Re: What _is_ rhoticity? (wa laterals (was: Pharingials etc))

Andreas Johansson wrote:

> Quoting Javier BF <uaxuctum@...>:
>
> > Another recording that clarifies rhoticity can be
> > found here:
> >
> > http://www.haidalanguage.org/sounds-of-haida.html
> >
> > Listen to the recording of "awáa" and compare it with
> > the recording of "wul" or with any English "w" at that.
Good grief, YAHPT :-)))))))))

> Try as I might, I can't hear anything r-like about the 'w' in "awáa".
I have to agree with you, Andreas.  I had suspected that perhaps it would be
a velar or uvular fricative-- which are sometimes heard as w-like (as when
Americans try to imitate a Fr. or Germ. accent-- cf. the satirical [w] for
Germ. /r/ in Lili von Shtupp's pronunciation in "Blazing Saddles"-- I wonder
if real Germans pick up on that??), but nooooooooo, in Haida it's just plain
old w.
>
> There is, however, definitively some sort of velar or near-velar closure
> involed. The word sounds like [a'gwa:] to me.
I didn't even hear any velarization, at least no more than we do in English.
>
> The 'w's in "wul" and "gawiit" sound completely normal, so to speak. No
hint
> of a stop.
>
"gawiit" sounded perfectly normal, as did even "?waada naay" 'store' (where
naay sounded very much like Engl. "nine", it may be [naj~]).  "wul" seemed
definitely to have a [T]-like onset, very odd.

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