The CBB

How unusual would it be for a language to have /ʃ t͡ʃ/ as phonemes but [ɕ cç] as allophones of /s k/ before /i/?

Are they too similar to tell apart?

My main project is Narai. It's not super interesting with it's phonology as it doesn't have any complex phonotactics nor any rare phonemes, but I still like it aesthetically. The most unusual thing about it's phonology is that it has /y/ as the only front rounded vowel in what's otherwise a standard...

So, I have been reading up on the word order of some languages like Selk'nam, Päri and Macushi. They are analyzed as being OVS, but according to Wikipedia, they are actually absolutive-verb-ergative. What are your thoughts on this, and how do such a thing arise? What is the ergative split based off ...

Doubt it's possible or naturalistic, but I am toying with making a conlang without verbs. Instead, verbs are expressed via cases. M

Thus, to say "I eat food," could be expressed as "Food mouth.allative case" or "Food bring to my mouth."

This looks fun. I definitely have similar aesthetic preferences for small consonant inventories like this. The presence of // but no /w/ is interesting - I don't recall where I read this, but I believe there is an implicational universal where the presence of a labiovelar other than /w/ implies the...

This looks fun. I definitely have similar aesthetic preferences for small consonant inventories like this. The presence of // but no /w/ is interesting - I don't recall where I read this, but I believe there is an implicational universal where the presence of a labiovelar other than /w/ implies the...

Pewati is my current and main conlanging project. It aims to achieve all of my phonoaesthetic preferences whilst still remaining within the boundaries of naturalism. It's still pretty early into development, so I will add to it as needed. It's syllable structure is very simple. The most complex a sy...

So, is RTR the same thing as - ATR?

So, I know that some languages have a whistled register to go along with the spoken register. Is it theoretically possible/naturalistic to have a language that is only whistled, but not spoken?

So, if a language prohibits long vowels in the word final position, then how would suffixafion work? Like, two words could be /koka/, with the only difference is that when the suffix -/ma/ is added one is realized as [ko.ka.ma] while the other is [ko.kaː.ma]?

Thanks! I think I am finally starting to understand how tonal languages work.

Perhaps I am overthinking how tonal languages work, but I'm gonna ask anyway. If a language has a word tone/pitch accent system, how do contours manifest in the language? I've read that in such languages, contours are just a high and low tone next to each other. But, how does it occur in an otherwi...

Perhaps I am overthinking how tonal languages work, but I'm gonna ask anyway. If a language has a word tone/pitch accent system, how do contours manifest in the language? I've read that in such languages, contours are just a high and low tone next to each other. But, how does it occur in an otherwi...

Yes, (one way of analysing) word tone, I know, but I still don't understand what your actual question is. Maybe you could give some examples? Say there's the word /ni.kaː.ta/, and it has a falling tone on the second syllable, thus the second mora has the high tone. Would the first syllable then als...

I don't follow. Is that over a mora, or over a word? If it's over a mora - languages with 'word tone' don't contrast different moraic tones, by definition. [at least: an analysis in which they contrast whole-word contours instead is more appealing] If it's over a word... how could they 'contrast' a...

Perhaps I am overthinking how tonal languages work, but I'm gonna ask anyway. If a language has a word tone/pitch accent system, how do contours manifest in the language? I've read that in such languages, contours are just a high and low tone next to each other. But, how does it occur in an otherwis...

If a language permits consonant clusters only word-medially, is the preceding syllable open or closed? It should be noted that this particular language allows CCVC syllables.

E.g: Take a word like /kesta/. Is it it /kes.ta/ or /ke.sta/? If a language is CCVC, would they be considered separate words?

How do stress and affixes affect each other? In my current project, stress is normally on the penultimate syllable, unless it has a schwa, then the stress moves to the final syllable. Simple enough so far. E.g. /a.ˈna.ka/ vs /a.nə.ˈka/ Just one problem. I'm not sure how it would interact with suffix...

So, word order is one of the first things conlangers learn about grammar and syntax. However, I think it's an area that is often understudied outside of correlations with word order and other parts of grammar. For instance, one learns that some languages are pretty loose with their syntax despite ha...

So, some languages, like Javanese and Wu Chinese have slack voiced consonants. I can't find too much info about them, but from what I can gather, slack voiced phonation means that the consonant is half-voiced with a slight breathiness to them. I've also heard that English voiced stops are half-voice...