Re: Phonology

On Saturday 20 April 2002 15:18, Christopher Bates wrote:
> Hi All,
>           Recently I've developed language invention (mostly sketches of
> langs while I try to find something that feels right) as a hobby, but I
> have one major problem. Its this: quite simply, my ability to pronounce
> sounds alien to my own language is really really awful. Since I want to
> actually pronounce any language I make up this leaves me with a real
> problem... either make languages which use the same sounds as english or
> accidentally swallow my tongue and die trying to pronounce other sounds.
> Does anyone have any advice regarding how to learn to pronounce sounds
> that don't feature in your own native tongue?
        Well, since it is generally A Good Thing (TM) to learn new sounds
(especially handy in natlang contexts--I can think of several occasions where
I have heard tone-deaf monolingual English speakers make mincemeat of French
and Russian, to the point where I cringed, nails-on-blackboard, and want to
run away screaming), I suggest you boldly take your life into your hands like
a man and risk swallowing your tongue (although, I should note, it is very
unlikely that you will do so, unless you take up Klingon. ;)
        The obvious answer is "PRACTICE!" but you already knew that. The next answer
is to learn the IPA. Start by first understanding the sounds you already know
from English. Learn what it means to be a voiced interdental fricative. Then,
once you have an understanding of how English sounds work, branch outwards,
starting from the English sounds. For instance, /x/ is a voiceless velar
fricative. In terms of correct tongue position, it is very close to /k/, a
voiceless velar stop. So, if you understand what is involved with a fricative
and a stop, you will find /x/ mindlessly easy to pronounce. From there, you
can learn how to pronounce a uvular fricative, or a palatal fricative, or a
palatal stop, etc.
        :Peter

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