Search found 352 matches

by vokzhen
Mon Mar 21, 2016 9:36 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Basque's Surdéclinaison
Replies: 28
Views: 8231

Re: Basque's Surdéclinaison

Tl;Dr (that I only got by looking up a blog post he made) is that Basque lets you use an inflected form as a base for new inflections. But as far as I can tell, by "inflection" he mostly means "derivation." I'm not particularly knowledgeable here, but isn't the claim that it's found just in Basque a...
by vokzhen
Sun Mar 20, 2016 3:25 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Incorrect pronunciations you have (or have had) to unlearn
Replies: 669
Views: 149479

Re: Incorrect pronunciations you have (or have had) to unlea

jmcd wrote:
Sglod wrote:I always thought pronunciation was pronounciation and said it as such... (/prənaʊsi.ˈeɪʃᵊn/)
I still say it thusly. Ain't nothing stopping this rebel~~
Same here, and I usually misspell it, notice the red squigglies, and fix it. It's rare than I spell it correctly.
by vokzhen
Fri Mar 18, 2016 11:05 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Origin of retroflex consonants
Replies: 22
Views: 6850

Re: Origin of retroflex consonants

Southeast Asia and the Transhimalayan region have plenty of initial retroflexes. Chinese, Tibetan, Vietnamese, Qiang, Naxi, Yi/Nuosu/Loloish, Kra, and Hmong, for the most part, are based around monosyllables and have retroflexes. Several of those (Tibetan, Chinese, Vietnamese) formed them from Cr cl...
by vokzhen
Sat Mar 12, 2016 1:53 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Existence of [tʃwV] and [tɕjV]
Replies: 23
Views: 5654

Re: Existence of [tʃwV] and [tɕjV]

They are entirely unremarkable and definitely possible. For forbidding them, that's easy. /j/ drops after palatals, or /tɕ/ only formed by assimilating and absorbing /j/ in the first place (Japanese tjV>tɕV) so as to preclude any possible clustering in the first place. And coronal+/w/ > labial/labio...
by vokzhen
Sat Mar 12, 2016 12:10 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: How to design a non-European phonology
Replies: 622
Views: 166755

Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Affricates are usually phonemically indistinguishable from stops, having the same contrasts and appearing in the same contexts, though there's exceptions (Basque where they're only voiceless like fricatives; Avar where they can be both fortis like fricatives and ejective like stops). I don't know ho...
by vokzhen
Tue Mar 08, 2016 5:27 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Neo-Akkadian/Kaschdean/A-Leschān A-Labār NP:REDONE
Replies: 31
Views: 5911

Re: Neo-Akkadian/Kaschdean/A-Leschān A-Labār

That seems quite unlikely to me, but it's your language. I'm not familiar with any language that has a marker for proper nouns which is only used for that purpose, which was borrowed from another language (presumably via bilingualism) and then used in a way completely distinct from the way that it ...
by vokzhen
Tue Mar 08, 2016 5:32 am
Forum: L&L Museum
Topic: Odd natlang features thread
Replies: 354
Views: 145189

Re: Odd natlang features thread

It also apparently has a phonemic contrast between /ɨ/, /ɨː/, /ə/, and /əː/, in addition to the /a aː i iː u uː e eː o oː/ vowels that are typical of e.g. Dravidian languages. Not particularly rare to contrast /ɨ ə/, and it's really common in SEA and the eastern Himalayan area, so that's not really...
by vokzhen
Mon Mar 07, 2016 2:05 am
Forum: L&L Museum
Topic: Bizarre Sound Changes
Replies: 190
Views: 93192

Re: Bizarre Sound Changes

/u(:) o(:) a(:)/ > /ʉ(:) ɵ(:) ɛ(:)/ in all open syllables in Khaling (source).
by vokzhen
Sat Mar 05, 2016 4:32 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Small vowel inventories in North America
Replies: 27
Views: 5521

Re: Small vowel inventories in North America

The most skewed, non-American, non-large (i.e. below 7) vowel systems I know of are Nivkh /ɪ ɪe æ u ɤ o/ and Big Nambas /i e ə a u/. Supposedly that Nivkh vowel inventory is false and it's a little bit of a mystery where it even came from. The 'right' inventory for the language is fairly banal, but...
by vokzhen
Tue Mar 01, 2016 9:40 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Himba color naming
Replies: 38
Views: 7845

Re: Himba color naming

Taking a loot at the Wikipedia page , subtractive primary/printing cyan is clearly blue, additive secondary/display cyan is more blue than green, [...] . Er, those are exactly the same color. You do realize that the diagram of 'printing cyan' is appearing on your monitor, where it is displayed usin...
by vokzhen
Tue Mar 01, 2016 7:44 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Himba color naming
Replies: 38
Views: 7845

Re: Himba color naming

Taking a loot at the Wikipedia page, subtractive primary/printing cyan is clearly blue, additive secondary/display cyan is more blue than green, but most of the other shades are green.
by vokzhen
Tue Mar 01, 2016 3:14 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Incorrect pronunciations you have (or have had) to unlearn
Replies: 669
Views: 149479

Re: Incorrect pronunciations you have (or have had) to unlea

Well, in reality, most instances of them are going to be [n̪(n̪)] and [ʔð] I'm pretty sure. The /ð/ of grammatical words is usually swallowed by the preceding nasal, and off the top of my head I'm not coming up with other instances where a cluster of /nð/ would come up. And I think I only have conta...
by vokzhen
Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:56 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Phonaesthetic archetypes for fantasy races
Replies: 24
Views: 10036

