Cetonian

From Langmaker

Conlang	Cetonian
Author	James E. F. Landau
Year Began	1998
Language Type	fictional language
Lexicon Size	613
Etymologies	No
Grammar	Yes
Sample Texts	Yes
Primer	No

Cetonian, the language of 12-foot-long cetaceans from Cetonia (Wuiou), a planet in the Kelhetoma solar system, was designed by James E. F. Landau.

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Uniqueness

If you have ever wondered what language whales might speak, you will be interested in Cetonian, the language that the extraterrestrial cetaceans of the planet Wuiou (called Cetonia in English). All words are made up out of eight syllables, each approximating a sound that can be made by the cetacean's blowhole: ha, ho, hui, ma, o, u, wa, and wui. A typical sentence is huiuwui.ha.uhuiu.wui.ho.huiwaho, "The dolphin bit the fish." Landau looked to the songs of Terran whales and dolphins for inspiration. Cetonian (not called that by its speakers, of course) is spoken by a race of intelligent cetaceans living on the planet Wuiou (called Cetonia in English). All words are made up out of eight blowhole-produced syllables.

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Language sources

The language on whales and dolphins on Earth, which some scientists claim to hold tremendous amounts of information.

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Design principles

Stick eight syllables together, simplest words shortest, when I've filled up all the possible X-syllable combinations I move on to attaching a meaning to words with X+1 syllables, sort of like Solresol. Except for the words used by Kankonians. I made them up in Kankonian first, so you could say I made those retroactively -- like Hergé making up Syldavian.

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