Nasal palatal approximant
| Nasal palatal approximant | |
|---|---|
| j̃ |
The nasal palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some oral languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨j̃⟩, that is, a j with a tilde. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j~, and in the Americanist phonetic notation it is ⟨ỹ⟩.
The nasal palatal approximant is sometimes called a nasal yod; [j̃] and [w̃] may be called nasal glides.
Transcriptions using ⟨j̃⟩ may actually intend a non-syllabic nasal vowel, [ĩ̯] (that is, the second element of a diphthong), as in Portuguese, or be ambiguous between the two.
Features
Features of the nasal palatal approximant:
- Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
- Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
- Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
- It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
[j̃], written ny, is a common realization of /j/ before nasal vowels in many languages of West Africa which do not have a phonemic distinction between voiced nasal and oral stops, such as Ewe and Bini.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hindi[1] | संयम | [səj̃jəm] | 'patience' | ||
| Polish[2] | koń | [kɔj̃] | 'horse' |
Allophone of /ɲ/ in coda position or before fricatives. See Polish phonology | |
| Portuguese | Brazilian[3] | sonho | [ˈsõj̃ʊ] | 'dream' | Allophone of /ɲ/ between vowels, nasalizes the preceding vowel. Language's original /ɲ/ sound.[4][5] See Portuguese phonology |
| Most dialects[6] | cães | [kɐ̃ĩ̯s] | 'dogs' | Non-syllabic allophone of /i/ after nasal vowels, or between nasal occlusives and nasal vowels. Brazilian dialects that have [ɪ] prefer [ɪ̯̃] when in coda position.[7] | |
| Some dialects[4] | me ame! | [ˈmj̃ɐ̃mi] | 'love me!' | ||
See also
- Palatal nasal
- Nasal labio-velar approximant
- Labiodental nasal, which may be an approximant in the one language in which it is phonemic
- Voiceless nasal glottal approximant
- Index of phonetics articles
References
Bibliography
- Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756
- Canepari, Luciano (2005), "Hindi", A Handbook of Pronunciation, Lincom Europa, p. 335
- Gussman, Edmund (2007), The Phonology of Polish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-926747-7
- Mattos e Silva, Rosa (1991), O Português arcaico – fonologia, Contexto
- Perini, Mário Alberto (2002), Modern Portuguese (A Reference Grammar), New Haven: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-09155-7
- Vigário, Marina (2003), The Prosodic Word in European Portuguese, De Gruyter Mouton, ISBN 978-3-11-017713-8
Further reading
- Shosted; Hualde (2010), (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory volume 315) Romance Linguistics 2009: Selected Papers from the 39th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Tucson, Arizona, March 2009, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 43–61, ISBN 978-90-272-4833-6
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