Re: Personal langs and converse of aux

On Mon, 5 Feb 2001, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:

> On Mon, 5 Feb 2001, jesse stephen bangs wrote:
> > Heh.  I admit that I cannot understand why some people find this sound
> > difficult.  I have never had any difficulty at all with the trill, and
> > used it as a child when I was playing around, long before I knew that it
> > was actually used in language.  But I know several people that still are
> > completely incapable of it, which mystifies me.
>
> I wasn't exposed to it in childhood, and my tongue tip doesn't seem very
> limber.  I can do a continued uvular flap, but I can't sustain the
> quasi-trill I produce more than a second or two.  Practice.  :-)
I can do an uvular trill - I think it's a real one with me, not a
"continued flap" - but I spent an hour each week for two years in
primary school trying to learn the thing with the tongue, and I know
all the tricks, but none of those produce the apico-alveolar trill
that was aimed at. I can put my tongue in the right place and make
something trill all right, but it's still the uvular thing that comes
out.

If I were Romanian, it would be a speech impediment, and indeed when
I was seven or so it was seen as a speech impediment in Dutch
schools. My kids all have the uvular [R] as well, but these days it's
a normal variation.

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself)     http://www.valdyas.org/irina/valdyas