317-languages sample (UPSID; Maddieson 1984): 97% of the languages are found to have simple nasal consonants; 22,4% of the languages are found to have nasalized vowels: less than 1% of the languages are found to have nasalized continuant consonants (fricatives, liquids and glides). Thus, if nasalized continuants are much rarer than nasalized vowels, the claim of Ferguson should be rejected (Cohn 1993a: 330-331).
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. A nasal vowel (NV) is a phoneme the most characteristic allophone of which has oral and velic opening and vibration of the vocal cords. (Ferguson 1963: 56, 58)
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. A nasal vowel (NV) is a phoneme the most characteristic allophone of which has oral and velic opening and vibration of the vocal cords. (Ferguson 1963: 56, 58)