Velar nasal: Difference between revisions
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The velar nasal is a fairly common sound cross-linguistically. It is often an allophone of [[Alveolar nasal|n]] before a [[velar]] sound. | The velar nasal is a fairly common sound cross-linguistically. It is often an allophone of [[Alveolar nasal|/n/]] before a [[velar]] sound. In languages such as [[Mandarin]] Chinese it may be argued to be a syllable-final allophone of [[Bilabial nasal|/m/]]. | ||
It is unusually common for the velar nasal to be prohibited from appearing at the beginning of the word; this is the case in nearly all languages of Eurasia, for example (the [[Samoyedic languages]] and languages of southeast Asia are notable exceptions). This evidently is a consequence of the nasal being much rarer as a consonant [[phoneme]] than its [[Bilabial nasal|labial]] and [[Alveolar nasal|coronal]] counterparts: many languages that do have it as a phoneme have developed it from clusters such as /nk/ or /nɡ/ (the latter is the origin of the phoneme in [[Germanic languages]], for instance) that cannot occur word-initially. It is also not unlikely for the sound to be constrained entirely to the syllable-final position (again, see Mandarin). | |||
The dedicated IPA letter <ŋ> is formed as an amalgamation of <[[n]]> and <[[ɡ]]>. There is also a [[IPA capitals|corresponding capital letter]], <Ŋ>; this comes in two [[allograph]]ic forms, the other resembling an <N> with a hook (preferred in [[Samic languages]]), the other a larger, descenderless form of the lowercase glyph (preferred in African languages using the letter). | |||
===Velar nasals in natlangs=== | ===Velar nasals in natlangs=== | ||
Revision as of 03:54, 13 November 2009
| ŋ | |
|---|---|
| Pulmonic Consonant | |
| IPA: | ŋ |
| X-SAMPA: | N |
| Kirshenbaum: | N |
| Place of Articulation: | Velar |
| Manner of Articulation: | Nasal Stop |
| Phonological features: |
[+consonantal] |
The velar nasal is a fairly common sound cross-linguistically. It is often an allophone of /n/ before a velar sound. In languages such as Mandarin Chinese it may be argued to be a syllable-final allophone of /m/.
It is unusually common for the velar nasal to be prohibited from appearing at the beginning of the word; this is the case in nearly all languages of Eurasia, for example (the Samoyedic languages and languages of southeast Asia are notable exceptions). This evidently is a consequence of the nasal being much rarer as a consonant phoneme than its labial and coronal counterparts: many languages that do have it as a phoneme have developed it from clusters such as /nk/ or /nɡ/ (the latter is the origin of the phoneme in Germanic languages, for instance) that cannot occur word-initially. It is also not unlikely for the sound to be constrained entirely to the syllable-final position (again, see Mandarin).
The dedicated IPA letter <ŋ> is formed as an amalgamation of <n> and <ɡ>. There is also a corresponding capital letter, <Ŋ>; this comes in two allographic forms, the other resembling an <N> with a hook (preferred in Samic languages), the other a larger, descenderless form of the lowercase glyph (preferred in African languages using the letter).
Velar nasals in natlangs
| Voiced | ng | sing /sɪŋ/ |
| n(k,g) | sank /sænk/ [sæŋk] |
| Voiced | γ(γ,κ,ν,μ,χ) | ἄγγελος [áŋɡelos] |
| Voiced | g(n) | magnus /magnus/ [maŋnʊs] |
Velar nasals in conlangs
| Voiced |  (ŋ) |
viŋe [vìŋə] |
| Voiced | ņ | gaņiut /ɡaŋiut/ |
| Unvoiced | hņ | |
| Voiced geminated | ņņ | sa’weņņün /saʔweŋŋʉn/ |
