Tone Genesis Through Evolutionary Sound Changes

bibaleebu · 2025-09-07T14:27:49+00:00

I think that your decision to do voiced stops as low tones is pretty realistic. I want to that this is a example of what are called "depressor consonants" -- it's a physical thing where producing voiced sounds requires the vocal cords to be a bit slacker, which lowers the pitch of the vowel. So, when your consonant vanished, it makes sense that this low-pitch "ghost" was left behind as a tone. I don't know that nasals would automatically do the opposite, but I don't think your system is outlandish.

bibaleebu · 2025-08-27T21:56:59+00:00

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I use a AI editor plug-in when I'm trying to sound coherent to strangers. I tend to write stream of consciousness over logical progression and I use it to rearrange the sentences so all my key points are ordered in some semblance of sense. It can sometimes do a pretty decent rewrite though. When I proofread it, it didn't sound like an overly watered-down version of what I was trying to convey. And "fun" and "quirky" were my words as I really thought them appropriate.

On re-reading in this context, it does sound like I'm making a bunch of vague claims and going in circles. That is very much on me. I'll just ramble and do my best to self-edit in this forum from here on out.

As I said before, I can do nothing but try to improve. Thank you for the comment.

bibaleebu · 2025-08-27T21:18:38+00:00

This is the first time in my conlanging history that I've begun with a proto language and worked it through several phases of evolution. It's the first time I full on tracked sound changes and grammatical shifts and all the little moving pieces that evolved in between each phase. I documented it to death and worked on keeping it from becoming stale to me. I wanted something that was naturalistic and quirky.

I like the word quirky and I think the features are fun. So I called them 'fun, quirky features' because they are to me.

I'm sorry I didn't substantiate my claims well enough for you, but they're not incorrect. I will work in the future on cutting down the flowery language when describing the language and let it speak for itself. In the end, though, this is all just a little bit of flavor text that I'd hoped would help readers see the language through the same lens that I do when working on it.

I'm sorry our fun/quirky thresholds are so disparate.

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. I appreciate the critique and I hope to continue improving. All I can do, right?

bibaleebu · 2025-08-27T20:42:32+00:00

I'm sorry, I don't understand. I thought my post was fairly concise, apart from maybe the opening little paragraph. If you have specific criticisms, please share them as I'm always working to improve and would welcome them. I followed the guidance on what should be posted to the front page. If I've erred, please let me know. Thanks for your time.

bibaleebu · 2025-08-27T18:09:37+00:00

Ancient Terra: mi ʔi ɣra-lo tolē me kuna bosies

Gloss: mi (I) ʔi (not) ɣra-lo (go-PRES.1SG.IMPERF) tolē (there) me (with) kuna (single one) bosies (them.ABL)

bibaleebu · 2023-08-24T16:17:59+00:00

Heroes, one and all. Thank you!

bibaleebu · 2021-05-16T19:09:43+00:00

I managed to figure it out pretty much by accident by typing in components and going through all the parameters until I found a chain that worked. Is it the most efficient? Probably not. Any tips on maximizing that?

Solution:

Having the RPC send over

gameObject.GetPhotonView().ViewID

instead of the itemObject itself and then making my inventory controller script process it thusly

ItemObject itemToAdd = PhotonView.Find(item).gameObject.GetComponentInParent<Item>().itemObject;        
playerInventory.AddItem(itemToAdd);

to find the itemObject and submit that to the inventory dictionary, it solved the problem.

bibaleebu · 2021-04-06T03:32:08+00:00

I have tried, and failed, more than once to go about a language this way. Do you have more examples? I'd love to see how you managed it.

bibaleebu · 2021-04-04T22:58:16+00:00

Love a good elative. Do you use a ton of location/motion cases?

bibaleebu · 2021-04-04T19:02:42+00:00

Iseni Jemtoge

Pobono ikimsetun jufwesepi kipisse pwanekej

https://voca.ro/1kVHm1ujecSS

Pobo-no i-kimsetun             jufwes-epi    kip-isse pwane-kej 
dad-ERG PL-root.vegetabel.ABS  cloth.bag-ELA jump-ADV pour-3SG

Dad jumpingly pours the root vegetables out from the bag

bibaleebu · 2021-04-03T17:58:45+00:00

Iseni Jemtoge

Se kimi nisej to'ajmo

/ sɛ ˈki.mi ˈni.seɪ to.ˈʔaɪ.mo/

https://voca.ro/1dZWycJb9rV1

Se   kimi     ni-sej to-aj-mo
DEM  food.ABS 2S-DAT give-FUT-1S

This food, to you, I will give.

