Post your conlang's phonology

[legolasean]

The name is "Kālá lākáhȁ" means "Our language"

[Wattmann]

The name is "Kālá lākáhȁ" means "Our language"

Then "Kaloa", since that is what foreigners hear when they hear a rising tone

[Chagen]

A simple little mix of Romance and Germanic. This will probably never become a full-on conlang, but oh well:

/p b t d k g/ <p b t d c g>
/s z f v ʃ θ x ɣ/ <s z f v sch th ch gh>
/ɾ r l/ <r rr l>
/m n ŋ/ <m n ng>
/ts/ <tz>
/kʷ/ <qu>

/i y e ø æ a u ʉ o/ <i y e ø ä a u ü o>

All vowels and consonants beside /kʷ ts ŋ ʃ/ can be lengthened/geminated. /r/ is considered to be the geminated version of /ɾ/.

[Wattmann]

This is actually a vowel inventory sketch I would like opinions on:

/i y u/
/ɪ ʏ ʊ/
/e ø o/
/ɛ œ a ɔ/
/æ ɑ ɒ/

<i y u>
<į ẙ o>
<e ø ǫ>
<ę ö a å>
<ä ą ą̊>

The strong taste of Swedish, and in general, Nordish, is intended.

[WeepingElf]

This is actually a vowel inventory sketch I would like opinions on:

/i y u/
/ɪ ʏ ʊ/
/e ø o/
/ɛ œ a ɔ/
/æ ɑ ɒ/

Quite crowded. Few languages distinguish five levels of vowel height. It gets especially crammed at the bottom. But I wouldn't say it was impossible.

[mezziah]

Here goes the phonology of the conlang (with its basis on good old Latin) I've been working on for 6 years or so.

Consonants:

Nasal: /m mʲ n nʲ/
Stop: /p pʲ b t tʲ d g k kʲ g q qʲ ʔ/
Fricative: /f v θ θʲ s sʲ ʃ ʃʲ ʒ h hʲ/
Affricates: /t͡ʃ t͡ʃʲ/
Flap: /r rʲ/
Approximants: /w wʲ l lʲ j/

Vowels:
/i a u æ/

[ɲ] and [ŋ] may allophonically appear for /n/, [h] may appear as [ħ] or [x] (as in nuχt or ɲuχt [night]; ħad [or]), [ɢ] may appear as an allophone of [g] between vowels.

One example sentence:

"I went with her into the city (centre) and I ate an ice with her"

Yavada zitatiynaqahi wa yuquta zxilatayinaqahi.
[ja:wadʲa θitatiʲnaqa:hi wa juqʲuta ʒilatajiʲnaqa:hi]

Well yea, that'll be about it.

[Wattmann]

This is actually a vowel inventory sketch I would like opinions on:

/i y u/
/ɪ ʏ ʊ/
/e ø o/
/ɛ œ a ɔ/
/æ ɑ ɒ/

Quite crowded. Few languages distinguish five levels of vowel height. It gets especially crammed at the bottom. But I wouldn't say it was impossible.

That is what I was aiming for. Thank you

[----]

Cross posted

Late Kàmo phonology:

/p t t͡ɕ k b g/
/s z ɕ h/
/m n ɲ/
/w j/

/i e a o u ɨ/

Syllable structure is (C)(C)V(C). Allowed initial consonant clusters are /gj gw pɕ kɕ ps ks/. Allowed syllable codas are /t s n ɕ/. The vowels /i e a o u/ distinguish three tones; low, mid, and high, but /ɨ/ takes the same tone as the vowel before it. If it appears as the first vowel in a word, it takes the low tone. Mid tone is mid-falling word finally, and high tone is mid-rising initially and after semi-vowels.

[Pole, the]

/m n ɲ/
/p t ts tʃ tɕ k/
/pʼ tʼ tsʼ tʃʼ tɕʼ kʼ/
/pʰ tʰ tsʰ tʃʰ tɕʰ kʰ/
/f s ʃ ɕ x/
/w r l j/

│1│2│3│4│
│i│ɯ│y│u│
│ɛ│a│ ɒ │

The vowels harmonize between the four groups.

