Re: Whistling Shibilants in IPA? Help!

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 00:44:36 -0400, Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>
wrote:

>Now, a "while" later, while i still don't know whether the "whistling
>that sounds like Scary Alien Beez" (in the words of a friend) is
>actually a form of Tuvan Throat Singing or not, but i like the sounds
>(both voiced and voiceless) so much that i want to add them to the
>phonemic inventory of a conlang.
>
>I just don't know how to describe it.
>
>It feels like a modified /S/ or /Z/ (depending on voicedness), with the
>tip of the tongue rising towards the alveolar ridge and the deep back
>of the tongue retreating pharyngealwards slightly.
>So what is it?  An apical /S/?  A /s/ with retracted tongue root?  An
>apical /S/  with slight pharyngealization?  Maybe a laminal /s/ with
>raising?
>Help! :-P  (please?)
I can sort of get a whistling sound if I make an apico-alveolar sibilant,
but the whistling becomes more pronounced if I added labialization (lips
shaped like I'm pronouncing /o/ or /u/). Adding pharyngealization/tongue
root retraction does seem to increase the whistle somewhat. So a
pharyngealized or RTR apico-alveolar, I'd guess.

Bfowu

Reply