How to design a non-European phonology

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mèþru
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by mèþru »

Khásoitoi (search the name on the post your own phonology thread):

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar
2. Phonemic voicing
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives
5. /v/ but no /w/
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number]
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops)
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40]
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one]
13. No lateral obstruents
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one]
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs]
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation]
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series]
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more]
21. Three or more diphthongs
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels]
23. One front rounded vowel
24. Two or more front rounded vowels
25. No vowel harmony
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities]
27. More than three degrees of vowel height
28. Phonemic stress
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages]
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic)
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal)
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative)
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop)
35. CVCC syllables allowed
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed]
37. CLV syllables allowed
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA]
39. CCCV syllables allowed
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates)
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants)
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both]
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever]
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates]
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal)
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony (I'm guessing POA is equivalent to height? On front to back scale I have front, near-front, center, near-back, back. Do diphthongs count?)
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found]
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal
S2. No tone system with more than two tones
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides]
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation)
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction]
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops]
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal]

34.5%
I'm suprised by the non-SAE-ness of this language. In the same way that the other languages make up for their SAE-ness in their grammar, this makes up for its non-SAE-ness in its grammar, where the morphology is very simple and partially based on English while the syntax is liberally copied from Latin American Spanish.
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!
kårroť

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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Frislander »

Frislandian (spoken on an island south of Iceland):

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar
2. Phonemic voicing
3. Two and only two parallel series of phonemes at each POA at which at least one stop is present (glottal, if present, excluded from the series) (a series still counts if it is missing only one phoneme from the expected series)
4. At least two series distinguished by voicing alone (i.e. at each POA where one of the series occurs, the other occurs and the only difference is voicing) (up to one POA where this is not true allowed)
5. At least two series with identical POA arrays (i.e. at least two series not showing any gaps)
6. Nasals at multiple POAs
7. No single MOA (stops, fricatives, nasals, liquids) found at all POAs
8. Voicing distinction on all fricatives (one gap permitted)
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops)
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics
13. No lateral obstruants
14. One phonemic rhotic
15. 5-7 POAs
16. No systematic double-articulation (i.e. double-articulation limited to a few 'random' phonemes, not a cohesive pattern)
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA
18. Absence of any phonemic phonation distinction other than voicing
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind
20. 7 or more vowel qualities
21. Three or more diphthongs
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels
23. One front rounded vowel.
24. Two or more front rounded vowels
25. No vowel harmony
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc)
27. More than three degrees of vowel height
28. Phonemic stress
29. No phonemic tone
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic)
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal)
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop)
35. CVCC syllables allowed
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF
37. CLV syllables allowed
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid.
39. CCCV syllables allowed
40. SSV or CSSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates)
41. CCNV syllables not allowed
42. SNV syllables not allowed
43. Syllabic consonants only in word-final (not including compounds!) position (includes no syllabic consonants)
44. All words must include at least one vowel
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes
46. If an MOA exists or an MOA/phonation combination, it exists at a coronal POA (not including approximants)
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted)
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal)
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries
50. No more than two series of fricatives
51. 9 or more vowel qualities AND no vowel harmony
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all
53. Words can end in any consonant
54. Words can end in any vowel
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal
S2. No tone system with more than two tones
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length, quality, and syllable-specific tone, not including anything suprasegmental)
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants
S6. No phonation disticntions other than voiced/voiceless
S7. Phonemic voice distinction
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants

So, percentage-wise, Frislandian comes out at 60%.
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gufferdk
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by gufferdk »

Just for the heck of it, Danish, my mother's tongue. Some people call it peripheral SAE, I want to see how it lands on this test.

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar
2. Phonemic voicing
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives
5. /v/ but no /w/

6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined I'm giving it half mark because [ŋ] is often analysed as a /ng/ cluster, and behaves like that in some situtations.
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops

9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number]
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops)
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] 16 (17 with [ŋ])
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one]
13. No lateral obstruents
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one]
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs]

16. 4 stop/affricate POAs Only 3 (4 if you include [t͡ʃ] from english loanwords)
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation]
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction Giving it half mark as the distinction between <b d g> and <p t k> varies, especially with regards to environment. It is often just called weak/strong. I have it as either lax unvoiced vs. aspirated unvoiced, liquid vs. lax unvoiced or no distinction depending on environment.
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series]
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more]
21. Three or more diphthongs
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels]
23. One front rounded vowel
24. Two or more front rounded vowels
25. No vowel harmony

26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities Lovely not fully understood glottalisation for the win!
27. More than three degrees of vowel height
28. Phonemic stress Exeptions in loanwords
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages]
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic)
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal)
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative)
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop)
35. CVCC syllables allowed

36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] "Skælmskt" is such a lovely word.
37. CLV syllables allowed
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] C cannot be a weak stop.
39. CCCV syllables allowed
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates)
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed

42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants)
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both]
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes

46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever]
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates]
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal)
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic

51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found]
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal
S2. No tone system with more than two tones
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides]
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation)
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants

S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction]
I'm giving these two half mark, see 18
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops]
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal]

76% That seems very reasonable. If one treats the weak/strong distinctin as counting fully as a voicing distinction rather than a half as i have done you instead get 81,5%.
Languages i speak fluently: Dansk, English
Languages i am studying: Deutsch, Español

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Pogostick Man
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Pogostick Man »

