Pretty neat. I've have sometimes toyed with the idea of developing a truely alien language, say one with a weird phonology based on a non-humanoid vocal tract (e.g., a forked throat). It's not just the glottis that comes into play with phones. The glottis is buzzed for voiced sounds as opposed to voiceless, but it does something else for creaky voice sounds, and it is shut and dropped, elongating the vocal tract, for glottalized or ejective sounds. The fluid dynamics take on phonology would be interesting indeed. The difference between momentarily stopping the flow of air at certain places (e.g., lips, palate, velum)rather than just contricting it (for fricatives). Also the nasal cavity comes into play when stopping the flow, but opening up the nose for the escape of sound.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.