New consonant added to phonetic language

I guess it's always kind of exciting when any language has a significant new development, and so it is with the phonetic language. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that the labiodental flap, which occurs in 70 African languages, is being granted its own symbol by the International Phonetic Association, a v with a hook.


(Thanks to SIL International for the image)

The International Phonetic Alphabet was established in 1886, and now includes 28 symbols for vowels, 86 for consonants, and 75 other marks for tone, stress, aspiration, and other phonetic details.