Somali C

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
[?].

Listen to the clips here:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001623.html
and compare with the transcription on the next page.

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