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

[Siva Kalyan]

I don’t know the answer to this, but surely part of the explanation is that /np-/ and /mt-/ tend to assimilate to /mp-/ and /nt-/, respectively.

As for /pm-/ and /tn-/, note that despite being plosive–nasal sequences, they actually sound like affricates (due to the “sticky” lowering of the velum to unblock the nasal passage—the same thing happens when sneezing). I wouldn’t be surprised if this interferes with perception, and leads to reanalysis.

Siva

> On 5 Aug 2025, at 7:48 pm, JOO Ian via Lingtyp <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
>  
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> 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/>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>  
> _______________________________________________
> Lingtyp mailing list
> Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org <mailto:Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lingtyp/attachments/20250805/ac822909/attachment.htm>