Re: Velar Laterals (was: Yet another ASCII-IPA scheme...)

Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...> writes:

> > [discussion on whether velar laterals exist]
>
> The view that laterals are only found at coronal places of articulation
> is an outdated view among the phoneticians of today. Some Papuan and
> East Chadic languages have been found with contrasting velar laterals.
> According to the book "The Sounds of the World's Languages" by Peter
> Ladefoged, who I consider to be a very competent phonetician, velar
> laterals are phonemic in Mid-Waghi, Kanite and Melpa, (all Papuan
> languages), and they contrast with laterals at other places of
> articulation.
>
> I quote fromt the book: "The precise location of the contact and of the
> lateral escape channel for the velar cannot be recorded by direct
> palatography since the closure is too far back, but with an open vowel
> before and after a velar lateral it is possible to see both the central
> velar closure and the lateral opening simply by looking into the
> speaker's mouth."
>
> In short... they do exist.
Apparently, the information I relied on was out-dated; well, I'll think
of some symbols for palatal and velar laterals when I find the time to.
(And indeed, I think I have suceeded in producing a velar lateral while
I am writing this...)  The ASCII-IPA scheme I posted was preliminary
and  non-final anyway, and I am going to revise it soon.

Jörg.

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