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Universal 942:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 942:

Original
Nasalized vowels always arise from a sequence of vowel and nasal consonant origin.
Standardized
Nasalized vowels always arise from a sequence of vowel and nasal consonant origin.
Keywords
nasalized, vowel, nasal, consonant
Domain
phonology
Type
target < source
Status
diachronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
languages in Greenberg 1966b
Source
Greenberg 1966b: 514, based on Ferguson 1963, cited in Ferguson 1974: 11
Counterexamples
1. This should exclude the rare cases of “spontaneous nasalization” which can be found in English and Japanese. 2. Campbell (1980: 21) mentions Proto-Algonquian [*a] changing to a nasal vowel in Eastern Algonquian, due to contact with Iroquoian languages. He does not consider this a true counterexample, however, because this exception has an external origin, from areal diffusion, not intrinsic value. The same issue is briefly discussed in Sherzer 1972: 267-268.

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. For a similar generalization about the formation of nasal vowels, cf. ##943, 944.2. Ferguson further specifies the “conventional” origin of a nasal vowel as the loss of a following nasal stop (1974: 11).

    1. May 2020

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