Thanks so much Piotr. I hate to have put you out looking for
other examples. There was a question on the IndianCivilization
list as to whether the Indic languages were unique in this aspect.
Off hand it didn't seem likely to me but I wasn't sure and so I
wanted to see what my "guru-ji" had to say :-)
-David

--- In phoNet@y..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@i...> wrote

> I've been trying to collect further examples for you (from outside
> the Indian Sprachbund), but my institute library is closed today

and

> I have to rely on my memory. I think there is a dental(or
> alveolar)/retoflex contrast between stops in some Austronesian
> languages (including Javanese and Madurese), and of course in

Swedish

> and Norwegian (where nasals and laterals are also involved). It's
> disputable if in the latter case we have retroflex _phonemes_

rather

> than special realisations of /rC/ combinations, but at any rate the
> retroflex segments are real enough.
>
> Piotr
>
>
> --- In phoNet@y..., liberty@p... wrote:
> > Does anybody know if there is any non-Indic language with
> > a phonemic contrast between dental and retroflex stops?
> > -David