From robin@xxxxxxx.xxx.xxx Wed Feb 10 10:55:02 1999 X-Digest-Num: 57 Message-ID: <44114.57.221.959273824@eGroups.com> Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 20:55:02 +0200 From: Robin Turner Robin Turner wrote: > > AFAIK Japanese (and maybe Cantonese, but the other way round) > > are the only people with the r/l problem, which they would > > encounter learning just about any foreign language. > > Oh, there is no shortage of languages with a single /l / r/ > phoneme (when there is only one, it doesn't really make much > sense to ask whether it is /l/ or /r/). Apart from Mandarin, > Cantonese, Japanese and Korean, there's the entire Polynesian > family; remember Hawai`ian _Mele= Kali=kimaka=_ `Merry Xmas'? For once I think I've caught Ivan out! Although Mandarin doesn't have exactly the same /l/r/ sounds as English, there's still a distinction e.g. "ren", "li". co'o mi'e robin.