The CBB

I've been inspired to create a world inspired by both the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. I don't have anything set in stone beyond a few basic concepts to capture the feel of those settings: 1. This world is loosely connected to our own, in that people from one world can travel to the other, ...

Is a pitch accent dependent upon syllable weight?

It's been awhile since I last researched the concept, but I recall it being so in Ancient Greek. Does the same apply to Japanese or Vedic Sanskrit?

Does Japanese's pitch accent have a 'bounded' system?

For example, in Ancient Greek, the accent is right bounded, and (I think) it can fall on the ultimate, penultimate or antepenult.

I have realised in Hakuan the following "problem": When both agent and patient are 3rd person, and one is pronominal, it is impossible to retrieve which one is the A and which the P. Although both arguments are marked on the verb, they don't have separate A/P forms to distinguish. For example: saps...

So, I noticed some natlangs where /b/ is the only voiced stop. I'm wondering what could have given rise to this asymmetry, as I want to incorporate it into my own phonology. One podcast I listen to says that in Arapaho, it's because the /m/ shifted to /b/ or something like that. Yet, there are some ...

/m n ŋ/ /p t (ʈ) k (kʷ) q/ /s (ʂ) ʃ~ɬ h~ɦ x/ /l r j w~ʋ/ /t͡ʃ~t͡ɬ/ /ɪ~i iː ʊ~u u:/ /a aː/ The most complex syllables permitted are CVC and CVV. There is a simple pitch accent system. The phonemes in parentheses are not yet a part of the inventory, but I'm thinking about adding them anyway. /x/ is su...

How are slack voiced stops pronounced?

I get it in theory, but I have a hard time telling whether I'm doing it right.

I quite like this inventory, but now I'm starting to see problems. /m n/ /p t t͡ʃ t͡ɬ k/ /b d g/ /s ɬ x/ /z ɮ/ /l j ʋ /i u/ /e o/ /a/ I've been told it is unusual to have /l/, /ɬ/ and /ɮ/ in the same language, and that does seem to be the case with the natlangs I've perused. The syllable structure i...

My first ever conlang was a mix of Spanish and Nahuatl. I didn't actually know any Nahuatl, so the language was actually based on the names I got from reading books, when some of the phonemes didn't exist in Classical Nahuatl, so it was based more on what I thought it sounded like. Hecorajo (now def...

How important is aesthetics and sound in a conlang? Obviously, a conlang needs sound to be spoken, but some conlangers aim to make a language that sounds nice to them, while others point out that a language that sounds pleasant all the time is impossible and thus aesthetics and preference isn't that...

I'm building the setting mostly for the sake of worldbuilding, but plan to develop it enough to write stories in it. The magic storm isn't a regular storm or an ion storm, as getting caught in it might turn people into dogs or something. It's effects are mostly unpredictable and usually dangerous. M...

So, I'm stuck with my setting. It is science fantasy. Magic exists in the setting, but it is an untamed and unpredictable force, so phenomena such as magic storms are common. Civilization occurs in areas without as much magical activity. Since people cannot normally use magic, they instead developed...

Pitakuna [pɪta'kʊna] is a language spoken by a race of forest dwelling humans also called the Pitakuna. They construct their homes high up in the trees and connect to each other by rope bridges. Below is the phonemic inventory for their language: /m n ŋ/ /p t ts k ʔ/ /pʰ tʰ kʰ/ /ɸ s ʃ h/ /β z/ /l ɻ ...

How would you describe the sound of a velarized consonant, like the broad consonants found in Irish?

Here's an inventory I've been fixated on lately: /m n/ /t t͡ʃ k/ /b̥ d̥ d͡ʒ̥ g̥/ /s ʃ ɬ x/ /l ɻ j ʋ/ I'm undecided about the vowel system. I might use the standard /a e i o u/, or I might copy Nahuatl's /i iː e e o oː a aː/, or use a vertical vowel system like the one found in Abkhaz. The most compl...

So, I've begun my first serious attempt at making a Proto-Lang to use as a basis for my main conlang, and I have a few questions. -How much depth should I put into the earliest stage of the Proto-Lang before I start applying sound changes and and other tweaks? How much of the morphology, grammar and...

I don't have a lot of Easter eggs in my main project due to phonological constraints, but I fit them in there where I can.

The verb for "travel" is "kino," which is the name of the protagonist of an anime I like, and it's about a person who travels between various countries.

I've been reading about coreless planets, and I'm wondering if it is possible they could contain a strong magnetosphere? By coreless, I mean a world that has no metallic core or magma, and is entirely rocky mantle. Is there a way I can get around having a core in order to have a magnetosphere? The ...

I've been reading about coreless planets, and I'm wondering if it is possible they could contain a strong magnetosphere? By coreless, I mean a world that has no metallic core or magma, and is entirely rocky mantle. Is there a way I can get around having a core in order to have a magnetosphere? The i...

I practice the pronunciation aloud just to see if I like how it sounds. I was working on a conlang with a goal for it to be my ideal language, but I ended up not liking how it sounds, so I scrapped it and started anew.