Common Caber

/m n/
/p b t d k g/
/ts dz tɕ dʑ/
/f s z ɕ x/
/w ɾ/

/u ɔ ɨ ə a ɛ i/

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar] – 1
2. Phonemic voicing – 1
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives – 1
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives – 1
5. /v/ but no /w/ – 0
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined – 1
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] – 0
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops – 0
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] – 0.5
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) – 0
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] – 0 (nineteen consonants)
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] – 0
13. No lateral obstruents – 1
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] – 1
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] – 0.5
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs – 0
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] – 0 (assuming I'm right about how /w/ fits into things)
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction – 1
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] – 1
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] – 1
21. Three or more diphthongs – 0
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] – 1
23. One front rounded vowel – 0
24. Two or more front rounded vowels – 0
25. No vowel harmony – 1
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] – 1
27. More than three degrees of vowel height – 0
28. Phonemic stress – 1
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] – 1
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed – 1
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) – 1
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) – 1
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) – 1
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) – 1
35. CVCC syllables allowed – 0
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] – 0
37. CLV syllables allowed – 0
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] – 0
39. CCCV syllables allowed – 0
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) – 0
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed – 0
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed – 0
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) – 0
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] – 0
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes – 1
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] – 1
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] – 1
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) – 1
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries – 1
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic – 0 if I'm understanding this right
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony – 0
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all – 1
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] – 1
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables – 0
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA – 1

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal – 5
S2. No tone system with more than two tones – 5
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] – 0
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation) – 0
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants – 5
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless – 5
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction] – 5
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] – 5
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal] – 5

64%
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Chagen »

Kirroŋa time:

/m n ɳ ŋ/
<m n ṇ ŋ>

/p b t d ʈ ɖ k g/
<p b t d ṭ ḍ k g>

/h/
<h>

/ts dz tʃ dʒ ʈʂ ɖʐ/
<q z c j ṭc ḍj>

/w l j ɾ~ɺ r ɽ~ɻ/
<w l y ŀ r ṛ>

/a aː i iː u uː e eː o oː y yː ø øː ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː/
<a aa i ii u uu e ee o oo ý ýý ø øø é éé ó óó>

(C)(R)(V)(C)


I am not counting /h/ as a fricative for this.

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar]
2. Phonemic voicing [half mark if voicing is only part of the distinction]
3. Two and only two parallel series of phonemes at each POA at which at least one stop is present (glottal, if present, excluded from the series) (a series still counts if it is missing only one phoneme from the expected series)
4. At least two series distinguished by voicing alone (i.e. at each POA where one of the series occurs, the other occurs and the only difference is voicing) (up to one POA where this is not true allowed) [half mark if voicing is one feature distinguishing the series].
5. At least two series with identical POA arrays (i.e. at least two series not showing any gaps)
6. Nasals at multiple POAs
7. No single MOA (stops, fricatives, nasals, liquids) found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs]
8. Voicing distinction on all fricatives (one gap permitted) [half mark for some other distinction between fricatives at same POA, or for more than one gap, or voicing can be distinctive in some circumstances but isn't the only distinction - but no more than one of these exceptions]
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number]
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) [half mark if this is true counting nasals as non-stops]
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40]
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one]
13. No lateral obstruants
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one, or if there is a phonemic lateral not distinguished from a rhotic at the same POA]
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs]
16. No systematic double-articulation (i.e. double-articulation limited to a few 'random' phonemes, not a cohesive pattern)
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation]
18. Absence of any phonemic phonation distinction other than voicing
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series]
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more]
21. Three or more diphthongs
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels]
23. One front rounded vowel.
24. Two or more front rounded vowels
25. No vowel harmony
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities]
27. More than three degrees of vowel height [half mark for three degrees]
28. Phonemic stress [half mark for fixed initial stress]
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for pitch-accent or two-tone languages]
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic)
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal)
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop)

35. CVCC syllables allowed
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF]
37. CLV syllables allowed
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA.
39. CCCV syllables allowed
40. SSV or CSSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates)
41. CCNV syllables not allowed
42. SNV syllables not allowed

43. Syllabic consonants only in word-final (not including compounds!) position (includes no syllabic consonants)
44. All words must include at least one vowel [half mark if all content-words include at least one vowel]
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes

46. If an MOA exists or an MOA/phonation combination, it exists at a coronal POA (not including approximants)
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates]
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal)
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries
50. No more than two series of fricatives (uh, what do I do if there are no phonemic fricatives whatsoever? This is a loaded question which assumes the language has fricatives in the first place)
51. 9 or more vowel qualities AND no vowel harmony
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found]
54. Words can end in any vowel [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found]
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal
S2. No tone system with more than two tones
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides]
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length, quality, and syllable-specific tone, not including anything suprasegmental)
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants
S6. No phonation disticntions other than voiced/voiceless

S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction]
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops]
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal]

62%

Sheesh that's higher than I expected. There aren't even any phonemic fricatives and the most complex syllable is (C)(R)V(C), what more does this test want


I still have a few questions about this:

2-5 are confusing: what exactly does "series" mean in this case?

S3 doesn't make sense, mainly because of the half-mark version. As far as I can tell, it's fundamentally impossible for a language to fulfill the half-mark version, unless I'm reading it wrong.
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Cedh »

Chagen wrote:
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides]
S3 doesn't make sense, mainly because of the half-mark version. As far as I can tell, it's fundamentally impossible for a language to fulfill the half-mark version, unless I'm reading it wrong.
I read S3 as follows: If you have C = {all consonants except /j w/}, and J = {/j w/}, then a language would receive five points if it allows {both CCV and CVC}, zero points if it allows neither of these, and 2.5 points if it allows either {CCV and CVJ but not CVC}, or else {CJV and CVC but not CCV}.

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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by HerljosScheindorf »

In Xerossu, I have two "clicks" used in many words, these are only found in a few african languages.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1DPEo2d7EUs
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Frislander »

HerljosScheindorf wrote:In Xerossu, I have two "clicks" used in many words, these are only found in a few african languages.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1DPEo2d7EUs
Do those said clicks also exhibit the many secondary-articulations found in natural click languages?
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Aili Meilani »

Chagen wrote:Sheesh that's higher than I expected.
That's because you used the very first version of the questionnaire, which:
1. is so shit the points don't even sum up to 100
2. tends to give higher scores than the newer ones

I'd try again with the version Pogostick Man used.