Syllables: (C)(C)V(C)(C)

The tenuis stops happen to voice between vowels.

[Wattmann]

Very pretty, Feles.

That stop series is essentially what the glotallic theory of Proto-indo-european predicts to have happened, sans /ts/

[Pole, the]

Thanks, Wattmann.

I was just thinking about a process that would produce such a series (without /ts/): first *ḱ fronting and assibilating (as in plain satem language):
/k kʷ q/ > /c kʷ q/ > /tʃ kʷ q/
Then *kʷ delabializing and fronting, leading a chain shift:
/tʃ kʷ q/ > /tʃ k q/ > /tʃ c k/
Now it could change to a high frequency affricate, and the postalveolar might develop a secondary labialization to become a low frequency affricate and remain distinct.
/tʃ c k/ > /tʃ(ʷ) tɕ k/
Likewise, /h x xʷ/ could change to /x ʃ ɕ/.
(Alveolar affricates might easily arise from /t/, /tʃ/ or /k/ series in some environments.)
But it is not the case, as it is an a priori language.
I was just curious how would look like a conlang with a consonant inventory being both Polish- and Caucasian-inspired. With a Turkic-like vowels.

[Cedh]

Just a quick doodle:

/p t ʈ k ʔ/
/pʰ tʰ ʈʰ kʰ/
/s ʂ h/
/w l ɾ ɻ j ɰ/

/i e a o u/
/ĩ ẽ ã õ ũ/

Syllable structure: C₁(C₂)V(C₃)
The onset can be any single consonant, or a cluster consisting of a non-glottal plosive followed by a fricative or approximant. Zero onsets exist on the surface, but can always be analysed with an underlying consonant.
The coda can be zero, or else any of /ʔ pʰ tʰ ʈʰ kʰ s ʂ h l ɾ ɻ/.

Allophony:
/ʈ ʈʰ ʂ ɻ/ → [t tʰ s ɾ] before /t tʰ s ɾ/
/t tʰ s ɾ/ → [ʈ ʈʰ ʂ ɻ] before /ʈ ʈʰ ʂ ɻ/
/l/ → [ɻ] adjacent to /ʈ ʈʰ ʂ ɻ/
/pʰ tʰ ʈʰ kʰ/ → [p t ʈ k] before a non-aspirated obstruent, or when preceded by /ʔ/
/pʰ tʰ ʈʰ kʰ/ → [f θ ʂ x] adjacent to one or more vowels none of which is nasalised, unless word-initial or preceded by a fricative
/p t ʈ k/ → [ᵐb ⁿd ⁿɖ ᵑɡ] after a nasalised vowel
/p t ʈ k/ → [b d ɖ ɡ] before a nasalised vowel or before a single (phonetically) voiced consonant, or when preceded by /ʔ/ and followed by an oral vowel
/p t ʈ k/ → [m n ɳ ŋ] when preceded by /ʔ/ and followed by a nasalised vowel
/s ʂ/ → /z ʐ/ after a nasalised vowel or adjacent to a (phonetically) voiced consonant, unless followed by a phonemically voiceless consonant or a word boundary
/w l j ɰ/ → [m n ɲ ŋ] adjacent to a nasalised vowel
/w l j ɰ/ → [m̥ n̥ ɲ̥ ŋ̥] between an aspirated plosive and an oral vowel
/w l j ɰ/ → [xʷ ɬ ç x] between an aspirated plosive and an oral vowel
/ɾ ɻ/ → [s ʂ] adjacent to an aspirated plosive
/ɾ ɻ/ → [n ɳ] adjacent to a nasalised vowel when not also adjacent to an aspirated plosive
/ɾ/ → [t]/[d] otherwise when followed by an obstruent
V[-nasal] → V[+nasal] when separated from a nasalised vowel only by a single glottal or (phonetically) nasal consonant
(Phonetic) nasals assimilate in POA to a following obstruent
/i ĩ e ẽ/ → [ɨ˞ ɨ̃˞ ɝ ɝ̃] before retroflex consonants
/e ẽ a ã o õ/ → [ɛ ɛ̃ ə ə̃ ɔ ɔ̃] when unstressed
Some sequences of similar vowels and semivowels are contracted into long vowels:
/iji eji uji/ → [iː]
/ĩjĩ ẽjĩ ũjĩ/ → [ĩː]
/eɰe aɰe aje/ → [eː]
/ẽɰẽ ãɰẽ ãjẽ/ → [ẽː]
/aɰa eɰa oɰa/ → [aː]
/ãɰã ẽɰã õɰã/ → [ãː]
/oɰo aɰo awo/ → [oː]
/õɰõ ãɰõ ãwõ/ → [õː]
/uwu owu iwu/ → [uː]
/ũwũ õwõ ĩwũ/ → [ũː]
Otherwise, /j ɰ w/ are generally realised as zero in intervocalic position before their oral syllabic counterparts /i a u/ respectively.

