Universal #1612

Legacy number: 1612

 Number  1608
 Original  Permeability of classes of consonants to nasalization:

vowels > {[h], glottal stop (=laryngeal segments)} > w, y (=oral glides) > r,l (=liquids) > obstruents.

(where glides, liquids, and obstruents are referred as supralaryngeal segments).
 Standardized  IF the feature [nasal] spreads through supralaryngeal segments (like in the implicational sequence above), THEN it spreads also through vowels.
IF the feature [nasal] spreads through laryngeal segments, THEN it spreads also through vowels.
IF the feature [nasal] spreads through supralaryngeal segments, THEN it does not necessarily spread through laryngeal segments.

IN OTHER WORDS: spreading through supralaryngeal segments is independent of spreading through laryngeal segments.
 Keywords  nasalization
 Domain  phonology
 Type  implicational hierarchy
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  37 languages sample (Cohn 1987)
 Source  Cohn 1987 as summed up in Cohn 1993a: 336-337

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Discussion
Notes
Slight modification of the hierarchy proposed by Schourup (1972) and catalogued in #1610. The hierarchy characterizes the permeability of classes of consonants to nasalization.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Slight modification of the hierarchy proposed by Schourup 1972 and catalogued in <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1610"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">. The hierarchy characterizes the permeability of classes of consonants to nasalization.