Mouse Language?

Substantial postings about constructed languages and constructed worlds in general. Good place to mention your own or evaluate someone else's. Put quick questions in C&C Quickies instead.
DePaw
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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by DePaw »

I love Solresol and also Sarus (a derivative). But anything purely tonal will feel like a rip off to me, so I want a combination of tonemes and phonemes...

Ok so phonology so far:
/p t k ʔ/ <p t k q>
/ɸ s x h/ <f s x h>
/r l/ <r l>
/w/ <w>
/a: i: ɯ: ɑ: ə:/ <a i u o e>

Tones: high, mid, low, raising, falling.

Phonetic constraints I was thinking something simple like (C)V:(C).

DePaw
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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by DePaw »

If we add a velar approximant <y> (unless another extra consonant is more appropriate), then we have 12 consonants, and there are 12 semitones in an octave. Combined with 5 vowels for a range of 5 octaves... that makes the language much more musical...

Each CV: syllable with have an inherent tone modifier which makes the language to be sung. I haven't worked out the rules yet for this though. I'd like the vowel and the consonant to interact as it were to make say a result of +5 semitones or whatever.

Tte character's name will be changed to Kafu with the new phonetical constraints.

cromulant
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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by cromulant »

A completely human phonology + 60 tones. This is supposed to be "mousey" how exactly?

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Melend
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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by Melend »

Maybe next he'll design a phonology for octopi: p t k b d g ...

DePaw
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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by DePaw »

These are approximate equivilent sounds!

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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by DePaw »

Ok been rethinking things based on people's comments. Here's the new version:

Phonology:
/p t k ʔ/ <p t k q>
/ɸ s x h/ <f s x h>
/r l/ <r l>
/w/ <w>
/a: i: ɯ: ɑ: ə:/ <a i u o e>

Each consonant is equal to a number, 1-11, which represents a change in tone. The language can be spoken purely by tone, or as consonants/vowel or a combination of the two. The vowels determine whether the tone increases or decreases: a/o mean down, i/u up, and e repeats the last pattern. Whether the vowel is front or back (a or o, i or u) is determined by the following consonant: front=fsxhpt, back=wrlkq.

Atm for tones I'm going: p t k q f s x h w r l = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11.

Example words:
Xahile (the name of their god): -7+6+11 tonally.
Kafu (main character's name): -3+5 tonally.
Kuqora (a desert): +3-4-10 tonally.
Tawi (another character): -2+9 tonally.

No none name words yet though.

What do you think of this change? Means I have a purely tonal language that has a nice orthography which can be also said by humans/humanoid creatures to also speak the language.

cromulant
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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by cromulant »

Even worse. Sorry; unconstructive.

I didn't realize right away you'd completely done away with vowels and consonants. That is an improvement.

But what makes you think a mouse phonology would be so intensely tonal? I don't think of mice as particularly musical creatures.

I think the relevant question is, what kind of "mousiness" are you going for? Are you going for something that physically unmodified but cognitively enhanced mice could use? In that case, I would research the squeak, and think of ways to elaborate on that noise. Or are you just going for an aesthetic that suggests Mouse? In that case, using human phonemes is allowable. But your posts have suggested that you're more interested in a 'physiologically realistic' mouse phonology, and if that's the case I suspect you're still wide of the mark.

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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by WeepingElf »

Melend wrote:octopi
Fail.
...brought to you by the Weeping Elf
Tha cvastam émi cvastam santham amal phelsa. -- Friedrich Schiller
ESTAR-3SG:P human-OBJ only human-OBJ true-OBJ REL-LOC play-3SG:A

DePaw
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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by DePaw »

cromulant wrote:But what makes you think a mouse phonology would be so intensely tonal? I don't think of mice as particularly musical creatures.
Melend: "Perhaps they would have an hummed language, entirely tonal."

Qwynegold: "I think I've heard that mice can make like infrasonic sounds or something, so high-pitched that humans can't hear it. You should look into that. Maybe tonemes would be more important than phonemes?"

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Melend
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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by Melend »

That seems very appropriate. I wonder if mice/rats can make clicking sounds? If so, they still couldn't do so while eating, which their language might find a desirable feature. Before this thread, I'd never even considered what sounds mice were capable of making. This would be a fairly plausible(ish) compromise.
The orthography is nifty, using the Latin alphabet efficiently, yet providing a means for humans to mnemonicize. (I can recall 'Xahile' far more easily than '-7+6+11'.)

michaelbusch
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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by michaelbusch »

Melend wrote:That seems very appropriate. I wonder if mice/rats can make clicking sounds?
I don't know about clicking, but rats grind their teeth to produce audible sounds. Advantages of having continuously growing incisors ...

DePaw
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Re: Mouse Language?

Post by DePaw »

Melend wrote:The orthography is nifty
Thanks!

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