speaking of -tl

[Henry Kammler]

At 08:03 03.01.01 -0500, you wrote:

>Does anyone know how the Kwakiutl pronounce their -tl?
Hi Michael,

Kwak'wala (Kwakiutl language) has a voiceless /tl/ which is about identical
to the respective sound in Nahuatl. There is also a voiced version of this:
/dl/ {were the l-component (lateral fricative) of the affricate is also
voiced}.

Actuallually, the -tl in "Kakiutl" is a misspelling, it represents another
phoneme: the voiceless lateral fricative [l~], the word is hence pronounced
[kwa:gyul~].
In some Nahuatl dialecs you find the voiceless fricative as a devoiced
underlying /l/, e.g. in central Guerrero. /yalwa/ "yesterday" is pronounced
[yal~wa], in rapid speech the /l/ might be further reduced to a mere
aspiration, i.e. [yahwa]. In other dialects without devoicing you might
hear something like [yalowa].

When Spanish exploring ships (like the "Sutil" and the "Mexicana") made
their way up the North West Coast of North America, the explorers were
wondering about possible links between North West Coast languages,
especially Nootka, and Nahuatl, because of some superficial sound
similarities. But there's nothing more to it and actually the languages
sound very different.

asta mostla
Henry

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