Re: OT: Nasalization of French Vowels

Christophe Grandsire scripsit:

> >Notice that the last [O] is NOT nasalized, even though it comes before a
> >nasal.  To me, it would seem like any vowel coming before any nasal
> >would be *phonetically* nasalized, no matter the languag
>
> Correct, except for French, where nasalisation is strictly phonemic (thus
> not phonetic nasalisation).
When nasalization first appeared in French, it was probably not phonemic,
and was simply the subphonemic consequence of a coda nasal.  But then
final nasal consonantss were lost, leaving the nasalization behind; later,
new final nasals were created by the fall of final schwas.  Sometime
between these two events, non-final nasal vowels mostly denasalized.

--
John Cowan        http://www.ccil.org/~cowan          jcowan@reutershealth.com
Please leave your values                Check your assumptions.  In fact,
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     --sign in Paris hotel                   --Cordelia Vorkosigan