velar_fricative epitome of incomprehensibility In my early-morning dream, I have German class (only about three hours before the real thing. I ask about the pronunciation of a word ending in "lk" and the prof turns to me, surprised. Didn't you know, she asks, that for nouns in dative case, "k" is pronounced like (German) "ch"? 230131 ... e_o_i That WOULD be a weird rule. Maybe my mind is trying to convince me that the phonology and morphosyntax modules are indeed separate; a few days ago I was thinking, "Well, I'm not going to believe that simply because Madelyn Kissock and Mark Hale do," but maybe there's actually evidence for it. But if you look at how the brain works, neurons connect multiple parts. So even if you say "separate module" that doesn't mean things aren't interconnected. I write as if I know what I'm talking about. I don't. Anyway, the velar fricative is the "kh" sound..."ch" in German.../x/ in IPA... Basically, you make a throat-clearing sound but with your tongue where you'd say "k". 230131 ... e_o_i I think the dream was because "milk" is "Milch" in German. I only just realized that. The Dativ case does a weird thing, though: it adds an "n" at the end of some masculine nouns. And this isn't a language like Latin where nouns usually have case endings. Just determiners and adjectives. 230511 what's it to you? who go blather from