gaps.

/m n̪ n/ <m nn n>
/p t̪ t k/ <p tt t k>
/t͡s t͡ʃ/ <ts tx>
/f s ʃ/ <f s x>
/ɾ/ <r>
/l̪ l j (w?)/ <ll l y (v?)>
/i u e o ɛ ɔ a/ <i u e o ê ô a>
/ɑ͡ɵ ə͡e/ <ao êe>

(C)V(C), fairly agglutinative. Maybe some sort of harmony?

[Porphyrogenitos]

Messing with some labialization - I don't know the exact consonant inventory; let's say it's:

/p t k/
/m n/
/s x/
/w j ɾ/

Vowels: /a e i o u/ (I may or may not add length)

Rules in initial stage:
- Intervocalic stops voiced (not marked in transcriptions below)
- Approximants and taps devoiced after stops
- Maximum CRVN syllables; except any consonant permitted word-finally
- Stress is trochaic; trochees are formed from the left starting from the first syllable, or from the second if it heavier than the first; leftover non-trochaic syllables receive no stress
- Word-final consonants do not count toward syllable weight

Sound changes:

tj > tʃ
k t > kʷ tʷ / _[+rounded]
unstressed a e i o u > ə ɪ ∅ ʊ ∅
T > S / T_#
tʷ > kʷ / _s
remaining tʷ > kʷ, though in some dialects it is preserved or merges with /p/

Ex:

makat maket makit makot makut > makət makɪt maks makʷʊt makʷs

matat matet matit matot matut > matət matɪt mats makʷʊt makʷs

matantak matantek matantik matantok matantuk > mətantək mətantɪk mətantx mətankʷʊk mətankʷx

Note: The distinction between kʷ and kw is sharply maintained, due to /kw/ not being voiced between vowels and the devoicing of /w/ after /k/; however, [kʷx] assimilates to [kʷxʷ] and merges with /kw/, resulting in a word-final contrast between /kʷ/ and /kw/ ...I guess?

[Auvon]

/m n ŋ/ <m n ng>
/b t d k ɡ q ɢ/ <b t d k g q ḡ>
/t͡s d͡z/ <ts dz>
/s z x ɣ χ ʁ/ <s z kh gh qh ḡh>
/l ð̞/ <l ḍ/đ/dh/r>
/i u a ã/ <ı u a ã>

Fairly complex syllable structure, perhaps. Maybe also a labio-velar/uvular series.

[Jampot911]

/p t k q/ <p t k q>
/θ s ʃ ʁ/ <th s sh q>
/w l r j/ <w l r y>
/m n ŋ/ <m n ng>

/i e ɛ a ɔ o u/ <i é e a o ó u>

Planning to use coronal harmony for /θ s ʃ/.
Also, planning to use fronting harmony (so /i e ɛ/ harmonise and /ɔ o u/ harmonise - /a/ is neutral).

A deliberately simple phonology for a namelang/basic conlang for a book I'm (planning) to write, so I don't want to make it TOO indecipherable for others (conlanging muggles )

[Frislander]

/p t̪ ʈ t͡ʃ k q/
/ɬ̪ s h/
/m n ɲ ŋ/
/w j/

/i e ɛ~æ ɨ u o ɑ/

Syllable structure is (C)V(C), where vowel-initial syllables only occur word-initially and /t͡ʃ ɲ w j/ do not appear in the coda.

/p t k q/ <p t k q>
/θ s ʃ ʁ/ <th s sh q>
/w l r j/ <w l r y>
/m n ŋ/ <m n ng>

/i e ɛ a ɔ o u/ <i é e a o ó u>

Planning to use coronal harmony for /θ s ʃ/.
Also, planning to use fronting harmony (so /i e ɛ/ harmonise and /ɔ o u/ harmonise - /a/ is neutral).

A deliberately simple phonology for a namelang/basic conlang for a book I'm (planning) to write, so I don't want to make it TOO indecipherable for others (conlanging muggles )

Interesting! I wouldn't call it "simple" though: compared to quite a few languages out there it's quite complex-looking actually, and if you're going for anything more than CV syllables even more so due to the morphophonology.

[Auvon]

Like that one, Frislander.

