Did you know...
12 years ago
that "xłp̓x̣ʷłtłpłłskʷc̓" is a word in the Salishan language of Nuxálk? Spoken by the native people in the vicinity of Bella Coola, British Columbia, Nuxálk is famous for utilizing long strings of consonant sounds without any intervening vowel or other sonorant sounds (like m, n, w, j, l, or r, which some languages, including dialects of english, use sort of like vowels).
Xłp̓x̣ʷłtłpłłskʷc̓, which roughly corresponds to the English phrase "he had in his possession a bunchberry plant," has proven difficult for linguists to classify because it contains none of the sounds that usually help separate distinct syllables from each other. Using the symbology of the International Phonetic Alphabet, the word is pronounced as xɬpʼχʷɬtʰɬpʰɬːskʷʰt͡sʼ, though I have yet to find an audio or video sample of anyone actually pronouncing the word.
There are many more examples of words containing only consonants in Nuxálk. Perhaps the easiest to pronounce (at least for English speakers) is "sxs," which means "seal fat." Since it uses IPA symbols, the "x" in that word is pronounced like the ch in the Scottish word "loch," but with a little practice it's not too hard to say.
Xłp̓x̣ʷłtłpłłskʷc̓, which roughly corresponds to the English phrase "he had in his possession a bunchberry plant," has proven difficult for linguists to classify because it contains none of the sounds that usually help separate distinct syllables from each other. Using the symbology of the International Phonetic Alphabet, the word is pronounced as xɬpʼχʷɬtʰɬpʰɬːskʷʰt͡sʼ, though I have yet to find an audio or video sample of anyone actually pronouncing the word.
There are many more examples of words containing only consonants in Nuxálk. Perhaps the easiest to pronounce (at least for English speakers) is "sxs," which means "seal fat." Since it uses IPA symbols, the "x" in that word is pronounced like the ch in the Scottish word "loch," but with a little practice it's not too hard to say.
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