trills and thrills WAS Re: For words ending in "-ity" is it ~t or ~d

[James Harbeck]

>I have sworn off arguing with Mr. Zurinskas, but somewhat aslant of this
>topic I'll say that a velar *trill* is possible though difficult. I doubt
>that any real language uses it, but I took the alien interjection
>"Kkkkkkkk!" (in C.J. Cherryh's Chanur books) as a challenge, purely for
>fannish linguistic fun. By tightening the tongue muscle just posterior to
>the place of articulation and using more pulmonic force than is normal, it
>is possible to trill the body of the tongue at the velum or the hard palate.

What fun! I'll add that to the dental trill (eth or thorn, trilled)
I've managed to pretty much master and my favourite, the ingressive
palatal trill (put your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth
and inhale; ease the tongue only slightly away from the palate and
you will make a somewhat reptilian sound). I'm pretty sure this
latter is not used in any known human language (though I'd be tickled
to be wrong); I'm unaware of the usage status of the dental trill.

James Harbeck.

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