Post your conlang's phonology

[krítá]

Thanks for those links, but I've read them several times. I really don't understand the problem?

Edit: If you could be so kind as to explain what I'm doing wrong that would be great. Also, I can't see 90% of the IPA chart because my mobile doesn't support the symbols.

[masako]

Thanks for those links, but I've read them several times. I really don't understand the problem?

RE:

Why would you write /k/ <q>?

He is asking why you would write a voiceless velar plosive with a symbol (<q>) that is most of the time used to write a voiceless uvular plosive unless you're already using <k> for another sound.

[krítá]

In Spanish, the letter "q" is much softer than the letter "k" as in the word "que". I wasn't aware that I had to have a 'k' sound to use 'q' which is the sound I want.

I'm new to this, so I am now very confused.

[masako]

Actually, I think in most dialects <q> & <k> in Spanish are both pronounced /k/...so...

There are no steadfast rules that say you have to have both sounds, or that if you have one that it must be represented a certain way, it just seems weird to use one symbol and not the other when you don't use a sound that most would associate with that symbol. That's all.

[krítá]

I see. Well to my ears and my fluency in Spanish, I can safely say that there is a difference depending on the word you use. Also, since I am using Spanish as a basis for my conlang, we don't have a lot "k" words, so "q" just seemed the way to go.

[masako]

...we don't have a lot "k" words, so "q" just seemed the way to go.

*sigh*

[krítá]

...we don't have a lot "k" words, so "q" just seemed the way to go.

*sigh*

*shrug*

[Risla]

I have a Hispanoform Roman orthography for my conlang South Eresian, see here.

I think you might be getting the idea that <q> has a "softer sound" than <k> because <q> (and <c>) in Spanish are used for /k/ while <k> is used very rarely, and in Spanish this sound is always unaspirated. In English, which uses <k> for /k/ a lot (but not always), it can be aspirated in certain environments, which a lot of people think makes it sound harsher.

[krítá]

That makes sense. Thanks for that.

Edit: sano, I don't understand why you couldn't just say "hey dude, k is the sound and q is the written form of the k sound." In which case I would have said oh, my bad, let me change that.

[Imralu]

Omg you only have 2 of /p t k ?/ I'm calling the police on you!

I wouldn't hold out much hope of them ever getting there. I called the police on Hawaiian a while ago and aside from a few postcards, I've heard nothing from them since. *sigh*

[Imralu]

Niwari: <insert standard fantasy phoneme inventory here, minus /θ/ and /ð/>

Consonants.

Code: Select all

m n
b d   g
p t   k
f s ʃ   h
v z ʒ
  l j w

All consonants except /h/ may be single or geminate. The phoneme /d/, when not geminate is pronounced as [ɾ] between vowels or between a preceding semivowel and a following vowel. Initial /f/ is rare due to a sound change that resulted in /hw/. /n/ is pronounced as [ŋ] before /k/ and /g/. The cluster /ng/ is pronounced as [ŋg] between vowels and [ŋ] syllable finally or syllable initially.

Vowels

Code: Select all

i     u
e     o
   ä

I haven't quite worked out all the phonotactics yet, but I know the following initial clusters are legal:
sp- ʃp-
st- ʃt-
sk- ʃk-
sm- ʃm-
sn- ʃn-
sl- ʃl- hl-
nw- kw- gw- sw- ʃw- ʒw- hw-
ts- tʃ- dz- dʒ-
mj- nj- pj- bj- kj- gj- hj-
ng-

All consonants are legal at the end of a syllable except /h/. The only final clusters that are allowed involve /j/ or /w/ before another consonant, or /ng/. A few marginal cases of /mz/ appear at the end of words, however the /m/ is increasingly being deleted in colloquial speech and many younger speakers are substituting /nz/ in these words when using a formal register.

[masako]

That makes sense. Thanks for that.

Edit: sano, I don't understand why you couldn't just say "hey dude, k is the sound and q is the written form of the k sound." In which case I would have said oh, my bad, let me change that.

He is asking why you would write a voiceless velar plosive with a symbol (<q>) that is most of the time used to write a voiceless uvular plosive unless you're already using <k> for another sound.

Yeah.