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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by HerljosScheindorf »

Frislander wrote:
HerljosScheindorf wrote:In Xerossu, I have two "clicks" used in many words, these are only found in a few african languages.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1DPEo2d7EUs
Do those said clicks also exhibit the many secondary-articulations found in natural click languages?
No I don't think so, they are just one mode of the letter naǩtaliki and shalxahuelt

But since it's a language that I was speaking in dreams and other people were also speaking in this language, I don't know if I formalized all the features in my recreation attempt.
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Pogostick Man »

Proto-Triconsonantal Language

/n/
/p b t d k g q ʔ/
/s/
/w l ɹ j/

/u ʊ o ɔ a ɛ e ɪ i/

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar] – 0
2. Phonemic voicing – 1
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives – 1
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives – 0
5. /v/ but no /w/ – 0
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined – 0
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] – 0.5
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops – 0
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] – 0
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) – 0
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] – 0 (fourteen)
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] – 1
13. No lateral obstruents – 1
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] – 1
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] – 1
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs – 1
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] – 1
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction – 1
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] – 1
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] – 1
21. Three or more diphthongs – 0
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] – 1
23. One front rounded vowel – 0
24. Two or more front rounded vowels – 0
25. No vowel harmony – 1
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] – 1
27. More than three degrees of vowel height – 1
28. Phonemic stress – 0
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] – 1
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed – 1
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) – 1
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) – 1
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) – 1
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) – 1
35. CVCC syllables allowed – 0
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] – 0
37. CLV syllables allowed – 1
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] – 1
39. CCCV syllables allowed – 0
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) – 0
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed – 0
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed – 0
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) – 1
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] – 0
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes – 0
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] – 0
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] – 0.5
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) – 1
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries – 1
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic – 1 (approximant)
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony – 1
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all – 1
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] – 1
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables – 0
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA – 1

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal – 5
S2. No tone system with more than two tones – 5
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] – 5
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation) – 0
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants – 5
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless – 5
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction] – 5
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] – 0
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal] – 0

If I did this right, 62%. Lower than I was suspecting.
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Chagen »

Aili Meilani wrote:
Chagen wrote:Sheesh that's higher than I expected.
That's because you used the very first version of the questionnaire, which:
1. is so shit the points don't even sum up to 100
2. tends to give higher scores than the newer ones

I'd try again with the version Pogostick Man used.
Oh. Well since the test isn't in the first post I just looked through the thread and grabbed the first test I saw.
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Aili Meilani »

/m n ŋ/
/p b t tʼ d k kʼ ɡ q qʼ/
/s z/
/w l r j ʕ/

/a ə ɨ/

Roughly (C₁)C(C₂)V(C₂)(C₃), where C₁ is [-obstruent], C₂ is [+semivowel] and C₃ is [-ejective]

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar]
2. Phonemic voicing
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives
5. /v/ but no /w/
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs]
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number]
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops)
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40]
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one]
13. No lateral obstruents
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one]
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs]
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation]
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series]
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more]
21. Three or more diphthongs
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels]
23. One front rounded vowel
24. Two or more front rounded vowels
25. No vowel harmony
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities]
27. More than three degrees of vowel height
28. Phonemic stress
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages]
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic)
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal)
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative)
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop)
35. CVCC syllables allowed
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed]
37. CLV syllables allowed
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA]
39. CCCV syllables allowed
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates)
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants)
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both]
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever]
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates]
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal)
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found]
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal
S2. No tone system with more than two tones
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides]
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation)
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction]
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops]
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal]

40%

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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by HoskhMatriarch »

Well, Tz'raich/Tz'reichs/Tz'aichskekohnr/how many names does this need was designed to be somewhat European-ish, but not SAE. I think it's probably a bit more European-ish than I wanted, but it's still not SAE, so I'll leave the phonology alone because I want to do grammar, not work on stupid phonology all the time.

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar
2. Phonemic voicing
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives
5. /v/ but no /w/ (it has no /v/ or /w/, just /ʋ/, so I put .5, since I think the main point is "no /w/" and a lot of European langs have just /ʋ/, like Lithuanian, Estonian, various southern German dialects, and one or another of the Scandinavian langs, although those are a bit more marginal than say Standard German)
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined (it has more than one fewer, since there are 6 POAs for stops and affricates but 3 for nasals)
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] (well, I'm counting bilabial/labiodental as a "labial" POA and palatal/postalveolar as a "palatal" POA since they don't contrast and pattern the same phonologically, otherwise like 99% of the world's languages would fit this)
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number]
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops)
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40]
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] (this is common, and more likely when you get into larger inventories, not exactly a Euroclone thing per se)
13. No lateral obstruents (most languages have no lateral obstruents...)
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] (oh my god, a phonemic rhotic, how weird)
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs]
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] (another normal thing)
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction (there are no phonation distinctions period, although allophonically you get other phonations like creaky voice and breathy voice)
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] (it's also weird to have non-pulmonic consonants, but this language happens to have them)
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more]
21. Three or more diphthongs
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] (a language with no back unrounded vowels, how weird)
23. One front rounded vowel (I don't know any SAE languages with only one front rounded vowel, they either have lots or none. The only lang I know with one front rounded vowel is Hopi, and that's very not SAE :/ I would have just put this as a .5 on the next question)
24. Two or more front rounded vowels
25. No vowel harmony (oh my god, how weird)
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] (ditto, although SAE languages don't overwhelmingly have phonemic vowel length just like they don't overwhelmingly have nasalization)
27. More than three degrees of vowel height
28. Phonemic stress (maybe I should put .5, since I don't think there are roots with phonemic stress, just compounds/words with affixes)
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] (wow, a language with 42 consonants and 26 vowels doesn't have tone, how weird)
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed (maybe this should be .5 because all syllables phonetically have onset consonants but phonologically some syllables behave like they don't)
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) (how weird)
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) (ditto)
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative)
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop)
35. CVCC syllables allowed (OK, now at least we're in complex syllable territory, which is more uncommon, but still not super rare)
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed]
37. CLV syllables allowed
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] (well, there's some particular combinations that can't appear, but not based on series or POA)
39. CCCV syllables allowed
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates)
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) (if you haven't got it by now, this language is more permissive of clustering than any SAE lang :P)
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] (well there are more than rhotics and laterals)
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes (wow, a language with 42 consonants has some affricate phonemes)
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever]
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] (how many POAs for stops are we supposed to have even)
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal)
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries (I'm just going to count the weird fortis-lenis thing as gemination in the case of fricatives, since it pretty much is, although with stops it's a bit more complicated)
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic (this is weird at least)
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony (ditto)
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] (words can't end in glides because screw triphthongs)
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal
S2. No tone system with more than two tones (ditto)
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides]
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation)
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless (as I said, no phonation distinctions at all)
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction]
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops]
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal]

On the spreadsheet, it got 60.5, which is lower than any SAE (even the peripheral ones) language but higher than most non-SAE languages, and about equal to the "non-SAE languages of Europe", which as I said, is more or less what I was going for. I think a lot of Eurasian languages in general and a decent number of Austronesian langs might get in that range though, but not any African, North or South American, or Australian languages.

