<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, 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.


---