Some random samples:

/tato ʂũʔtũ ɻatʰatol lãʂĩʈʰiʈʂuhi pipʰʈʂĩɰãtsu ɰijiʈãɻwuʈũ lapu kʰeɰa tuʔke tĩɾĩʂetã/
[ˈtatɔ ˈʂũʔnũ ˈɻaθətɔl ˈnãʐɨ̃˞ʈʰɨ˞ˌʈʂuhi ˈpipʈʂĩˌŋə̃ndzu ˈɰɨ˞ːɖə̃ɳmũɳɖũ ˈlapu ˈkʰaː ˈtuʔɡɛ ˈndĩnɨ̃˞ˌʐedə̃]
tato ṣũʔnũ ṛathatol nãṣĩṭhiṭṣuhi pipṭṣiŋandzu ğiiḍaṇmuṇḍũ lapu khaa tuʔge ndinĩṣedã

/kiʂãɰapu tõʈaɰa tʰãtʰẽlʈã ɾĩlke teɻʈʰis kãjiɻka tũhi ʂiwu ʈaslĩɾ sepʰelsẽ/
[ˈkɨ˞ʂə̃ŋə̃mbu ˈndõɳɖaː ˈtʰãtʰɛ̃ɳɖə̃ ˈnĩŋgɛ ˈtɝʂʈʰis ˈŋɡãɲĩŋɡə ˈndũhĩ ˈʂuː ˈʈaznĩn ˈsefɛlzɛ̃]
kiṣaŋambu ndoṇḍaa thãtheṇḍã niŋge teṛthis ŋgañiŋga ndũhĩ ṣuu ṭasnin sephelsẽ

[Click]

I like it.

[WeepingElf]

I like it.

I do so, too. The retroflexes and aspirates give it a somewhat Indian feel (Indian as in India, not as in America).

[TomHChappell]

Adpihi

• Phoneme inventory
  • Vowels
    • by backness
      • front unrounded: / i e ɛ /
      • central unrounded: / ɨ ə ä /
      • back rounded / u o ɔ /
    • by closeness
      • close: / i ɨ u /
      • close-mid: / e o /
      • mid: / ə /
      • open-mid: / ɛ ɔ /
      • open: / ä /
  • Consonants
    • by manner of articulation
      • voiced nasals: / m n ɳ ɲ ŋ /
      • voiceless stops: / p t ʈ c k q ʔ /
      • voiced stops: / b d ɟ g /
      • voiceless fricatives: / f θ s ʃ x χ h /
      • voiced fricatives: / v z ʒ ɣ /
      • voiced approximants: / w j /
      • flap or tap: / ɾ /
      • voiced trill: / r /
      • lateral approximant: / l /
    • by point-of-articulation
      • bilabial: / m p b /
      • labiodental: / f v /
      • co-articulated labial-velar: / w /
      • dental: / θ /
      • alveolar: / n t d s z ɾ r l /
      • palato-alveolar: / ʃ ʒ /
      • retroflex: / ɳ ʈ /
      • palatal: / ɲ c ɟ j /
      • velar: / ŋ k g x ɣ /
      • uvular: / q χ /
      • glottal: / ʔ h /
• Syllable structure: Maximal syllable patterns are (C)(C)V(C) and (C)V(C)(C)
• Phonotactics, allophony, sandhi, etc.: I haven't worked this out yet. I'm worried about how the flap/tap / ɾ / will behave word-initially or word-finally or next to another consonant, especially a stop or the trill / r /. I'm also worried about word-initial consonant-clusters starting with an approximant (e.g. / jmik / and word-final consonant clusters ending with an approximant (e.g. / mäkj /). In any case, I've decided consonant-clusters can't be longer than two consonants and vowel-clusters can't be longer than two vowels; also, two consonants at the same PoA can't appear consecutively (which would avoid the problem of / r / next to / ɾ /).
• Stress: Still working on it.

