8.45, Sum: Bilabial trill

[linguist at linguistlist.org]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-8-45. Fri Jan 17 1997. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 8.45, Sum: Bilabial trill

Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>
            T. Daniel Seely: Eastern Michigan U. <seely at linguistlist.org>

Review Editor:     Andrew Carnie <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Associate Editors: Ljuba Veselinova <ljuba at linguistlist.org>
                   Ann Dizdar <ann at linguistlist.org>
Assistant Editor:  Sue Robinson <sue at linguistlist.org>
Technical Editor:  Ron Reck <ron at linguistlist.org>

Software development: John H. Remmers <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>

Editor for this issue: Ann Dizdar <ann at linguistlist.org>

=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Thu, 16 Jan 1997 20:50:18 +0000
From:  cpeust at gwdg.de
Subject:  Sum: bilabial trill

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 16 Jan 1997 20:50:18 +0000
From:  cpeust at gwdg.de
Subject:  Sum: bilabial trill

Dear linguists,

A while ago I put the following query on the list:

There is an IPA-symbol 'B' which is meant to render a bilabial trill.
Does anyone of you know a language in which this sound is used in
regular words apart from onomatopoetic expressions?

I got replies from the following 17 people, to all of whom I say thank
you:


Jeff Allen      Jeff_Allen at juno.com
Joaquim Brandao de Carvalho   carvalho at club-internet.fr
Robert Early   early at vanuatu.usp.ac.fj
Daniel L. Everett      dever at verb.linguist.pitt.edu
Ralf-Stefan Georg   Ralf.Georg at bonn.netsurf.de
Lee Hartmann    lhartmann at siu.edu
Olaf Husby    olahus at alfa.itea.unit.no
Miriam Meyerhoff      mhoff at ling.upenn.edu
Timothy J Pulju     pulju at ruf.rice.edu
Malcolm Ross    Malcolm.Ross at anu.edu.au
Nick Sherrard    nickrs at mail.bogo.co.uk
Keith W. Slater    6500ksla at ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu
Joan Spanne    spanne at werple.net.au
Robin Thelwall   eubule at agt.net
Larry Trask      larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk
Mary Ward    maryward at mail.utexas.edu
Paul Warren     paul.warren at vuw.ac.nz

I was informed of the following languages to make use of a bilabial
trill, which according to Larry Trask should more exactly be analysed
as a prenasalised stop with trilled release in probably all languages
where it occurs.  If not otherwise indicated, the sound either is
phonological rather than phonetical or I have no information on their
phonological status.

Amuzgo (used only exceptionally)
Baka (SW-Sudan, rarely)
Isthmus Zapotec (in few words only)
Kele (New Guinea)
Kurti (Admirality Islands)
Mangbetu (North-Eastern Zaire) (voiced and voiceless! according to
                                                  J. B. de Carvalho)
Mewun (Vanuatu)  (voiced and voiceless! according to J. Spanne)
Na?ahai (Admirality Islands)
Ngwe (Cameroon)
Nweh (Cameroon)  (perhaps identical to Ngwe?)
Piraha (allophone of /b/)
Titan (New Guinea)
Uripiv (Vanuatu)
some dialects of Yi (Tibeto-Burman)

Other languages were made known to me which do not have a simple
bilabial trill but a bilabial trill with accompanying dental closure
(something like tB):

Abkhaz (possible realisation of the phoneme /tw/)
Oro Win
Wari

According to M. Ward, a language in Nigeria called Rindre, Nungu,
Wamba and a few other names possesses a labiodental flap.

Several respondents referred my to Ladefodged and Madiesson "The
Sounds of the World's Languages", Oxford: Blackwell 1995 which I have
not yet been able to consult.

Carsten Peust
Seminar of Egyptology and Coptology
Goettingen
cpeust at gwdg.de

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-8-45