Re: OT: Phonetics (IPA)

Quoting Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>:

> Roger Mills wrote:
> > There is a very good reason for that.  Dentals and alveolars, usually (and
> I
> > suspect by definition in IPA) are produced with a relatively wide area of
> > the front of the tongue in contact with the teeth/alveolum.  (Technically,
> > they are _laminar_.) The body of the tongue is relatively flat.
> >
> > In retroflexion, the tip of the tongue is curled back, so that only the
> tip,
> > or at least a relatively smaller area than in a dental/alv. articulation,
> > contacts the roof of the mouth anywhere from the alveolum to a bit further
> > back (technically, _apical_) .
>
> Hmm ... very good point.  Apical/Laminal is *much* more distinctive than
> dental/alveolar/retroflex.  Perhaps Nikhil is using an apico-alveolar,
> which *would* make it sound like a retroflex.  I use a lamino-alveolar
> which thus sounds more like lamino-dental.

After some tongue-numbing experimentation, I agree that a apico-alveolar
sounds kind of retroflexy. So does apico-velars, but they make me gag ...

                                                          Andreas