Nasal consonants, sonority and syllable phonotactics: the dual nasal hypothesis

We investigate the phonotactic behaviour of nasal consonants in a database of over 200 languages. Our findings challenge the common classification of nasals as intermediate between obstruents and liquids on the sonority hierarchy. Instead, we propose that there are two types of nasal consonants, one...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Phonology 2020-02, Vol.37 (1), p.27-63
Main Authors: Krämer, Martin, Zec, Draga
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Consonants
Humaniora: 000
Humanities: 000
Linguistics: 010
Liquids
Nasals
Obstruents
Phonetics
Phonology
Phonotactics
Preferences
Sonority
Språkvitenskapelige fag: 010
Syllables
VDP
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Summary:We investigate the phonotactic behaviour of nasal consonants in a database of over 200 languages. Our findings challenge the common classification of nasals as intermediate between obstruents and liquids on the sonority hierarchy. Instead, we propose that there are two types of nasal consonants, one group with lower sonority than liquids and one with higher sonority. We propose that these two types of nasals differ in the presence or absence of a value for the feature [±continuant].
ISSN:0952-6757
1469-8188
1469-8188
DOI:10.1017/S0952675720000032