Elk

Palatalized Consonants Before [ i ] and [ ɪ ]: In the paragraphs of explanation for the interview segment “Ashes”, we say: “Quite a few of the Milluk words that have a Front K [ k̯ ], an Ejective Front K [ k̯ʼ ], or a Front G [ g̯ ], which are all palatalized consonants, have the palatalized consonant occurring predictably before the vowels [ i ] and [ ɪ ].  This is a lot like what happens in English, so speakers of English won’t hear much of anything special about the front (i.e. palatalized) consonants of Milluk words where they occur before the high front vowels [ i ] and [ ɪ ].”  We could write the English word ‘kits’ phonetically as [ k̯ɪts ], and as [ kʲɪts ] in an IPA transcription, with a superscript J, the IPA equivalent of a superscript Y.  Speakers of English are not trying to make the k in such words palatalized.  Speakers of Milluk, on the other hand, can exaggerate the palatalization.  That is something that Lolly does a few times on this website.  She does not exaggerate the Front K [ k̯ ] in this word.  However, if you listen carefully to the Mlluk word meaning ‘elk’, you might nonetheless detect a bit more palatalization with it than if it were actually a word in the English language.