Today I want to share my progress on a conlang for the "demon" species in my Golden World story.

These creatures are made up of bird and insect features. They can produce of variety of sounds and pheromones.

Syrinx: Produces varied sounds, allows for polyphonic notes.
Tongue: Sharp tap.
Beak: Clapping, nasal sounds chemical glands.
Mandibles: Chittering, stridulation.
Legs: Chemical glands & chemoreceptors.
Antenna: Chemoreceptors.

Vowels: e (ee - highest), i, é, o, u (oo - lowest) - Pitch elevation. May be continuous, noted with ~
Plosives: wh (breath), t (sharp), p (peep), k (clap) - Start of word only.
Fricatives: s (sibilant), z (buzz), ch (chitter), n (nasal) - May be continuous, noted with ~

[word] indicates a looped call, aka repeated as much as the situation requires. Includes what kind of additional (information) associated pheromones will use by default.

Alarm:
Danger (type) - whiz~z
Danger near (location) - [chu]
Danger gone (movement) - kéchkéch

Contact:
Find others (location) - zo~oé
Find kin (time) - zi~i

Hunting:
Call hunters (time) - ché~éo
Prey near (location) - ku~uz

Flight:
Start (time) - tie~e
Coordination (location) - [tié]
Landing (time) - tiu~u

Kids:
Begging food - [pe]
Panic - whe~en
Play - tini

Parent:
Regroup kids (indicator) - kenu~u
Call mate (time) - péchu
Love you - pin~n

Pheromone Aspects
Calls used solely to mark which aspect the associated pheromones need to be read as, if not using the default meaning. Used before the call they modify.
Movement - nuiir
Location - tochch
Indicator - péiz
Time - pios
Type - kiuz
Feeling - whén

Pheromone Names
In cases where pheromones cannot be used or produced, these calls are used instead. If an Aspect Call is used, placed after that.
F - ke~e
B - uz~z
L - ti~i
R - to~o
U - pech~h
D - zun~n

Produced by beak and legs, received by antennas and legs. Rubbing legs with conversation partners helps communication in densely populated areas where pheromones may blend with others. These can also be expressed via hand signs.

There are six different pheromones that can express different aspects depending on the call. These are the most common:

Here are the best use cases.

- From the legs, when communicating top to bottom: The original way this language developed. Pheromones are affected by gravity and float down, making it an effective way to transmit orders when in flight formation.
- From the legs, when in direct leg contact: The usual way to communicate in dense settings, the legs being able to both produce and detect pheromones, giving the interaction enough privacy.
- Directly from the beak towards someone's antennas: Seen as intimate or casual, may be seen as unprofessional or insulting depending on context.

Calls & Pheromones put in situations. [word] may be omitted in context.

A parent regrouping their kids who still want to play:
(pheromones either floating down from above, or thrown directly from beak since it's family)
P- kenu~u : regroup (come home)
K1- tini : play (but we're playing…)
K2- Fpios tini : now play (can we keep playing?)
P- Lkenu~u : close-regroup (come close)
K1- Fkiuz tini : want play (bit we want to play)
P- Fpios kenu~u : now regroup (come home. now.)

A single individual, in succession:
(pheromones detected by nearby individuals)
- Rwhi~iz : maybe dangerous
- Fnuiirwhi~iz : the danger has moved foward
- Fkéchkéch : the danger moved forward out of reach (gone now)

One individual calling to others:
(too far apart to use pheromones)
1- ke~eché~éo : now-hunting (im hunting rn)
2- uz~z[ché~éo] : never-[hunting] (refusing)
3- ke~e[ché~éo] : now-[hunting] (joining)
1- ti~iwhén péizché~éo : feeling-ponder locator-hunter (where are you?)
2- ti~ipéiz : locator-close (im near)
2- uz~ztochch : location-behind (im behind you)
1&2- ke~eché~éo : (repeating the first call to confirm)

This is still heavily a work in progress, but I hope it's still fun and interesting to check out! I know I am (having fun).

* This work is largely inspired by The Phonetics of Bird-Song by Richard Hunter. *