Search found 233 matches

by LinguistCat
Thu May 24, 2018 1:31 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Grand Phonological Theory of Everything
Replies: 13
Views: 9706

Re: The Grand Phonological Theory of Everything

I'm not trained in this at all, but I have to agree with Curlyjimsam: A theory that under generates in some way is more or less proven false, but one that over generates might mean that we don't have enough data. I'd go for a theory that doesn't under generate but only over generates slightly or mak...
by LinguistCat
Sun Apr 29, 2018 7:58 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: asking again on Old Japanese/Proto-Japonic resources
Replies: 2
Views: 3509

Re: asking again on Old Japanese/Proto-Japonic resources

I had actually read the first one before but hadn't been able to find it again to check some details; it was actually what got me to consider using a 7-vowel reconstruction. The other I don't think I've read yet, so thank you on both counts. :D
by LinguistCat
Sat Apr 28, 2018 2:41 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: asking again on Old Japanese/Proto-Japonic resources
Replies: 2
Views: 3509

asking again on Old Japanese/Proto-Japonic resources

I'm mostly looking for papers on phonology, especially if the author favors a 6 or 7 vowel reconstruction for Proto-Japonic. I have recently found a paper (The Spelling of /mo/ in Old Japanese, by John R. Bentley, 2015) that suggests that portions of the Nihon Shoki retained a split in spelling betw...
by LinguistCat
Tue Apr 03, 2018 11:07 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613704

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

In a small consonant inventory /m n p t k s j r w/ would it be reasonable for nasal+stop clusters to become nasal+/j/ or at least more generally nasal+approximant? The general patterns I have seen is that nasal+stop clusters voice the stop and preserve stop-ness and rather voiced stops (which you c...
by LinguistCat
Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:29 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613704

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

In a small consonant inventory

/m n p t k s j r w/

would it be reasonable for nasal+stop clusters to become nasal+/j/ or at least more generally nasal+approximant?
by LinguistCat
Wed Mar 28, 2018 9:18 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613704

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

This would be syllable initial but in the final syllable of a word. I hope that clears up what I meant. One could have lenition of unstressed onsets combined with an trochaic word structure where the final syllable of a polysyllabic word is always unstressed. Yes that is more than doable and should...
by LinguistCat
Wed Mar 28, 2018 7:50 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613704

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

Travis B. wrote:Both fortition (final fortition in German, Dutch, Polish, Russian, etc.) and lenition (English s > z finally in many words) frequently occur word-finally or, more broadly, syllable-finally.
This would be syllable initial but in the final syllable of a word. I hope that clears up what I meant.
by LinguistCat
Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:22 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613704

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

Are there sound changes besides dropping the last consonant or vowel of a word that could happen to the last syllable of a word? I was thinking since /k/ in the proto-language already voices to [g] in intervocalic positions, and there's free variation between the stop form and fricatives [x~ɣ] (voic...
by LinguistCat
Wed Mar 28, 2018 2:43 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: deriving conlangs, generally
Replies: 11
Views: 8322

Re: deriving conlangs, generally

Thank you all for this input. @mèþru: I do like the idea of them having come from China to Japan, as well as carrying a Chinese based language to Japan that would later affect their Japanese and/or the language they develop alongside Japanese. I was actually considering that they came over earlier t...
by LinguistCat
Tue Mar 27, 2018 7:23 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: deriving conlangs, generally
Replies: 11
Views: 8322

deriving conlangs, generally

When deriving a conlang from an existing natural language or a reconstruction of a proto lang (natural or not), how do you go about it? Do you focus on getting a specific sound, or having certain features (ex: deriving gender from a language that didn't have gender), or do you choose sound changes y...
by LinguistCat
Tue Mar 27, 2018 6:30 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: On Tetraploidy or Parasitism
Replies: 8
Views: 6550

Re: On Tetraploidy or Parasitism

svld wrote:Maybe This is the life cycle model you're looking for?
If this was directed at me absolutely. The name was evading me.
by LinguistCat
Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:06 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: On Tetraploidy or Parasitism
Replies: 8
Views: 6550

Re: On Tetraploidy or Parasitism

In a sense, your "A generation" individuals are basically walking gametes (or swimming or flying, depending on how they get around), for a species that otherwise reproduces asexually. There are creatures on Earth that have a similar set up (normally reproducing asexually but reproducing sexually whe...
by LinguistCat
Wed Jan 24, 2018 5:00 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The word "gal".
Replies: 21
Views: 5737

Re: The word "gal".

... "ma'am" is acceptable but marks you as Southern (even if you aren't) ... Ma'am is used pretty often in California and considered neutral, though a few older people find it odd that younger women are fine with being called ma'am instead of miss. At least that's how it was about 5 years ago when ...
by LinguistCat
Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:26 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: compound word dating in Japanese?
Replies: 2
Views: 2084

Re: compound word dating in Japanese?

