What phonetic notation systems exist for non-human sounds?
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25662741
I'm thinking about conlangs for creatures with different phonetic possibilities than humans, particularly birds with both syrinx and larynx. Does anything like the IPA already exist for these sounds?
Greetings, fellow xenolanger! I don't think you're going to find an established phonetic notation system for an alien vocal tract. You'll likely have to homebrew your own system based on your critters' phonetic space.
When I make a xenolang, I break up the phones into individual features. Whatever system I come up with denotes the features for each phone/phoneme one by one.
Here's the system I use for my little monkey foxes:
YPA
Vowels
Timing
1 short
2 long
3 early
4 late
5 overlong
Tone
1 low
2 high
3 rising
4 falling
5 peaking
6 dipping
Strength
1 weak
2 strong
3 strengthening
4 weakening
5 cresting
6 troughing
Phonation
1 whine
2 growl
3 grunt
4 plain hiss vowel
5 trilled hiss vowel
Consonants
h huff
c chuff
y yip
p plain hiss semivowel
t trilled hiss semivowel
So if I wanted to express a short low weak whine, it would be 1111. If I wanted to express that same syllable nucleus with a yip onset and a chuff coda it would be y1111c.
It's not compact enough to serve as a Romanization scheme, though.
I have a fairly comprehensive grammar for my main xenolang up on Frathwiki (https://www.frathwiki.com/Commonthroat) which details how I solved the Romanization problem.
I also have a guide on how I came up with the phonology on the CBB forum (https://cbbforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=8203) which you may find useful.
Hope this helps.
This is some fascinating stuff. Thanks for the tips and the read.
I don't know of anything like the IPA, but has anyone recommended this?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Xgwh0hvPjOFcGgxlPOBUhLXIFes_petgGzv7Hp5blE4
Obviously the descriptions don't indicate exact sounds, but the papers might.
It's also possible you know more about this topic than I do. In that case, I'd like to know more. Thank you for asking this question.
I was not aware of that document. It seems like a great list of resources for people interested in exolangs. Thanks.
I probably don't know more about this topic than you, unfortunately. So far u/early_[email protected]'s Commonthroat has been almost my only point of reference for this sort of thing. I think making a language out of this is easier once you have a consistent phonetic notation system (not necessarily the same as your conlang's orthography), so making up symbols for use with descriptions or recordings seems like a good starting point for an exolang. I personally like to keep my notation similar to the IPA, so i can use both together when one sound is close enough to a human sound to share an existing IPA letter.