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Re: NATLANG: Velar nasals in Japanese, and coda moras.

From:Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date:Tuesday, May 21, 2002, 15:31
En réponse à Lars Henrik Mathiesen <thorinn@...>:

> > Right. I didn't think a syllabic nasal would assimilate. So I guess > it's really /ri-n=-gM/ = [ri-N=-g(M)]. >
Yep. The syllabic nasal always assimilate with the position of a following consonant.
> A thought: If final /M/ is dropped in /-CM/, is /-C/ still a mora? Or > do you get [ri-N=g] in two moras? >
No, three moras. First, /M/ is rarely completely dropped (it's often pronounced, but voiceless, so you hardly hear it but the length of the syllable is still there :)) ). But even when it's completely dropped, the remaining consonant is still a mora. The only exceptions I can think of are in songs, where for reasons of rhythm (which is moraic in Japanese), a foreign word can get pronounced as it would be *in the foreign language*, in order to fit the number of moras of the verse :)) . I've heard songs using this trick, and it sounds quite strange :)) . Christophe. http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.