Post your conlang's phonology

[kaleissin]

þ would be θ and ð would be ð surely - typo?

Yes. Thinking about it, I'm not sure there actually is a breathy ð either, there are only three words with it and they are all pronouns.

[finlay]

Up to you - I would still say that there was, with reference to English, where virtually all words with /ð/ are function words, but you can still make a minimal pair (thigh-thy is an obvious one)

[Nortaneous]

er, isn't that just initial /ð/?

[Přemysl]

Majiusgaru
Unaspirated oral stops: /p/ /t/ /k/ /ʔ/
Aspirated oral stops: /pʰ/ /tʰ/ /kʰ/
Ejective stops: /pʼ/ /tʼ/ /kʼ/
Nasal stops: /m/ /n/ /ŋ/
Unaspirated fricatives and affricates: /s/ /ɬ/ /tɬ/
Aspirated fricatives and affricates: /sʰ/ /ɬʰ/ /tɬʰ/ /h/
Ejective fricatives and affricates: /sʼ/ /ɬʼ/ /tɬʼ/
Trills and semivowels: /r/ /j/ /w/
Vowels: /a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/
The coronals have the allophones [tʃ], [tʃʰ], [tʃʼ], [ʃ], [ʃʰ], [ʃʼ], and [ɲ] before /j/. /h/ has [x], [ç] and [ʍ].

Eshnam
Voiced oral stops and affricates: /b/ /d/ /dʒ/ /ɖ/ /g/
Voiceless oral stops and affricates: /p/ /t/ /tʃ/ /ʈ/ /k/ /kʷ/
Nasal stops: /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /ŋʷ/
Voiced fricatives: /β/ /z/ /ʒ/ /ʐ/
Voiceless fricatives: /ɸ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʂ/ /x/ /xʷ/ /h/
Approximants and trills: /j/ /w/ /r/
Vowels: /æ/ /ɒː/ /ã/ /e/ /eː/ /i/ /iː/ /o/ /oː/ /u/ /uː/ /ə/ /əː/

[rickardspaghetti]

My conlang Yāziže has this:

Vowels:

Oral: /a i u @ a: i: u:/ <a i u e ā ī ū>
Nasal: /a~ i~ u~ @~ a:~ i:~ u:~/ <ą į ų ę ą̄ į̄ ų̄>


Consonants:

Nasals: /m n/ <m n>
Plosives: /p b t d k g/ <p b t d k g>
Fricatives: /f v s z S Z h/ <f v s z š ž h>
Sonorants: /w r l j/ <w r l y>


Syllable Structure:

(C(C))V(C)


Some sample vocabulary:

kagi - bow
bā - claw, paw, predator, dad
hų̄ - bear
ka - branch, to hunt, to kill for food
vābi - basket
wįka - woman
yada - "hello", "good day"
nanu - "good bye"
pą̄ - mushroom
wįkpą̄ - bread
tąka - big, large
ādā - earth, ground, the world
šnima - horse
fū - thunder, anger, rage
ī - good, well, healthy

[finlay]

er, isn't that just initial /ð/?

quite.

... bloody fuck i even thought of another couple of minimal pairs when i wrote that with the distinction in the coda. my mind is numb today, as usual.

[Nortaneous]

Yeah, but there are definitely langs with phonemes that only appear in a few words. Lakota(?) has only one word with a diphthong, Dahalo has only one word with /j/, Nias /v/ only appears as a result of initial consonant mutation, etc.

[Bristel]

Yeah, but there are definitely langs with phonemes that only appear in a few words. Lakota(?) has only one word with a diphthong, Dahalo has only one word with /j/, Nias /v/ only appears as a result of initial consonant mutation, etc.

I thought about doing this for Athanic, but I couldn't think of a situation where a minimal phoneme would appear, instead of being shifted to another consonant.

[rickardspaghetti]

Lakota(?) has only one word with a diphthong,

*thumbs up*
Háŋ. Hé wowíčakȟe.

[Astraios]

Háŋ. Hé wowíčakȟe.

You should have answered with Háu.

[rickardspaghetti]

But that's just a greeting, not an answer.

