Week Four

Hello everyone! I hope you have all enjoyed your week!

Week four of my project is over already. This week, I selected the consonants I want to use in my language! With the help of my advisor and a helpful website I discovered, I have found a variety of sounds used in languages worldwide. I have decided to use some sounds I have learned after taking Mandarin Chinese for the years I have been at BASIS. The particular sound I am interested is the /ts/ sound (written as the letter /c/) found in words such as cài (dish) and cóng (from). This sound is part of a group of sounds called affricate consonants. These sounds are related to fricatives, which are sounds that are pronounced when an air stream passes through a narrow passage without being stopped at any point in the oral cavity (such as /s/ and /z/). Affricate consonants are sounds that begin as a stop but have a fricative release (such as the /ts/ sound in Mandarin). In addition to affricate consonants, I have also decided on using ejective consonants found in the Navajo language and in Georgian. These sounds are voiceless consonants (sounds produced without the vibration of the glottis, all sounds produced via whispering are voiceless) produced while simultaneously closing off the glottis. This produces a sort of pop or click when pronouncing these consonants. In case you are interested in listening to any of these sounds or any other consonants in languages around the world, here is the link to the website I found: http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts/IPAlab/IPAlab.htm

In terms of Gaelic, I have begun scanning the poetry and locating words with hiatus. I have a meeting later this week to discuss what we have found. I have also been working on my own poetry and have written three pieces, which I plan to translate into my created language. This coming week, I hope to decide on my root morphemes and begin constructing a syntax. I hope you all have a wonderful week and, as always, thanks for reading!

Consonants in my language