Michael Everson: Nasal Fricatives

[Elizabeth J. Pyatt]

To: The Celtic Linguistics List <CELTLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
From: Michael Everson <everson at evertype.com>
Subject: Re: Andrew Carnie:  Nasal Fricatives

Andrew Carnie write:

>yes, I know what nasality is; the point is that according to the phoneticians
>you can't have simultaneous bilabial frication if there is air going
>through the nose because there isn't enough airflow in the mouth to
>generate the frication.

It's not a very stable sound, no. Which is why 
nasality gets transferred to the whole syllable 
and the consonant

>>For most speakers the -mh- in "sÈimhi™" isn't 
>>nasalized however, and it's labio-dental, not 
>>bilabial.
>
>With respect to the nasalization -- it sure sounds nasalized to me.

Pinch your nose and say séimhiú. Unpinch it and 
say it again. It sounds the same, doesn't it? 
Some dialects might nasalize one of the vowels, I 
guess.

>Ni Chasaide writes the latter as [v] with a mid 
>back unrounded vowel secondary articulation (a 
>characterization I find baffling), but that's 
>besides the point.

That isn't a vowel, it's a symbol for glottalization.

--
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

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