Hey K2attack,
I like your approach to try and improve Bon Wen however there are some things I think that detract from the whole experience.
Firstly:
- Phonetics: The example you give of "eta" gives 24 pronunciations - this is too much, and makes listening comprehension extremely difficult. Of course, I see that you want to keep the flexibility that you can have with allophones (e.g. t pronounced as t or d), so I'd recommend the following:
-- A) pronounced as "a" like in "father" (you could nickname this the "low" vowel)
-- I) like the "i" in igloo or the "ee" in bee. (the "high" vowel)
-- O) somewhere around the "o" in hot (English accent, NOT American), and the "oo" in book. (the "back" vowel)
then:
-- P/B) p/b sound (labial stop)
-- T/D) t/d sound (alveolar or dental stop)
-- K/G) k/g sound (velar stop)
-- M) m (labial nasal)
-- N) n (alveolar/dental nasal)
-- J) y/j (palatal "y" sound)
-- L) l (or tapped R)
-- W) w, v
(sorry if I forgot any)
They're pretty much the most common sounds in languages anyway, extrapolating past that just makes things complicated.
I'd also recommend considering re-working the grammar of the language, you don't want it too simple otherwise that'll limit the languages use to being only usable for simple things. And noone likes only ever being able to say "I am .... and I am ... years old and this language is a good language"
Of course you don't need to listen, I'm just giving out what I think would benefit the language. I won't go too far as I might start to impose my own style on your language (well, Arpee's language's child...)
(Also, your discussion on "What makes a fit language" seems somewhat close-minded (I'm not saying you are that, rather, that page just seems to give that impression) - remember, the world of linguistics is directly linked to the human mind for various reasons, and so you can't take a close-minded approach when trying to weigh up the benefits and problems with languages intended for international communication seeming as there is no such thing as "one" kind of person).
Cheers,
Chrisso.
ཧ་གོ་མ་སོང་། - Apparently this means "I don't understand". Unfortunately I can't verify this for an ironic reason.