[Lingtyp] Homoorganic vs. heteroorganic assymetry in nasal-plosive onset clusters

[JOO Ian]

Dear typologists,

It has occurred to me that homoorganic nasal-plosive onset clusters (e.g. /mp-/) seem to be more common than homoorganic plosive-nasal onset clusters (e.g. /pm-/), whereas heteroorganic plosive-nasal clusters (e.g. /pn-/) are more common than heteroorganic nasal-plosive clusters (e.g. /np/-).
For example, based on Phonotacticon 1.0<https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/lingty-2023-0094>, which is limited to Eurasia, the following number of lects have the following onset clusters:


l  /pm-/ : 2

l  /mp-/ : 12

l  /pn-/ : 14

l  /np-/ : 4

When looking at, say, /tn- nt- tm- mt-/, the pattern is the sameː


l  /tn-/ ː 8

l  /nt-/ ː 13

l  /tm- / ː 15

l  /mt-/ ː 11


What could explain this assymetry?

From Otaru,
Ian

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朱　易安
JOO, IAN
准教授
Associate Professor
小樽商科大学
Otaru University of Commerce

🌐 ianjoo.github.io<http://ianjoo.github.io/>
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