No, it's not a particularly difficult position in Twister, it's the new IPA symbol for a labiodental flap (a sound that occurs in some African languages). If you read SIL's announcement of the symbol, you can see what the new symbol looks like (it's the image to the left of the second paragraph). In fact, it turns out there's a new public beta of the Doulos SIL font that contains the character; you can download it here. When it's installed, you should see the labiodental flap character below:
There you have it: U+F25F LATIN SMALL LETTER V WITH RIGHT HOOK. Now I just have to practice pronouncing it... (hat tip: The LINGUIST List)
What, no boxing jokes?
Posted by: Anon | November 02, 2005 at 06:54 AM
It seems comparatively easy for a new sound. I'm still struggling with the velar lateral, the uvular implosive, and those epiglottals... I'm still not entirely convinced I have an epiglottis.
Posted by: aput | November 03, 2005 at 01:55 AM
This makes me proud to be affiliated with SIL! Not sure if I can pronounce it correctly though, I need some practice!
Vera, Grad. student in Canada
Posted by: Vera | November 08, 2005 at 02:04 PM