Midnightish [VAP]
▲
0▲ 0 ▼ 0
Typology
On hold
1 word
Midnightish
--
Midnightish--
Registered by
[Deactivated User] on 1 July 2016
Language type
Artistic Language (Artlang)
Species
Human/humanoid
About Midnightish
This is an experiment in how mouth anatomy and physical environment might shape a language. I wanted to create a language that vampires could use to speak to one another no matter where they came from, and to mask what they're saying around humans. Since they only come out at night, and the night is typically very quiet because everyone else is asleep, I didn't want a really sonorous language that would wake everyone up and draw unwanted attention. Additionally, because they have enhanced senses, they could hear a quiet language as being louder than a human would hear it. I also wanted it to be kind of seductive sounding, as they are seductive creatures. The night's increased humidity and oxygen levels could accommodate a breathier language, so I decided to go with that.
However, I also decided I didn't want to have any sounds in it that required typical human dental structure to pronounce correctly, since their fangs would make that very difficult. Which means I left out all the dentals, labiodentals, and sibilants, which were most of the soft sounds I'm used to. So to compensate, I removed the voiced stops, changed my rhotics to trilled and tapped rs, took the bottom out of my vowels chart, made a bunch of sounds more aspirated or breathy, and added in a whole bunch of unvoiced equivalents of other sounds. I also added in a couple extra fricatives and a glottal stop to fill in where I'd removed so much. The extra fricatives, combined with the voiceless y sound, had the additional advantage of kinda taking that goofy hissing noise people make when they're trying to imitate vampires and making it more legitimate and hopefully a bit sexier. The result was a phonemic inventory closer to Icelandic than it was to English (with the exception of the dentals, labiodentals, a and o sounds, and sibilants, of course) but pronounced more like Elvish.
However, I also decided I didn't want to have any sounds in it that required typical human dental structure to pronounce correctly, since their fangs would make that very difficult. Which means I left out all the dentals, labiodentals, and sibilants, which were most of the soft sounds I'm used to. So to compensate, I removed the voiced stops, changed my rhotics to trilled and tapped rs, took the bottom out of my vowels chart, made a bunch of sounds more aspirated or breathy, and added in a whole bunch of unvoiced equivalents of other sounds. I also added in a couple extra fricatives and a glottal stop to fill in where I'd removed so much. The extra fricatives, combined with the voiceless y sound, had the additional advantage of kinda taking that goofy hissing noise people make when they're trying to imitate vampires and making it more legitimate and hopefully a bit sexier. The result was a phonemic inventory closer to Icelandic than it was to English (with the exception of the dentals, labiodentals, a and o sounds, and sibilants, of course) but pronounced more like Elvish.
Sample of MidnightishCan't find any yet.
Latest vocabulary
Phonology
| Consonants | Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Labio- velar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||||
| Nasal | m m̩̂ m̩᷈ ḿ̩ m̩᷉ m̩̀ m̩̌ m̥ | n n̩̂ n̩᷈ ń̩ n̩᷉ ǹ̩ ň̩ n̥ | ŋ ŋ̩̂ ŋ̩᷈ ŋ̩́ ŋ̩᷉ ŋ̩̀ ŋ̩̌ | |||||||||||
| Plosive | [p]1 pʰ | [t]2 tʰ | [k]3 kʰ | ʔ | ||||||||||
| Fricative | x | ɣ | [χ]4 | [ʁ]5 | h | |||||||||
| Lateral approximant | l l̩̂ l̩᷈ ĺ̩ l̩᷉ l̩̀ ľ̩ l̥ | |||||||||||||
| Approximant | j [ĵ̩]6 [j̩᷈]7 [j̩́]8 [j̩᷉]9 [j̩̀]10 [ǰ̩]11 j̥ | ʍ | w [ŵ̩]12 [w̩᷈]13 [ẃ̩]14 [w̩᷉]15 [ẁ̩]16 [w̩̌]17 | |||||||||||
| Trill | r r̩̂ r̩᷈ ŕ̩ r̩᷉ r̩̀ ř̩ r̥ | |||||||||||||
| Flap | ɾ ɾ̩̂ ɾ̩᷈ ɾ̩́ ɾ̩᷉ ɾ̩̀ ɾ̩̌ ɾ̥ | |||||||||||||
- allophone of /pʰ/
- allophone of /tʰ/
- allophone of /kʰ/
- allophone of /x/
- allophone of /ɣ/
- allophone of /ieʱ̂/
- allophone of /ieʱ᷈/
- allophone of /ieʱ́/
- allophone of /ieʱ᷉/
- allophone of /ieʱ̀/
- allophone of /ieʱ̌/
- allophone of /ueʱ̂/
- allophone of /ueʱ᷈/
- allophone of /ueʱ́/
- allophone of /ueʱ᷉/
- allophone of /ueʱ̀/
- allophone of /ueʱ̌/
| Vowels | Front | Back | ||
| Close | iʱ̂ iʱ᷈ iʱ́ iʱ᷉ iʱ̀ iʱ̌ | uʱ̂ uʱ᷈ uʱ́ uʱ᷉ uʱ̀ uʱ̌ | ||
| Close-mid | eʱ̂ eʱ᷈ eʱ́ eʱ᷉ eʱ̀ eʱ̌ | |||
| Polyphthongs | ieiʱ̂ ieiʱ᷈ ieiʱ́ ieiʱ᷉ ieiʱ̀ ieiʱ̌ | ieʱ̂ ieʱ᷈ ieʱ́ ieʱ᷉ ieʱ̀ ieʱ̌ | uiʱ̂ uiʱ᷈ uiʱ́ uiʱ᷉ uiʱ̀ uiʱ̌ | ueʱ̂ ueʱ᷈ ueʱ́ ueʱ᷉ ueʱ̀ ueʱ̌ | ieuʱ̂ ieuʱ᷈ ieuʱ́ ieuʱ᷉ ieuʱ̀ ieuʱ̌ | euʱ̂ euʱ᷈ euʱ́ euʱ᷉ euʱ̀ euʱ̌ | eiʱ̂ eiʱ᷈ eiʱ́ eiʱ᷉ eiʱ̀ eiʱ̌ | ueiʱ̂ ueiʱ᷈ ueiʱ́ ueiʱ᷉ ueiʱ̀ ueiʱ̌ | iuʱ̂ iuʱ᷈ iuʱ́ iuʱ᷉ iuʱ̀ iuʱ̌ | ueuʱ̂ ueuʱ᷈ ueuʱ́ ueuʱ᷉ ueuʱ̀ ueuʱ̌ |
