On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 4:56 PM, Joseph Allen
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hello all! This is my second attempt at making a conlang.  I have chosen to
> make this conlang as a example for a speech I am going to give about
> constructed languages. I think its defining difference is the fact that each
> letter can make two sounds, depending on where it is in the sentence/word.
> The word wouldn't be pronounced completely different, usually the only
> difference is instead of saying [v] at the beginning of a word, you say [β]
> i.e. a shift from a Labiodental fricative to a Bilabial fricative.

So it's got allophonic variation.  That's very naturalistic.  (One
quibble of terminology, which I ding my students on when I teach
linguistics: they're not letters; they're sounds.  Letters are graphic
representations of sounds in one kind of writing system).  Usually,
there's a pattern of allophonic variation.  For example, in English we
aspirate unvoiced stops at the beginnings of words but nowhere else.
Often (actually, probably always, but I hesitate to ever use that word
to describe language) there's a reason why the variation exists.  For
example, [N] is an allophone of /n/ that occurs before velars -- which
makes sense.  The following velar conditions the place of
articulation.

The word
> order is going to be verb-object-subject, with adverbs before verbs and
> adjectives after nouns.

I'm not an expert in word-order typology, but that seems a bit less
naturalistic to me.  Is the language head-final or head-initial
overall?

I use Tolkien's Tengwar Alphabet with diacritic
> vowels, although I do not use it in the intended way (or so I assume, the
> letters I use don't match the sounds made for them, or any other
> origination. I just picked out letters that suited me ;) ). The two
> different sounds for each consonant are produced by reversing the bow.
> Transliterated into IPA (please excuse me if I get something wrong here, new
> with the IPA and all), the phrase "Hello friend!" would be:
>
> [ɕa ʎɪ ɖe b̪id]

Whew.  Can you say that?  I don't think I can.  I'm a bit of a wimp
when it comes to phonology for my languages.


>
> Literally in English (word for word) that would mean "Greetings friend to
> me!" because you have the verb, then a noun, then a preposition, then the
> object of the preposition. I have very little in terms of a lexicon, and
> what little bit I have is likely to change. But I would like your honest
> opinion of my newest language! :)

Is "greetings" a verb?

Any info on the morphology?



-- 
I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; garlands from window
to window; golden chains from star to star, and I dance.  --Arthur
Rimbaud