[finlay]

ä should be banned from conlangers' phoneme inventories...

[maıráí]

Instead of sleeping, this:



((s,f)C)(y,w,r)V(V)(C)

Consonants:
Stoops:
p p̪ t̪ t ʈ k ʔ
b d g
pʰ tʰ kʰ ʔʰ

Prenasalized stoops (which may not be geminate):
mp mp̪ nt̪ nt ɳʈ~nʈ ŋk mʔ~nʔ
mb nd ŋg
mpʰ ntʰ ŋkʰ mʔʰ~nʔʰ

Stoops may be geminate only between vowels, or following a consonant and preceding a vowel:
taka [taka]
takka [tak:a]
tankka [tank:a] <<<(not a prenasalized stoop)

Other consonants can be geminate in any position:
ssamsan, sammsan, samssan, samsann, ssammssann

Other consonants:
Naasaals
m n ŋ


Fricatives:
ɸ f θ s ʃ
v z ʒ
fʰ sʰ ʃʰ (can also be analyzed as fh sh ʃh)

Afficates:
tf tθ ts tʃ
dv dz dʒ
tfʰ ʰ tsʰ tʃʰ
pf ps
bv bz
pfʰ psʰ
ks
gz
ksʰ

Only one affricate (and pre-nasal stops) can appear in a syllable. (tsyat, tsyas, tsyats)
An prenasalized stop appearing after a nasal just becomes a long nasal and a stop. (nden [nden] > innden [in:den])

And no affricates or p.n. stops after s or f.

Other other consonants:
ʋ ɹ j ɰ l


Vowels:

Neutral:
i
Light:
a u
Dark:
e o

Vowel harmony:
If the first vowel in a word is Light, subsequent Dark vowels become Light.
If the first vowel in a word is Dark, or Neutral, subsequent Light vowels become Dark.
ma + me = mama (Light)
me + ma = meme (Dark)
mi + me = mime (Dark)
mi + ma = mime (Dark)
mi + ma + ma + me + ma + me = mimememememe (Dark)

One notable exception is names: names are always Light, even if they start with Neutral vowels, and never contain Dark vowels. (E.g. Mima, Kiaku, Siisu; the last two of which are quite distinct from [kjaku/kjeko], [sjisu/sjiso].)

Tones:
rising <á> [a˧˥]
......rising-following-falling <à á> [a˧˩ a˥]
falling <à> [a˧˩>
......falling-following-rising <á à> [a˧˩ a˥]
flat<a> [a˧]
.......flat-following-rising <á a> [a˧˥ a˥]
.......flat-following-falling <à a> [a˧˩ a˩]

As is hopefully evident, there is slight tone sandhi.

Length and volume are phonetic:
Short vowel: a [a]
Long vowel: aa [aː]

Quiet: a
Loud: a` ( not a' )

When it is inconvenient to distinguish volumes, exaggerated length is used:
Short, quiet: a [aˑ]
Long, quiet OR short, loud: aa a` [a]
Long, loud: aa` [aː]



I say volume, and not "stress", because there is a system of stress, which I haven't entirely worked out, and which is essentially:
.....First syllable of a root, and first syllable of a conjugation/case/whatever suffix is stressed.
.....Everything after the stressed vowel becomes more centralized.
.....The odd-consonants-out default to the more common ones, so that [ʈaʈaʈ] is pronounced more like [ʈatat].
.....Tone goes to shambles. Non-initial fallings and risings just become high and low, and finally medial.
But none of this is very definite. because it's volume, and not "stress".

