Re: Diom Phonetics

David Peterson wrote:

>In a message dated 6/1/01 5:14:43 PM, dstokes@BLOOMINGTON.IN.US writes:
>
><< Preposistions tend to be single consonants attached to their object with
>an apostrophe (There's another use for you, Yoon Ha). Ex. t'aron "to the
>woods", s'amaren "with friends". These are pronounced with a short break
>between the preposistion and the word. The preposistions sound like a
>short, intense puff of air. When I say them it feels like I build up the
>air pressure behind my tounge for a moment before releasing the sound. >>
>
>    The first time I saw it, I thought it was consonant+glottal stop.  But
>what you're describing sounds either like an ejective or intense aspiration
>(like the Klingon aspirate sounds).  I'd have to hear, though, to tell.  An
>ejective, if it helps, feels like you're holding your breath and you
really,
>really just shove that sound out there, despite the fact that you're
holding
>your breath the whole time.

Yes, one would have to hear it.  First thought:  the examples given are all
vowel-initial-- what happens before a consonant? (or are all words
V-initial, which would be somewhat unusual).  Otherwise it sounds to me like
an ejective or aspiration, as David says.  Or maybe, in these examples,
[t@?aron][s@?amarem], where the [@] is VERY brief, perhaps voiceless....?

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