Zompist Bboard Again

For any item in that list, I could list ways in which capitalism is making things more difficult: computer and cell phones are way less durable than they should, social media have been turned into Nazi enablement machines, the whole enshittification things, plus the damn things are spying on you. R...

length /lejnkθ/ [ɫeɪ̯ŋ(k)θ] strength /strejnkθ/ [stɹeɪ̯ŋ(k)θ] penguin /ˈpejngwɨn/ [ˈpeɪ̯ŋgwɨn] Jenkins /ˈdʒenkɨnz/ [dʒɛŋkɨnz] (also Genghis [gɛŋgɨs] ~ [dʒɛŋgɨs]) I think I contrast LOT, THOUGHT, and STRUT before /l/, but I'm not always sure which words have which. It's hard to tell when I'm looking...

shouldn't need too many diacritics, low tone is from [+voice] codas and the lateral series borrows palatals. ASCII is doable /p pʼ b t tʼ d ts tsʼ dz tɬ tɬʼ dɮ k kʼ g qʼ ʔ/ <p pp b t tt d ts tts dz ç çç j k kk g qq c> /ɸ β s z ɬ l x ɣ χ ʁ/ <f w s z ll l x v q r> /m n ŋ/ <m n ng> /ɛ œ ə ɪ ʏ/ <e o a i...

Well, one note though - TRAP has changed to FACE unambiguously before /ŋ/, such that I do not think of it as TRAP, but this should be no surprise to you. Same here. The vowel I use before the velar nasal is FACE in words like "bank", "thank", "rang", etc., but not in c...

"Not wasting" is a euphemism for "increasing the price of". If water is cheap, you can use it to grow alfalfa in California; if it's expensive, you can't. If you can't grow alfalfa in California, the price of alfalfa rises, which pushes up the price of meat. Inexpensive meat is ...

none of them were as crazy as tserzou Tserzou has some processes involving semivowels, but it's not that crazy. I'll see if I can remember how it works. a ɤ i u ɐ ʌ ɪ ʊ ɛ ɔ a e i u ạ ẹ ị ụ ey ew /ɛ œ ə ɪ ʏ/ <e we ӛ ə wə> /æ̠ a o̯æ̠ u̯a/ <ay a way wa> /ʌ̠ o̯ʌ̠ ɔ/ <ä wä aw> /eɛ̯ øɶ̯/ <ya wya> /ɛɪ œʏ ...

it's hard to make one that isn't, the best I can do is /p pʼ b t tʼ d ts tsʼ dz tɬ tɬʼ dɮ k kʼ g qʼ ʔ/ <ph p b th t d ch ts dz tlh tl dl kh k g q ̈> /ɸ β s z ɬ l x ɣ χ ʁ/ <f v s z lh l kh gh qh r> /m n ŋ/ <m n ng> /ɛ œ ə ɪ ʏ/ <e ue a i ui> /æ̠ a o̯æ̠ u̯a/ <ê á oê uá> /ʌ̠ o̯ʌ̠ ɔ/ <â oâ o> /eɛ̯ øɶ̯/ <...

Tserzou /p pʼ b t tʼ d ts tsʼ dz tɬ tɬʼ dɮ k kʼ g qʼ ʔ/ /ɸ β s z ɬ l x ɣ χ ʁ/ /m n ŋ/ Short vowels: /ɛ œ ə ɪ ʏ/ Long vowels: /æ̠ a o̯æ̠ u̯a/ /ʌ̠ o̯ʌ̠ ɔ/ /eɛ̯ øɶ̯/ /ɛɪ œʏ ɔu/ /e̠ ø̠ o̠/ /ɪɛ̯ ʏœ̯ uɔ̯/ /i y ɯ u/ /oɪ̯ ɪu̯/ V V̀ (default high tone vs. marked low tone / breathy voice) Monophthongs other t...

Western Europe doesn't produce enough. Neither does the US. If energy is too cheap to meter, you can produce water by desalinization, synthesize carbon-neutral LNG from CO2 in the air, and grow tropical fruits in hydroponic greenhouses as far north as Alaska. It's nice to be able to eat strawberrie...

Given the fundamentals of human psychology and physiology, not to mention time and space, there are limits on how much we can practically consume. There are limits on how much we , individual retail customers, can practically consume. There are probably also theoretical limits on how much organized...

