Re: Describing the Welsh LL to non-linguists

On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 12:15, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:
> Also, Mesoamerican "tl" is really an affricate /tK)/, which is spelled
> "tlh" in Klingon.  The latter is where I first encountered the sound,
> and the description of how to pronounce it in The Klingon Dictionary
> may be instructive in this context; I don't have my copy handy or I
> would quote the relevant sentences.
  {tlh} This sound does not occur in English, but it is very
much like the final sound in <tetl,> the Aztec word for <egg,> if
properly pronounced. To produce this sound, the tip of the
tongue touches the same part of the roof of the mouth it
touches for {t,} the sides of the tongue are lowered away from
the side upper teeth, and air is forced through the space on
both sides between tongue and teeth. The sound is produced
with a great deal of friction, and the warning given in the
description of Klingon {p} might be aptly repeated here.

(The warning referred to is:
"Speakers of
English may want to exercise care to avoid discharging saliva
while articulating this sound. It should be noted, however,
that Klingons do not worry about this."
)

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>

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