The Sound

So what do you want your language to sound like?

Beauty in speech, to steal a phrase, is in the ear of the listener. But there are definite qualities you can build into your language.

If you want have a language that sounds like Hawaiian you need to limit the number of consonants severely and have long and short vowels to help build your word roots.

If you want a language that sounds like French, you'll need gargled r's, nasal vowels, end stress and be careful about how words run together together in phrases.

If you want a language that sounds like German, you'll want lots of consonant clusters, particularly those using the characteristic 'ch' of words like Gesicht. A common prefix in 'ge' or 'ke' would also help.

If you want a language to sound like Spanish, you need trilled r's, mostly open syllables (in other words) mostly words and syllables that end in vowels, with a few final consonants like 'r' and 'l'.

If you want a language to sound like Japanese you need to stick to open syllables in orthography, but give hints that some short 'u' and 'i' sounds aren't fully pronounced. Suffixes on the order of -masu and -mashita at the end of words would help. Letting the reader know that none of the syllables of the words are stressed more than the other would help as well.

If you want a language to sound like Chinese you need to incorporate tone into the language.

Obviously it's easier to mimic a language you are familiar with. If you don't want to sound like any particular human language here are some tips:

The more open syllables you have the smoother the language will sound. The more closed vowels you have the more rough it will sound. Stops made with the lips, teeth, and the ridge just behind the teeth tend to sound chattering like a finger rubbed across a comb. (eg. baby, dentist), Stops made far back in the mouth and in the throat, including the glottal stop in English, German, and Arabic sound 'guttural' (eg. cook, gargoyle). Sibilants, like 's','z','sh', the French 'j' and the Polish 'zi', make smooth hissing sounds. Similar sounds made in the back of the mouth like the German 'ch' the Russian 'x' and the French and German 'r' make rasping sounds.

Generally as far as smoothness or harshness of the language is concerned, initial consonants are less important than medial and final consonants.

The effect of reusing the same consonants over and over needs to be considered as well. Strings of b's and p's can be more awkward than harsh, as the famous 'baby buggy bumpers' demonstates. Lots of sibiliants run together can create tongue twisters like "She sells seashells by the seashore.