Re: Chevraqis: a sketch

On Thu, Aug 10, 2000 at 01:25:34PM -0400, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
[snip]
> I had /k/ and /q/ originally, with one being harsher than the other, then
> ditched it.  I'm still messing around with phonemes.  :-/  What I really
> need is a tape cassette with a random assortment of non-English sounds so
> I can pick and choose.
[snip]

I found the following link helpful in this respect:

http://www.unil.ch/ling/phonetique/api-eng.html

It basically covers each letter in the IPA in some amount of detail. There
are a lot of non-English sounds in it :-) Of course, it doesn't cover
things like common consonant clusters (st, str, kl, pr, and many more),
but at least it gets you started.

One method I've found useful when coming up with sounds is to analyse the
various parameters: aspiration, nasality, voiced/unvoiced, frication,
etc., and then apply various combinations of these to the basic sounds
like labials, dentals, velars, palatals, what-have-you.

Of course, you might find that a lot of these combinations get your mouth
in a knot (not just your tongue), but hey, you might find something
interesting that way... It does take a bit of practice to get out of the
way you're used to pronouncing things, but once you somewhat break out of
the mold, you might find yourself pronouncing things you never thought you
could pronounce. :-)


T