tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Dec 09 14:56:48 1995

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Re: KLBC: Federation Pronunciation

ghItlh Do'val

>>The sound should be quite similar to the Nahuatl "tl."  KLD even cites
>>the Nahuatl "tetl" = "egg" or "rock" as an example.  (KLD says "Aztec."
>>{sigh})  Nahuatl "tl" is a lateralized /t/, usually written
>>phonologically as a lambda.  When I was trying to learn the sound in
>>Nahuatl, I was told to hold my tongue in the lateral position as though I
>>were going to say an initial English "L" and then say "T."  That
>>procedure may work for some.
>>


>I don't know how many people have the same problem I had with these
>directions, but after reading a few books on phoenitics, I realized that
>my normal pronunciation of the /l/ sound is actually the "dark-l" (I don't
>know how to write this using the IPA).  Starting from that position, you
>CAN NOT make a "T" sound.  Having realize that, I can now (at least I
>think so) make a decent tlh sound.  Maybe some day it will be natural, but
>for now I still have to work at it.

     As I said, it may work for some.  It, naturally, may not work for
others.  The following excerpts on Nahuatl phonology from _Introduction to
Classical Nahuatl_ by J. Richard Andrews (pp.5-6) may help clarify matters:
     1. Stops (all voiceless):
     ...
     /t/ An unaspirated t-sound like the one in _style_ except that it is
pronounced with the tongue touching the upper front teeth rather than the
alveolar ridge.  It is not like the aspirated /t/ of _tile_.
     2. Affricates (all voiceless):
     /_lambda_/ Like the /t/ described above with a voiceless "clear" /l/
release.  (See the discussion of /l/ in section 5 below).  In other words,
/_lambda_/ is a Nahuatl /t/ released at the side of the tongue rather than
at the center.  The sound is _not_ that of the English cluster /tl/ in
little, where the /t/ is alveolar and the /l/ is "dark" and voiced.
     ...
     5. Oral sonorants:
     /l/  When intervocalic, /l/ sounds like the English /l/ in leave (the
"clear l").  When in syllable-final position, /l/ is voiceless.  This
consonant never occurs in word-initial position.  It is never sounds like
the English /l/ in _dull_ (the "dark l").

     As you can see, I meant the clear l not the dark, and I obviously
should have specified the nonalveolar Nahuatl /t/.  Most native speakers of
English produce clear /l/ at the beginnings of English words.  Are you sure
you don't?
     Please pardon my use of the word _lambda_ instead of using the Greek
letter.  This editor has its shortcomings.


     Qapla'

     qeSmIv HarghwI'

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