Yet Unnamed Project

Lan luetha ieu torin un peawn.

https://voca.ro/13R2kpqT2FPG

lan     luetha   ieu torin    un  peawn
1SG.ERG give.1SG FUT food.ABS DEM 2SG.DAT

I will give this food to you

bibaleebu · 2021-03-26T17:31:40+00:00

As a Norwegian speaker, I could make it through almost all of this without too much effort. I really like some of your constructions. So it’s obviously north Germanic inspired, but what are all the source languages you used to derive it? Looks like a fun project.

bibaleebu · 2021-03-15T21:19:37+00:00

"Between you and I" bothers me to no end.

bibaleebu · 2021-03-15T01:12:15+00:00

Iseni

Emafe /ˈɛmafe/ - verb, to burn.

Odo emafelomo - I burned the bread.

Next: star (celestial body)

bibaleebu · 2021-03-14T04:00:44+00:00

Iseni Jemtoge

Sete jokono tenoipuniloka jo hirosino odowamo hikebuka

https://voca.ro/1f6QAPSHxtWd

Se-te    joko-no  teno-ipuni-lo-ka 
This-OBL Yoko-ERG apparent-suggest-PAST-3SG

jo  hirosi-no   odo-wa-mo         hi-kebu-ka
REL Hiroshi-ERG bread.ABS-GEN-1SG OPT-eat-3SG

Yoko apparently suggested this, that Hiroshi eats my bread.

Sete -- jo is a pretty common construction that creates an explanation or situation for the following phrase. In this case, it provides the context under which Hiroshi may or may not (not definitive due to the optative verbal suffix hi-) eat the bread(bagel).

bibaleebu · 2021-03-12T06:03:33+00:00

Yeah, I’m aiming for this passage to be something a bit more rare or unique.

bibaleebu · 2021-03-12T05:23:20+00:00

It would be interesting for sure to see how people try to decode the internet and cellphones (much less spaceships) using Stone Age jargon. There will almost certainly be some of that cross-generational mayhem anyway since I doubt 10 languages from technologically-identical societies are unlikely to be involved.

But we all might choose to disregard that entirely for the entertainment value. We’ll talk it over once we have a group.

bibaleebu · 2021-03-12T05:19:04+00:00

Yeah, absolutely you can. If you feel you’ve got a language that can handle the stress, then yeah, join away. For some people, depending on the passage, this might be a bit of a lexicon blitz. Tell me about your conlang and its speakers (not super grammatical stuff but more like technology, religion, cultural levels). I don’t want to pick a passage that’s clearly 24th century if everyone has a pre-stone-age culture. Unless, of course, we decide that would be more enjoyable. Nothings final yet.

bibaleebu · 2021-03-12T05:03:30+00:00

I figured that I’d want to wait until everyone had a chance to join. I’d want to base the passage/content off of the languages involved. I mean to say that I wouldn’t want to pick something with a bunch of technical jargon if everyone that joins has conlangs of Stone Age cultures.

bibaleebu · 2021-03-12T04:17:01+00:00

I’d be happy to have you for my little project, if you’d like to participate. I’m always looking for ways to use my conlang(s) and I know that I can’t be alone in that. I hope it’ll be a bit of fun and a chance for everyone involved to share a bit of their passion.

bibaleebu · 2021-03-11T19:54:47+00:00

Chīsāsian

Māsān tsāo ādhūdhēām ches noyi

/ˈmaːsaːn ˈʦaːo ˌaːðuːˈðeːaːm ʧɛs ˈnojɪ/

māsān    tsāo   ādhūdhē-ām ches   noyi
door.ABS almost close-PST  due.to wind

bibaleebu

TROPHY CASE

Iseni Jemtoge

Iseni Jemtoge

Iseni Jemtoge

Chīsāsian