Here is a unique writing system that I made. It is called Ginaiazkhr, which means:
Geen = sparks, Aiah = which bring, Zkhr (from Zakhar) = remembrance:
Sparks which bring remembrance.

It reads from left to right, or right to left, depending on the dialect. The lines are read from bottom to top, like Robonasir.

The three different forms of the first series of letters show three different ways of pronouncing the consonant.
The first form is pronounced more forward in the throat, like when you say "uh," but it does not effect the pitch. It is basically the opposite of nasal.
The second form is pronounced the way we normally pronounce consonants in English.
The third form is pronounced more nasally, but does not effect the pitch.



When you Anglicize Ginaiazkhr words you replace the the second letter in the writing system (the one whose sound is represented by a D with a curl behind it), where ever it occurs, with G.
G is the nearest English sound to the sound that that letter represents, which is a voiced plosive through your nose, with your tongue in the ng position.
It is a sound that I call an innasal, and is not difficult to pronounce, but it is not in the International Phonetic Alphabet, though it has epiglottal consonants- which are hard to pronounce. But then, I have not heard of a single nation with a language that has innasal consonants.

The first series of letters, and the points inside the line are the original system, the next series of points were added in still ancient times. At first The letter D also stood for J and Zh, N also stood for L and R, Z also stood for DZ, and Ṅ (ng) also stood for ע.

Here is a link that explains ע (the Hebrew letter Ayin, a Voiced pharyngeal fricative).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_pharyngeal_fricative

U was added in much later times, and only in certain dialects. The signs for head movement were altered and borrowed from Robonasir.
Robonasir changed much over time, but Ginaiazkhr remained more or less unchanged.

Innasal consonants are fascinating.

And yes, as far as I can tell, there isn't anything like them on the IPA.

Since you seem to enjoy creating phonetic libraries, I was wondering if you've ever tried creating a language for a race with non-human vocal features. (In other words, different shaped mouths, vocal organs, absence of nasal passages, etc.)

I always thought it would be rather boring, since all you could do is exclude sounds. Obviously you could not include sounds that are unpronounceable.

But I have a writing system that is mostly sounds that the IPA does not nave, though they are easy to pronounce. They are more like variations of sounds we already know. But the writing system is a syllabary, which means that it needs a little less than six times the number of symbols that an alphabet needs.

Actually, you don't have to exclude sounds.

Say you're creating a language for dragons. Dragons have longer throats, so what about giving them more than one larynx? (Dual vocalization?) The longer neck and snout allow for a number of additional places of articulation, and a longer, more flexible tongue also creates new possibilities.

Interesting, if your dragon has a forked tongue, it could use two places of articulation at the same time. That adds an entire new dimension of sounds-dual articulation.

I noticed you have a small phonetic inventory. Would it be possible for speakers to use your languages through several channels? (For example, an African language who's name I forget uses only three consonants, which happen to be stops, and a few vowels. This allows natives to communicate in three ways: by mouth, whistling, and humming.

You could make up all kinds of different sounds, and you could make letters for them, and words that included them, but you would not be able to pronounce them. That's why it always seemed boring to me: making up something you could never hear or say.

But then it might be fascinating, describing a language unpronounceable by the human tongue, similar to the one in The Call of Cthulhu. Read The Call of Cthulhu in a sober mood, it is well done, grim.

Going to unpronounceable languages from the developmental side was what deterred me. Going to it from the hear it side inspired me.

Hubnor speech is a good example of what I meant by excluding sounds. It is a good language system.
http://www.holyworlds.org/fantasy/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1727

I guess we're a bit different, then. I tend to think that getting at an unpronounceable language from the developmental side would be fascinating.

Of course, the problem of not being able to speak the language would annoy me. It's sort of like Ransom's problem in Silent Planet: he eventually understands the Martian languages, but he can't pronounce all the sounds.

I solve that problem in my world by creating a logic language which allows the speaker to use species specific approximate sounds so that other species can understand them, and speak the same language using their own approximate sounds.

This sounds interesting, where did you find out about it?

The Language Construction Kit, book version.

Cautionary Note: I am in no way recommending this book.

Wow, Tsahraf! That seems like a very interesting language.

Thank you!
But I am sorry to say that I have not started to develop this peoples language yet. I do know the name of one of their kings though: Gnar (Ṅar, ng ah r), a name which means splinter, or spearhead. I do not know what these people are called.




Do you know of a way I could find out about the language itself?

Um...I could look up the name for you. I think I can find it by tomorrow.

Excellent. *clicks, hums, beeps, and whistles anticipatively*

It turns out that its an Amazonian language called Piraha (with a line over the final a that I can't replicate).

I would have posted this yesterday, but dinner came upon me. I have been reading this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_language
And this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistled_language

Oooh. *is fascinated* *goes to link* *is even more fascinated* Very cool.

I have made a change in the phonetics, which does not effect the look of the writing system, and it is this: they have the vowels ah, a, oh, ih, eh, ey, and uh, but they do not write them; the sound ee they write, but they do not consider it a vowel; and in ancient times ee might have been pronounced along with a guttural fricative sound.

The sound oo only appeared in much later dialects, influenced by Robonasir. These dialects were not gladly accepted, and were soon considered another tongue, though they were very similar. The Robonasir signs for head movements were accepted readily however, because they were seen to add to the expression of the language, and not to change and corrupt the language itself.

I hope this does not seem too dull.

Not dull at all.