Vulgar: a language generator

[Ahzoh]

I don't like the fact that it has a premium version, but it's still really cool.

I agree, socialist that I am, but we live in a capitalist system and people need to eat.

[Linguistx]

Wow, I really like the latest version of this
It's getting better and better,

Thanks! The latest design is even even better, I think you'll find.

I agree, socialist that I am, but we live in a capitalist system and people need to eat.

Incentives, yes. Without incentives the site wouldn't have been built.

[Iyionaku]

Bugtracker: If you provide a set of identical vowels and consonants (e.g. (/a a a a a/ and /p p p p p/, it sets itself into an infinite loop. It neither breaks nor tells the user that this is not possible (unlike when you have too few sounds).

The results when you set vowels in the consonant section and the other way round are kinda cool, I might even use that for a new language.

[YourFace]

There's a weird quirk where different vowels in the same "part" of the mouth (such as /u/ and /y/) will have the same grapheme (<u> in this case) despite the fact that (probably) they did not descend from a single vowel (e.g. /u/, i guess).

[Linguistx]

Bugtracker: If you provide a set of identical vowels and consonants (e.g. (/a a a a a/ and /p p p p p/, it sets itself into an infinite loop. It neither breaks nor tells the user that this is not possible (unlike when you have too few sounds).

Thanks for that. The code is not smart, it just goes "5 vowels and 5 consonants, yep, that's enough". I will make this a low priority fix.

There's a weird quirk where different vowels in the same "part" of the mouth (such as /u/ and /y/) will have the same grapheme (<u> in this case) despite the fact that (probably) they did not descend from a single vowel (e.g. /u/, i guess).

That's semi by design. Romanizing every single IPA sound is an ugly process. I wanted to avoid excessive amounts of accent marks. This means some IPA sound double up. But you do have complete control over the romanization in the full version.

I made /y/ the letter "u" because French does it. In fact French has both /u/ and /y/ as "u".

[Dormouse559]

I made /y/ the letter "u" because French does it. In fact French has both /u/ and /y/ as "u".

French only has <u> for /u/ in certain loanwords, like tofu. The usual spelling for /u/ is <ou>.

[Linguistx]

I made /y/ the letter "u" because French does it. In fact French has both /u/ and /y/ as "u".

French only has <u> for /u/ in certain loanwords, like tofu. The usual spelling for /u/ is <ou>.

I stand corrected.

Nonetheless, the issue of romanizing every IPA symbol still stands.

[GamerGeek]

I made /y/ the letter "u" because French does it. In fact French has both /u/ and /y/ as "u".

French only has <u> for /u/ in certain loanwords, like tofu. The usual spelling for /u/ is <ou>.

This sounds suspiciously like... another language...

[YourFace]

A little goof you made: in the example text, you've programmed it to use the 2nd person pronouns rather than the 3rd person. "... And you stood holding your hat and turned your wet face to the wind..."

Also, is that sentence a quote from something? I have no idea what its significance us.

[Linguistx]

A little goof you made: in the example text, you've programmed it to use the 2nd person pronouns rather than the 3rd person. "... And you stood holding your hat and turned your wet face to the wind..."

Also, is that sentence a quote from something? I have no idea what its significance us.

Hey you're right! I'll definitely fix that.

It's a line from Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses. You can hear Werner Herzog reading it aloud here. It's probably the best thing ever. I wanted to translate the whole thing, but it would just become unwieldy.

[Üdj]

Criticisms:
- /ɸ/ is always <ph>. Even if the language doesn't have a sound spelled <f>, and even if it has no <p> or <h>.
- I just generated a random language and got one pharyngeal consonant, a palatal implosive but no palatal stops, and a glottal stop (and a pharyngeal fricative) but no /h/. I think this stands alone and doesn't need an explanation for why it's a problem. Not natural at all.
- Very Anglocentric romanization -- find me one other natural language that uses <u> for /ʌ/ when it has /u/ too.
- Ridiculous vowel systems. Here's the one I just got: /a aː ã e eː ẽ i iː ĩ o oː õ u uː ũ ɔ ɔː ɔ̃ ɛ ɛː ɛ̃ ɪ ɪː ɪ̃ ʊ ʊː ʊ̃ ʌ ʌː ʌ̃/.
- Always spells /ʎ/ with a diacritic on <y> (like ý, ÿ, or ŷ) and never related to <l> at all.
- Going back to phonology, here's a fun question: what language has no /m/? Apparently "Wâbago" doesn't. Also, it has affricates but no fricatives.
- I just made a language with the diphthong /ɨi̯/ -- and no other diphthongs.
- I have yet to make a language that has tones unless it is prompted to.
- It spells diphthongs differently from sequences of those vowels.