[Astraios]

Do not be so sure, young Padawan. Háu is just the very formal male speech variant of háŋ, and you can use it in all the same ways.


EDIT: Like using hwo instead of he for the interrogative.

[Nortaneous]

Yeah, but there are definitely langs with phonemes that only appear in a few words. Lakota(?) has only one word with a diphthong, Dahalo has only one word with /j/, Nias /v/ only appears as a result of initial consonant mutation, etc.

I thought about doing this for Athanic, but I couldn't think of a situation where a minimal phoneme would appear, instead of being shifted to another consonant.

Borrowing for Lakota, voicing (among other things -- /b d/ turn to /ʙ dr/ in mutation environments, from earlier */mb nd/) for Nias, and... I'm not sure what happened with Dahalo.

[roninbodhisattva]

Little idea I just came up with:

/p b t d tɕ dʑ k g v s z x m n ȵ ŋ ɮ ɾ j w ʔ/
/i u e a ə/

/e/ only occurs in stressed syllables

CCV(C), with medial clusters of the following types:

- /mb nd ȵdʑ ŋg/
- /pp tt kk ss/
- /ʔm ʔn ʔȵ ʔŋ ʔɮ ʔɾ ʔj ʔw/ (realized as glottalized resonants, /ʔɮ ʔɾ/ > [l' r'])

Word finally, C may be /t k s m n ŋ ɾ w j/. The glides are limited to after /a ə/. Falls on the penultimate syllable, unless it contains /ə/, in which case it is placed on the antepenultimate syllable.

[Sjal]

Sjal

Consonants
Nasals: /m n ŋ/ <m n ng>
Plosives: /p t d k/ <p t d k>
Fricatives: /v s ʃ h θ ð ɣ/ <v s sj h ŧ đ k>
Sonorants: /ɾ l w j/ <r l ų j/į>

Vowels
/a ɑ ɛ i o u ø y/ <a ḁ e i o u ö y>

Vowel Allophones
/ə ɪ ɔ ʊ ʏ/ <a e i o u y>

Samples
aųlittalle /ˈʔaʊ lɪtː ˌalː (ə)/ - they're going to the field
vaalani /ˈvaː la ˌnɪ/ - the groves
ḁhi /ˈɑ hi/ - air
soį /sɔj/ - here, general wide area
sarhaat /ˈsaɾ haːt/ - they wilt
eu /ˈʔɛʊ/ - son
elmi /ˈʔɛl mi/ - my son
ejan /ˈʔɛ jan/ - I give
aion /ˈaj ɔn/ - I don't give
ahitoimme /ˈa hi ˌtɔjmː (ə)/ - you and I were thinking about giving


Ṭaal

Consonants
Nasals: /m n ŋ ŋː/ <m n ng ngg>
Plosives: /p t k/ <p t k>
Ejectives: /pʼ tʼ kʼ/ <ṗ ṭ ḳ>
Fricatives: /v s h ð x ɣ/ <v s h d x g>
Sonorants: /ɾ l w j/ <r l w y>
Trill: /r/ <rr>

Vowels
/a ɛ i u ɑ̃ ɛ̃ ũ/ <a e i u ą ę ų>

Samples
uxṭu /ˈʔux tʼu/ - face
hemuulerrasų /hɛ ˈmuːl ɛr a ˌsũ/ - the clouds are clearing away
utteḳęta /utː ɛ ˈkʼɛ̃ ta/ - be happy!
xiil /xiːl/ - milk
seye /ˈsɛ jɛ/ - needle
seheye /sɛ ˈhɛ jɛ/ - needles
ṭulę /ˈtʼu lɛ̃/ - night
xeud /xɛwð/ - contents
pula /ˈpu la/ - jar
puvula xageummą /pu ˈvu la xa ˈɣɛʊmː ɑ̃/ - we're filling the jars

[Bristel]

Squalipsh: as it is currently, still working on it a lot, the name is temporary as well.

stop: /p p’ t t’ k k’ kʷ k’ʷ q qʷ q’ q’ʷ ʔ/ <p p’ t t’ k k’ kʷ kʷ’ q qʷ q’ qʷ’ ʔ>
fricative: /s ʃ ɬ xʷ χ χʷ h/ <s š ł xʷ ẋ ẋʷ h>
affricate: /t͡s’ t͡ɬ’ t͡ʃ’/ <ts’ tł’ tš’>
nasal: /m mˀ n nˀ/ <m ṁ n ṅ>
approx.: /l lˀ j jˀ w wˀ/ <l l’ y y’ w ẇ>
vowels: /a e i o u ə/ <a e i o u ă>

The phonotactics are fairly loose, but there is a restriction on resonants when next to obstruents... Not sure what the restrictions are yet.

