> Mark J. Reed wrote:
>
>>> Yuppers! Many Australian Aboriginal languages distinguish between all
>>> three of dental, alveolar and postalveolar POAs (as stops), and most
>>> of them also don't have any fricatives---at all. The three series are
>>> redundantly distinguished the part of the tongue that touches the roof
>>> tho: the dental are laminal, the alveolar are apical and the
>>> postalveolar are retroflex.
>>
>>
>> Friggin' Aborigines, screwing up a system that's perfectly adequate
>> for everyone else.
>
>
> Heh, true... but they don't have the exclusive rights. Today I
> accidentally stumbled across a Cushitic language which also contrasts
> dentals and alveolar stops:
>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahalo_language
> I could swear I've seen a phonology of a Salishan or neiboring
> language which does the same too, but the best I can find at the
> moment is /tT/ vs /ts/.
>
> Incidentally, why is it called the "roof" of the mouth and not
> "ceiling"??