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Re: USAGE: syllables

From:Roger Mills <romilly@...>
Date:Monday, February 2, 2004, 19:58
Elliott Lash wrote:
(someone wrote:)
> > > Well...actually, there are languages in which a > > vowel > > > followed by a nasal consonant can become > > nasalized. > > > Take Sundanese:
http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/appe ndix/languages/sundanaese/sundanese.html
> > > Hm...it seems like it contradicts Nik. He said "vowels > preceded by nasals dont get nasalized" but, if I > follow the chart accurately, that's what they say is > happening in that language. Also note, that they > state the rule quite nicely, down at the bottom, which > is in opposition to Nik's generalization. > > "the language has a rule of nasal spreading whereby a > sequence of vowels .... become nasalized when > following a nasal consonant" >
It happens in closely related Madurese, too; and I've seen detailed phonetic discussions of Malay/Indonesia where it's also recorded. Usually the nasalization blocks at a subsequent stop, so a word like "marah" is totally nasalized, but "mata" is just ['ma~ta]. IIRC Kager in "Optimality Theory" discusses some S.American native langs. that do the same or similar. I suspect many Americans do it too (and in non-nasal environments as well), perhaps some more noticeably than others. I sort-of cured myself of the habit in my teens, as I was teased for my quite nasal accent when I went East for high-school.