[lojban-beginners] Re: consonant diphthongs

[Pierre Abbat <phma@phma.optus.nu>]

On Thursday 06 November 2008 14:07:16 Luke Bergen wrote:
> I think I remember reading that the official word on consonant diphthongs
> do not exist in lojban but I have a question about one consonant
> combination.
>
> in the word "djica" (desire), how would you pronounce that first part?  I
> can't seem to make the two consonants really separate without inserting an
> "y" type sound between them.  Otherwise it ends up sounding kind of like
> the "dg" in "judge".  Is this ok?

It's quite fine to pronounce "dj" as one sound, as there is no distinction in 
Lojban between a cluster of the two sounds and an affricate. 
Similarly "tc", "ts", "dz", "pf", and "bv". ("kx" does not occur in Lojban.)

One language that does make such a difference is Polish, which has the minimal 
pair "trzysta" (three hundred, Russian ÑÑÐÑÑÐ) and "czyzta" (clean, Russian 
ÑÐÑÑÐ).

I also pronounce "xr", but not "rx", as a single sound. It's a voiceless 
simultaneous tongue tip and uvular trill. "le xruki le ginxre xu xrula cu 
xrani?"

mu'omi'e .pier.