LanguagePersonalitiesLanguagePersonalities

EN TI-KRAMPOUEZH

Ar mevel o komz ouzh Soaz.

M. ― Salud deoc'h. Petra ho po da zebriñ?

S. ― Da gentañ, ur grampouezhenn ed-du, gant ognon ha tomatez, mar plij.

M. ― Mat-tre, ha petra ho po goude?

S. ― Ur grampouezhenn gwinizh gant mel.

M. ― Ha petra ho po d'evañ? Chistr?

S. ― N'em bo ket chistr. Laezh-ribod am bo, mar plij.

M. ― Kafe ho po goude?

S. ― N'em bo ket. Met ur banne te am bo.

Kurssi koostuu eri aihepiirien teksteistä, jotka on

jaettu lyhyisiin kappaleisiin. Kunkin kappaleen

lopussa on ymmärtämistä testaavia

monivalintatehtäviä. Kappaleisiin sisältyvät myös

sanastot ja kielioppiosuudet. Yhteistä sanastoa

täydentää vielä kattava yleisimpien verbien (yli

600) eri muodot sisältävä luettelo.

Language PersonalitiesLanguage Personalities

How the Interplay of Phonology, Phonotactics and Morpho-phonology

Creates a Linguistic Aesthetic

How the Interplay of Phonology, Phonotactics and Morpho-phonology

Creates a Linguistic Aesthetic

“The liquid vowels of the Polynesian tongues conjure up

visions of loveliness and languor, full moon and bright lagoon.

Contrariwise, the gutturals of the German language sound, to a

non-German, as harsh and forbidding as winter in the Black

Forest.

The swoops and swirls of Persian script seem, to a Westerner,

as voluptuous and sensual as the quatrains of Omar Khayyám.

But Goethe wrote tender and lyrical word-music in German,

and Persian is prosaically utilitarian for keeping the accounts

of Iranian oil companies.

The personality of a language, like that of a man, is the sum of

many things not always apparent to the casual eye or ear.”

— Gary Jennings, Personalities of Language

“While the national language of a people has its own

personality, a Sprachgefühl distinct from even closely

related tongues, it is at the same time a complex of

sublanguages—regional dialects, trade jargons and the

like—each of which has its own idiosyncrasies. Take a

New York stockbroker and an Alabama share-cropper…

or for that matter, any teen-ager and his grandfather.

Each pair speaks one national language, but with

worlds-apart difference.”

— Džíčet?

— Nàà.

— Tskwît.

— Wadžavin máin?

— Haubau’tái?

— Kêj.

― Did you eat yet?

― No.

― Let’s go eat.

― What did you have in mind?

― How about Thai?

― OK.

(SBA)Supposedly she’s an heiress or something like that.

(Teen)She’s like s’posed to be a fucking heiress or some shit.

Phonoaesthetics

Phonasthetics is the reason that Aragorn, having

defeated the evil lord of Mordor, becomes King of

the West and takes the name Elessar Telcontar,

rather than having defeated the evil lord of

Ailuanyemarë and being crowned under the name

Kratchmurg Brogzdoodle.

CONSONANT INVENTORY OF UBYKH

Qui a dit que les chiens nepouvaient pas apprendre à parler?

çççççwçwçwçwçwůůůůůůšwšwšwšwšwšwššššššççççwçwçw

pššššššçççççççkšššššssss

noon sum pa frond

Vaughn deerday parole

say ma new poo

come bun we

Noon sum pa frond say ma new poo Vaughn deer day parole come bun we.

Nous ne sommes pas français, ma nous pouvons dire des paroles comme “bonne nuit.”

te heure ne (n’)Aix pleurent heure

y eu haute ou cette

à août tout pis comme

somme faim me sou est-ce?

Y eu haute ou cette à août tout pis comme somme faim me sou est-ce te heure n’Aix pleurent heure.

You ought to set out to become some famous Western explorer.

Ailles ou ans tout crié te Cannes langue tout.

CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC

“FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC

“FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG Fundamental questions re phoneme inventories:

• Distribution of front vowels vs. back vowels

• Front vowels: To round or not to round? / 2, 9, Y, y /

• Schwa or no schwa?

• /j/ and /w/ onsets (rising diphthongs) after consonants

• “Guttural” sounds? / x, q, X, R, R\, H /

• Affricates or no affricates?

• Glottal stop?

• Secondary articulations or not? palatalization, labialization, gemination, rhotacization, pharyngealization, ejectivization, aspiration, nasalization

• Exotic phonemes: /K/ /M\/

CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG

CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG

Phonotactic Patterns and Constraints• Frequency of front vs. back vowels; should I

have vowel harmony?• Frequency of rounded front vowels• Frequency of /j/ and /w/ onsets following

consonants• Frequency of sibilants and other fricatives• Syllable Structure: CV vs. CVC vs. CCVCC, etc.• Ratio of open syllables to closed syllables

Vowels: • Diphthongs? • Dyssyllabic vowel conjuncts?• Allophony: Ubykh has 10 or 11 audible vowel

phones but only two vowel phonemes.

