Re: LONG: Latest Wenetaic Stuff

Barry Garcia wrote:
>
> One of my friends from school, who was a transfer student from Japan
> (Obirin University, if any of you have heard of it), was helping us to
> pronounce the Japanese R one day, and she said it was like a mix between L
> and R. For instance, when she said her name slowly, it sounded almost like
> an L (like "Leiko" instead of "Reiko). When she said it fast it sounded
> like an R.
>
        That's how I was taught to pronounce it by my Japanese teacher too. I
think I could see it as a lax alveolar flap (but lax vs. tense is a
distinction that exists only for vowels or can we use it also for
consonnants?) to differentiate it from the Spanish R which is also an
alveolar flap, but that I find more tense.

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>
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        Christophe Grandsire

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