Conlang didn’t get picked in yesterday’s rotation, so I’ll start with yesterday’s post today: phonetics and feet.

Note: Everything in Language of Whispers is subject to lots and lots of change, as it’s a work in progress. For instance, I’ve already added two more consonants.

I’ve been playing with zompists’s generators. What I’ve decided is that the Language of Whispers is, ah…

(C(L))V(C)

With CV being the most common syllable construction.

Certain consonants do not start a word – r, l, ch.

I’m still working out consonants that just don’t go together; I’m sure there’s actually a rule there. jl in that order, pd, tp, ssr.

English leans towards iambic foot (In very rough generalizations, no need to pedant on this one ;-); Whispers leans towards trochee and dactyl feet.

The origins of the Language of Whispers are lost in the deep, dark annals of history. There are those, especially in the secretive reaches of the Institution, who believe that the language was first spoken to mankind by demons or by angels. Since most of the Institution doesn’t believe in demons, this is considered more of a fanciful belief than a real one.

Over the centuries, the language has shifted – three separate dialects, various loan-words, and so on – and has suffered heavily from disuse at times. Only in small, hidden enclaves is it spoken as a casual language, and thus it often ends up using loan words for everyday items.

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