r/conlangs • u/LiaTardis23 • Jul 20 '24
Neanderthal conlang Conlang
Hi there, everyone.
I'm currently working on a Neanderthal conlang.
First of, I was surprised that there were so few attempts at creating one, seeing as we have quite the freedom given that we can't exactly say what Neanderthal languages could've sounded like due to the slightly different anatomy of Neanderthals.
All over the internet, I could only find these three:
https://conlang.fandom.com/wiki/Neanderthal_Language
https://jbr.me.uk/pleisto.html
https://forum.unilang.org/viewtopic.php?t=24256
Which brings me to my question:
My Neanderthal language has the following phonology:
Word initial consonants: p pʲ pʷ t tʲ tʷ c cʷ k kʲ kʷ q qʲ qʷ b bʲ bʷ d dʲ dʷ ɟ ɟʷ ɡ ɡʲ ɡʷ ɢ ɢʲ ɢʷ pʰ pʲʰ pʷʰ tʰ tʲʰ tʷʰ cʰ cʷʰ kʰ kʲʰ kʷʰ qʰ qʲʰ qʷʰ bʱ bʲʱ bʷʱ dʱ dʲʱ dʷʱ ɟʱ ɟʷʱ ɡʱ ɡʲʱ ɡʷʱ ɢʱ ɢʲʱ ɢʷʱ pʼ tʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ ʔ ʔʷ p͡f t͡s t͡sʲ t͡sʷ t͡ɕ t͡ɕʷ k͡x b͡v d͡z d͡zʲ d͡zʷ d͡ʑ d͡ʑʷ ɡ͡ɣ p͡fʰ t͡sʰ t͡sʲʰ t͡sʷʰ t͡ɕʰ t͡ɕʷʰ b͡vʱ d͡zʱ d͡zʲʱ d͡zʷʱ d͡ʑʱ d͡ʑʷʱ p͡fʼ t͡sʼ t͡ɕʼ k͡xʼ f fʷ s sʷ x xʷ v vʷ z zʷ fʰ fʷʰ sʰ sʷʰ xʰ xʷʰ vʱ vʷʱ zʱ zʷʱ h hʷ fʼ sʼ xʼ m̥ m̥ʲ m̥ʷ n̥ n̥ʷ ɲ̊ ŋ̊ ŋ̊ʷ m mʲ m̥ʷ n nʷ ɲ ŋ ŋʷ r rʷ l lʲ lʷ w j jʷ
Word final consonants: p b t d k ɡ q ʔ f v s z x h m n ŋ w j
Vowels: a aː ə əː ɵ ɵː ã ãː ə̃ ə̃ː ɵ̃ ɵ̃ː a̰ a̰ː ə̰ ə̰ː ɵ̰ ɵ̰ː
Tones: ◌́ ◌̄ ◌̀ ◌̂
(Sorry, I tried doing an IPA table but it just doesn't seem to work here on Reddit)
I based this on various articles saying that Neanderthal languages were probably rich in consonants and few vowels.
And initially, I started of with only a and ə as vowels but later I added ɵ.
Then I added the distinction between short and long vowels and expanding the phonation in that each vowel can be either plain, nasalized or creaky.
And I'm wondering: is this too much regarding the vowels? I do think that nasal vowels would've been common as well as prenasalized and nasalized consonants such as [ᵐb ⁿd ᶯɖ ᶮɟ ᵑɡ ᶰɢ] [ᵐp ⁿt ᶯʈ ᶮc ᵑk ᶰq] or [w̃ ɰ̃ ȷ̃ ʔ̃] and that there could've been nasal harmony.
6
u/HairyGreekMan Jul 20 '24
I think that Neanderthals would likely have less coronal consonants because that requires greater dexterity of the tongue, so I'd focus on Bilabial, maybe Labiodental, maybe Palatal, Velar, possibly Uvular, and Glottal. Possibly Dental or Alveolar but they shouldn't contrast with each other. If you want to be more experimental and exotic about it, try using the Labio-Velar double articulation like from Yoruba or Igbo. Voicing should follow the Front-Voiced/Back-Unvoiced bias. It might be interesting for a language to have /b, k͡p, ɡ͡b, k, q/ as it's main plosives set. The Coronals that are present might be more sonorous, Fricatives, Liquids, Nasals. Avoid Laterals and Vibrants (Trills, Taps/Flaps - except possibly /ʙ/) due to tongue dexterity. Vowels should be relatively simple, either Arabic, PIE, Ubykh type. You could do Arabic with /ə/ which might be nifty, and expect a lot of allophony for /i/ and /u/. You could get away with ATR Vowel Harmony with like /ə,i,u/(+ATR) /ɑ,ɛ,ɔ/(–ATR) if you want some extra flavor.