3 ms·
> in Mandarin "j", the part of the tongue that makes contact with the roof of the mouth is the middle Never realized this. And after a few minutes of tounge-hy
by 3np 5y ago
> in Mandarin "j", the part of the tongue that makes contact with the roof of the mouth is the middle
Never realized this. And after a few minutes of tounge-hyperconscious trying, I think some of us need some serious retraining to physically pull that off.
- thaumasiotes 5y agoIt is a type of distinction recognized by linguistics - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminal_consonant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminal_consonant - but usually not indicated explicitly or commented on. Secret knowledge, I guess. The fact that assuming this position necessarily thrusts the tongue very far forward in the mouth explains why the Mandarin palatal consonant series (q/j/x) can only be followed by the front vowels, /i/ or /y/. If you're interested in learning to produce a foreign sound, I strongly recommend getting recordings (or live examples) to listen to and imitate. Working off a description will never quite get you all the way there.