Allophony will probably be POA stuff, and maybe things common to Salishan languages.

[Jipí]

Consonants
Nasals: /m n ŋ/ <m n ng>
Plosives: /p t d k/ <p t d k>
Fricatives: /v s ʃ h θ ð ɣ/ <v s sj h ŧ đ k>
Sonorants: /ɾ l w j/ <r l ų j/į>

Vowels
/a ɑ ɛ i o u ø y/ <a ḁ e i o u ö y>

Vowel Allophones
/ə ɪ ɔ ʊ ʏ/ <a e i o u y>

You're being inconsistent in your examples. You frequently transcribe the glottal stop as a phoneme at the beginning of words that start with the vowel, except for one, and you don't list the glottal stop as a phoneme in your inventory. Are there any minimal pairs between /a/ and /ɑ/? Also, as phonemic transcription always uses the easiest symbols available, I suggest you use /r/ for [ɾ], as it doesn't seem to contrast with other rhotics. Also note that the space usually denotes a new word, not a new syllable. That's what the full stop is for.

[Arzena]

Two works in progress:


Vóákó

Consonants
nasals: /m n/
coarticulated nasal: / ŋ͡m/
stops: / p b t d k/
coarticulated stops: / k͡p ɡ͡b /
fricatives: /ɸ s /
sonorants: /ʋ l j/

Vowels
/a e ɛ i u ɔ o/ with high, mid, or low contour tones
<a e ea i u oa o>
Syllable structure: CV

Sample words:
pene - speak
vóá - tongue, language

Agadi (a modern reflex of Akkadian)

stops: /p b t d k g/
emphatic ‘’: /tˤ /
nasals: /m n/
fricatives: / β f* s z ʃ ʒ* ɣ /
emphatic ‘’: /sˤ ʃ ˤ /
sonorants: / l j r*/

/a e i u o/
Syllable structure: CCVCC
*phonemes reintroduced from Arabic and Persian influence

Sample words:

debbu - speak
lišon - language

[Sjal]

Consonants
Nasals: /m n ŋ/ <m n ng>
Plosives: /p t d k/ <p t d k>
Fricatives: /v s ʃ h θ ð ɣ/ <v s sj h ŧ đ k>
Sonorants: /ɾ l w j/ <r l ų j/į>

Vowels
/a ɑ ɛ i o u ø y/ <a ḁ e i o u ö y>

Vowel Allophones
/ə ɪ ɔ ʊ ʏ/ <a e i o u y>

You're being inconsistent in your examples. You frequently transcribe the glottal stop as a phoneme at the beginning of words that start with the vowel, except for one, and you don't list the glottal stop as a phoneme in your inventory. Are there any minimal pairs between /a/ and /ɑ/? Also, as phonemic transcription always uses the easiest symbols available, I suggest you use /r/ for [ɾ], as it doesn't seem to contrast with other rhotics. Also note that the space usually denotes a new word, not a new syllable. That's what the full stop is for.

Thanks for the explanation about /ɾ/. I'm just a hobbyist so if there are weird mistakes, that's why. I don't understand though why I wouldn't transcribe the glottal stop. It's not phonemic with minimal pairs but it's an important part of pronunciation, like /k/ voicing to /ɣ/ and the vowel allophones. Some vowel-initial words have a glottal stop and some don't, sometimes due to initial consonants being lost, and it's not reflected in the spelling. I've been told a hundred different things about what to put between //s so I'm confused about it.

There are minimal pairs between a/ɑ. It often comes from what used to be front and back ä/a vowel harmony along with ö/o y/u but plain old /a/ started encroaching more leaving /ɑ/ in specific environments.

Thanks for your help with the // notation.

