Re: History of French

From: Mxsmanic (mxsmanic_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 09/18/04 

Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 07:09:04 +0200

Jacques Guy writes:

> By pictures I suppose.

Yes. I have some little diagrams prepared for this, and I may also draw
pictures or illustrate visually on the spot.

The biggest problems I see are that students don't know how to produce
the sound, and that they feel "funny" producing a sound they've never
produced before. They don't actually have trouble articulating it,
though, once it is carefully explained to them. We all have voluntary
control over our tongues, lips, vocal folds, and so on, so when a
student is told which part of the vocal tract to place in which
configuration, it's pretty straightforward for him to do it.

The challenge is in getting him to practice this enough to make it
automatic, so he doesn't have to think about it each time he does it.

> Or by seeing it demonstrated, as a New-Hebridean native once
> demonstrated to me the difference between the two s's in his
> language, although he had no words for "grooved", "lamino-
> alveolar", "apico-alveolar", "unvoiced", and "tense".

No special vocabulary is needed. You can show it with your hands. "Put
your tongue like this" works very well.

> As for "retroflex" that is an abominable term for "cacuminal".

Why? At least it sounds more like what it means.

> But alas, it has become the norm. BTW, I knew someone who could
> manage a retroflexed apico-nasal stop (my mother). See what I mean?
> _I_ can only manage a retroflexed lamino-antedental one (and I am
> sure anybody can). Can you guess what it is?

You can lick your lips, and she could touch her nose with her tongue, or
something like that. I don't know if any languages actually use these
articulations, though (?). (Nothing would surprise me, however.) 

-- 
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

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