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

From:Kenji Schwarz <schwarz@...>
Date:Tuesday, March 9, 1999, 4:36
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