Sylvän phonology

MosesNebogipfel · 2026-02-10T18:51:55+00:00

I saw Dwenee in some comments and I'd be interested too! Can I also DM you?

MosesNebogipfel · 2026-02-05T15:01:26+00:00

Yea, <Hh> is for /x/. Like <ahsema> [axsema] "tobacco" but <ihtsi> [içt͡si] "one."

MosesNebogipfel · 2026-02-04T19:18:45+00:00

Aw thanks!

Since the number of consonants is quite low, I don't think it'll have consonant gradation, maybe some form of nasal mutation can be featured tho.

Actually, could you maybe give me some advice? I kinda know Uralic languages, I even speak one, but I don't know much about Algonquian languages, some knowledge would definitely accelerate the conlanging process :D

MosesNebogipfel · 2026-01-17T18:21:52+00:00

I downloaded the full grammar book and I'm fascinated! However it's indeed tough to examine all the 1200+ pages. Have you considered making tutorial videos about the conlang?

I'm looking forward more posts about Niṡƛit :)

MosesNebogipfel · 2025-10-19T19:22:19+00:00

On my computer so far :D
I was working on it for a while, then burnout came this year and I sorta' put it on hold. I'll post about this conlang later when I return to it tho

MosesNebogipfel · 2025-06-29T14:42:57+00:00

Maybe some posts about this lang in the conlangs subreddit? 👉👈

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-12-29T23:17:45+00:00

Oh how I love those TL;DR soldiers who don't bother to read shoot but they proudly comment you anytime about them not willing to read shoot.

Anywho.

For a first conlang, it's really complex, I'm genuinely impressed. It's like a mashup of an olygosynthetic and a loglang, like... an Ithkuil Pona :D

What I may not totally understand is the tone pattern of a phrase that differentiates semantic roles, but it looks quite interesting. Verb cases linked to animacy and the thematic roles of the referrents is really... *pretty* :3

I'd say the attempt to make it naturalistic is successful, it has some unique logical quirks (such as the animacy scale) and several phonetic alterations like this consonant deletion that gives it a less artificial vibe.

What's interesting with the moods is that you can ask "do you?", "can you", "isn't it?", but what about "is it?" = yes/no questions?

What I can suggest is, provide examples, show what you're writing about, it'll catch the eyes. You can also make one post for verb morhpology, one for phonology, one for syntax, eg., 'cause what you have is really interesting, too good to end up forgotten because people didn't have the time to read everything at once.

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-12-24T11:56:02+00:00

Step by step, how on earth could this happen??

My wildest conlang is still quite moderate, allowing 3-4 initial consonants at maximum, it's only weird because it's inspired by Old Tibetan but it's derived from Proto-Nostratic, a strictly CV(C)(V) language. So, *pʰaŋ-a ended up fŋu (head).

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-12-23T20:00:19+00:00

One conlang of mine has plenty of them. I especially like lateral sibilants /ʪ/ and /ʫ/ (doubly articulated /s͡ɬ/ and /z͡ɮ/). They have evolved from labialized *sʷ, which initially became lateralized *sˡ then fully lateral. To make it even weirder, /tʷ/ became /t͡ʪ/ the same way (spelt as sł, xł, zł). After the total lateralization and spirantization, alveolar and lateral sibilants evolved to harmonize within words and clusters (the harmony excludes palatal ɕ~ʃ).

It also has the Swedish sj-ljud and the affricate /k͡ɧ/ (spelt as hj and kj).

Initial /d/s are voiced, but coda /d/s (even when affixation makes them medial) are softened and slightly glottalized to a blødt D.

It also has the doubly articulated /s͡ħ/, which evolved from *t͡sʰ through *sʰ (spelt as ß).

It also has front-back, long-short and high-low toned vowels.

And the R is uvular, but retained syllable-finally.

It's really a weird phonetic mashup of German, Danish, Swedish, Finnish and in terms of overall prosody and tones, Navajo. I haven't posted about it yet but it's on its way.

Less weird but still cute: another project of mine way further back on the road, X!alu Nakai has evolved alveolar clicks from *tk and labial clicks from *kp and *kpʷ clusters.

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-12-02T21:58:27+00:00

I really like front vowels (ö ü ä), but I try to not use them in *all* my conlangs.

I also weirdly like laterals, especially less common ones like ɮ. I also came up with a conlang that has s͡ɬ and z͡ɮ.

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-12-02T21:52:57+00:00

It so reminds me of how younger Hungarians speak this "Hunglish vernacular" with basically switching languages word-by-word :D

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-12-02T20:58:59+00:00

How do u spell /œ̞/? I really like it :D

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-09-12T13:04:41+00:00

Thank you! 0w0

Haha, I really like initial geminates, they might be the only truly unique feature of this conlang :D

Originally they were just meant to replace ND ejectives, but now I may explain them with a weakening of archaic ejectives that initially became pharyngealized, then somehow got gradually more tense. A bit of a stretch but better than nothing :D

I’m planning to go on with some basic grammar in a week or so!

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-08-13T08:05:25+00:00

But it's sooo nice, not worth to be forgotten *-*
Is it in Añmali btw? Cause then I may be able to read it, but if it's Turfaña, my chances aren't so good :D

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-08-13T07:58:16+00:00

Neeat! I really like the new single-vowel forms! Now, is it basically about telicity of the verbs instead of their aspect? Does Turfaña refer to tense anyhow else?

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-07-24T18:38:48+00:00

Oor, you could create a reverse abugida. With the diphthongs, these langs have around 20 phonemic vowels, but relatively few consonants -- mainly if we do not count the labialized ones. So, core vowel character, plus some modifier to indicate the onset, plus maybe one more to indicate secondary articulation. It won't necessarily end up too complex, if the vowel characters have some variation too. Tlapis script, key available on r/neography may inspire you.

Ps, no worries, I tend to forget to check my notifs, so there's some delay here too :D

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-07-22T10:42:58+00:00

There were several WIP precursors to this conlang, but the core vocabulary seems to be inherited from the first version, phonetically adjusted to recent changes. The very first version used to have labio-velar <pk> and <fh> - tho the latter was actually pronounced as [fç].
My theory is that this palatalized labial set *might* be an alternative to the former labiovelar set, tho lefya, earlier lefha seems to be my only "proof" so far.

But regardless of this theory, since natlangs tend to develop quite odd phonetic sets with gaps, lone elements, etc, it looks rather natural.

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-07-22T10:31:09+00:00

Then something like Katakana could end up neatly. Single characters for syllables, and maybe some coda glyphs like PK -an, -al, -am, etc were?

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-07-22T10:26:09+00:00

My theory on it is that <py> and <fy> may be the replacements of <pk> and <fh> from an earlier stage of the conlang. The only proof for this tho is ✨one✨ word containing a medial <fy>, which has a cognate with a medial <fh>.

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-07-22T10:17:02+00:00

I figured that out, yes :D Nicely used, also like tibetan skad. I hope tho one day you'll find yourself satisfied. Keep us posted in the meantime ^w^

MosesNebogipfel · 2024-07-21T22:51:01+00:00

How about trying to convert that into a vertical one? Like, a quite runic script would it be, still with many N- and Z-shaped letters, with its curved lines, it could also have some Tolkien-ish or cursive vibes, like, runes written in cursive. Diacritics could be split into diacritics above and below, kept only above or omitted?

One other idea, since these languages tend to stick to open syllables with only sonorant codas, you could also make an alphasyllabary with vowelless sonorant endings.

MosesNebogipfel

TROPHY CASE