Child 1
The Long L [ lˑ ] in This Word: In the two times that Mrs. Metcalf says this word in this interview segment, the L [ l ] in this word does not sound especially long, so these are not relly obvious examples of Long L [ lˑ ]. Jacobs did not always hear the L in this word as a Long L [ lˑ ] when Mrs. Peterson said the word. We are sure that there is supposed to be a Long L [ lˑ ] in this word because we can hear the L in this word as a very obviously long L, in one example in the sound file that we have of a phonographic disk side of Mrs. Peterson speaking Milluk fluently in 1934, specifically the disk side labeled 14602 A. In that same sound file of fluently spoken Milluk, we can also hear this Milluk word meaning ‘child’ spoken more naturally two other times where one cannot tell that the L in this word is supposed to be a Long L. So in a word like this where the Long L [ lˑ ] is followed by another consonant, it was evidently natural not always to make the L very obviously long.
Instant Phonetic Englishization: k!eel_gah, for Lolly’s first time saying it, k!ill_gah, for Lolly’s second time saying it.
Light Ejective Pronunciation: Lolly pronounces the Ejective Front K [ k̯ʼ ] that begins this word with such a light ejective pronunciation that it sounds like a voiceless un-aspirated stop consonant and maybe really is just that. The palatalized release of the consonant with its built-in semivowel [ y ], as if one were about to say the say the phonetic vowel [ i ], but without actually saying the vowel, makes it hard to be sure whether there really is an ejective release of the consonant.
The Hidden [ i ] in the Initial Consonant of This Milluk Word: We hear the vowel in the first syllable of this word as essentially the phonetic vowel [ i ] in the English word ‘keel’, but only the first time that Lolly says the word in this interview segment. The second time that she says the word in this interview segment the vowel in the first syllable sounds more like the vowel [ ɪ ] in the English word ‘kill’. We think that this is a result of the consonant at the beginning of that first syllable of the word having a built-in semivowel [ y ], because it is a palatalized consonant, made as if one were about to say the say the phonetic vowel [ i ], without actually saying the vowel. In effect, there is an extra little [ i ] in the first syllable, enough of one to make at least some pronunciations of the word sound like they have the phonetic vowel [ i ] instead of the slightly lower, more cetralized, and lax phonetic vowel [ ɪ ]. In effect, we can hear that the first consonant of this word is a Front K because of this subtle effect that it has on how one can pronounce the vowel in the first syllable. It is actually the variation of [ i ] versus [ ɪ ] that is the real clue, because the vowel in the first syllable of this Milluk word meaning ‘child’ is not a long vowel. If it were a long vowel, that would be a reason for the vowel in the first syllable of this Milluk word to sound like the vowel in the English word ‘keel’, but then it would consistently sound like it had the vowel in the English word ‘keel’, rather than varying back and forth between that vowel [ i ] and the vowel in the English word ‘kill’ which is [ ɪ ].
Singular and Plural Nouns: This Milluk word means specifically ‘child’, rather than ‘children’. The Milluk word meaning ‘children’ is a completely different word, [ hiˑmæ ] ‘children’, which can be typed easily as hiimae. Most Milluk nouns have a single form which is both singular and plural.