Phonetics

From: Iuri Gaspar
Message: 802
Date: 2000-01-08

This is a question about phonetics. I'd thank someone
who could clear it to me, as I have this doubt for more or
less 4 years.

I'm a native portuguese speaker and I'm sort of learning polish
over this last 4 years.
My ear finds different 4 similar sounds, and I'd like to know how
do they differenciate if so. And they are:

1 - The portuguese final l (in Portugal) - ex. Mal (badly)
2 - The brazillian final l
3 - The glide [w] - ex. Mau (Bad)
4 - The polish dashed l

In portuguese, there is an audible differente between "Mal" and "Mau",
but I bellieve that for untrained ears it may be difficult to distinguish.
I find the brazillian final l more close to the glide [w], but somehow I
hear it in another way. The same counts for the polish dashed l, as
I sometimes hear it closer to our final l, others closer to the glide [w].
But again, I never hear the same exact sound as in my language.
By the way, where can we put the final english l? (ex. ill)


Another question. I find the L (not final, articulated) pronunciation
rather different among different languages. As an example I give the
portuguese one (which I find similar to the english one, ex.
"lago" and "lake") and the polish one (brightly articulated).

Thanks in advance.

Iuri Gaspar
iuri@...
UIN 1376369
http://www.terravista.pt/Guincho/1458
http://members.xoom.com/gaszpar/