[roninbodhisattva]

A little bit of an inventory/idea that I came up with watching while watching the olympics. Phonemes:

p t k s x m n l w h
i e u a

Syllables are CV(V)(C). Vowel sequences are formed by /i u e/ + /a/. There are five possible codas consonants: /t k m n w/. The stop codas only occur before the fricative /s/. Nasals occur before /s x/ and /m/ may occur before /n/. The approximant /w/ may precede any consonant but /w l/. Word finally: /m n w/ occur as codas.

Vowel wise, the most important allophony is that /e/ is realized as [ɨ] everywhere except before voiced codas (/m n w/) or in a vowel cluster. The low vowel /a/ is [ʌ] in closed syllables and in vowel clusters it becomes a schwa offglide [ə̯].

For consonants, intervocalically, stops may become voiced and /h/ is [ɦ]. Before a voiceless consonant /w/ devoices to [ʍ]. The sibilant becomes [ɕ] before /i/. The cluster /nx/ is [ŋx].

[Chagen]

Random inventory. I tried to be all Austronesian with the lack of fricatives but I probably failed in that respect.

/p pʰ pˤ b t tʰ tˤ d k kʰ kˤ g q qʰ qˤ/
<p ph p' b t th t' d c ch c' g q qh q'/

/m n ŋ/
<m n ŋ>

/ɭ w/
<l w>

<a i ɨ o ɔ u>
<a i e o ɔ u>

Vowels and "plain" consonants (stops that are not pharyngealized or aspirated) be lengthened. Vowels (except for /ɔ/, as it stemmed from a former diphthong and diphthongs couldn't be nasalized in this lang) can all be nasalized, indicated with a tilde above the vowel.

[----]

eeeeew, <c> for /k/.

[Chagen]

Aw. I love <c> for /k/.

[ol bofosh]

I've played around with Alahithian's phonology. A lot of the changes are just retroflexes.

/a e i o u/ <a e i o u>
/m ɳ ŋ/ <m n ñ>
/p b t d ʈ ɖ k g ʔ/ <p b t d th dh k g h>
/ɭ w j r/ <l w y r>
/f v s z ʂ ʐ x h/ <f v s z sh zh x h>
/ʈʂ ɖʐ/ <c j>

/ʔ/ only appears when <h> is word final.

[Click]

A phonemic inventory for a remake of Kàirá:

Consonants
/p t̪ k ʔ/ ‹p t k ʔ›
/s̪/ ‹s›
/b d̪ ɡ/ ‹b d g›
/w r h/ ‹w r h›

Vowels
/i˧ i˦ ĩ˨ u˧ u˦ ũ˨/ ‹i í ì u ú ù›
/e̞˧ e̞˦ ẽ̞˨ o̞ õ̞˨/ ‹e é è o ó ò›
/a˧ a˦ ã˨/ ‹a á à›

Allophony
1. /p k/ > [pʰ kʰ] / #_
2. /t̪/ > [t̪ʰ] / #_V[-front]
3. /t̪ s̪/ > [ʧ ʃ] / #_V[+front], C#_V[+front]
4. /k/ > [ʔ] / _#
5. /p k/ > [b ɡ] / V_V
6. /t̪ s̪/ > [d̪ z̪] / V_[-front]
7. /t̪ s̪/ > [ʤ ʒ] / V_[+front]
8. /p t̪ k s̪/ > [b d̪ ɡ z̪] / _[b d̪ g]
9. /h ʔ/ > [ː ː] / _#
10. /b d̪ ɡ/ > [m n̪ ŋ] / #_V[+nasal], C#_V[+nasal]
11. /b d̪ ɡ/ > [ᵐb ⁿd̪ ᵑɡ] / V[+nasal]_V[-nasal]
12. /ho̞˨ ho̞˦ hõ̞˨ hu˧ hu˦ hũ˨/ > [w˧ w˦ w̃˨ w˧ w˦ w̃˨] / _V
13. /hi˧ hi˦ hĩ˨ he̞˧ he̞˦ hẽ̞˨/ > [ɕ˧ ɕ˦ ɕ̃˨ ɕ˧ ɕ˦ ɕ̃˨] / _V
14. /h/ > [ɕ] / _V[+front]C, _V[+front]#
15. /r/ > /ɾ/ / _C, C_