Re: Phonaesthetic archetypes for fantasy races

My current project (which granted is going slowly due to inconsistent motivation) takes place in a "small" area, largely confined to an area roughly the size of Japan/Korea/Greece/British Isles. It started out with clear fantasy races and changed over time, but I'll call them by their closest fantas...
by vokzhen
Mon Feb 29, 2016 1:38 pm
Forum: L&L Museum
Topic: Odd natlang features thread
Replies: 354
Views: 145189

Re: Odd natlang features thread

there's cases like Latin /rabie:s/ to French /raʒ/ Didn't /b d g/ :> 0 / V_V in Western Romance? So the source of /ʒ/ is less mysterious, the change was more like rabie:s :> raje :> raʒe :> raʒ. The paper also points out <sapiat> yielding French <sâche> and Romansch <sapcha> where I believe we'd ex...
by vokzhen
Sun Feb 28, 2016 1:09 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Incorrect pronunciations you have (or have had) to unlearn
Replies: 669
Views: 149479

Re: Incorrect pronunciations you have (or have had) to unlea

My entire family has an intrusive <n> in mozzarella /mantsərɛlə/, and if I heard correctly my mom's sister does as well. I don't know if that's a widespread thing or a quirk of our family. Velar nasal, instead of alveolar/palatal, in <onion>. People never seem to notice anyways. It seems to be a wid...
by vokzhen
Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:29 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613751

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

Well, intervocally yes, except it looks like Vni# > Vɲ and ini > ihi or i.
by vokzhen
Thu Feb 25, 2016 1:47 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613751

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

Didn't Egyptian Arabic turn /dʒ/ into /g/? Classical Arabic had /gʲ~ɟ/ that fronted in most dialects to [dʒ~ʒ~j]. It seems more likely Egyptian Arabic backed Classical Arabic /ɟ/ without an intermediate. Or perhaps it simply adopted [g] for /ɟ/ due to Coptic or Greek influence. How can I go from n ...
by vokzhen
Wed Feb 24, 2016 2:32 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613751

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

Another possibility altogether is that all three types of stop merge (as in some dialects of Quechua) and long stops derive from clusters. Zompist has said elsewhere that it seems more likely they were borrowed and then incorporated into native lexicon. Quechua on the whole only has a single series...
by vokzhen
Tue Feb 23, 2016 5:05 am
Forum: L&L Museum
Topic: Odd natlang features thread
Replies: 354
Views: 145189

Re: Odd natlang features thread

and there are labial-palatal affricates /pcʰ pc bɟ bɟ°/. ° is the convention for devoiced plosives, but they could just as well be written /pcɦ/.) That's pretty cool. Reminds me of Hmong's "bilabial lateral" series. I also remember some Bantu langugage had /pʃ bʒ/ onsets with few or no clusters per...
by vokzhen
Tue Feb 16, 2016 8:52 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Origin of retroflex consonants
Replies: 22
Views: 6850

Re: Origin of retroflex consonants

A counter, off the top of my head, is Mixe languages. They have a near-complete shift of s>ʂ. [ʃ] appears but, at least in the South Highland that I've looked at the most, only as palatalized /ʂ/ (all consonants can be palatalized). Looking up a few, apparently Proto-Zapotec had both retroflex and n...
by vokzhen
Sun Feb 14, 2016 3:56 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613751

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

EDIT: Don't some dialects of Arabic realize /q/ as [g]? Does anyone know the philology of that? It fills in for the missing /g/, since most dialects have /t k q/ and /b d/, a step towards leveling the system. Not sure if you could pull it off already having /g/. There's dialects that have the empha...
by vokzhen
Sun Feb 14, 2016 1:51 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613751

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

Do you think these two make sense? ts > t' q > k' I know that the reverse has happened in some Semitic languages, but are there examples for this direction, in a language that previously doesn't have ejectives? The only way I know to gain ejectives for sure like that is the aspirate/plain/voiced>as...
by vokzhen
Fri Feb 12, 2016 10:23 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613751

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

/g/ became pharyngeal in one European language. I want to say it was Iberian in origin but the name escapes me right now. You are likely thinking of Galician, where [ħ] can be an allophone of /g/ presumably intervocalically. Yar, the intervocal [ɣ] back and devoiced. An intermediate happen in Ukrai...
by vokzhen
Sun Feb 07, 2016 6:22 am
Forum: L&L Museum
Topic: Bizarre Sound Changes
Replies: 190
Views: 93192

Re: Bizarre Sound Changes

03:03 < nort> mundari nasal release only occurs in monosyllables 03:03 < nort> /ub/ [u?bm] but /udub/ [udu?b] 03:24 <@vlad> southeastern tepehuan also has b > ?m word-finally but not just in monosyllables 03:24 <@vlad> and I thought that was weird Just noticed this for some reason. Kharia, another ...
by vokzhen
Thu Feb 04, 2016 9:48 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Ejectives in Zulu
Replies: 7
Views: 2094

Re: Ejectives in Zulu

Yea, I assume that's what it is. Eastern Armenian and, more closely/relevantly, Sotho show shifts of plain/aspirated > ejective/aspirated under the influence of languages with ejectives.