[roninbodhisattva]

It's not phonemic with minimal pairs...Some vowel-initial words have a glottal stop and some don't, sometimes due to initial consonants being lost, and it's not reflected in the spelling.

This is a contradiction if I'm understanding it right. If some vowel-initial words have a glottal stop and some don't, then those are minimal pairs and there is a phonemic contrast. However, this is under the assumption that the "sometimes due to initial consonants being lost" is referring to a diachronic process, and not a synchronic one (i.e. a process like /#Ca/ > [#a] but /ʔa/ > [ʔa]). Actually, either way, glottal stop is still phonemic, since it contrasts with initial consonants. But it's only a phoneme word initially, it doesn't contrast elsewhere.

[Sjal]

It's not phonemic with minimal pairs...Some vowel-initial words have a glottal stop and some don't, sometimes due to initial consonants being lost, and it's not reflected in the spelling.

This is a contradiction if I'm understanding it right. If some vowel-initial words have a glottal stop and some don't, then those are minimal pairs and there is a phonemic contrast. However, this is under the assumption that the "sometimes due to initial consonants being lost" is referring to a diachronic process, and not a synchronic one (i.e. a process like /#Ca/ > [#a] but /ʔa/ > [ʔa]). Actually, either way, glottal stop is still phonemic, since it contrasts with initial consonants. But it's only a phoneme word initially, it doesn't contrast elsewhere.

I think it's just me not being very clear in explaining Sorry for being a bit dense here.

There are no minimal pairs with glottal stops like there are with /a/ versus /A/. A word like /"?Ej va/ 'sky' doesn't have a contrasting /"Ej va/ that means something else.

I mean to say the glottal stop is a part of the pronunciation of a word. I originally thought of spelling them with initial ħ to show that they often come from an initial voiceless consonant like /x/ that shifted into a glottal stop. But I thought it might be confusing since I've not seen a language where a consonant is used to spell a glottal stop.

So this is probably a noob question then, but am I only supposed to put truly distinguishing sounds between //? I've been putting things like allophones in there even though it's a matter of normal versus careful speech. I suppose I'm not sure what the standard of narrowness is for // versus []. I used [] once and had people jump down my throat so I just don't use brackets at all now

[finlay]

// are for sounds that are distinguished, exactly. If it's an allophone or a matter of careful pronunciation, you must use []. If in doubt, I'd use []. Just think of why you're showing the sound.

[Pazmivaniye]

The Ladasa Language -- Xa Łádasy Icita
Plosives: /p t k b d g/ <p t k b d g>
Affricates: /ts tʃ/ <z c>
Fricatives: /s ʃ/ <s x>
Sonorants: /m n r l ɫ/ <m n r l ł>
Vowels: /a a: e e: i o o: u ɨ/ <a e é i o ó u y>

The long and short vowels are often realized as [ɛ ɔ] and [ej ow].

Syllables are (C)V(C), but no more than one vowel or consonant is allowed in a row: édic, ribal, ada, but not diesa, zaumka, etc.

Though up to 2 of either are allowed consecutively in foreign words, as are /j w/ <j w> and /z dz ʒ dʒ f v θ ð χ ʁ ʔ/ <ṡ ż ẋ ċ ṗ ḅ ṭ ḍ ḳ ġ h>.

This is kinda simple right now, so I think I'll add some more in the future, maybe a bit of allophony.

[roninbodhisattva]

This is a phonology I'm really excited about. I've been trying to get something for a while that is akin to North American phonologies, but isn't massively complicated. I got it by playing around in Awkwords. It's not completely nailed down yet, I might be adding one or two phonemes or switching some out. We'll see, I'd really like some feedback.

Consonants (in orthography)-


The stop kw is /kʷ/, r is /ɾ/, and y is /j/. The nasals /ŋ ɴ/ are marginal phonemes in nasal + stop clusters involving /k kʷ q/; they are represented by n orthographically. Other than those, the rest of the orthography is the same as the IPA.

Vowels (in orthography)-


The vowels are usually equivalent to their IPA vowels, though a is father back than IPA /a/. The vowel e varies between [e] when stressed and [ɛ] when unstressed. The doubled vowels represent long versions of ii uu aa = /i: u: a:/.

