phonaesthetics & JRRT (was: Fave Conlangs + The beautifulest

#
# Raymond Brown wrote:
# >  I understand retroflex do occur in the Scandinavian
# >langs, but they not exactly well known outside that area.
#
# They do occur phonetically, but are usually phonemically interpreted as
# /r/+dental. Execpt, of course, /r/ itself, which in many (most, I think)
# 'lects realized as a retroflex trill, fricative, or approximant (uvular
# variants are common in southern Scandinavia).
#
# >And where, pray,
# >do clicks and voiceless nasals figure in these languages?
#
# Icelandic has voiceless nasals, IIRC.
#

It seems to me so, but similar to /r/+dental you described above being
realized as retroflex, I think voiceless nasals in Icelandic arise from
nasal + unvoiced consonant, such as /mp/ and /nt/ and /nk/ sequences.
Also I think in words like "nafn" (name) and "vatn" (water), where the nasal
occurs word finally after a voiceless consonant.

-tim

http://www.zece.com/conlang/