~Yeshuewu

[Mark Mandel]

On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 9:29 AM, Scot LaFaive <slafaive at gmail.com>
wrote (quoting Herb Stahlke)
> > "Trilled k"? Â You must have an interesting vocal tract.
>
> Would that be like the sound the alien hunter makes from the movie "The
> Predator"? Strange dialect indeed!

I don't think Mr. Z's vocal tract is as twisted as his view of
language. However, it *is* possible to produce a velar (not uvular)
trill. I have done so for reading aloud from C.J.Cherryh's Chanur
novels, in which the language of the (nonhuman) kif includes a sound
transcribed as "kk" in words and "kk-k-k-k" as a prolonged
interjection. It is a somewhat fronted velar, but definitely not
palatal.

Mark A. Mandel

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