Dallas Morning News Clip!

ɬ is the International Phonetic Alphabet symbol for the relatively rare sound in the world's languages that is technically called the voiceless lateral fricative. How does the mouth make this peculiar sound? Dr. Stranj Sonde of MIT says, "The tongue touches the alveolar ridge ever so slightly while curved in such a way that air is allowed to pass on both sides of the tongue with enough force to make a slight buzzing sound. The sound that is heard is the air passing through the mouth, while the voice box itself makes no sound."

Dr. Sonde continues, "However, we have new evidence of a similar yet surprisingly different sound--this particular speaker of English sends air so forcefully over the tongue that his (in particular right) cheek flaps vigorously against the tongue creating a type of trill instead of the normal slight buzz. This 'trill' effect has never yet been documented in linguistic journals!"

The International Phonetic Association has no symbol to represent such an exotic sound and all of the linguistic communities are all excited about what they are seeing. The new evidence has appeared from an unusual source: a home video of a two year old boy from the metroplex area. The boy's parents,who are linguists themselves, say, "We were surprised to hear the unusual sound that he made, but even more surprised about the public's reaction to a simple home video posted on YouTube."

News of the new (yet unofficially named) sound , the voiceless lateral trill, has not only thrilled the niche of small linguistic departments in large universities, but has also tickled the ear of the some celebrities and political leaders.

Lady Gaga has 'gone gaga' herself over the clip saying, "Its just like, so...like...cool!"

French President Nicholas Sarcozy remarked, "C'est magnifique! J'aimerai bien croquer ses joues!" (Wonderful! I would love to pinch those cheeks!)

Prince William has flown in his RAF helicopter to visit the boy in his simple mobile home dwelling. His Majesty is reported to have congratulated the parents and also bought a couple pairs of cowboy boots while in Dallas.

Pope Benedict XVI himself has sent word saying, "There might be a cardinalship in the future for that boy!"

With such a fantastic reaction, Dallas parents Adam and Ruth Huntley can only say, "We would be proud of our son even if he wasn't such a linguistic phenomena." And they are.

-Didja Bilivit, Dallas Morning News

SOURCE: dallasmorningnews.com


LISTENING NOTE: You can notice the special sound occuring where in standard English the sounds 'ch' (as in 'chair'), 'sh' (as in 'shower'), and 'tr' (as in 'truck') are heard.