/m-mb n-nd ŋ-ŋɡ/ <m-b n-d ng-g>
/pʼ p tʼ t kʼ k/ <p̓ p t̓ t k̓ k>
/s/ <s>
/ɾ-ɾ̃ l-l̃/ <r l>
/i ĩ ɨ ɨ̃ u ũ/ <i ĩ y ỹ u ũ>
/e ẽ ə ə̃ o õ/ <e ẽ w w̃ o õ>
/a ã/ <a ã>
Sort of a mashup of Quechumaran and Amazonian langs. Stem-spreading nasal CV harmony blocked by ejectives, affecting sonorants, and transparent to /p t k s/. (C)V(R), or maybe something more complex with fun initial clusters. (C)(C)(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C) maybe, where the coda must follow sonority (P'>P>s>MB>r/l>N).

[Frislander]

OK, this will be a bit of a long one. This language family is meant to sit alongside the language with this phonology (O Kanã) and figure in some important developments in that language's history.

I'll start with the proto-inventory.

*p *t *c *k
*b *d *ɟ *g
*m *n *j *w

*i *a *ɯ *ɔ in long and short plus *aɪ̯ *ɔʊ̯

There was also a vowel-harmony system, whereby *i and *ɯ did not co-occur, and harmony in affixes moved left to right. When either of the high vowels were present in the root, the non-high vowels were neutral with regards to harmony, but when they were not, *a selected the *i variant and *ɔ the *ɯ variant, with the harmony following on from there.

Syllable structure was (C)V(C), where onsetless syllables only occurred word-initially and the palatal plosives and the glides could not appear in the coda. Nasal codas assimilated in POA to the following stop.

Now for the classical language. This was the period when the language was first set down in writing, with a strongly phonemic abugida being used.

The biggest change between this and the above inventory was the loss of *p: it was lost as a coda consonant and merged with *w elsewhere, probably via *ɸ. The palatal stops had also likely changed to affricates by this point (see below).

/t t͡ʃ k/ <t c k>
/b d~ɾ d͡ʒ g/ <b d~r j g>
/m n j w/ <m n y w>

/i a ɯ ɔ/ <i a u o> in long and short plus /aɪ̯ ɔʊ̯/ <ai ou>

The vowel harmony remained the same, as did the syllable structure apart from of course the loss of coda *p. Original *d was now realised as a tap /ɾ/ intervocalically and after stops. Nasals continued to assimilate. It has been theorised that /t k/ in the coda had already weakened to a glottal stop /ʔ/ in the coda, since none of the descending dialects distinguish the two, however the writing system does distinguish the two, though this was likely only due to the affectation of educated speech. /g/ was also likely weakening by this point.

It was this stage of the language which spread its writing system to O Kanã, and if you compare the inventories you can see why it was probably not a good idea to import it unmodified, which is how it happened. It is this lending of the writing system which lends credence to the theory that the palatals were already affricated since the character for <c> is used for both /t͡s/ and /ʈʳ/ in O Kanã and the character for <j> for both /ⁿd͡z/ and /ⁿɖʳ/ (the nasal allophones are more complicated, since the writing system thus loaned doesn't distinguish nasalisation, at least consistently).

The later descendant language show more radical changes. They all pretty much agree on the consonants. Coda /t k/ merged as /ʔ/ in the coda (as mentioned above); original /g/ was then lost (with compensatory lengthening in the coda), phonemicising the glottal stop intervocalically; /t͡ʃ/ became /s/ and /d͡ʒ/ became /d/ everywhere, merging with /d/ initially, but remaining distinct as original *d's [ɾ] allophone was phonemicised; finally, the glottal stop prothesis took place on vowel-initial words.

/t k ʔ/ <t k ‘>
/b d/ <b d>
/s/ <s>
/m n/ <m n>
/w ɾ j/ <w r y>

The vowels require more explanation, and an intermediate stage will help explain. Short /i ɯ/ phonetically lowered to /e ɤ/ (the harmony was preserved); long /ɔː/ was raised to /oː/ and /aɪ̯ ɔʊ̯/ were monophthongised to /ɛː ɔː/. This gives the following inventory.