Consonants: • Key concept is phonetic assimilation• Complexity and variety of consonant clusters

CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG

CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG

• Influence of semivowels: diphthongs

• Heterogenous consonant conjuncts , e.g., septiembre – settembre – setembre

• Effect of liquids: Latin root clam- cllam-, llam- ,cham-

• Metathesis and apocope, e.g., pericolo – peligro – perigo

CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG

CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG

Morpho-phonology:• Reduplication, vowel loss (syncope, apocope,

aphaeresis), epenthesis

• Vocalic mutation: umlaut/ablaut, diphthongization, dyssyllabification

• Consonantal mutation: nasal, rhotic, lateral, fricativization, voicing/devoicing, gemination

• Sandhi and juncture rules: assimilation again

• Stress shifts

• Tone shifts / tone sandhi

CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG

CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC CREATING A PHONAESTHETIC “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG “FEEL” FOR YOUR CONLANG

ir ‘to go’ = ( )-ir = ( ) + INFINITIVE

yendo ‘going’ = ( )-iendo = ( ) + GERUND

id ‘go!’ = ( )-id = ( ) + 2nd PLURAL IMPERATIVE

venir ‘to come’

ven ‘come!’ = ven-( ) = ‘come’ + 2nd SG. IMPERATIVE

“¡Ven!”

“¡ !”

Apo ket olua taraskentel brihaprai.

Ámpyë hêth olwae tarasentela periorië.

Happói yeutta ööhlü traθkãčeł bžöfré.

Apo ket olua taraskentel brihaprai.

Pho’ qetlh ûrwagh třašqetnálh gridzo’přââ.

Wepp’wa hé’èeyat ówàay t’alàaskwenné’ew i’lispwa’hàay.

Can you figure out the steps to get to this one?

Verdurian – Mark Rosenfelder

So hepdën pirei esë

Piro esë e fascotene uestu. E so sanno Buyelei, im dáluan Verdúrë. Eluá, mun racontretu, er lelmo tal fascotene e. Scúreden, zet ečite fruece er hicete soem bouem pro utron. Eššane ti-velec atüčy velne ana is can nočín.

Širden, rihe soa dumora domei cum hozënán taë er miran esë. Oce lyö faše er mis dy eu trodonecî, dy e gašul uestu, dy deve vagir soi ďiteli com precun feyämán. Nikto řo nime cuesan eta so lešel šualië, escatelië er vinei lië.

amman îarby David Bell

i rîellisse életh an alanin erthendelon.The girl kissed him.

alan életh an nerin erhiron narnen.He told me a story.

alan életh áni dais cûos erechöiron i daurar.He killed the tiger with a bow in the forest.

Minhast by Nick Campanilla

Phonology: Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, Persian, Akkadian, Korean.

Grammar/Syntax: Iroquoian, Ainu, Yupik, Georgian, Arabic, Persian, Basque, Tagalog, Ilocano

Rrldhlaby Tom Corcoran

Estyesh jye lhrrln nal chrr nrr rrpludh egeik

lrrzbagrrn: rmp rhaolh, jye mrlelhrthr nrr ye'rr tu

zdhu estyesh tu rrshle. Estyesh na m'mrlelhrthr

rngrrl trr oimrrzdhye kla chrr'r la'rrstae'in, estyesh

na m'zboi kla trr rgya chrr'r la'rrstae'in.

Hwaerd Raaz by Durandal Brytting

Hwa! C'prex'rraa, b'lac drrang'loc fece jonte, cadz'dz' kloc flec ruc gorrontruk te borgarj farex. You smell dreadful, as if you have spent the last weeks rolling around in rotting camel corpses and the excrement of elephants.

Hwa! Barc'gl þutte ruc an tomp el c'lodz, þu j'lep j'mekrunt. Drown yourself in a vat of mud, you worthless sack of fat.

Hwa! Gowecar spoce p'fπ dzamae un þun blec. Your hair frightens little children.

Qþyn|gài by Henrik Theiling

Phonoaesthetics & MusicPhonoaesthetics & Music

• Suitability of phonotactical patterns to the type of music, e.g.,– Samba and Brazilian Portuguese– Soukous and Lingala– Mbalax and Wolof

Phonoaesthetics & MusicPhonoaesthetics & Music• On the Conlang front:

– Christian Vander’s Magma and Kobaian

Phonoaesthetics & MusicPhonoaesthetics & Music

• Poor “fit” between music and language, e.g.,– Rap/hip-hop and French– Renaissance polyphonic liturgical music and

Latin

Loquebantur variis linguis apostoli, alleluia.Magnalia Dei, alleluia.

Phonoaesthetics & MusicPhonoaesthetics & Music• The Ultimate Language for Song

Po vdes nga etja pranë një burimi,

Kur zjarri ndizet, dhëmb mbi dhëmb kërcet,

Djeg zhegu, dridhet buza nga thëllimi,

Në vendin tim jam si në vend të shkretë.

Si krimb i çveshur, veshur porsi mbret,

Mes lotësh qeshem dhe me shpresa rri,

Mua më jep zemër veç dëshpërimi i zi.

Dëfrehem dhe asgjë nuk më gëzon.

I fortë jam — pa forcë, pa fuqi.

Kudo më presin, gjithëkush më zbon.

LanguagePersonalitiesLanguagePersonalities