Toda is a Southern Dravidian language (Tamil-Kannada branch) spoken in the
Nilgiri hills of India (1000 speakers according to The Sounds of the World's Languages appendix). Map of India (PDF)
It is remarkable for the large number of contrasting sibilants.
As Ladefoged notes, it is also unusual for exhibiting the largest
number of contrasts in syllable-final rather than syllable-initial position.
This demo is based on the recordings in Sounds of the World's Languages, but also incorporates more recent
illustrations from Ladefoged & Maddieson (2008).
pɔf ("swelling")
pɔθ ("roof beam")
kɔs̻ ("money")
pɔs̠ ("milk")
pɔʃ ("language")
pɔʂ (place-name)
pɔx ("blood")
Click here (pp.3-6) for linguagrams, palatograms, and reconstructions of tongue shape.
Audio Source:
Sounds of the Worlds Languages.
References:
Ladefoged, P. / Maddieson, I. (2008): The Sounds of the World's Languages. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
