Re: Caste Languages

On Wed, 20 Nov 2002, Eric Norton wrote:

> Out of lurking because this makes me wonder, "where did I run across
> this..."
> Anyone know the name of the natural language which is pronounced differently
> based on gender?
> Can't recall where I saw the info.
> Men and women speak with significantly different pronunciation to the point
> where, to an outsider, the languages would appear to be dialects.
> Sound familiar or did I dream it?
Unless we have remarkably similar dreams, I believe that there is such a
language. It is called Chukchi, and is spoken in Eastern Siberia. It was
one of the many languages that appeared in a book that I borrowed in a
library some 3 or 4 years ago, which consisted of samples and descriptions
of some of the world's languages. It said that the consonant that was
represented as "k" in writing, was pronounced "k" by men, and "ts" by
women. The consonant cluster "rk" was pronounced "rk" by men, and "tsts"
by women. The book gave no phonetic transcription more precise than this.

I can't begin to fathom which phonological processes that lie behind such
different realizations of the same phoneme. But there you have it.
Unfortunately, I can't recall the title and author of the book exactly,
but it's quite possible that it was Kenneth Katzner's "The languages of
the world" that I read.

--
Arnt Richard Johansen                          http://people.fix.no/arj/
Evan, a Quiz Bowl reject, nevertheless knows more than what's good for
him. The son of deposed royalty from some obscure nation whose name is
probably only known to himself, Evan is the life of the party when the
party's over.                     -- Leon Lin: Kissing the Buddha's Feet

Replies