THE STATUS OF PHONETIC RARITIES

Most sounds can be described in terms of a standard set of phonologica l features, or in terms of values of well-known phonetic parameters. B ut some languages, particularly the smaller endangered languages of th e world, also contain many unusual sounds that test our traditional de scriptive theories. An example is the dental plosive followed by a bil abial trill, found in the Chapakuran languages. We suggest that there is a set (with fuzzy boundaries) of more common sounds that participat e in a wide range of general linguistic processes and another set of r arer sounds that have been observed in only one or two languages.