Re: Transcription exercise

On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 22:02:27 -0500, Herman Miller <hmiller@...> wrote:

>> Herman Miller's Virelli is one of the few conlangs I've seen with a
>> distinction between /hl, l/ and /hL, L/ (where L is the palatal lateral
>> - HM uses a cedilla or something under the palatal phones).
>
>It shóuld technically be a comma below, but I use the precomposed ļ
>character for convenience. Using l̦ (with a comma-below diacritic) might
>not show up in some browsers and email programs.
>
>> I think that the distinction is more audible when there is a very clear
>> front/palatal vs back/velar distinction between the two.
>
>Or if there are additional clues to the point of articulation, such as
>palatal off-glides. Lindiga distinguishes between alveolar and retroflex
>lateral fricatives. I think this might be an easier distinction to hear
>than alveolar vs. palatal, but it's also helped by the allophonic
>variation of the vowels in the vicinity of retroflex consonants.
I'd forgotten about Lindiga - the rhotacism of the vowel (especially
preceding a retroflex) would be a very salient clue (as I'd assume it would
be in Toda). I think that a very strongly articulated dorsopalatal lateral
fric might also have a palatal onglide that would make it sufficiently distinct.

One thing I've noticed about lateral fricatives is that I always make them
bilaterally - with a medial obstruction and air escaping on both sides -
whereas some languages have been described as unilateral - air escaping on
one side. When I make unilateral fricatives they tend to all sound very
similar, regardless of where the primary POA is (and I can make a retroflex
unilateral fricative only with great difficulty).

--Bfowol