I do have to argue with the sentence on this page though that says it's harder to stereotype an SAE language with regards to grammar. SAE languages are all far more grammatically similar than phonologically similar, although really they're not as grammatically similar or phonologically similar as some people make it sound like they are.

Also, I think this test is weighted a bit weird, as having a rhotic like /ɹ ʀ/ rather than /r ɾ/ is pretty much the most European thing you can do, but it's weighted the same as allowing CVN syllables or having distinct /r/ and /l/, while most languages of the world have no initial velar nasal (I mean, if you include the ones with no velar nasal at all, and if you don't, that's primarily a feature of Asian langs rather than Western Europe), and that's weighted extra.

Also, Chechen got a SAE rating of 64.5 at 96.88% done (there are two questions I don't know the answer to) so your conlang can be really European-ish without actually being SAE. On the other hand Spanish, which is considered "marginal SAE", got 69.5, and Latin, which is European but not SAE, is 62, which is less than a Caucasian lang.
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Imralu »

Wena:

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar
2. Phonemic voicing
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives
5. /v/ but no /w/
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs]
  • (Only because the semivowels and /h/ add extra POAs that nothing else has.)
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number]
  • Same number but only if you count /h/ as a fricative ... and as having a POA
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops)
  • Six of each because of prenasalised stops.
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40]
  • 15
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one]
  • No rhotics although /d/ has a flapped allophone.
13. No lateral obstruents
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one]
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs]
  • Six because of semivowels and /h/ ...
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation]
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction
  • No phonation distinctions.
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series]
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more]
  • 5
21. Three or more diphthongs
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels]
23. One front rounded vowel
24. Two or more front rounded vowels
25. No vowel harmony
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities]
27. More than three degrees of vowel height
28. Phonemic stress
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages]
  • Considering turning the stress system into a three-tone system, but ... it will really be stressy kind of tones rather than lexical.
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed
  • Yes, but rare.
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic)
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal)
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative)
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop)
35. CVCC syllables allowed
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed]
37. CLV syllables allowed
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA]
39. CCCV syllables allowed
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates)
  • CCV allowed but only where the second consonant is a semivowel.
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed
  • CCV allowed but only where the second consonant is a semivowel.
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants)
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both]
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever]
  • Um, /j/ ... such Europe!
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates]
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal)
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found]
  • Words cannot end in a consonant.
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA
  • Yeah, because of /l/.
The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal
S2. No tone system with more than two tones
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides]
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation)
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction]
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops]
  • I'm counting prenasalised stops as "plain non-nasal stops" because this is unclear and prenasalised stops are pretty un-SAE.
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal]
  • Equal if I have to count /h/ as a fricative
32.5%

The scoring on this really depends on the phonemic analysis:
  • Are the prenasalised stops phonemes or just CC?
    Are the semivowels [w~u̯] and [j~i̯] consonant phonemes or just allophones of /u/ and /i/?
    Is /h/ a fricative?
    Does /h/ even have a POA?
Glossing Abbreviations: COMP = comparative, C = complementiser, ACS / ICS = accessible / inaccessible, GDV = gerundive, SPEC / NSPC = specific / non-specific
________
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DesEsseintes
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by DesEsseintes »

Apwapɨrɨng

I'm using the version of the Apwapɨrɨng phonology that doesn't treat the retroflex nasal as a phoneme.

/m n̪ ɲ ŋ/ m n ny ng
/p t̪ ʈ k/ p t ṭ k
/d̪ ɖ d͡ʑ/ d ḍ j
/s̪ ʂ/ s ṣ
/r/ r
/l̪ ɭ j w/ l ḷ y w
/a ɨ/ a ɨ

Code: Select all

              -peripheral-      ---coronal---
              labial  velar   dental  retro-  palatal
                                       flex

      nasals    m       ŋ       n̪               ɲ
    plosives    p       k       t̪       ʈ            
      voiced                    d̪       ɖ       d͡ʑ
   sibilants                    s̪       ʂ
approximants        w           l̪       ɭ       j
     rhotics                        r
1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar] – 1
2. Phonemic voicing – 0.5 (only part of a distinction for two phonemes)
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives – 1
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives – 0
5. /v/ but no /w/ – 0
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined – 1
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] – 1
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops – 1 (I'm gonna be hard on myself and count my palatal affricate here)
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] – 0
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) – 1 (I'm treating the affricate as a non-stop here; if not, the number is equal)
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] – 0.5
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] – 0.5
13. No lateral obstruents – 0
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] – 1
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] – 1
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs – 0
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] – 1
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction – 1
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] – 1
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] – 0
21. Three or more diphthongs – 0
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] – 0
23. One front rounded vowel – 0
24. Two or more front rounded vowels – 0
25. No vowel harmony – 1
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] – 1
27. More than three degrees of vowel height – 0
28. Phonemic stress – 0
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] – 1
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed – 1
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) – 1
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) – 1
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) – 1
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) – 1
35. CVCC syllables allowed – 1
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] – 0
37. CLV syllables allowed – 1
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] – 0
39. CCCV syllables allowed – 1
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) – 1
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed – 0
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed – 1
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) – 0
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] – 0
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes – 1
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] – 1
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] – 0.5
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) – 0
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries – 0
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic – 0
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony – 0
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all – 0
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] – 1
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables – 0
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA – 0
29/55

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal – 0
S2. No tone system with more than two tones – 5
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] – 5
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation) – 0
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants – 5
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless – 5
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction] – 2.5
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] – 2.5
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal] – 0
25/45

I get a score of 54/100, but I'm not sure I can count.

