Allowable words question

[freosan]

So, I've hit a bit of a snag in my word creation and I'm curious. How did you decide what the restrictions were on phoneme positions in your language? I'm particularly interested if you allow consonant clusters: how did you decide which consonants were or were not permitted to occur together?

I've been trying just saying the words aloud a lot, but in some cases I'm not sure if I'm having trouble because English doesn't have the phonemes I'm using, or because it actually would be physically difficult to pronounce no matter what.

Also, does anyone else have syllabic consonants, and if so, under what circumstances do you let that happen?

Comments

[anke]

Sorry, not much of a help here. At least for my first language I'd like one I can actually pronounce myself, so I just go by what I can say.

[clare_dragonfly]

In Artash, only two-consonant clusters are permitted, and they have to be two different types: a stop and a glide, a stop and a fricative, or... uh... I think that's it, actually, though the order can be swapped of course.

In Talani, I think I just go with whatever sounds good XD

[becka_sutton]

It's probably best to go for fairly simple phonotactics on your first language.

So Island is (C)V(stop or nasal) for its syllables.

Mountain Sea is (C)V(C) or (V)CV - this does give me some potential syllables I don't like and I'm considering how best to get rid of them.

No dipthongs or consonant clusters in either. Some of the descendents will develop them though.