Re: Frankenlangs

On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 20:52:50 +0100, Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:

>On Sunday, September 5, 2004, at 12:50 , bob thornton wrote:
>
>> Garth Wallace <gwalla@...> wrote:
>>
>> >bob thornton wrote:
>> >>
>> >> g (velar click, no IPA symbol)
>>
>> >I think there's no IPA symbol because it's anatomically impossible.
>
>Yep - IPA doesn't provide symbols for anatomically impossibles sounds and,
>  as you say, a velar click is not a possibility.
>
>> >Clicks are velaric ingressives, formed by stopping airflow at the place
>> >of articulation and the velum, pulling the tongue root back to create a
>> >vacuum between them, and then releasing the stop. You can't have a
>> >velaric ingressive velar stop - there would be no "between".
>
>Exactly. Clicks are produced by the velaric airstream, not the pulmonic
>airstream that we are most familiar with.
>
>There are three airstreams by which consonants can be produced. They are:
>- pulmonic, where the airstream is initiated by the lungs,
>- glottalic, where the airstream is initiated by the glottis,
>- velaric, where the airstream is initiated by the back of the tongue
>against the velum.
>
>The other consideration is whether air is being drawn in by the initiator
>or being expelled by it (that is, whether the sound is _ingessive_ or
>_egressive_), thus:
>             EGRESSIVE             INGRESSIVE
>PULMONIC     Consonants of most    (inhaled sigh)
>             IE languages
>GLOTTALIC    ejectives             implosives
>VELARIC      (spitting)            clicks
>
>(I guess a really freakish Frankenlang could include sighs & spitting)
>  :)
I can't resist pointing out that Damin, the now-extinct ritual language
of the Lardil people (Mornington Island, off the north coast of
Australia), had consonants with all possible initiations but one -
most of the consonants were pulmonic egressive, but they also had a velar
ejective, a pulmonic ingressive lateral fricative, a velaric egressive
labial stop (/p'/, which only occurred before /N/ and /J/), and several
nasal velaric ingressives - all they were missing was an implosive.

Oh, and they also had a labial trill and a uvular affricate.


Bfowol

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