I was actually expecting a higher score, especially as the syllable structure is quite SAE.

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Frislander
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Frislander »

I think it's about time I did Kaita

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar] – 1
2. Phonemic voicing – 0
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives – 0
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives – 0
5. /v/ but no /w/ – 0
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined – 0

7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] – 1
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops – 0.5 (t and n may be dental like θ, or they may be alveolar)
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] – 0.5

10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) – 1
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] – 0 (nine)
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] – 0

13. No lateral obstruents – 1
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] – 0
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] – 0
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs – 0

17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] – 1
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction – 0
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] – 1
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] – 0 (depends if you count the u and o allophones of iw and ew as phonemes, which I don't)
21. Three or more diphthongs – 1 (well, if you count coda glides as diphthongs and not coda consonants)
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] – 1

23. One front rounded vowel – 0
24. Two or more front rounded vowels – 0

25. No vowel harmony – 1
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] – 1

27. More than three degrees of vowel height – 0
28. Phonemic stress – 0
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] – 0 (three tones on long-vowels)
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed – 0
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) – 0

32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) – 1
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) – 0
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) – 0
35. CVCC syllables allowed – 0
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] – 0
37. CLV syllables allowed – 0
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] – 0
39. CCCV syllables allowed – 0
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) – 0
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed – 0
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed – 0
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) – 0 (no sonority hierarchy violations)
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] – 0

45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes – 1
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] – 0.5 (θ may sometimes have the same POA as t and n)
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] – 1
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) – 1

49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries – 0.5 (present, but only for n)
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic – 0
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony – 0

52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all – 1
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] – 0
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables – 0
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA – 0


The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal – 5
S2. No tone system with more than two tones – 0
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] – 0
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation) – 0

S5. No non-pulmonic consonants – 5
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless – 5

S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction] – 0
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] – 5
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal] – 0

That comes to 37%, which I think gets it about right.
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alynnidalar
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by alynnidalar »

Let's do Tirina, which is going to score horribly:

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar (it's got a glottal stop)
2. Phonemic voicing
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives (only on stops, actually)
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives
5. /v/ but no /w/
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined (two fewer)
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] (/k/ is the only velar consonant)
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops (yes, if you consider /f/ and /p/ to have different POAs, but that seems pedantic considering it often ends up [ɸ] anyway)
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] (4 POAs for stops, 3 for fricatives)
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) (5 stops, 7 non-stops, 2 nasals)
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] (14 consonants)
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one]
13. No lateral obstruents
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one]
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] (counting semivowels, it's arguably 8 )
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation]
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series]
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] (6 vowels)
21. Three or more diphthongs (no diphthongs)
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels]
23. One front rounded vowel
24. Two or more front rounded vowels
25. No vowel harmony
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities]
27. More than three degrees of vowel height (four, I guess)
28. Phonemic stress (none that I've encountered so far, although it's arguably possible)
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages]
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic)
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) (only /n/, though)
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) (only /s/, though)
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) (only /t/ and /d/, though)
35. CVCC syllables allowed (only CVrn, though)
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed]
37. CLV syllables allowed (only bilabial + r though)
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA]
39. CCCV syllables allowed
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) (again, only bilabial + r clusters are allowed)
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed (again, only bilabial + r clusters are allowed)
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants)
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] (no syllabic consonants at all)
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes (no affricates at all!)
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] (/j/, I suppose)
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] (exactly four, in fact)
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) (but given that /m/ and /n/ are the only nasals in the language, this isn't surprising)
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all (although they do arise allophonically)
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] (words can only end in alveolar consonants-- /n/ /t/ /d/ (which are actually labio-dental) /s/ /l/ and /r/)
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA (yes, alveolar, even if you don't count /t/ and /d/)

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal (...or non-initial velar nasal either)
S2. No tone system with more than two tones
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] (actually, C + glide clusters aren't allowed)
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation)
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction]
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] (4 non-nasal stops, but 3 fricatives (including /h/), two glides, and a liquid)
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal]

63.5. Fourteen-year-old alynnidalar seriously needed exposure to languages other than English and Spanish. Twenty-four-year-old alynnidalar, who has had exposure to other languages, should probably buck up and make the phonology more interesting. (although the phonotactics aren't particularly English-like)
I generally forget to say, so if it's relevant and I don't mention it--I'm from Southern Michigan and speak Inland North American English. Yes, I have the Northern Cities Vowel Shift; no, I don't have the cot-caught merger; and it is called pop.

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Pogostick Man
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Pogostick Man »

Currently unnamed eight-phoneme challenge language

/p t k/
/s/
/w j/

/a ə/

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar – 1
2. Phonemic voicing – 0
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives – 0
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives – 0
5. /v/ but no /w/ – 0
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined – 0
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] – 0
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops – 0
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] – 0
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) – 0
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] – 0
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] – 0
13. No lateral obstruents – 1
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] – 0
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] – 0
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs – 0
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] – 1
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction – 0
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] – 1
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] – 0
21. Three or more diphthongs – 0 (the semivowels are consonants)
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] – 1
23. One front rounded vowel – 0
24. Two or more front rounded vowels – 0
25. No vowel harmony – 1
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] – 1
27. More than three degrees of vowel height – 0
28. Phonemic stress – 0
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] – 1
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed – 1
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) – 0
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) – 1
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) – 1
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) – 1
35. CVCC syllables allowed – 0
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] – 0
37. CLV syllables allowed – 0
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] – 1
39. CCCV syllables allowed – 1
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) – 1
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed – 0
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed – 0
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) – 1
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] – 0
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes – 0
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] – 0
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] – 1
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) – 0
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries – 0
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic – 0
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony – 0
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all – 1 (it is allophonic)
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] – 1
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables – 0
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA – 1

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal – 5
S2. No tone system with more than two tones – 5
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] – 5
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation) – 0
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants – 5
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless – 5
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction] – 0
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] – 0
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal] – 0

If I did the math right, 44%. That's a little higher than I was expecting.
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Znex
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Znex »

For my newest conlang so I can think more about where I want to go with it.

