What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

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KaiTheHomoSapien
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What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by KaiTheHomoSapien »

Do you ever come up with a word or phrase in your conlang that just sounds very euphonic, i.e. it's your conlang's "cellar door"?

estéleget - /ɛ.'stɛ.lɛ.gɛt/ he was awaiting, expecting; he was waiting for, imperfect of steleg- to wait for. I was doing some conjugations and realized I love the sound of that word. I think it's my favorite Lihmelinyan word. [:D] I also like the word for palace, tetayānā. /tɛ.ta.'jaː.naː/

What are some words or phrases in your conlang that you consider to be particularly pleasing to the ear (regardless of their meaning)? What sounds do you like to hear in your conlang?
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elemtilas
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by elemtilas »

KaiTheHomoSapien wrote: 07 Jun 2018 19:38 Do you ever come up with a word or phrase in your conlang that just sounds very euphonic, i.e. it's your conlang's "cellar door"?

estéleget - /ɛ.'stɛ.lɛ.gɛt/ he was awaiting, expecting; he was waiting for, imperfect of steleg- to wait for. I was doing some conjugations and realized I love the sound of that word. I think it's my favorite Lihmelinyan word. [:D] I also like the word for palace, tetayānā. /tɛ.ta.'jaː.naː/

What are some words or phrases in your conlang that you consider to be particularly pleasing to the ear (regardless of their meaning)? What sounds do you like to hear in your conlang?
Wow! I have to say I like the sound of estéleget (estel- is certainly a valid Queranarran root, though I don't know what it means). And I love the sound of tetayānā! Tetey, tayan and ayana are all terribly euphonic roots in Queranarran. At least aestheticwise we're riding the same sound wave!

If I had a cellar and I hoarded doors, that would be Queranarran. It is so full of cellar doors, it's impossible to pick just one or two.

One, which for me combines the aesthesis of sound and also the aesthesis of meaning, is curatarave /'kʊɹ.ra ˌtaɹ.ra.ve/ which means wonderful balance of sonic, visual, sensual and aesthetic beauty — beyond “ravishingly beautiful” — not all folk who are curatarave are “beautiful”, but they are “aesthetic”
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KaiTheHomoSapien
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by KaiTheHomoSapien »

Thanks elemtilas!

curatarave definitely rolls off the tongue, and I like a word that sounds like what it means. [:D]
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elemtilas
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by elemtilas »

KaiTheHomoSapien wrote: 08 Jun 2018 03:23 Thanks elemtilas!
What are some more examples from Lihmelinyan?
curatarave definitely rolls off the tongue, and I like a word that sounds like what it means. [:D]
Thanks, too! It may not always work out here, but for Daine, they're wired to react to this kind of deep onomatopœietic consonance. Kind of how a synaesthete reacts to an appropriate primary stimulus.
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by Lao Kou »

KaiTheHomoSapien wrote: 07 Jun 2018 19:38 estéleget - /ɛ.'stɛ.lɛ.gɛt/ he was awaiting, expecting
Well, that is nice. But I also like it because it also has a Hungarian vibe visually. I believe it would be read [ˈɛʃteˌlɛget], and I don't know if it's an actual word in Hungarian, but who cares? It's a great word both in Lihmelinyan and Hungarian. [:D]
What are some words or phrases in your conlang that you consider to be particularly pleasing to the ear (regardless of their meaning)? What sounds do you like to hear in your conlang?
I daresay I've made my preferences clear elsewhere on the forum, but I'm a sucker for [ʑ], [ɕ], [ø] ([œ] in a pinch), and [y] ([ʏ] in a pinch). As such, I think a cellar door word for me (though I think meaning has seeped in, too) is zçüpénsöb [ʑyˈpẽsøb] - blue, cyan (said of mountains seen in the distance; also used in painting to create a sense of depth)); loosely, 青
道可道,非常道
名可名,非常名
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Bernard
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by Bernard »

I've got several words like this in Vadhāyan:

pyalladhi 'a strait' [ˈpʲal.la.ði]
asthayȧ 'a touch' [a.ˈsθa.jə]
vayṣyambaṣāḍȧ 'a university' [ˌvaɪ.ʂʲa.mba.ˈʂaː.də]
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by Reyzadren »

Sound-wise, I like words with consonant clusters, diphthongs and more than 2 syllables, though they appear less often than their basic counterparts in the conlang (simple CVC structure, monophthongs, 1~2 syllables), but I can't think of a word with all those properties right now. So, while this word isn't officially listed, it has been used in a passage before, and I shall post this "word".

:con: griuskant (without the conscript)

istiorain
/'istiɔrain/
A-PL-PST-A-EB-IMP-V-A-PASS
Idealised
Image conlang summary | Image griushkoent thread
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alynnidalar
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by alynnidalar »

There's a lot of Tirina words I'm very fond of! The whole thing was designed to be enjoyable for me to say, and even if my aesthetics have changed over time, I still quite like speaking it. Here's a couple particularly special ones to me:

nor'ahi /nor.ˈʔa.hi/ - fire. This has always been one of my favorites. It's very old--one of the oldest words in Tirina, in fact.

Analenahi. /ˌan.a.le.ˈna.hi/ - I (fem.) say, she says. Bit of a tongue twister, but delightful to say. In speech, it's roughly the equivalent of "you know?" so it crops up a fair bit in casual talk.

santari /sanˈt̪a.ɾi/ - thank you.

I'm seeing a pattern here... I love my word-final /i/, and I love /a n/.
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All4Ɇn
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by All4Ɇn »

This is one that loglorn pointed out in Thrinn and I totally agree:
ánsra /ˈɑːnr̥ɑ/ - other GEN.PL or anyone.GEN
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by masako »

emya ka
/ɛːmʲa ka/ >> [ɛmʲaːga]
happen Q
What is happening? >> "What's up?" >> "Sup?"

I often say this in my head when I walk into a room or building.
g

o

n

e
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Lao Kou
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by Lao Kou »

Another fave sound is [ɒ], which I have forever transcribed as [ɔ]. Though I guess they're distinct sounds, I, as a native English speaker, have often confused them and carried this confusion over into Géarthnuns. I shan't worry about this, as such confusion seems to be cross-linguistically rather common. That said, I also like:

auvaç [ˈɒvaɕ]/[ˈɔvaɕ] a word for "because" used after an auxiliary
道可道,非常道
名可名,非常名
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Re: What's your favorite word or phrase in your conlang (sound-wise)?

Post by Iyionaku »

Yélian has never been created to be particularly beautiful, but from the top of my head I know two words I have been in love with since I created them:

espegérasce [əspəˈxeːɾɐskə] - one teaspoon ful
neyevalta [ˌneːʃəˈʋaltɐ] - forever

In Caelian, Bath'aso and Ular I don't know any words that would win a beauty award. Paatherye on the other hand has various I'm pretty fond of, a few of my favorites:

षवसन​! Șawasana! [ʃaˈwasana] - good morning!
युवा, युवो yuwā, yuwē [ˈju.aː, ˈju.eː] - she, he
फीजरखरसमे phījakharsame [ˈpʰiːt͡ʃaˈkʰarsame] - to return, to turn around
नोहेमोयं nēhemēyam [ˌneːheˈmeːjam] - unbelievable, unreliable
Wipe the glass. This is the usual way to start, even in the days, day and night, only a happy one.
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