Palatal nasal

Palatal nasal
ɲ
IPA number 118
Encoding
Entity (decimal) ɲ
Unicode (hex) U+0272
X-SAMPA J
Kirshenbaum n^
Braille ⠿ (braille pattern dots-123456)
Sound
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Alveolo-palatal nasal
n̠ʲ
ɲ̟
ȵ

The palatal nasal is a type of consonant, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɲ⟩,[1] a lowercase letter n with a leftward-pointing tail protruding from the bottom of the left stem of the letter. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is J. The IPA symbol ⟨ɲ⟩ is similar to ⟨ɳ⟩, the symbol for the retroflex nasal, which has a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem, and to ⟨ŋ⟩, the symbol for the velar nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem.

Palatal nasals are more common than the palatal stops, [c] and [ɟ].[2] In Spanish and languages whose writing systems are influenced by Spanish orthography, this sound is represented with the letter eñe (ñ); the same is true for Occitan, the source of the Portuguese digraph ene-agá (nh), used by languages whose writing systems are influenced by Portuguese orthography, such as Vietnamese; in Catalan, Hungarian and many African languages, as Swahili or Dinka, the digraph ny is used.

The alveolo-palatal nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some oral languages. There is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound. If more precision is desired, it may be transcribed ⟨n̠ʲ⟩ or ⟨ɲ̟⟩; these are essentially equivalent, since the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. There is a non-IPA letter ⟨ȵ⟩, used especially in Sinological circles.

The alveolo-palatal nasal is commonly described as palatal; it is often unclear whether a language has a true palatal or not. Many languages claimed to have a palatal nasal, such as Portuguese, actually have an alveolo-palatal nasal. This is likely true of several of the languages listed here. Some dialects of Irish as well as some non-standard dialects of Malayalam are reported to contrast alveolo-palatal and palatal nasals.[3][4]

There is also a post-palatal nasal (also called pre-velar, fronted velar etc.) in some languages.

Features

Features of the voiced palatal nasal:

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
!Kung — — "[Ny in !Kung is, as in] Zulu, and Suto, a pre-palatal sound in which the 'flat' of the tongue or middle of the tongue is brought somewhat forward to touch the division between the alveolus and the hard palate."[5]
Albanian një [ɲə] 'one'
Aranda — — Alveolo-palatal and dento-alveolo-palatal.[6]
Basque andereño [an̪d̪e̞ɾe̞ɲo̞] 'teacher (f)'
Burmese[7] ညာ [ɲà] 'right(-hand side)' Contrasts with the voiceless palatal nasal /ɲ̥/.
Catalan[8] any [ˈaɲ̟] 'year' Alveolo-palatal or palatal.[6] See Catalan phonology
Chinese Wu 女人 gniugnin [ȵy˩˧ȵiȵ˥˨] 'woman' Alveolo-palatal
Czech kůň [kuːɲ] 'horse' May be intermediate between palatal and alveolo-palatal.[4] See Czech phonology
Dinka nyɔt [ɲɔt] 'very'
Dutch[9] oranje [oˈrɑɲə] 'orange' Not all dialects. See Dutch phonology
French[10] agneau [aˈɲo] 'lamb' Alveolo-palatal or palatal.[6] Merging with /nj/ See French phonology
Galician leña [ˈleɲa] 'firewood' A nasal palatal approximant, as that of Brazilian and African Portuguese, in the past.[11][12]
Greek πρωτοχρονιά prōtochroniá [pɾo̞to̞xɾo̞ˈɲ̟ɐ] 'New Year's Day' Alveolo-palatal.[13] See Modern Greek phonology
Hungarian[14] anya [ˈɒɲɒ] 'mother' Alveolo-palatal with alveolar contact.[6] See Hungarian phonology
Indonesian banyak [ˈbäɲäk] 'a lot'
Italian bagno [ˈbaɲːo] 'bath' "Postalveolo-prepalatal".[15] See Italian phonology
Irish inné [əˈn̠ʲeː] 'yesterday' Alveolo-palatal;[6] contrasts with the palatalized alveolar /nʲ/ in some dialects, as well as with the palatal nasal /ɲ/.[16][17][18][3] See Irish phonology
a ngé [əˈɲeː] 'their goose' Palatal or palatovelar; contrasts with the velar nasal /ŋ/ and, in some dialects, with the alveolo-palatal nasal /n̠ʲ/.[16][17][18][3] See Irish phonology
Japanese[19] 庭 niwa [n̠ʲiwᵝa] 'garden' Alveolar or dento-alveolar.[6] See Japanese phonology
Korean 고니 goni [ko̞n̠ʲi] 'swan' Alveolo-palatal.See Korean phonology
Latvian mākoņains [maːkuɔɲains] 'cloudy'
Macedonian чешање češanje [ˈt͡ʃɛʃaɲɛ] 'itching'
Malagasy — — Palatal.[6]
Malay banyak [bäɲäʔ] 'a lot'
Malayalam[20] ഞാന് [ɲäːn] 'I'
North Frisian Mooring fliinj [ˈfliːɲ] 'to fly'
Norwegian Northern[21] mann [mɑɲː] 'man' See Norwegian phonology
Southern[21]
Occitan Northern Polonha [puˈluɲo̞] 'Poland' Simultaneous alveolo-palatal and dento-alveolar or dento-alveolo-palatal.[6] See Occitan phonology
Southern
Gascon banh [baɲ] 'bath'
Polish[22] koń  [kɔɲ̟]  'horse' Alveolo-palatal. May be replaced by a nasal palatal approximant in coda position or before fricatives. See Polish phonology
Portuguese Many dialects[23] urânio [uˈɾɐn̠ʲu] 'uranium' There is no contrast of [nj ~ nʲ ~ n̠ʲ ~ ɲ] for /ni̯/ in Brazilian Portuguese,[24] though /n/ generally palatalizes before any /i/ (including [i̯]). As with /ɲ/, the cluster may nasalize a preceding vowel (especially if stressed), or vocalize to a nasal palatal approximant, most often in stigmatized registers.[25][26]
Brazilian[27] conheço [kũˈn̠ʲesu] 'I know' Simultaneous alveolo-palatal and dento-alveolo-palatal.[6] Often or generally intervocalically replaced by a nasal palatal approximant, its original sound,[11][12] in Brazil and Africa (but not after a consonant or pause, where such phoneme is loanword-only). See Portuguese phonology
European[28] arranhar [ɐʁɐ̃ˈn̠ʲaɾ] 'to scratch'
Quechua ñuqa [ˈɲɔqɑ] 'I'
Romanian Transylvanian dialects[29] câine [kɨɲe] 'dog' Alveolo-palatal.[29] realized as [n] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Scottish Gaelic[30] seinn [ʃeiɲ̟] 'sing' Alveolo-palatal. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian питање / pitanje  [pǐːt̪äːɲ̟e̞]  'question' Alveolo-palatal. See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak pečeň [ˈpɛt͡ʃɛɲ] 'liver' Alveolar.[6]
Spanish[31] enseñar [ẽ̞nse̞ˈɲär] 'to teach' Simultaneous alveolo-palatal and dento-alveolar or dento-alveolo-palatal.[6] See Spanish phonology
Ukrainian тінь [t̪in̠ʲ] 'shadow' Alveolo-palatal. See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese nhà [ɲâː] 'house' "Laminoalveolar".[32] See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian njonken [ˈɲoŋkən] 'next to'
Yanyuwa[33] [l̪uwaɲ̄u] 'strip of turtle fat' Post-palatal;[33] contrasts with post-velar nasal.[33]
Yi ꑌ nyi [ȵi˧] 'sit' Alveolo-palatal
Zulu inyoni [iɲ̟óːni] 'bird' Alveolo-palatal.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ladefoged (2005), p. xviii.
  2. ↑ Ladefoged (2005), p. 163.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ní Chasaide (1999).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 33.
  5. ↑ Doke (1925), p. ?.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 6.11 Recasens (2013), p. 11.
  7. ↑ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 111.
  8. ↑ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 53.
  9. ↑ Gussenhoven (1992), p. 46.
  10. ↑ Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Portuguese vinho: diachronic evidence for biphonemic nasal vowels
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Mattos e Silva (1991), p. 73.
  13. ↑ Arvaniti (2007), p. 20.
  14. ↑ Ladefoged (2005), p. 164.
  15. ↑ Recasens et al. (1993), p. 222.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Quiggin (1906).
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 de Bhaldraithe (1966).
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Mhac an Fhailigh (1968).
  19. ↑ Okada (1991), p. 95.
  20. ↑ Ladefoged (2005), p. 165.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Skjekkeland (1997), pp. 105–107.
  22. ↑ Jassem (2003), pp. 103–104.
  23. ↑ Considerações sobre o status das palato-alveolares em português
  24. ↑ Aspectos fonéticos, fonológicos e sociolinguísticos das palatais lateral e nasal
  25. ↑ Ramalho (1998), p. 31.
  26. ↑ Ribeiro, Guilherme, Apontamentos sobre a história da evolução da Língua [Findings on the history of the Language's evolution – Consonantism] (in Portuguese). "António > Antonho"
  27. ↑ Aragão (2009), p. 168.
  28. ↑ Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Pop (1938), p. 30.
  30. ↑ Oftedal (1956), p. ?.
  31. ↑ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
  32. ↑ Thompson (1959), pp. 460.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 34-35.

Bibliography