<p>In addition, inventories should be remotely gridlike. That is, if a series of phonemes of one manner of articulation occurs (let's say /p t k q/), then a similar series is likely to occur at another (e. g. /ɸ s x χ/ is more likely to occur than /θ ʒ h/).</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon_language#Phonology" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This</a> is an example of what not to make. The article shoehorns the inventory into a grid, but you should notice that there are a lot of gaps. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quenya#Consonants" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This</a> is a somewhat more realistic inventory.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-10T12:59:36.290Z
Of course, [ANADEW](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_language#Phonology), [and some more](http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~saphon/en/inv/Karaja.html)
Sascha Baer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-08T22:32:22.457Z
2018-02-08T22:32:22.457Z
bb94
<p>There are some websites providing phoneme inventories of natural languages, among them:</p>

<ol>
<li><a href="http://web.phonetik.uni-frankfurt.de/upsid.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A very simple interface to the UPSID database</a></li>
<li><a href="http://phoible.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PHOIBLE Online</a></li>
</ol>

<p>The <a href="http://wals.info/chapter" rel="nofollow noreferrer">WALS survey</a> also has several chapters on phoneme inventories, including data about the size of the inventories and about the distribution of rare segments and the absence of frequent segments.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-02-08T20:36:09.353Z
2018-12-13T13:40:05.083Z
2018-12-13T13:40:05.083Z
Sir Cornflakes
<p>You should think of phonology  in terms of <strong>distinction</strong>. You have to distinguish certain consonants and vowels from others, and you have to figure out the best way to do that.</p>

<p>A realistic inventory has spread out places of articulation, often symmetrical. It's much easier to make a distinction between spread-out consonants that between consonants that are articulated similarly. That's why this is a really common inventory:</p>

<pre><code>             Front Central Back
Close        i             u
Near-Close
Mid-Close    
Mid          e             o
Mid-Open
Near-Open
Mid-Open           a
</code></pre>

<p>And <em>this</em> is unheard of:</p>

<pre><code>             Front Central Back
Close        i             u
Near-Close   ɪ             ʊ
Mid-Close          ɘ
Mid                   
Mid-Open
Near-Open
Mid-Open    
</code></pre>

<p>You should always make sure a language makes distinctions that are spread apart, e.g. /p t k/, rather than distinguishing three types of t-sounds /t̼ t ʈ/ without also having a distinction from /p k/ (unless for some reason you're making a language to be spoken by aliens without lips, for instance). There's also no reason to have only three consonants /p d kʰ/; you should either have only one set (such as /p t k/), or have a set for each of them (i.e. /p pʰ b, t tʰ d, k kʰ g/).</p>

<p>Every rule has its exceptions, but this is true of most natural languages, and you should use this as a starting point.</p>

<p>(Some more details can be found in my answer on <a href="https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/a/26868/1270">Linguistics</a>, from which I copied some of the examples)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-09T19:56:46.983Z
A quibble: it's not all that strange, I would think, for redundant details of articulation to be asymmetrical, so a language with only three stops happens to realize them as [p d kʰ] (though I suppose this is sensitive to phonotactics), even if they're written /p t k/ and native speakers don't notice when foreigners say [p t k].  At least it's not nearly as weird as [p b kʰ].
Anton Sherwood
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-09T00:47:32.723Z
2018-02-09T00:47:32.723Z
b a
<p>Shy of simply recreating or stitching together natural languages' phonological inventories, what is the solution for making a naturalistic conlangs' inventory naturalistic?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-08T20:32:17.440Z
Look at natural languages.  It doesn't have to be totally a priori to be inspired by certain elements of other languages.
CHEESE
<phonology><conlang-creation><naturalism>
What is the key to realistic inventories
# What is the key to realistic inventories

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-02-08)

Shy of simply recreating or stitching together natural languages' phonological inventories, what is the solution for making a naturalistic conlangs' inventory naturalistic?

**Tags:** phonology, conlang-creation, naturalism

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Look at natural languages.  It doesn't have to be totally a priori to be inspired by certain elements of other languages.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-02-09. Score: 8 | Accepted answer

You should think of phonology in terms of **distinction**. You have to distinguish certain consonants and vowels from others, and you have to figure out the best way to do that.

A realistic inventory has spread out places of articulation, often symmetrical. It's much easier to make a distinction between spread-out consonants that between consonants that are articulated similarly. That's why this is a really common inventory:

```
             Front Central Back
Close        i             u
Near-Close
Mid-Close    
Mid          e             o
Mid-Open
Near-Open
Mid-Open           a

```

And *this* is unheard of:

```
             Front Central Back
Close        i             u
Near-Close   ɪ             ʊ
Mid-Close          ɘ
Mid                   
Mid-Open
Near-Open
Mid-Open    

```

You should always make sure a language makes distinctions that are spread apart, e.g. /p t k/, rather than distinguishing three types of t-sounds /t̼ t ʈ/ without also having a distinction from /p k/ (unless for some reason you're making a language to be spoken by aliens without lips, for instance). There's also no reason to have only three consonants /p d kʰ/; you should either have only one set (such as /p t k/), or have a set for each of them (i.e. /p pʰ b, t tʰ d, k kʰ g/).

Every rule has its exceptions, but this is true of most natural languages, and you should use this as a starting point.

(Some more details can be found in my answer on [Linguistics](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/a/26868/1270), from which I copied some of the examples)

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: A quibble: it's not all that strange, I would think, for redundant details of articulation to be asymmetrical, so a language with only three stops happens to realize them as [p d kʰ] (though I suppose this is sensitive to phonotactics), even if they're written /p t k/ and native speakers don't notice when foreigners say [p t k].  At least it's not nearly as weird as [p b kʰ].  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-02-08. Score: 4

In addition, inventories should be remotely gridlike. That is, if a series of phonemes of one manner of articulation occurs (let's say /p t k q/), then a similar series is likely to occur at another (e. g. /ɸ s x χ/ is more likely to occur than /θ ʒ h/).

[This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon_language#Phonology) is an example of what not to make. The article shoehorns the inventory into a grid, but you should notice that there are a lot of gaps. [This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quenya#Consonants) is a somewhat more realistic inventory.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Of course, [ANADEW](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_language#Phonology), [and some more](http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~saphon/en/inv/Karaja.html)  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-02-08. Score: 2

There are some websites providing phoneme inventories of natural languages, among them:

1. [A very simple interface to the UPSID database](http://web.phonetik.uni-frankfurt.de/upsid.html)
2. [PHOIBLE Online](http://phoible.org/)

The [WALS survey](http://wals.info/chapter) also has several chapters on phoneme inventories, including data about the size of the inventories and about the distribution of rare segments and the absence of frequent segments.


---

