Re: Futurese

Christopher B Wright:
>
> And Rosta sekalge:
> >It is quite possible for a language to contrast (say) [l] and [r]
> >yet for no /l/:/r/ contrast to be reported. For instance, [l] or
> >[r] might be a realization of /d/.
>
> You've lost me with startling ease. Would you please explain the last
> sentence, using small words that I'll be sure to understand?
Christophe explained it pretty well. In brief, you might find a
language listed in an UPSID-like database as having '/l/' and
'/d/' but no '/r/'. Yet on deeper investigation of the language
in question it might turn out that /d/ is sometimes pronounced
as [r], such that [ara] and [ala] form a minimal (contrastive)
pair. As Christophe pointed out, a tap R (IPA inverted small cap
J) is a possible realization of the /t/ phoneme in English in
many accents, so the tap contrasts with both [l] and approximant
R. There are other languages where [d] and [l] are alternate
ways of pronouncing the same phoneme (I can't remember which ones,
but the omniscients on this list would know).

--And.