cacuminal
nounEtymology From oblique stem of Latin cacūmen, cacūminis (“extremity, point, peak”) + -al.
1
Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonology, Sciences Dated A sound pronounced using a retroflexed tongue.
cacuminal
adj/kəˈkjuːmənəl/
Etymology From oblique stem of Latin cacūmen, cacūminis (“extremity, point, peak”) + -al.
1
Pertaining to a point, top, or crown.
2
Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonology, Sciences Dated Pronounced using a concave or retroflexed tongue; occasionally palatal sounds more generally.
- 1942, George Leonard Trager, Studies in Linguistics, Volumes 1-7, page 52, /L/ and /N/, slightly more cacuminal than the alveolar series, are very rare, and occur only in word-final position.
- The cacuminal s is produced by raising the tongue-tip to a point behind the alveoli, with a concavity in its upper surface;1951, William James Entwistle, The Spanish Language: Together with Portuguese, Catalan and Basque, page 218:
1 more example
- 1992, Anatoly Liberman, Vowel lengthening before resonant + another consonant and svarabhakti in Germanic, Irmengard Rauch, Gerald F. Carr, Robert L. Kyes (editors), On Germanic Linguistics: Issues and Methods, Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 68, page 190, It is a trill, because the choice can be only between a cacuminal trill or a cacuminal lateral, but cacuminal l already exists in the system […] .
- Derived terms
- cacuminalization