If You already have some Words Made up and a culture Ready to Go
If you already have a culture set up, make sure that the words already created for that culture are pronouncible in your language.
Go through a list of any words already invented for the people and phonetically transcribe them. That's the basis of the consonants and vowels you need for your language. Like this:
Here is a list of words in a pretend culture. Call it the culture of the ants who invade my kitchen every June.
- abi dlak - a greeting. (abi = command form of the verb 'find' and 'dlak' = some ideal nonsticky sweet substance.
- malinga - Something sweet that is also sticky: honey or sugar with moisture in it.
- bokrat - cat; (also a a dirty insult)
- ilkifu - kitchen sink
- shlu - heat that comes out of the front of the refridgorator
- mushlu - heat from the sun
- muccime - sunlight
- owafu -- fermented sugar
Move through your list, transcribing and maintaining a list as you go, making choices along the way:
- abi dlak -- are you OK with both these vowels being pronounced the same? I bet not. I suspect that 'abi' rhymes with 'lobby' and 'dlak' rhymes with 'black'.
I suspect those consonants are pretty much standard though.
So, here's my transcription [abi dl{k], and here's my consonant and vowel list so far. I'll organize the consonants by place, manner and voicing and the vowels from top-down front-back. 4 consonants and 3 vowels.
[k b d l] [i { a ]
- malinga - How to transcribe this?
Choices, choices! Let's assume there are no new vowels here and use [a] and [i]. What will I do about that 'ng' cluster? Is there really a [g] sound? Is that 'ng' as in 'singer' (no [g] sound] or as in 'linger' (with a [g] sound?
I think it sounds more ant-like without the [g].
Here's my transcription: [maliNa],
and here's my updated list of segments I need for my language. I just have to add the [m] and [N].
[k b d l m N] [i { a ]
- bokrat - Is that first vowel [a] or [o]? I think I want this to be pronounced [bakrat] even though I spelled it with an 'o' orthographically. You may disagree. If this were your word, you could add the 'o', but I like the two [a] sounds in the word: sounds meaner to me that way!
that means I have all the vowels I need still and just have to add some consonants. maybe, my language won't have an [o] at all.
Here's my transcription: [bakrat]
and here's my list:
[t k b d l r m N] [i { a ]
- ilkifu - I make the transcription and then see what I have to add.
Here's my transcription: [iklifu]
and here's my list:
[t k b d f l r m N] [i { u a ]
- shlu - I'm pretty sure I meant that initial segment to sound like the first segment in 'sugar'. but if I wrote it that way in the great Ant Epic, everyone would pronounce it 'slew'. So the orthography had its place, but to be clear, I'm transcribing and making the list accordingly.
So:
Here's my transcription: [Slu]
And here's the updated list:
[t k b d f S l r m N] [i { u a ]
- mushlu - Nothing to add this time!
Here's my transcription: [muSlu]
And I keep the same list:
[t k b d f S l r m N] [i { u a ]
- muccime - Two choices to make here. first, what sound does that 'cc' make? I think I want it to be an africate. I'm getting an italian vibe from my ant pals. So, I'll make that a [tS]. I was originally thinking this was a two syllable word and the second vowel here would be an [aj] diphthong, giving me something like [mutSajm]
but when I decided on the [tS], I decided this is a three syllable word and that this orthographic 'i' is another phonetic [i].
Here's my transcription: [mutSime]
and here's my list with a new vowel along with a new consonant.
[t k b d f S tS l r m N] [i e { u a ]
- owafu -- So, it turns out I do need an [o] afterall.
Here's my transcription: [owafu]
and here's my list
[t k b d f S tS l r m N] [i e { u o a ]
Now, I take a look at my final list:
[t k b d f S tS l r m N] [i e { u o a ]
11 consonants and 6 vowels. On the low side for number of consonants certainly, but the vowels are about average.
I may want to add a few consonants.
As I look over the list, I find a few obvious gaps.
For my bilabials, I have a voiced stop but no voiceless one. Maybe, I'll add that in. for the velar stops, I find a voiceless stop [k] but no voiced [g]. I guess I don't care about that: I'll leave it. As I look at the fricatives though, I am surprised to note that I never used [s]. that's not only typologically odd but it also sort of bothers me. I bet I'll want [s] for the ants at some point. I'm missing [n], but maybe that's ok. I also feel like maybe ants ought to have more africates than we have in English, so I'll add in a set of voiced and voiceless alveolar africates, and the voiced partner to [tS].
The other thing I notice that's missing is the [j] glide. I think I'll leave that our just for fun. Here's the result with all these consonants added in: 16 in total.
[p t k b d f s S ts tS dz dZ l r m N] [i e { u o a ]
It's a perfectly reasonable set of segments, and accounts for all the words I've made so far with room to add lots more.