> I don't know exactly where the ks in English
> are pronounced, but if it's anything like
> German, there are two different ones selected
> intuitively: a palatal and a velar.

The k is velar, except when before /j/, in which case it's palatal.


> > Oh, uvular r... How I hate you, uvular r...
> >
> I could say the same about the alveolar trilled
> r. I am completely unable to pronounce anything
> *but* the uvular trilled r (or, sometimes, an
> untrilled rascalization thereof that results in
> a [x]) or the soft English r.

I think I've finally got the uvular r down, although it still gives me hell when I want to say a word that starts with "ru", like "Ruhe". The alveolar trilled r (like the "rr" in Spanish) is pretty easy for me, as I grew up in southern California. (What do you mean by "soft English r"?)

I'd hate to be a non-English-speaker trying to learn how to say the American r.

-Eric Sleator
Fri 29 Nov A.D. 2002