Re: OT: Y/N variants (< OT: English and front rounded vowels)

On Dec 11, 2007, at 11:41 PM, Mark J. Reed wrote:

> On Dec 12, 2007 12:20 AM, <li_sasxsek@...> wrote:
>
>> Sounds more like [a] or [A] to me, or more appropriately [a_n] or
>> [A_n] since the first vowel is usually nasalized.
>
>
> Ah, but _n isn't nasalization; it's nasal release, which applies to
> consonants, not vowels.  IME only fhe negative sound routinely gets
> the
> nasal treatment, something like ['V~?_n.V~:], which leads to variant
> spellings like "hunh-uh".
>
> -- Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
I'm not a phonetician but it appears to me that the affirmative can
also be nasalized, though it seems more noticeable somehow in the
negative. Also, when nasalization is present, either vowel, or both
vowels, can be nasal. IME. I think.

(And you pointed out implicitly that sometimes the negative form
begins with [h]. It can also begin with [n], and the affirmative can
begin with [j] or maybe even [nj], IME. These variants sound more
childish or facetious to my ears. But I think we're getting far afield.)

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