Re: Phonology question
| From: | Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, August 7, 2004, 8:04 |
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On Fri, 6 Aug 2004 23:56:44 -0500, Caleb Hines <cph9fa@...> wrote:
> Are there many (or even any) natlangs which lack any liquids (such as r and
> l)? Would it be very plausible for a language to develop without liquids?
> For example, I believe I've heard that nasals are almost universal.
Everyone's favourite minimal-phonology natlangs, Rotokas (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotokas_language ) and Pirahã (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%FAra-Pirah%E3_language ) both appear to
lack both phonemic liquids and nasals; the have only fricatives and
stops (and Rotokas has one 'tap': [4]).
Though the article on Pirahã mentions that /b/ has an allophone [m],
for example, so it does not prohibit nasals.
Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>