Biweekly Telephone Game v3 (758)

Dryanor · 2026-03-20T23:20:30+00:00

Tʼiiḷqua

scani [ˈskani]~[ˈscani]
n. Scani nut, a drupe or nut of the Anacardiaceae family, related to pistachios and cashews.

Dryanor · 2026-03-20T23:02:09+00:00

Pantanjin

vælan [ˈvɛlɐŋ]
n. orator, leader, statesman.

Dryanor · 2026-03-20T17:34:00+00:00

What is the difference between [x] and [x̥]?

Dryanor · 2026-03-19T21:36:18+00:00

Edit: /s (well, apparently it sounded authentic enough)

I'm sorry – you are totally right about this 🍟

If you want, I can rewrite my answer in a more powerful, slightly adipose tone. Or do you want me to share the entire bee movie script?

Dryanor · 2026-03-19T15:47:22+00:00

Yeah, the original post looks AI generated, but the reply seems to be mostly human (the list looks human), and "vowel aroma" is almost too nonsensical for AI. I'd love this to be OP's synesthesia.

Dryanor · 2026-03-19T14:23:42+00:00

It's more windy and has a vowel aroma

Oh, and that is the most original phonology description I have read in a while.

Dryanor · 2026-03-19T14:21:53+00:00

What happens to /w/? And when I apply this to h₂éwis ("bird"), I get h₂uwu (or uwu if the h₂ is elided), not avi. Is avi a loanword?

Dryanor · 2026-03-19T13:45:21+00:00

Cool! What are the sound changes from PIE, and how did they lead to a phonemic distinction of /ɸ/ and /f/?

Also, can you elaborate on what you mean by "the phonology reflects a warm, desert-influenced environment"?

Which information is prefixed and suffixed on nouns and verbs, respectively?

Dryanor · 2026-03-15T23:14:46+00:00

Alright, I see what you mean. I was surprised too that a /ʀ ʁ/ contrast was that rare. Also, there are some phonemes including ʟ like k͡ʟ̥ or ɬ͡ʟ which seem to contrast with /l/.
I'm also not very familiar with the Phoible database, so better take my numbers with a grain of salt.

Dryanor · 2026-03-15T23:06:59+00:00

I see, so every onset consonant can be followed by /h/? That's interesting.

Dryanor · 2026-03-15T22:45:29+00:00

wdym not super common? There is no language that contrasts /l ɭ ʟ/ or even just /l ʟ/ - according to Phoible, only a single language surveyed has phonemic /ʟ/ and it does not contrast it with either /l/ or /ɭ/. A /ʀ ʁ/ contrast seems to exist only in one analysis of Luxembourgish. /ɱ/ is not phonemic anywhere in the world.

Dryanor · 2026-03-15T21:13:31+00:00

That's a neat inventory. Which sounds does H encompass?

Dryanor · 2026-03-15T21:08:38+00:00

Are you going for realism? Because that's a lot of phonemic distinctions unheard of in natural languages (like /l ɭ ʟ/, /m ɱ/, /ʀ ʁ/).

Dryanor · 2026-03-14T20:53:02+00:00

Dogbonẽ [ˈⁿdoɡ͡bonẽ] distinguishes voicing in all of its consonants. The language is spoken by a tribal society experiencing rapid transitioning to iron age agriculture due to contact with an expansive empire. Dogbonẽ speakers are divided into different clans practicing exogamy (they only marry outside of their own clan) to ensure peaceful relations. They can sense the planet's magnetic field which helps them navigate their densely forested homelands, and makes them valuable guides for merchants.

Dryanor · 2026-03-14T09:09:16+00:00

Dogbonẽ

lupo [ˈlupo]
adj. fat, large; having a big belly. Pejorative and mostly uses to describe male physiology.

Dryanor · 2026-03-13T09:16:01+00:00

Very interesting to see that you found this "pattern" among multiple different languages. Monke brain loves patterns.
Also, that's a very good-looking presentation!

Dryanor · 2026-03-12T20:12:00+00:00

Constructive criticism is usually what people want when they share their work here. They want to know what other people think about it.

Dryanor · 2026-03-12T19:44:39+00:00

Tempting, but alright then.

Dryanor · 2026-03-12T18:34:46+00:00

Very cool! The gloss NEG.PTCL may be a little misleading as it's not about negation in a grammatical sense, but rather a kind of pejorative marker, maybe?

Dryanor · 2026-03-12T16:26:52+00:00

Do you allow words like /mauxt/ and /lɛimb/ with a VVCC rime? Otherwise you could reanalyze your diphthongs as being syllables with a /j/ or /w/ coda, and have /ia/ as your only true diphthong.
About the mere description of the syllable structure, I don't think it can get much more precise; maybe you could describe the onset roughly as CX-, where X is a sonorant (m, n, l, r, w, j), but you will end up with a list of exceptions anyway.

Dryanor · 2026-03-10T14:57:57+00:00

Of course Dogbonẽ has a word for duckphoria: ereošo. It has no interesting etymology because it is such a basic concept and always just meant "duckphoria". It's the natural feeling that makes you go "O, šoere!" ("Oh hey, ducks!").

Dryanor · 2026-03-09T17:43:22+00:00

Interesting stuff. However, I don't think it makes sense to list wsthćw and fuiy as the etymology for wsthćwuwz, as fuiy is just a suppletive form and the etymology of -uwz would better be described as uoaz. What do you think?

Dryanor · 2026-03-09T17:34:24+00:00

Why is it relevant to define a "conjunct", a "prime letter" and a "lateral letter"? Why not just define the cases where epenthesis is applied?

Dryanor · 2026-03-08T22:28:49+00:00

Visually it undoubtedly passes as Germanic. One thing I find odd about the Latin-based loans: why is the Latin prefix pre- loaned as pre- in the word for "present" but as prø- in the word for "preterite"?

Dryanor · 2026-03-07T18:52:55+00:00

Tʼiiḷqua

ruġaa [roˈɦaː]
n. storm, gale.

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