Thank you. I recently saw about no > rendaku. I was hoping there was some temporal component to how kanji readings were used but it does seem it's more about slight (or major!) differences in the meanings certain readings have. Ah, unfortunate, but still good to know.
by LinguistCat
Thu Jan 18, 2018 3:04 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: compound word dating in Japanese?
Replies: 2
Views: 2084

compound word dating in Japanese?

How do you know (or have a best guess) for when a compound word was formed in Japanese, even just a general stage of the language's development? Is there a good way to do this besides looking up etymologies (which, until I find better references, limits me to what is on wiktionary)? Like, some would...
by LinguistCat
Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:26 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Vocabulary list for Old Japanese?
Replies: 5
Views: 2755

Re: Vocabulary list for Old Japanese?

Thanks. I did think e1/e2 seemed kind of rare from the vocabulary I found.
by LinguistCat
Sun Dec 03, 2017 7:25 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Kinship: children of cousins?
Replies: 15
Views: 4480

Re: Kinship: children of cousins?

If I were, say, introducing someone to a mixed group of my first cousins and their children (and/or my cousins once removed who are my parents' first cousins, and/or second cousins and their children), I would say "These are my cousins." If instead, I was introducing a specific "cousin" to someone, ...
by LinguistCat
Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:32 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Keeping track of derived terms?
Replies: 2
Views: 1863

Keeping track of derived terms?

When deriving a conlang from a real life language, how do you keep track of compounds? It's one thing if it's a compound that dates back to when the conlang "split off" or before, or if one or more of the elements could only be borrowed after a certain point (for example, my language borrows a lot f...
by LinguistCat
Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:32 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: vowel sound changes 3: this time it's personal
Replies: 4
Views: 2494

Re: vowel sound changes 3: this time it's personal

/a e ɛ/ raise to [æ ɛ ɪ] I think you've mixed up your symbols, /e/ is lower than /ɛ/, so you'd expect a raising change to show /ɛ/ > /e/ not the other way round. Thanks for catching that. You're right. The way I understand it low vowels do nasalise more easily than high vowels. Low vowels, if I rec...
by LinguistCat
Sat Nov 04, 2017 2:09 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: vowel sound changes 3: this time it's personal
Replies: 4
Views: 2494

vowel sound changes 3: this time it's personal

Starting from the vowel inventory /a i ɨ e ɛ o ɔ u/, I was planning to have /a e ɛ/ raise to [æ ɛ ɪ] or there about in certain environments, and keep /i ɨ/ the same, but I'm not sure if I want /o ɔ u/ to raise, unround, front, or do some combo of those. My first thought was to make them [ə ə ʉ] beca...
by LinguistCat
Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:44 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Vocabulary list for Old Japanese?
Replies: 5
Views: 2755

Re: Vocabulary list for Old Japanese?

Qwynegold wrote:I only have a vocabulary list and grammar notes for Kaguya-hime, which is probably way too little to be useful to you.
Actually, I'd appreciate it. If nothing else that's one of my favorite stories.
by LinguistCat
Tue Oct 03, 2017 5:48 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Vocabulary list for Old Japanese?
Replies: 5
Views: 2755

Vocabulary list for Old Japanese?

What it says on the tin. It doesn't have to be super extensive, but the more terms that better of course. I've found a smattering of vocabulary in different places with different levels of confidence, but I'm just wondering if there's somewhere that has a large collection of it in one spot. Alternat...
by LinguistCat
Wed Aug 16, 2017 9:54 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Metathesis in languages that are mostly CV?
Replies: 7
Views: 3521

Re: Metathesis in languages that are mostly CV?

Thank you all. I'm feeling confident about the set of sound changes I wanted to introduce with this.
by LinguistCat
Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:17 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Metathesis in languages that are mostly CV?
Replies: 7
Views: 3521

Re: Metathesis in languages that are mostly CV?

After looking at Rotuman, I think I should be ok as long as the metathesis quickly resolves into long consonants already found in Japanese at the point I'm deriving from. Or at least influence from Japanese could push it that way. Thank you for the input. While I've gotten the answer for my own proj...
by LinguistCat
Tue Aug 08, 2017 2:27 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Metathesis in languages that are mostly CV?
Replies: 7
Views: 3521

Metathesis in languages that are mostly CV?

So I've been working on a language that is a relative of Japanese. I was thinking of doing something with metathesis in the general form of CVCV > VCCV (the exact change isn't important I don't think , but I can add it later if needed). This got me to thinking about languages that have strict syllab...