Nasals

[George Lang]

I've been lurking for what I hope is an hono(u)rable lapse of time, so for
the record I thought I'd put Boas's remark on bilabials/nasals into the
mail, since it has a certain descriptive clarity, though is not directly
related to the ongoing discussion.

"The lower Chinook has a sound which is readily perceived [by Europeans] as
a b, m or w. As a matter of fact, it is a b sound, produced by a very weak
closure of the lips and with open nose, the breath passing weakly both
through the mouth and through the nose, and accompanied by a faint
intonation of the vocal chords. This sound associates withself with our b,
which is produced by a moderately weak release of the lips; with our m,
which is a free breath through the nose with closed lips; and with our w,
which is a breath trhough the lips, which are all closed, all accompanied
by a faint intonation of the vocal chords." (1911 [1969]:17)