From jimc@MATH.UCLA.EDU Wed Jan 09 10:23:33 2002 Return-Path: X-Sender: jimc@math.ucla.edu X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_1_3); 9 Jan 2002 18:23:33 -0000 Received: (qmail 68403 invoked from network); 9 Jan 2002 18:23:30 -0000 Received: from unknown (216.115.97.167) by m5.grp.snv.yahoo.com with QMQP; 9 Jan 2002 18:23:30 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO bodhi.math.ucla.edu) (128.97.4.253) by mta1.grp.snv.yahoo.com with SMTP; 9 Jan 2002 18:23:30 -0000 Received: from localhost (bodhi.math.ucla.edu [128.97.4.253]) by bodhi.math.ucla.edu (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id KAA20802 for ; Wed, 9 Jan 2002 10:23:30 -0800 (PST) Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 10:23:30 -0800 (PST) Sender: To: Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: Lojban Text to Speech In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: Jim Carter X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=810565 On Sun, 6 Jan 2002, Invent Yourself wrote: > --snip-- > I grew up speaking nothing but English, yet I have no trouble pronouncing > both trilled "r" of any magnitude, and "x" of any strength. While "x" > might be difficult to explain, trilled "r" is really a soft aspirated "d". > (Oh how the pedants will strike over such a vulgarization!) On "x", if you can spit you can speak Russian :-) In middle school we referred to "hawking a luker". > Avoiding trilled "r" in the speech samples because some people have > problems with them is tantamount to drifting the language away from their > use. In my opinion they are preferred because they are clearer to the > unskilled at hearing Lojban (everyone!). And it is best that Americans > attempt them because we are notorious for mutilating our vowels, and it's > easier for us keep pur vowels straight if there is a stronger consonant > edging it. I seem to be one of the r-handicapped population. In French class I spent a week trying to get my r's to trill, but never got a trace of oscillation out of my tongue. But I was praised for the consistency of my xr's. My understanding of the standards is that the trill is optional. Perhaps the right way to put it is, if you can trill, do it, but if not, don't feel guilty. James F. Carter Voice 310 825 2897 FAX 310 206 6673 UCLA-Mathnet; 6115 MSA; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095-1555 Email: jimc@math.ucla.edu http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc (q.v. for PGP key)