Re: Why Not More Nasals!!!!? (was: Is this a realistic phonology?)

On Tue, 9 Mar 1999, Kristian Jensen wrote:

> Kenji Schwarz wrote:
>
> >Hello, again, all.
> >
> >I'm with you, Kristian.  FWIW, you can make the case that Manchu
> >and several (most?) other Tungusic languages (Altaic family) also
> >have more nasal phonemes /m n n^ N/ (common) than voiced stops /g b
> >d/ (max).
>
> What is the main opposition between the series of oral stops? As
> Raymond pointed out more clearly than I did, it all depends on the
> voicing requirements of the individual languages. So if the main
> opposition between stops in Tungusic languages is between voice and
> voiceless, then alas: there IS a language who does have more nasals
> than voiced oral stops, even if the main opposition between stops is
> between voiced and voiceless. You might just be about the only one
> on this list who knows about such a lang.
To the best of my knowledge, the "voiced stops" in all Tungusic languages
are just that -- very definitely voiced.  Some contemporary speakers of
Manchu (but not Xibo) might pronounce /b d g/ as voiceless unaspirated
stops in some positions, as in northern and western dialects of
'Mandarin', but it's doubtful that any of them can be called native
speakers of Manchu.

Kenji