Re: Practicing pronounciation; consonant clusters

Are you sure you don't mean /Nm)/? I've never heard of a language with
it the other way round... and order does matter, since languages with
labial-velar stops, nasals etc (doubly articulated) generally have the
velar closure occuring, then bilabial closure occuring afterwards, then
the velar closure being released, then the bilabial closure being
released. If the two closures and releases overlap perfectly (or one set
occurs within the other set) then the sound is pretty much impossible to
reliably distinguish.What I mean is:

Normal:

v   b  vr  br

v = velar b = bilabial
r = release

Opposite:

b v br vr

(no language I know of)

Same time:

(b+v) (b+v)r

(no language I know of)

Containment:

v b br vr
b v vr br

(no language I know of)


>
> Still, /mN)/ does exist in some languages; the timing of the closure
> starts and releases is what primarily distinguishes the quality of the
> sound from its components.
> I've even heard of an African language where labial-velars contrast
> with all three of plain labials, plain velars and rounded velars.
>
> John Vertical
>
>

Reply