A simple conlanging question/challenge We know how Chinese tones emerged. Now, what potential phonological processes in Mandarin Chinese might lead to an abandonment of tones without the language becoming oncomprehensible? Has any of you guys played with an idea of a future toneless Sinitic conlang...

Do people who have the cot-caught merger merge them to a vowel more like GenAm LOT or more like GenAm THOUGHT? For the longest time I thought (having heard a few people who merge them to something like [a], even more fronted than my LOT) that this merger wasn't as common as it's said to be, with occ...

It's a valid and plausible formation that I don't think we'd say in non-contrived contexts. My first thought is that it sounds Indian. But there are prescriptivists who prefer it.

/pʲ pˠ t k ʔ/ <p p t k ʼ> /bʲ bˠ d g/ <b b d g> /ɸʲ ɸˠ s ç x/ <f f s c x> /βˠ ɹ ʑ ɦ/ <v r j h> /ɮ r/ <ļ rr> /mʲ mˠ n l̃ ɲ ŋ/ <m m n l ny ng> /j w/ <i u> /ɛ o i ɨ u/ <e o i a u> /ɑː ɛː oː iː uː/ <ā ē ō ī ū> nasalization = cedilla, labial front/back mismatch <ë ö> /ʔosomˠũ ʔɛːŋɨ̃ mʲindɛːndɛː βˠo βˠuː ...

Proto-Whatic Do sequences like /mʲo/ or /mˠi/ occur, or are palatalized and velarized labials only phonemically distinct as codas? Good question. I think the only onset contrast between palatalized and velarized labials is between /mʲ mˠ/ before unrounded vowels, since *w > mˠ / _Ṽ. But I think I'l...

Proto-Whatic /pʲ pˠ t k ʔ/ /bʲ bˠ d g/ /ɸʲ ɸˠ s ç x/ /βˠ ɹ ʑ ɦ/ /ɮ r/ /mʲ mˠ n l̃ ɲ ŋ/ /j w/ /ɛ o i ɨ u/ /ɑː ɛː oː iː uː/ Nasality spreads leftwards from nasal consonants through voiced continuants and glottals; additionally, vowels after nasal consonants are always nasalized. ɮ > ɮd before a nasal ...

/pʰ tsʰ tʃʰ kʰ/ <p t c k>
[p m t n ɾ ɾ̃ tʃ ɲ k ŋ] <p m t n r n j ñ g ŋ>
/ts tɬ/ <z dl>
/f s ʃ ɬ x h/ <f s sh hl gh h>
/j w/ <y w>

/a e i o u/ <a e i o u> * <a aa ã ãã>

Proto-Vengic could use some work. Lexember 11-17: poka.t (xo-) to grind → Zzyxwqnp kə̄pə́ 'to mill', Hlu coɠæ (Bor pɤcɤrɠaβ ) 'surimi' vogha (xo-) to mash → Zzyxwqnp fə̀njə́ 'mashed tubers; poi', What mxypûhk 'fruit syrup' pidam malted barley; sorghum sugar; grain-derived sweetener → Zzyxwqnp pjí 'h...

/pa ta tʃa ka/ <ȹ x ç k> /pe te tʃe ke/ <w t ꜩ ꜭ> /pi ti tʃi ki/ <p ƚ c g> /po to tʃo ko/ <ꜿ z ꝿ ꝯ> /pu tu tʃu ku/ <b d ꟁ q> /f s x/ <f s j> /m n ɲ/ <m n v> /l ʝ/ <l y> /ɾ r/ <r ꞃ> /-n -l -r -s/ <ṽ v̠ ṿ v̈> Lö ꞃisomä wresẽx̃ una sona merïxmaƚk suȹpk̠, t zt se orijinã lö tubẹqlö meƚãt ũ ẽꝯrosamiẽz ꞃa...

Rm kül iṃkṃ voṃteṃ im̐ s̆ᵛr̈g. Vs̆t Sṃpeyṃ ddos suci. Sjmṃ Sṃpeyṃ rvuh. Kr̈s̈ Sṃpeyṃ ddos yiṃ bumi kdos̈ im̐ s̆ᵛr̈g. Rejeki kül km̐ sdiṃteṃ-diṃteṃ sukni diṃteṃ puniki mrim̐ kül. ʔṃbi puṃtṃ mrim̐ kül dos kül, kdos̈ kül puṃtṃ mrim̐ stuṃgil̈-tuṃgil̈ tiym̐ km̐ slḥ mrim̐ kül. ʔmi sṃpuṃ bek̈t kül im̐ per̈...