Re: Re : consonant length

Mathias wrote (and I know some of y'all already responded; this is in
regards to the post on long consonants):

>I can think of Japanese (and Finnish)  although the "length" of consonant
>is
>rather like a glottal stop. So maybe not Japanese (and Finnish) :-).
>Maybe try with "emphatic" Chinese "s" and Arabic "t" ?
The "emphatic" Chinese <s> and other letters you refer to are the
retroflexes of Mandarin (I can't say for other Chinese languages).  In the
Pinyin transcription system, <c>, <z> and <s> indicate the sibilant
affricates and fricative, respectively, [tsh], [ts] and [s].  An additional
retroflex, <r>, is the retroflex [z].  When an <-h> is placed afterwards,
they become retroflexes.  Also, the vowel <i>, which is usually pronounced
[i] (or [I] before nasals <n> and <ng>), is pronounced [1] (Russian bI)
after <c>, <z> and <s> -- but after <ch>, <zh> and <sh>, <i> is pronounced
as English syllabic [r.]!  The syllable <*ri> is actually written <er>, and
it is the voiced retroflex followed by the syllabic: [z.r.].

As for Arabic, the emphatics <s.aad>, <d.aad>, <t.aa'>, and <dh.aa'> (or
<z.aa'>, and I think Egyptian Arabic developed a secondary emphatic <r.aa'>)
are not doubled, nor are they retroflex, but are *velarized* (or
pharyngealized).  The tongue is retracted in the back somewhat, and also the
articulation becomes more alveolar than dental.  These have a nice "crunchy"
quality to them, rather than the "crispy" sound of the non-emphatic
counterparts.  They have a nice guttural sound to them, and of course those
funky pharyngeal consonants give Arabic its distinctive quality...

Not to mention, but the Berber languages also have emphatics.  (Kabyle has a
lot of consonants by the way.)  And I think I remember that Modern Aramaic,
probably under Arabic influence, has emphatics as well, but only the <t.>
and <s.> in native words.

Danny


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