/iː ɯː/
/e ɤ oː/
/ɛː a aː ɔ ɔː/

It should be perfectly obvious how unbalanced this is, but the dialects took slightly different paths towards that goal. They all universally raised /oː ɔː/ to /uː oː/. However, northern and southern dialects differ in how they treat /a aː/. Southern dialects back /aː/ and merge it with /ɔː/, while northern dialect merge /a/ with /ɤ/ as /ə/ (/ɯ/ is realised as [ɨ] in those dialects). The length contrast was then lost on all the vowels, giving the common inventory of

/i ɨ~ɯ u/ <i ũ u>
/e ə~ɤ o/ <e õ o>
/ɛ a ɔ/ <ɛ a ɔ>

(the romanisation's not settled yet, I'm open to alternation suggestions)

The length contrast was reintroduced in open syllables through the loss of coda /g/, and of coda /d/ in most dialects except in the northwest, which retain it as /d/.

The vowel harmony is retained, and even further extended to include ɛ/a as well.

Finally, the coda nasals are sometimes lost with corresponding nasalisation of the preceding vowel. The eastern dialects lack nasalisation; the western dialects have it with both nasals; and the central dialects have it for only one of the nasals (/m/ in the north, /n/ in the south). For the western dialects the coda inventory is thus /ʔ b m n ː/.

Though onsetless syllables are no longer permitted, the loss of /g/ has resulted in the morphology causing vowel collisions, whereupon the following syncopations take place. The vowel resulting from this syncopation is always long. After the application of vowel harmony (where relevant), the horizontal position of the vowel is given by the horizontal position of the second vowel. The vertical height is determined according to the following chart (where H=high/close, M=mid and L=low/open):

Code: Select all

  H M L
H H M M
M H M L
L M M L

.

[LinguoFranco]

Came up with a potential vowel system: /ɐ e̞ ɨ o̞/. Might through in /ɪ ʊ/ as well.

[Parlox]

I am not sure if this is realistic, but i like it somewhat.
/m n ŋ/
/b t g q/
/s ʃ/
/f v ɹ/
/w/
/l lʷ/

And the vowels

/i uː/
/ɪ ʊ/
/o/
/ə/
/ɛː/
/a ɒ/

I know the vowel inventory is a bit big)

[Frislander]

/b t t͡ʃ k ʔ/ <b t c k '>
/ʂ h/ <s h>
/m n/ <m n>
/w ɽ j/ <w r y>

/i e o a/ in long and short, plus or minus nasalisation, and taking one of modal, breathy or creaky voice.

Syllable structure is CV(C) where any consonant may appear in the coda, with the added restriction that the *-ij rhyme is not permitted.

[Shemtov]

A relative Sawaan Hapaatan
/t k ʔ/
/m n ŋ/
/f x h/
/l /
/j w/

/i i: e e: o o: ø ø: a a: œ œ:/
/ai oi øy œy/

[Frislander]

/t t͡ʃ k k͡p ʔ/
/ⁿb ⁿd/
/m n ɲ ŋ ŋ͡m/
/β ɾ j ɣ/

/i e ɨ ə a u o/ plus or minus nasalisation

Syllable structure is CV(ʔ).

[Omzinesý]

pf ts tθ tɬ ʈʂ ʈɻ ʈɭ kɕ kx kʟ
p t ʈ k ʔ
f s θ ɬ ʂ ɻ ɭ ɕ x ʟ h
m n ɳ ŋ
m ̃ n ̃ ɳ ̃ ŋ ̃
r ɽ

The palatal affricate and fricative appear before front vowels only.
The lower series of nasals nasalizes the flowing vowel, while the higher one does not.

[LinguoFranco]

Do you prefer /a e i o u/, or /a ɛ i ɔ u/? I don't have much of a preference either way, so for now, there is free variance between /e/and /ɛ/ and between /o/ and /ɔ/.

[Shemtov]

Anglesey Gaelic:
/p pʲ b bʲ t tʲ d dʲ c ɟ k g/ /<p pì b bì t tì d dì cì gì c k>
/m mʲ n nʲ/ <m mì n nì>
/f fʲ v vʲ θ θʲ ð ðʲ s ɬ ɬʲ ç x h/ f fì mh/bh mhì/bhì th thì dh dh̀ s ll llì sì chì ch sh>
/r rʲ r̥ r̥ʲ/ r rì rh rhì

/i i: e u u: o o: ə a a:/ <i í e u ú o ó y a á>
There are also two silient graphemes <fh> and <gh>