Re: ¿Q?: if certain animals could speak...

On Sun, 22 Dec 2002 09:19:10 +0000, Joe <joe@...> wrote:

>On Sunday 22 December 2002 8:08 am, J Y S Czhang wrote:
>>     For a possible sci-fi short story I will be writing * , I was wondering
>> what possible sounds (phonemes) these following "genetically mutated"
>> animal-humanoids would be capable of  - considering their respective mouth
>> shapes (somewhat betwixt human and animal):
>>
>>     pygmy chimpanzee-humanoids [_Homo luden Pan paniscus_]
>> ... their name for themselves (both _hommage_ and boastful play on words):
>> "Good-alls" (disparagingly called "bonzos")
>
>Hmm...judging by the structure of the neanderthal vocal structure, they can't
>use high vowels.  That means no /i/ of /u/
Bonobos aren't Neanderthals. I forget where I read this, but I'm pretty
sure I've read that bonobos have a wider range of sounds than common
chimpanzees, including sounds like /i/. In any case, I'm not convinced that
Neanderthals couldn't produce high vowels. Regardless of where their larynx
was, it's the position of the tongue (and the lips, in the case of /u/)
that makes the difference.

>>     cat-humanoids [_Homo luden Cattus (talkative Siamese, of course ;)_]
>> ... name given to them that they liked: "Bella-Pella" {beauty-fur}
>
>Hmmm....lots of nasals.  Maybe only nasals as consonanta
Or hissing sounds.

>>     wolf-dog-humanoids [Homo luden Lupus-Canus_ (timber wolf-German
>> Shephard mix)] ... self-proclaimed "Uldhedhnari" or "Harii"  (disparagingly
>> called "werewolves" and "fidos")
>
>More fricatives, the odd stop, and no nasals.
Uvular trills can sound a bit like growling.

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