Words may begin in zero or one consonants, and any consonant may occur initially. Between vowels are there limited number of clusters: nasal + stop or /s/, /s/ + stop and /h/ + stop. The nucleus of a syllable may be a short vowel, a long vowel, or the schwa followed by a short high vowel /i u/ (this is relatively rare). A word may end in any vowel or one of the consonants /n t s ts m k/. Since word/stems are generally two syllables, the phonotactic structure can be:

(C)V(V)(C)CV(V)(C)

Stress is placed on the first long vowel, if there is one. If there is no long vowel, stress is placed on the first non-schwa vowel. If there is no full vowel, I haven't figured out what to do yet: maybe stress the first schwa and change it to [e] or [a], or perhaps have it prosodically bind into the following word. I think the second is more cool.

I'm on the fence about keeping the flap /ɾ/ and whether I'm going to put in a lateral fricative /ɬ/. If I do go with the lateral, I feel like I'll also have to put in /l/, but I don't want both /l ɾ/. So it will probably come down to /ɬ l/ or just /ɾ/.

Some example words:

yuuntu
pahii
uunsun
qaansəs
ankwu
ipi
reˀə
kitsu
aati
teya
ehkwu
əntiis
ˀuutsik

[Grimalkin]

Fuoszi/Fwoshi
(My new tonal, isolating language that may well turn out to be the diseased offspring of Chinese and Vietnamese)

Consonants:

Code: Select all

m n ɳ ŋ
<m n nh ng>
pʰ p tʰ t ʈʰ ʈ kʰ k qʰ q
<p b t d th dh k g q gg>
tsʰ ts ʈʂʰ ʈʂ cçʰ cç
<z dz ch zh c j>
f s ʂ x~h
<f s sz h>
l ɭ ɻ
<l lh r>

Vowels:
i u a
<i/e/y u/o/w a>
Diphthongs:
ai au ei eu oi ou
<ai au ei eu oi ou>
Tone:
Every syllable in Fuoszi carries its own phonemic tone. There are five tones: rising, falling, mid-flat, peaking (LML) and dipping (MLM)

Although tone is generally said to be a contrastive feature in Fuoszi vowels, it is usual for a some tones to be accompanied by other phonological features. In most dialects, including Standard Fuoszi, a vowel with a falling tone is followed by a glottal stop. Hence, bàr (we) is typically pronounced [pɑ̂ʔɻ]. Also, a vowel with a flat tone is lengthened if it is not followed by a coda. Hence, hā (you.sing) is usually pronounced [xā:]

Phonotactics:

> The syllable structure of Fuoszi is C(S)V(C), where S is one of the semivowels [w,j,ɥ], which are merely allophones of /w/ and /j/.
> Every syllable must have an onset. An onset must be a single consonant. If there is no overt onset, the glottal stop is inserted to fulfil the obligatory onset rule. The combination of a semivowel and a nucleic vowel in words such as tiôr [tʰjœ᷈ɻ] is sometimes analysed as a diphthong, meaning that complex onsets are disallowed.
> A nucleus may be one of three vowels, phonemically /i a u/ or one of six diphthongs /ai au ei eu oi ou/
> A small number of codas are permitted. These are /m n ɲ ŋ p t ʈ k q ɻ/. Note that the aspiration contrast in plosives is lost in coda position.
> A diphthong always closes a syllable in Fuoszi; it is never followed by a coda.
> There are no complex codas.

Allophony:

> The phoneme /x/ is realised as [h] word-initially before a non-low vowel, [ç] adjacent to a high-front vowel, and [x] everywhere else.
> /qʰ/ and /q/ are fronted to [kʰ] and [k] before a front vowel or glide.
> In the same environment, /kʰ/ is fronted to [cʰ] or [cçʰ], depending on the dialect.
> Likewise, /k/ is fronted to [c] or [cç] before a front vowel or glide.
> A sequence of /s/ + [j] in the onset of the same syllable coalesces to [ç].
> Fuoszi is analysed as having a three-vowel system (each with five phonemic tones) although there is a great deal of vowel allophony depending on the quality of the semivowel that precedes it, and the coda consonant that follows it.