/m n/
/p t ʈ tʃ k ʔ/
/pʰ tʰ ʈʰ tʃʰ kʰ/
/b d dʒ g/
/tʼ tʃʼ kʼ/
/f s ɬ ʃ x/
/z ɣ/
/j w r l/

/e i a o u ə/
/i: a: u:/

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar] – 0.5 (glottal and velar ejective allophone)
2. Phonemic voicing – 1
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives – 1
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives – 0
5. /v/ but no /w/ – 0
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined – 0 (3-4 fewer)
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] – 0.5 (the plain stop series)
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops – 0
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] – 0 (6 stop POAs vs. 4 fricative POAS)
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) – 0
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] – 0.5 (31 consonants)
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] – 0.5 (approximant and fricative)
13. No lateral obstruents – 0 (lateral fricative)
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] – 1
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] – 1 (6 total)
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs – 0 (more than 4)
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] – 0 (aspiration and glottalisation)
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction – 0
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] – 0
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] – 0.5
21. Three or more diphthongs – 1
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] – 1
23. One front rounded vowel – 0
24. Two or more front rounded vowels – 0
25. No vowel harmony – 0 (there's slight vowel attraction between prefixes and their roots)
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] – 1
27. More than three degrees of vowel height – 0
28. Phonemic stress – 0
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] – 1 (tone does correlate strongly with different consonant phonemes however)
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed – 1
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) – 1
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) – 1
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) – 1
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) – 1
35. CVCC syllables allowed – 1
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] – 0
37. CLV syllables allowed – 1
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] – 0
39. CCCV syllables allowed – 0
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) – 1
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed – 0
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed – 0
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) – 0
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] – 0
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes – 1
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] – 1 (the retroflex stops come most close to this)
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] – 0.5
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) – 1
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries – 0
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic – 0
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony – 0
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all – 1 (only allophonic)
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] – 0
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables – 0
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA – 1

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal – 5
S2. No tone system with more than two tones – 5
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] – 5
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation) – 0
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants – 0
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless – 0
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction] – 5
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] – 0
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal] – 5

49%. That seems about right.
Native: English || Pretty decent: Ancient Greek || Alright: Ancient Hebrew || Eh: Welsh || Basic: Mandarin Chinese || Very basic: French, Latin, Nisuese, Apsish
Conlangs: Nisuese, Apsish, Kaptaran, Pseudo-Ligurian

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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Frislander »

'Bout time I updated the Frislandian to reflect the changes that have takes place since

[color=#00BF0]1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar - 1[/color]
2. Phonemic voicing - 1
3. Two and only two parallel series of phonemes at each POA at which at least one stop is present (glottal, if present, excluded from the series) (a series still counts if it is missing only one phoneme from the expected series) - 0
4. At least two series distinguished by voicing alone (i.e. at each POA where one of the series occurs, the other occurs and the only difference is voicing) (up to one POA where this is not true allowed) - 0
5. At least two series with identical POA arrays (i.e. at least two series not showing any gaps) - 0
6. Nasals at multiple POAs - 1
7. No single MOA (stops, fricatives, nasals, liquids) found at all POAs - 0
8. Voicing distinction on all fricatives (one gap permitted) - 0
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops - 0
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) - 1
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes - 0
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics - 0
13. No lateral obstruants - 0
14. One phonemic rhotic - 0
15. 5-7 POAs - 1
16. No systematic double-articulation (i.e. double-articulation limited to a few 'random' phonemes, not a cohesive pattern) - 1
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA - 1
18. Absence of any phonemic phonation distinction other than voicing - 1
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind - 1
20. 7 or more vowel qualities - 0
21. Three or more diphthongs - 0
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels - 1
23. One front rounded vowel. - 0
24. Two or more front rounded vowels - 0
25. No vowel harmony - 1
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) - 1
27. More than three degrees of vowel height - 0
28. Phonemic stress - 0
29. No phonemic tone - 0
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed - 1
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) - 1
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) - 1
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) - 1
35. CVCC syllables allowed - 0
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF - 0
37. CLV syllables allowed - 0
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. - 0
39. CCCV syllables allowed - 0
40. SSV or CSSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) - 1
41. CCNV syllables not allowed - 1
42. SNV syllables not allowed - 1
43. Syllabic consonants only in word-final (not including compounds!) position (includes no syllabic consonants) - 1
44. All words must include at least one vowel - 1
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes - 0
46. If an MOA exists or an MOA/phonation combination, it exists at a coronal POA (not including approximants) - 0
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) - 0
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) - 1
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries - 0
50. No more than two series of fricatives - 0
51. 9 or more vowel qualities AND no vowel harmony - 0
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all - 1
53. Words can end in any consonant - 0
54. Words can end in any vowel - 1
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA - 1

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal - 1
S2. No tone system with more than two tones - 0
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides - 0
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length, quality, and syllable-specific tone, not including anything suprasegmental) - 0
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants - 1
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless - 1
S7. Phonemic voice distinction - 0
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops - 0
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants - 0

Which comes to 41% which I'm not at all surprised by, the phonology really has been radically changed since the last time I posted on this.
https://frislander.tumblr.com/

First known on here as Karero

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Uruwi
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Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by Uruwi »

For Ḋraħýl Rase:

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar] – 1
2. Phonemic voicing – 1
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives – 1 (going to count lateral fricatives as fricatives)
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives – 0 (velar fricatives are distinguished too)
5. /v/ but no /w/ – 0
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined – 1
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] – 1 (going a bit conservative; there are /ʈ ɖ/ but they're always pronounced [t n] anyway so if you discount them, fricatives fit)
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops – 1 (pharyngeal)
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] – 1
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) – 1
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] – 1 (21 – 23, depending on how you count)
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] – 0.5 (approximant and 2 fricatives)
13. No lateral obstruents – 0 (2 lateral fricatives)
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] – 1
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] – 1 (5 or 6, depending on how you count)
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs – 0.5 (giving this a half point since you can count either 3 or 4 depending on whether you count /ʈ ɖ/)
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] – 1
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction – 1
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] – 1
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] – 1 (/a e ɛ i ʌ o ɯ u y/)
21. Three or more diphthongs – 1 (in fact, 30!)
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] – 0
23. One front rounded vowel – 1
24. Two or more front rounded vowels – 0
25. No vowel harmony – 1
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] – 1 (nasal vowels occur, but as an allophone of long vowel + nasal)
27. More than three degrees of vowel height – 1
28. Phonemic stress – 1 (though I've not yet found any minimal pairs)
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] – 1
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed – 1 (only at beginning of words)
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) – 1
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) – 1
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) – 1
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) – 1
35. CVCC syllables allowed – 0
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] – 0
37. CLV syllables allowed – 1
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] – 1 (I'm going to say that /ɬ ɮ/ don't count as glides or liquids)
39. CCCV syllables allowed – 0
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) – 1
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed – 0
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed – 1
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) – 0 (not allowed anywhere, assuming lateral fricatives are bundled with fricatives)
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] – 0 (none)
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes – 0
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] – 1
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] – 1
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) – 0 (initial velar)
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries – 0 (gemination within morphemes)
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic – 1
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony – 1
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all – 0
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] – 1 (if the vowel before is short, then voiced stops or fricatives are disallowed, but if it's long, then anything goes)
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables – 0
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA – 1

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal – 0
S2. No tone system with more than two tones – 5
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] – 5 (again, not counting the lateral fricatives as glides)
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation) – 5
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants – 5
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless – 5
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction] – 5
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] – 2.5
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal] – 5

Conclusion: 76% SAE.

I'll do Lek-Tsaro later.

Edit: for Lek-Tsaro:

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar] – 1 (not counting glottal stop)
2. Phonemic voicing – 1
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives – 0
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives – 0 (no voicing distinction in fricatives at all)
5. /v/ but no /w/ – 0 (other way around – /w/ but no /v/)
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined – 1 (though this is due to the prescence of coarticulated fricatives, which are pretty un-SAE)
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] – 1
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops – 1
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] – 1
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) – 1
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] – 1 (28)
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] – 0.5 (approximant and fricative)
13. No lateral obstruents – 0 (lateral fricative)
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] – 0.5 (trill and approximant)
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] – 0.5 (labial, alveolar, palatal, velar, glottal, dento-velar, labio-velar, labio-postalveolar)
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs – 1
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] – 0 (coarticulated fricatives)
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction – 1
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] – 1
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] – 1 (11 vowel qualities)
21. Three or more diphthongs – 0 (none at all)
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] – 0
23. One front rounded vowel – 1
24. Two or more front rounded vowels – 1
25. No vowel harmony – 0
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] – 1
27. More than three degrees of vowel height – 0
28. Phonemic stress – 0
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] – 1
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed – 0
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) – 1
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) – 1
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) – 1
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) – 1
35. CVCC syllables allowed – 0
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] – 0
37. CLV syllables allowed – 1
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] – 0
39. CCCV syllables allowed – 0
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) – 1
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed – 0
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed – 1
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) – 0 (not allowed anywhere)
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] – 0 (none)
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes – 1
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] –1
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] – 1
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) – 0 (initial palatal and velar)
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries – 1
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic – 1
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony – 0
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all – 0
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] – 0 (only nasals, voiceless plosives and /ɹ s l/)
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables – 0
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA – 1

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal – 0
S2. No tone system with more than two tones – 5
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] – 5 (I'm being conservative and not counting rhotics as glides)
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation) – 5
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants – 5
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless – 5
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction] – 5
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] – 5 (10 fricatives, including lateral and coarticulated, vs. 8 stops excluding /ʔ/)
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal] – 5

72% SAE. Primarily because Lek-Tsaro has three whole coarticulated fricatives.

Edit: given that Arka is advertised as a French knock-off, let's see how SAE its phonology is:

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar] – 1
2. Phonemic voicing – 1
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives – 1
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives – 1
5. /v/ but no /w/ – 0 (both)
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined – 1
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] – 1
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops – 1 (postalveolar)
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] – 0.5 (lab/alv/post vs. lab/alv/vel)
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) – 1
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] – 1 (20)
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] – 1
13. No lateral obstruents – 1
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] – 0.5 (trill and approximant)
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] – 1 (labial, alveolar, postalveolar, palatal, velar, glottal, labio-velar)
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs – 0 (3)
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] – 1
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction – 1
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] – 1
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] – 1 ([a ɑ ɛ e ɪ i ɔ o ɯ u])
21. Three or more diphthongs – 0 (doesn't say, but I'll infer none at all)
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] – 1 (at least not phonemically – short /u/ is realised as [ɯ])
23. One front rounded vowel – 0
24. Two or more front rounded vowels – 0
25. No vowel harmony – 1
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] – 1
27. More than three degrees of vowel height – 1 (going to be conservative and count both mid-low and mid-high)
28. Phonemic stress – 0 (there's a stress system but I don't know the details)
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] – 1
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed – 1
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) – 1
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) – 1
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) – 1
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) – 1
35. CVCC syllables allowed – 1 (e. g. <vakn> /vakn/ take care of, raise)
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] – 0 (I haven't seen any CVCCC syllables in Arka)
37. CLV syllables allowed – 1
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] – 1 (e. g. <xtarapek> /ʃtaɹapek/ elevator)
39. CCCV syllables allowed – 0 (at least not that I know of)
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) – 1 (<ktak> /ktak/ is there but it's onomatopoeia)
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed – 0
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed – 0 (e. g. <knab> /knab/ camel)
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) – 1 (e. g. <rsiila> /ɹsiːla/ leader)
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] – 0 (none)
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes – 0
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] –1
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] – 1
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) – 1
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries – 1
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic – 1
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony – 1 (going a bit conservative here and counting all vowel qualities)
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all – 1
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] – 0 (/w j/ disallowed)
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables – 0
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA – 1