[qwaszx]

Here's what I've got so far; allophones are in ()

/p/ (pʲ) /b/ (β) /s/ (ʃ, z) /z/ /ʀ-ɾ-ɹ/ /m/ /j/
/t/ (tʲ) /d/ (ð) /f/ /v/ /l/ (ɫ) /n/ (ŋ)
/k/ (kʲ) /g/ (ʝ) /h/ /ʎ/

/i/ (ɪ) (ʊ) /u/
/e/ /o/
/ɛ/ (ə) /ɔ/
/æ/
/a/

I'm still kind of working out where all the allophones occur as well as stress and phonotactics.

edit: ugh, formatting fail...

[finlay]

That makes sense. Thanks for that.

Edit: sano, I don't understand why you couldn't just say "hey dude, k is the sound and q is the written form of the k sound." In which case I would have said oh, my bad, let me change that.

He is asking why you would write a voiceless velar plosive with a symbol (<q>) that is most of the time used to write a voiceless uvular plosive unless you're already using <k> for another sound.

Yeah.

That's gibberish to someone who doesn't know much about phonetics. Stop being a dick towards him.

[----]

Well isn't learning about phonetics essential to creating and studying languages anyway?

[rickardspaghetti]

Here's a phoneme inventory I've played around with the last days. I might make a serious conlang out of it.

Consonants

Stops: /p b t d ts) tS) k g ?/

Fricatives: /f v s z S x h/

Sonorants: /r l L j/

Nasals: /m n J/

Vowels

Oral: /a e i o u/

Nasal: /a~ i~ o~ u~/

Rhotic: /A` @`/


Do you like it?

[Astraios]

Do you like it?

I would more if it didn't have the rhotic vowels. Also, I will like it if it doesn't have <z> for /z/, because I absolutely hate that letter.

[finlay]

Well isn't learning about phonetics essential to creating and studying languages anyway?

Yeah, but leeway is generally given. I would never expect a newbie to know what's meant by the strings of jargon. It struck me as odd that sano expresses himself so obliquely and then replies sarcastically when he's misunderstood. (whatever, that's what it looks like)

[masako]

It struck me as odd that sano didn't express himself exactly the way I would or would expect/hope that he would.

[finlay]

lolololol

[krítá]

I distinctly remember saying I was new to this and certain people are being a-holes about it. I actually looked up all the words people were throwing at me and realized I was wrong.

PS I'm not being a dick to anyone, if anything I'm being a bitch because I am in fact a girl. If I am being a bitch I apologize, but being treated like I'm stupid is a serious pet peeve of mine.

[finlay]

I distinctly remember saying I was new to this and certain people are being a-holes about it. I actually looked up all the words people were throwing at me and realized I was wrong.

PS I'm not being a dick to anyone, if anything I'm being a bitch because I am in fact a girl. If I am being a bitch I apologize, but being treated like I'm stupid is a serious pet peeve of mine.

I'm telling off sano (and calling him a dick), sorry if that wasn't clear. I get annoyed at him occasionally, it's happened before and it'll probably happen again, and yeah I'm kind of in the mood at the moment to pick fights on the internet because I'm feeling lonely and stuff...

Didn't mean to assume you're stupid, in any case. I just will assume that you don't know the jargon, or don't recognise it as jargon – and sano apparently takes it for granted that you will absorb it post haste as soon as he's posted a link. What i mean is you've said to sano that he could have said X, sano said in a really snarky manner that he had but in just like a more Sophisticated way with all the jargon, and I'm saying no wonder, because a newbie isn't going to recognise the jargon right away, so it's just going to be all oblique and yeah. Never mind.

[----]

Girls on the internet? Blasphemy!
But still it'd be good to learn the 'jargon'. It's useful to know and makes things a lot easier for you

[Risla]

Yeah, it's not really fair to blame you for not knowing the jargon. Nobody knows it at first, we all have to learn it eventually. As long as you put the effort in, there's no reason for us to be mean about it. People on this board can be kind of harsh, though, and that's something you have to get used to since it's unlikely to change anytime soon.

(I tend to overreact to being treated like I'm stupid too, as evidenced by me responding angrily all-in-IPA to someone correcting a typo I made on reddit a couple days ago.)

[finlay]

oh yeah, as for the girl thing which is probably causing as much confusion, one assumes that newbies on here are guys because 80% of us are, or something. sorry unfortunately that's probably not going to change much....