_the_ lateral fricative?

On Wednesday, November 10, 2004, at 12:25 , Jonathyn Bet'nct wrote:

> > I have another one:
> >
> > * You think the lateral fricative is the coolest sound in language.
>
> _the_ lateral fricative? There are two of the critters; some languages,
> such as Zulu and Xhosa, have them both (voiceless and voiced).
Well, voiced and voiceless alveolar in most Bantu languages that have
lateral fricatives. But others, mostly voiceless, exist:

1) voiceless palatal lateral fricative in Bura (Nigeria)

2) voiceless retroflex lateral fricative in A-Hmao (and some other Hmong
   dialects in SW China)

3) voiceless velar or pre-velar lateral fricative in Archi (Caucasus)

4) Toda (Southern India) has alveolar and retroflex fricatives
   which can be voiced or voiceless (positional allophones)

5) Nii/Wahgi (Papua New Guinea) which has three laterals, dental,
   alveolar, and velar, which may have voiceless fricative allophones
   (according to some descriptions)

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