Philip wrote :
At 20:32 +0000 on 7.10.1998, Mathias M. Lassailly wrote:
>
>
> > So unlike in French, nasalisation of vowels
> > > is not a distinctive feature.
> > >
> > > Matt.
> >
> > That's a pity. I can't understand why nasalisation is not a common
> >feature in ANY language. It's such a natural, peaceful and beautiful sound.
> >
> > Mathias
>
> As it happens nasalized vowels are acoustically less distinct from one
> another than their oral counterparts. It _is_ very common in some
> languages though. E.g. most New Indo-Aryan languages have a full set of
> nasalized vowels corresponding to their oral vowels. There is even a
> tendency for "intrusive nasalization", e.g. some vowels are nasalized
> although their Middle and Old Indo-Aryan etyma lack the normal "input" for
> NIA nasalized vowels (usually a nasalized vowel already in the earlier
> language, or loss of intervocalic nasal consonants.)
>
> /BP
>
>
> B.Philip. Jonsson <bpj@...>
My post was a joke :-) I hope this was so understood. I realise nasalized vowels
are less distinct and of course I know that many North- and South-American
languages feature them.
None of my conlangs features nasalisation.
Mathias
>
> Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant (Tacitus)
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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