Re: Somali C

Quoting Tim May <butsuri@...>:

> Andreas Johansson wrote at 2005-01-19 21:22:52 (+0100)
>  > Quoting Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>:
>  >
>  > >
>  > > Could it have been an _`ayn_ /?\/ instead?  Most transliterations
>  > > schemes for Semitic languages seem to use something that can look
>  > > like a beginning single quote, or a superscript "c", to represent
>  > > `ayin.
>  >
>  > That's probably it - on closer inspection, my atlas actually writes
>  > |Galka`yo| (that's a grave accent hovering between the 'a' and the
>  > 'y'). It seems more remarkable I should entirely fail to hear an
>  > [?\] than a [?], but it's certainly possible, and for all I know
>  > the sound may drop in her dialect or something.
>  >
>  > That'd still give an extra use of |c| in a natlang.
>  >
>
> Yes, that is indeed the regular use of |c| in Somali.
>
> I don't find it at all remarkable that you should fail to perceive it.
> I've always found pharyngials much harder to hear as a consonant than
> [?].
I was basing my judgment of remarkability on the fact that I have no trouble
hearing pharyngeal fricatives when I pronounce them myself; I can't say that of
glottal stops.

                                                 Andreas