Re: nasalless and stopless language

On Wed, 19 Jul 2000, Joe Mondello wrote:

> where P is a voiceless bilabial fricative (or is it F?).  So is there a
> reason for the universality of plosives and near-universality f nasals, or
> can a language survive without them?
I don't think there is anything inherent to Language that requires
plosives and nasals.  My personal opinion on why plosives are universal is
that they are maximally distinct from vowels.  Vowels tend to be
voiced, continuous while plosives are discontinuous and voiceless.

I don't mean to say the all plosives are voiceless, but they are during
the time when the air-flow is cut off, since the vocal cords can't vibrate
if there is no air movement.

Along the same line, I suppose that nasals are so common because of the
resonance they pick up while escaping through the nasal passage rather
than the mouth.  The nasality adds distinction to them.

Just my guess at the matter.

Marcus