Re: Unilang: the Phonology

On Tue, 17 Apr 2001 David Peterson replied to Oskar:
> If you're looking for opinions, I have one (among several).
>  First off, I think if you really truly wanted to make a truly
> universal language for everyone, you'd have to leave all
> liquids out completely.  In languages that have some sort
> of a trill or flap (or approximant), the pronunciation is to
> varied to give it one orthographic representation.  But, you
> did mention this, so let's say that's all right.  What about
> native speakers of Chinese and Korean whose closet
> approximation is [l]?  And then what about the languages
that have no [l], where the sound [l] has changed to [d]
> over time or [w] or even [n] I've heard of?  I would leave
> [f] out, too, due to its odd, labio-dental nature.
>But, that's just me.
Not just you: I'd say that l and r and f are just too damn
 unstable for any universal language. -- Tommie