Arthaey Angosii wrote:
> I've discovered that in certain environments, the Asha'illen /m/ isn't
> quite an [m]. What happens is that as you're pronouncing the m, your lips
> close in on the final m-position, but they never quite close completely.
>
> So in a sequence like <am>, it's NOT [Am] but something sounding similar
to
> [Au] (or [Ao] or [Aw]). It's also like English "owl" without the <l> and
> without rounding the <w>. It's also like (as my friend insists) says
> "oww!" after getting your lip numbed at the dentist.
>
> How is this described linguistically and IPAly?
>
One possibility: since the lips don't close or round, it could be a
"nasalized bilabial approximant" or possibly fricative. I'm not sure how
either one would be symbolized in schmampa. [v\~]? [B~]???
OR-- since you're hearing an unrounded "o/u" like sound, perhaps you're
talking about a "nasalized velar approximant". I don't have a SAMPA list
handy for that one ("velar approx." exists, I know)...