tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 09 08:30:01 1996

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Re: KBLC: letter pronounciations

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>Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 16:03:12 -0800
>From: Oliver Pereira <[email protected]>
>
>Actually, the sound I'm least sure about is "S".
>(I still haven't got the tapes.)
>Well, English "sh" is pronounced with the tip of the tongue slightly
>further back than for "s", isn't it?
>At one point, Marc Okrand says (I think) that "S" is half-way between "s"
>and "sh", so the tip of the tongue should be intermediate between these
>two positions, shouldn't it?
>But he then says (I think) that "S" is pronounced with the tip of the
>tongue in the same position as for "D", i.e. half-way between the teeth
>and that part of the roof of the mouth which is rather "gooshy", which
>seems to be much further back than for "sh", doesn't it?
>This seems inconsistent to me. Or have I got something wrong here?
>Maybe it would make sense if I got the tapes...

It would.  I had PRECISELY the same question you did before the tapes came
out, and I remember Krankor and I had trouble with each other's
pronunciation once because of it.  I had waffled between versions for a
short time and finally decided that "between s and sh" was "right" and went
with a palatal sibilant, like in Sanskrit.  Krankor listened to the other
description and came up with a retroflex (also in Sanskrit, btw).  When the
tapes came out, it was very clear that it's a retroflex sibilant.  pItlh.

~mark

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