I'd like to thank list members for their many interesting postings on my
original query.
If I may be permitted to revisit the topic and zero-in on a specific
point: whether one can have a lateral without central tongue-palate contact?
Several colleagues have noted that without any such central contact,
lateral airflow (or lateral-only airflow) is not possible. That is to
say, that it is only the contact that ensures no central airflow takes
place. Therefore, while tongue shape could be such as to encourage some
airflow over the side rims of the tongue, the lack of central contact in
the many cited examples would mean that some (if not most) of the
airflow would be central.
So, I return to my original suspicion that what are described as
contactless laterals are probably central vocalized variants that are
perceived as lateral mainly because a lateral is in some way a target
(either the main allophone of the phoneme, or a stylistically determined
variant).
Clearly, we must agree with those who noted that we need instrumental
studies to deal with problems such as this. But, is there not by
definition a difficulty in having laterals where airflow is partly or
mainly central?
Martin Ball
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