Re: is a labiodental stop possible?

Roger Mills wrte:
>Joe Hill wrote:
>
>
> >I'm thinking of putting one in my next conlang.  I think I can produce
>one,
> >but it's borderline between stop and fricative.
>
>
>That would be, I suspect, because it's almost impossible to achieve a full
>"stop" closure with the teeth; they're usually of unequal size, but more
>importantly, there are those little gaps between them that permit some air
>leakage, hence the "fricative" affect.    To produce this "labiodental"
>"stop" seems to involve a lot of muscular tension, a lot more contact than
>for [f],  almost as if you're biting your lower lip (an overbite helps!
>getting the lower lip well up in back of the front teeth seems to close
>most
>of the gaps); the fricative affect seems to result, at release, from the
>air
>blowing across the lower lip.
I seem to be able to produce labiodental stops and affricate quite reliably,
altho' it is pretty hard on the lower lip.

Also, Christophe might want to know that when producing pure, fricative [f]s
and [v]s my upper teeth does touch the lower lip. However, as the the lip
isn't pressed against the teeth, there are a series of little gaps thru'
which the air passes. Trying hard, I can produce them without contact, but
the result sounds awfully much like [h] and I tend to drool ....

                                                         Andreas

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