Features 1-3
For my consonants and vowels, I'm going to have to do some math. According to WALS, 22±3 consonants is the average number. Since I'm trying to be average. 22 is the number of consonants for now. The average number of vowel qualities is 5-6. My feeling is that 5 is more average than 6 so I'm going with 5 for now. But the what about the 3rd feature, consonant-vowel ratio? 2.75 - 4.5 is classified as average. 22 : 5 = 4.4. It's perfect. 22 : 6 gives 3.66··· so if we decide to add a 6th vowel, it works. 21 : 5 = 4.2 also falls within the range. 21 : 6 = 3.5 and works as well. This gives some leeway in case I end up in trouble searching for my sounds. For now though, the vowels are /a e i o u/.
Feature 4-7
182 languages have no vo voicing contrast. 189 have voicing contrast in plosives only. 38 in fricatives alone. 158 in both. I'm going to go with option two. There will be voiced plosives but no voiced fricatives.
Feature 5 deals with gaps in plosive systems but this is relatively uncommon so my avrelang won't feature it. Feature 6 deals with uvulars which are uncommon and don't make the cut. Glottalised consonants (feature 7) are also uncommon. This gives us enough to construct the plosive system. There will be a full set of the normal stops only:
/p b t d k g/
Yay! We have the stops.
Features 8-9
Lateral consonants. Most languages have them. There will be an /l/. Feature 9 discusses the velar nasal. 146 have it and allow it syllable-initially. 235 languages don't have one at all. It won't feature. Tentatively, the nasals are /m n/.
Interlude—Finishing the consonantal system
Feature 9 is the last feature that speaks of consonants. But I only have 9 so I'm going to intutively have to add 13 consonants. I'm only using WALS as my source so I'm not going to look up charts. Please tell me if you find my choices too extravagant.
So far, my averlang has:
/p t k/
/b d g/
/m n/
/l/
By looking at feature 4, many languages have fricatives so I think it's safe to add some:
/f s x h/
We're up to 13. I'm going to go ahead and assume that a rhotic is not too far of a stretch, so there'll be an /r/. Maybe I'll look at other things to decide which kind of r this is later. 14—9 to go.
I'm going to go ahead and add /ŋ/ and fill in the nasal system. I'm also thinking that the glides /w/ and /j/ are probably extremely common and will feature. And I have a feeling that the affricates /tʃ dʒ/ are very common, so they'll feature. What do you guys think?
/p t tʃ k/
/b d dʒ g/
/f s x h/
/m n ŋ/
/l r/
/w j/
19—3 to go. I think adding /ʃ/ is in order, it matches the /tʃ/ and isn't too weird. I need two more. Since I have /h/ I think /ʔ/ isn't too much of a stretch. One more. Gosh, I can't decide. Any ideas?
The system for now looks like this, minus one:
/p t tʃ k ʔ/
/b d dʒ g/
/f s ʃ x h/
/m n ŋ/
/l r/
/w j/
It won't be a voiced fricative, it won't be a stop. It could be a nasal, liquid, glide or even a contrasting rhotic. I need some help with deciding.
Features 10-11
Now for the vowels. Vowel nasalisation (10) does not seem common enough to make the cut. Neither do front rounded vowels (11). So the vowels stay /a e i o u/ for now.
Feature 12
Syllable structure. Moderately complex is the by far most common type. That means either CCV or CVC or CCVC. I'll hold off on this for a little while. According to the article, the second consonant in CC clusters is almost always restricted and also coda consonants. I'll keep this in mind.
Features 13-17
Tone (13) and fixed stress locations (14). Tones don't make the cut, they're featured in a minority of the languages sampled. However, stress lands me in trouble. The majority of languages don't have a fixed stressed position (220) but I think for convenience, I'm going to go with the second most common (110 languages), the penultimate. Am I cheating? Yes, but I find unfixed stresses very stressful. Also, the following article (15) more languages have a fixes stress position than weight sensetive stress. So weight sensetive stress will not feature. This takes care of feature 16 as well which deals with the same. Feature 17 speaks about rhythm types which has to do with secondary stress. According to the article, trochaic secondary stress (the second syllable after the main stress) receives secondary stress. So that's what we go with.
Features 18-19
Absence of common consonants is the topic of the 18th feature. Most languages BY FAR have all present. The presence of uncommon consonants is the following topic and final topic of the phonology survey. Most languages, 449, don't have any, and 45 have the second most common option labial-velars. I don't really have room to take any liberties here. But I feel like this gives me permission to allow /kp/ clusters at the start of syllables if I choose CCV or CCVC syllable structures.
Outro—Finishing the phonology
For this, I'm going to need some help. Let's summarise, shall we?
Consonants
/p t tʃ k ʔ/
/b d dʒ g/
/f s ʃ x h/
/m n ŋ/
/l r/
/w j/
Vowels
/a e i o u/
Penultimate stress, trochaic secondary stress.
Questions:
- Do I add a 22nd consonant? I don't need to. The ratio 21 : 5 = 4.2 is acceptable.
- What about adding a vowel? It's OK if I do. 21 : 6 = 3.5 and falls within the range, actually, it hits the middle of the range.
- What kind of syllables are there? CVC, CCV or CCVC?
- What are the phonotactics?