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Re: Nqwebasaurus, an African ornithomimosaur



On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 12:35 PM,  <tyazbeck@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> In theory, most of us CAN make the click consonant sound, but it's pretty 
> much impossible unless you actually grew up in South Africa, amongst the 
> tribes that use clicks.

Nonsense. Lots of people use clicks for calling animals (alveolar
clicks for dogs, lateral clicks for horses, etc.), or expressing
disapproval (often written as "tsk, tsk!" or "tut, tut!"). Of course,
most people aren't accustomed to using them in words, but it's hardly
impossible. These are sounds we already make!

(In fact, the only sound I've ever found to be impossible is the
trilled "r" of, e.g., Spanish. I try and I try but I just can't do
it.)

> I'd rather we stick to names that the 99% of people on earth who don't use 
> click consonants can say.

The majority of languages don't use English's interdental fricatives
(the "th" sounds, voiced and unvoiced) or its bizarre "r". And most
don't make nearly as many vowel distinctions.

Polynesian languages would actually probably be the best base if you
wanted to limit names to commonly-used sounds.
-- 
T. Michael Keesey
http://tmkeesey.net/