A Simple Test for the Three ‘d’ Sounds of Kulisusu

According to my preliminary analysis, the Kulisusu language contrasted three voiced stops in the dento-alveolar region—what could be described in layman’s terms as three ‘d’ sounds. Against this analysis, however, some Kulisusu speakers insisted that their language had only two ‘d’ sounds. In order to test these competing hypotheses, as well as look for possible variation between speakers in this regard, I developed a simple exercise using flash cards. This test, described herein, proved easy to administer and yielded insightful results.