Re: Unilang: the Phonotactics

In a message dated 4/18/01 9:00:29 AM, hr_oskar@HOTMAIL.COM writes:

<< I don't actually know why we have some kind of antipathy to alveolar +

lateral combinations; they exist (in my own natlang, for instance), but

they're rare, so I disallow them here. Anybody here who has a sensible

explanation? >>

    My guess (if guessing's allowed) is that with an ell (I'm just calling it
that) you can't remove your tongue from the alveolar position.  So, if you
try to pronounce [tl] or [dl] you'll probably end up with a voiceless/voiced
lateral approximant, or an affricate with a [t] and a voiceless lateral
approximant, or something like it.  The only other way to do it, as I see,
would be to have a velar lateral rather than an alveolar lateral, because
[tL] and [dL] are pretty easy for me.

-David

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