Re: Sound changes

Quoting "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh@...>:

> On Tue, Aug 27, 2002 at 10:22:47AM -0500, Thomas R. Wier wrote:
> > Quoting "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh@...>:
> >
> > > There is the distinction between nasal and non-nasal stops too. For
> > > example,
> > >         [p&]            "uncle" or "to climb"
> > >         [p~&~]          "sickness"
> > >
> > >         [p_hi]          to sprawl (used of a person) or to spread (used
> of
> > >                         eg. a blanket)
> > >         [p~_hi~]        "nose".
> > >
> > >         [t_hi]          "metal"
> > >         [t~_hi~]        "to weave"
> >
> > These are somewhat odd.  If what you mean by nasal stops is
> > _nasalized_ stops, then those are usually transcribed with [_N]
> > or some such notation. But the odd thing is that you seem to
> > be saying her that these are voiceless *and* have aspirate/
> > nonaspirate distinctions.  I think it's fair to say that, if
> > not unattested, these would be *very* rare.
>
> Um, I'm not understanding something here. What's the difference between
> nasal stops and nasalized stops? Also, it's probable that I'm really
> referring to nasalized stops, and it's just my mis-transcription.
Phones like [m], [n] [N], etc. are called nasal stops, since they
are articulated by occluding the oral cavity.  Nasal*ized* stops
are ones where the soft palate is lowered during, but not for the
entire duration of, the stop in question.  You can have prenasalized
and postnasalized stops.  What you seem to be describing is voiceless
postnasalized stops, which is okay, but voiceless sonorants are more
marked than voiced sonorants.  Something to consider.

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier
Dept. of Linguistics  "Nihil magis praestandum est quam ne pecorum ritu
University of Chicago sequamur antecedentium gregem, pergentes non qua
1010 E. 59th Street   eundum est, sed qua itur." -- Seneca
Chicago, IL 60637