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal – 5
S2. No tone system with more than two tones – 5
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] – 5
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation) – 5 (/a e i o u/ plus their long counterparts)
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants – 5
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless – 5
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction] – 5
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] – 5 (/f v s z ʃ ʒ h/ vs. /p b t d k ɡ/)
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal] – 5 (others: /ɹ r l j w/)

Conclusion: 85% SAE.
Last edited by Uruwi on Mon Nov 06, 2017 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

DesEsseintes
Sanci
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Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jul 20, 2013 8:51 pm

Re: How to design a non-European phonology

Post by DesEsseintes »

This is Híí 5.1

/m n/
/b t k g ʔ/
/t͡s t͡ɬ t͡ʃ/
/ɸ s θ ɬ h/
/z l/

/e i o/

1. Absence of any phonemic POA for stops further back than velar [half mark for only one stop-POA behind velar, or for prominent allophonic stops behind velar] – 1/2
2. Phonemic voicing – 1
3. Phonemic voicing only on stops and fricatives – 1
4. Voicing distinction on fricatives but only labial and/or coronal fricatives – 1
5. /v/ but no /w/ – 0
6. One fewer phonemic POA for nasals than for stops and affricates combined – 1
7. No single MOA found at all POAs [half mark if only one MOA at all POAs] – 1
8. At least one non-glottal POA with at least one fricative but no stops – 0
9. Fricatives distinguish more POAs than (non-nasal) stops [half mark if they distinguish the same number] – 0
10. More non-stops than stops (not counting nasals as either stops or non-stops) – 1
11. Between 20 and 30 consonant phonemes [half mark if between 15 and 40] – 0.5
12. One phonemic lateral, distinguished from rhotics [half mark if more than one] – 0.5
13. No lateral obstruents – 0
14. One phonemic rhotic [half mark if more than one] – 1
15. 5-7 POAs [half mark if at least 4 POAs] – 1
16. 4 stop/affricate POAs – 0
17. No systematic secondary articulation at more than one POA and no double articulation [half mark if there is systematic palatal secondary articulation] – 1
18. Voicing as the only phonation distinction – 1
19. No clicks, ejectives, or ingressive consonants of any kind [half mark if one of these categories occurs not as a series] – 1
20. 7 or more vowel qualities [half mark for 5 or more] – 0
21. Three or more diphthongs – 0
22. No non-low back unrounded vowels [half mark if no high back unrounded vowels] – 1
23. One front rounded vowel – 0
24. Two or more front rounded vowels – 0
25. No vowel harmony – 1
26. Vowels distinguished solely by height, frontness, roundedness and length. (i.e. no voice distinctions, rhotic vowels, ATR, nasal vowels, etc) [half mark for nasal vowels not occuring at all vowel qualities] – 1
27. More than three degrees of vowel height – 0
28. Phonemic stress – 0
29. No phonemic tone [half mark for two-tone languages] – 0
30. Syllables without onset consonants allowed – 1
31. CVL syllables allowed (L = lateral or rhotic) – 1
32. CVN syllables allowed (N = nasal) – 1
33. CVF syllables allowed (F = fricative) – 1
34. CVS syllables allowed (S = stop) – 1
35. CVCC syllables allowed – 1
36. CVCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCF [half mark if CVCCCC syllables not allowed other than CVCCCF] [no mark if CVCCC syllables not allowed] – 0
37. CLV syllables allowed – 0
38. FCV syllables allowed (F = fricative), where C is not a glide or a liquid. [but only half mark if C cannot be a member of a particular series (eg nasal, voiced, ejective, fricative etc) or POA] – 0
39. CCCV syllables allowed – 0
40. CCV syllables allowed but SSV or SSCV syllables not allowed (not including geminates) – 0
41. CCCV syllables allowed but CCNV syllables not allowed – 0
42. CCV syllables allowed but SNV syllables not allowed – 0
43. Sonority hierarchy violation in consonant clusters allowed only for fricatives (stops -> fricatives -> liquids -> approximants) – 0
44. One syllabic consonant, a rhotic [half mark if lateral or both] – 0
45. (At least some) affricates treated as phonemes – 1
46. No non-glottal POA with only one MOA, and that MOA isn't fricative [not counting /w/ as labial-velar or whatever] – 0
47. No more than four POAs for stops (affricates not counted) [half mark for five, or counting affricates] – 1
48. No initial nasal other than /m/ or /n/ (half mark if other initial nasals but not initial velar or uvular nasal) – 1
49. No phonemic distinction of consonant length, or gemination, except across morpheme boundaries – 0
50. Presence of an approximant/non-alveolar rhotic – 0
51. 9 or more vowel POAs AND no vowel harmony – 0
52. No velar (or uvular, etc) nasals at all – 1
53. Words can end in any consonant [half mark if 1-2 exceptions found] – 0
54. Vowel mergers in unstressed syllables – 0
55. More phonemes at a single coronal POA than at any other single POA – 1

The following special questions are each worth 5 marks (in addition to any they may have gained in the above):
S1. No initial velar nasal – 5
S2. No tone system with more than two tones – 0
S3. Syllables of both CCV and CVC form appear (not necessarily for all C), where all Cs can be non-glides [2.5 marks if this is true but some Cs must be glides] – 0
S4. At least 10 vowels in total (including length and quality, but not syllable-specific tone or phonation) – 0
S5. No non-pulmonic consonants – 5
S6. No phonation distinctions other than voiced/voiceless – 5
S7. Phonemic voice distinction [2.5 marks if it is only one aspect of a distinction] – 5
S8. Fricatives and affricates, added together, outnumber plain non-nasal stops [2.5 marks if fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides together outnumber (nasals + stops), OR if the fricatives+affricates EQUALS non-nasal stops] – 5
S9. Ignoring stops and nasals: more fricatives than non-fricative consonants [2.5 marks if equal] – 2.5

54% SAE

A bit higher than I expected, I suppose. The fricatives are mostly to blame, although not having a velar nasal also garners a lot of points on this test.

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