Syllables
There is no stress.
The syllable structure is (C)(C)(C)V(C).
Permitted syllable onsets include:
-nothing
-/p t̪ k ʔ s̪ b d̪ ɡ w r h/
-/s̪p s̪t̪ s̪k s̪ʔ sb s̪d̪ s̪g s̪w s̪r sh pr t̪r kr ʔr br d̪r ɡr/
-/s̪pr s̪t̪r s̪r s̪ʔr s̪br s̪d̪r s̪ɡr/

Permitted syllable nuclei include:
-/i˧ i˦ ĩ˨ e̞˧ e̞˦ ẽ̞˨ a˧ a˦ ã˨ o̞˧ o̞˦ õ̞˨ u˧ u˦ ũ˨/

Permited syllable codas include:
-nothing
-/p t̪ k ʔ s̪ b d̪ ɡ w r h/

Sandhi
1. Degemination
/pp t̪t̪ kk ʔʔ s̪s̪ bb d̪d̪ ɡɡ ww rr hh/ > /p t̪ k ʔ s̪ b d̪ ɡ w r h/
2. Tone sandhi
2.1. high tone + low tone > mid tone and low tone
kí + ò > kiò
/ki˦/ + /õ̞˨/ > /ki˧õ̞˨/
2.2. low tone + high tone > mid tone and high tone
pódò + á > pódoá
/po̞˦d̪õ̞˨/ + /a˦/ > /po̞˦d̪o̞˧a˦/
2.3. mid tone + high tone > high tone and high tone
tíasa + á > tíasáá
/t̪i˦a˧s̪a˧/ + /a˦/ > /t̪i˦a˧s̪a˦a˦/
2.4. mid tone + low tone > low tone and low tone
t̪ías̪a + ò > t̪ías̪àò
/t̪i˦a˧s̪a˧/ + /õ̞˨/ > /t̪i˦a˧s̪ã˨õ̞˨/

Note
/h/ is an approximant.

[Tropylium]

Random inventory. I tried to be all Austronesian with the lack of fricatives but I probably failed in that respect.

/p pʰ pˤ b t tʰ tˤ d k kʰ kˤ g q qʰ qˤ/
<p ph p' b t th t' d c ch c' g q qh q'/

/m n ŋ/
<m n ŋ>

/ɭ w/
<l w>

/a i ɨ o ɔ u/
<a i e o ɔ u>

1) You mean "Australian".
2) A few other generally Australian features are having no voicing distinctions (you have three), a full set of nasals (you're missing /ɲ ɴ/), at least three sets of coronals (you have one), and about three vowels (not six). As it stands, this looks more like something weird South American.
3) Pharyngealization as "phonation" is a very, very Semitic thing to do.

Vowels (except for /ɔ/, as it stemmed from a former diphthong and diphthongs couldn't be nasalized in this lang) can all be nasalized, indicated with a tilde above the vowel.

No mid front vs. two mid back vowels seems unstable. I'd expect *au or whatever it came from to more probably have merged straight into /a/ or /o/ (unless *e /ɨ/ were a recent change); or starting from the current system, it might also buckle towards fronting one of /o ɔ/ to /ə/.

[Nortaneous]

3) Pharyngealization as "phonation" is a very, very Semitic thing to do.

Not necessarily. The way it looks there is much more Caucasian than Semitic.