cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25662741
I'm thinking about conlangs for creatures with different phonetic possibilities than humans, particularly birds with both syrinx and larynx. Does anything like the IPA already exist for these sounds?
4 Comments
early_riser@lemmy.radio · 2 pts · 1y
Greetings, fellow xenolanger! I don't think you're going to find an established phonetic notation system for an alien vocal tract. You'll likely have to homebrew your own system based on your critters' phonetic space.
When I make a xenolang, I break up the phones into individual features. Whatever system I come up with denotes the features for each phone/phoneme one by one.
Here's the system I use for my little monkey foxes:
YPA
Vowels
Timing
1 short
2 long
3 early
4 late
5 overlong
Tone
1 low
2 high
3 rising
4 falling
5 peaking
6 dipping
Strength
1 weak
2 strong
3 strengthening
4 weakening
5 cresting
6 troughing
Phonation
1 whine
2 growl
3 grunt
4 plain hiss vowel
5 trilled hiss vowel
Consonants
h huff
c chuff
y yip
p plain hiss semivowel
t trilled hiss semivowel
So if I wanted to express a short low weak whine, it would be 1111. If I wanted to express that same syllable nucleus with a yip onset and a chuff coda it would be y1111c.
It's not compact enough to serve as a Romanization scheme, though.
I have a fairly comprehensive grammar for my main xenolang up on Frathwiki (https://www.frathwiki.com/Commonthroat) which details how I solved the Romanization problem.
I also have a guide on how I came up with the phonology on the CBB forum (https://cbbforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=8203) which you may find useful.
Hope this helps.
IndigoGollum@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
This is some fascinating stuff. Thanks for the tips and the read.
WolframViper@lemmy.org · 2 pts · 1y
I don't know of anything like the IPA, but has anyone recommended this?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Xgwh0hvPjOFcGgxlPOBUhLXIFes_petgGzv7Hp5blE4
Obviously the descriptions don't indicate exact sounds, but the papers might.
It's also possible you know more about this topic than I do. In that case, I'd like to know more. Thank you for asking this question.
IndigoGollum@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
I was not aware of that document. It seems like a great list of resources for people interested in exolangs. Thanks.
I probably don't know more about this topic than you, unfortunately. So far u/early_riser@lemmy.radio's Commonthroat has been almost my only point of reference for this sort of thing. I think making a language out of this is easier once you have a consistent phonetic notation system (not necessarily the same as your conlang's orthography), so making up symbols for use with descriptions or recordings seems like a good starting point for an exolang. I personally like to keep my notation similar to the IPA, so i can use both together when one sound is close enough to a human sound to share an existing IPA letter.