Universal #938
Legacy number: 938
| Number | 935 |
| Original | When in a given language there is extensive neutralization among the primary nasal consonants, this occurs in prejunctural and/or preconsonantal positions. |
| Standardized | IF there is extensive neutralization among the primary nasal consonants in other than prejunctural and/or preconsonantal positions, THEN there will be such neutralizations in prejunctural and/or preconsonantal positions as well. |
| Keywords | consonant, nasal, neutralization |
| Domain | phonology |
| Type | implication |
| Status | achronic |
| Quality | absolute |
| Basis | languages in Ferguson 1963 |
| Source | Ferguson 1963: 57 (V), cited in Uspensky 1965: 192 |
Discussion
Notes
1. A Primary Nasal Consonant (PNC) is a phoneme of which the most characteristic allophone is a voiced nasal stop, that is, a sound produced by a complete oral stoppage (e.g., apical, labial), velic opening, and vibration of the vocal cords (Ferguson 1963: 56-7).2. Ferguson specifies his claim in a later paper (1974: 6): “Nasals tend to neutralize before following obstruents, where they tend to be homorganic with the obstruent, and they tend to neutralize at the ends of words, where there are several possible phonetic patterns: either the undifferentiated /n/, it is reduced to a velar nasal stop, or nasal glide, or it appears as a nasal vowel (cf. Chen 1973b, c; Cedergren 1973).”
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2. Ferguson specifies his claim in a later paper (Ferguson 1974: 6): "Nasals tend to neutralize before following obstruents, where they tend to be homorganic with the obstruent, and they tend to neutralize at the ends of words, where there are several possible phonetic patterns: either the undifferentiated /n/, it is reduced to a velar nasal stop, or nasal glide, or it appears as a nasal vowel (cf. Chen 1973b, c; Cedergren 1973)."