Re: Nasal semivowels/fricatives?

On 16 Feb 00, at 10:29, dirk elzinga wrote:
>
> Fula/Pulaar is reported as having a constrast between nasal-stop
> clusters and prenasalized stops. I don't know the arguments well
> enough to comment (but I will)--they seem to rest on duration of
> nasal airflow; the cluster has a longer period of nasal airflow
> than the prenasalized stop.
>
I think that Sinhalese has the same distinction (but I'd have to ask an
expert to be sure).  The script contains a set of 5 nasals, as well as a
set of "half-nasal"s, which Daniels & Bright call prenasalised stops.

According to a Sri Lankan friend of mine, there is a real contrast between
nasal+stop and half-nasal, but I couldn't distinguish it very clearly when
he demonstrated it.

Here's a thought that's been buzzing tound my head all afternoon (and which
has been making me snort and snurkle like some mythical swamp-monster all
afternoon as well, checking and re-checking it :-)

Could Christophes nasal stops possibly be ejective (or otherwise glottalic)
nasals?  When I pronounce these, they seem to be both a stop and a nasal.


---
Pb