[Ahzoh]

- I just generated a random language and got one pharyngeal consonant, a palatal implosive but no palatal stops, and a glottal stop (and a pharyngeal fricative) but no /h/. I think this stands alone and doesn't need an explanation for why it's a problem. Not natural at all.

The generator does not seem to strictly follow the rules of naturalism. Then again, Phoible (the website that documents natural language phonologies) has some really strange languages with strange inventories.

/ʔ/ but no /h/ is not strange, and is found in Akkadian. /ħ or ʕ ʔ/ but /h/ is not strange either and probably found in some Caucasian or Semitic language. Can't say much about a palatal implosive but no other type of palatal, though I think it is heard of to have a palatal implosive but no plain voiced version of that plosive.

And, as OP said, the anglocentric romanization is somewhat by design so as to reduce the usage of diacritic'd letters.

[lsd]

as interesting as a conversation with a chatbot...

[Üdj]

- I just generated a random language and got one pharyngeal consonant, a palatal implosive but no palatal stops, and a glottal stop (and a pharyngeal fricative) but no /h/. I think this stands alone and doesn't need an explanation for why it's a problem. Not natural at all.

/ʔ/ but no /h/ is not strange, and is found in Akkadian. /ħ or ʕ ʔ/ but /h/ is not strange either and probably found in some Caucasian or Semitic language. Can't say much about a palatal implosive but no other type of palatal, though I think it is heard of to have a palatal implosive but no plain voiced version of that plosive.

I apologize for my lack of lingustic experience. I remembered that /h/ is supposedly a very common consonant, and since the pharyngeals and ʔ are both rarer sounds from a similar place of articulation, I expected /h/ too.

[Khemehekis]

I apologize for my lack of lingustic experience. I remembered that /h/ is supposedly a very common consonant, and since the pharyngeals and ʔ are both rarer sounds from a similar place of articulation, I expected /h/ too.

I think most Romance languages do without /h/. Are you sre you aren't misremembering the fact that the letter H is a very common consonant in English spelling (the, that, she, he, have, how, what, who, etc.)?

[Üdj]

I apologize for my lack of lingustic experience. I remembered that /h/ is supposedly a very common consonant, and since the pharyngeals and ʔ are both rarer sounds from a similar place of articulation, I expected /h/ too.

I think most Romance languages do without /h/. Are you sre you aren't misremembering the fact that the letter H is a very common consonant in English spelling (the, that, she, he, have, how, what, who, etc.)?

According to "popularask.net," the most common consonants are (in order): /m, k, j, p, w, n, s, t, b, l, h, ɡ, ŋ, d/. I'm not sure if I trust this, though.

[Flavia]

I apologize for my lack of lingustic experience. I remembered that /h/ is supposedly a very common consonant, and since the pharyngeals and ʔ are both rarer sounds from a similar place of articulation, I expected /h/ too.

I think most Romance languages do without /h/. Are you sre you aren't misremembering the fact that the letter H is a very common consonant in English spelling (the, that, she, he, have, how, what, who, etc.)?

According to "popularask.net," the most common consonants are (in order): /m, k, j, p, w, n, s, t, b, l, h, ɡ, ŋ, d/. I'm not sure if I trust this, though.

The most common segments according to Phoible are almost the same.

[eldin raigmore]

The most common segments according to Phoible are almost the same.

What Titus Flavius said.
You can also check UPSID.

[Üdj]

I apologize for my lack of lingustic experience. I remembered that /h/ is supposedly a very common consonant, and since the pharyngeals and ʔ are both rarer sounds from a similar place of articulation, I expected /h/ too.

I think most Romance languages do without /h/. Are you sre you aren't misremembering the fact that the letter H is a very common consonant in English spelling (the, that, she, he, have, how, what, who, etc.)?

I'm recalling David J. Peterson's "all of the world's languages have most of these sounds; most of the world's languages have all of these sounds" list as being /p t k m n s h r l/ ─ might be wrong though.

[Üdj]

I don't like the phonologies, romanizations, or grammars (all too random/anglocentric), but it does have one plus, which is that it can be used to copy-paste IPA characters (though it doesn't even use [ɡ] instead of [g] lmao)