I need more phonemes!!! Help!

A forum for all topics related to constructed languages
Post Reply
User avatar
Taurenzine
cuneiform
cuneiform
Posts: 195
Joined: 03 Oct 2016 17:29

I need more phonemes!!! Help!

Post by Taurenzine »

so I'm making a language duh
I decided to cut voiced plosives and fricatives they're a pain in the ass
now I don't have enough sounds so like what do I do
https://imgur.com/a/UwceA
User avatar
kiwikami
roman
roman
Posts: 1203
Joined: 26 May 2012 17:24
Location: Oh, I don't know, I'm probably around here somewhere.

Re: I need more phonemes!!! Help!

Post by kiwikami »

Well, as far as phoneme inventories go, yours is far from the smallest. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotokas_language or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_phonology). So I wouldn't say you don't have enough sounds! But if you want more phonemes, perhaps add another kind of contrast? Aspirated/unaspirated phonation for the stops, perhaps. A glottal stop. A palatal or retroflex stop series. Laterals. Affricates (/tʃ/ makes a good deal of sense given that you have /ʃ/; it could contrast with /ts/).
Edit: Substituted a string instrument for a French interjection.

:eng: :mrgreen: | :fra: [:)] | ASL [:S] | :deu: [:|] | :tan: [:(] | :nav: [:'(]
User avatar
DesEsseintes
mongolian
mongolian
Posts: 4331
Joined: 31 Mar 2013 13:16

Re: I need more phonemes!!! Help!

Post by DesEsseintes »

You have no less than 12 consonants, which is plenty. I wouldn’t add too much as I think it looks quite nice as it is, but if you feel the need, all of Kiwikami’s suggestions are spot on. The glottal stop especially would make this very attractive to me.

Note that complex phonotactics could make this an interesting inventory. Are clusters like /kf ʃpʃ/ permitted? One of the ‘mistakes’ I made as a beginner was being too afraid of clusters and using CV(C) for many of my langs, which left me feeling my langs were flat and lifeless.
User avatar
Taurenzine
cuneiform
cuneiform
Posts: 195
Joined: 03 Oct 2016 17:29

Re: I need more phonemes!!! Help!

Post by Taurenzine »

kiwikami wrote: 14 Jan 2018 04:12 Well, as far as phoneme inventories go, yours is far from the smallest. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotokas_language or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_phonology). So I wouldn't say you don't have enough sounds! But if you want more phonemes, perhaps add another kind of contrast? Aspirated/unaspirated phonation for the stops, perhaps. A glottal stop. A palatal or retroflex stop series. Laterals. Affricates (/tʃ/ makes a good deal of sense given that you have /ʃ/; it could contrast with /ts/).
Aspirated! very nice... thank you!
User avatar
gestaltist
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1617
Joined: 11 Feb 2015 11:23

Re: I need more phonemes!!! Help!

Post by gestaltist »

DesEsseintes wrote: 14 Jan 2018 05:16 You have no less than 12 consonants, which is plenty. I wouldn’t add too much as I think it looks quite nice as it is, but if you feel the need, all of Kiwikami’s suggestions are spot on. The glottal stop especially would make this very attractive to me.

Note that complex phonotactics could make this an interesting inventory. Are clusters like /kf ʃpʃ/ permitted? One of the ‘mistakes’ I made as a beginner was being too afraid of clusters and using CV(C) for many of my langs, which left me feeling my langs were flat and lifeless.
Which doesn't mean to say you can't have a nice CVC language. I think the smaller your inventory, the more you have to think about allophony and morphophonology if you want to make things feel alive. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to have complex clusters. You can just as well have apophony, elisions, metathesis, and all sorts of other wonderful stuff.
Post Reply