Re: Nasal semivowels/fricatives?

--- Paul Bennett <paulnkathy@...> wrote:
> 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.
I think we may have discussed this before.  I was of
the opinion that an ejective nasal was very unlikely
because, well, I didn't put it this way, but it adds
up to: nasals tend to be voiced, because unvoiced
nasals are comparatively difficult to hear (though not
so difficult that they don't exist in some languages,
but they're marked), and ejectives are virtually
always unvoiced*.

Unvoiced nasals usually only exist when voiced
counterparts also exist; however, there could not* be
a voiced counterpart to an ejective nasal; hence it
would be very awkward in terms of markedness for a
language to have an ejective nasal.  It would be
difficult to hear, and there would be no counterpart
which is easier to hear.

That said, they exist.  They're just very very very
rare. :)

Ed

* I understand that voiced ejectives are said to in
fact exist, but as I understand ejectives that would
be a contradiction in terms -- the necessary glottis
settings for ejectives and voice are not compatible.
If somebody can explain to me what a "voiced ejective"
is like, phonetically, I'd love to hear it...

Ed


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Ed Heil               uncorrected@yahoo.com
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Don't believe the cats.  They've been fed.
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