Funny W

[Koontz John E]

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006, Rory M Larson wrote:
> >  In essence, I'm suggesting that all words get an
> > automatic initial added N that only comes home to roost on r and w.
>
> Do you mean just in proto-Siouan, or universally?

Just in certain Siouan languages, in some cases proto-languages, e.g.,
perhaps in Proto-Dakotan and perhaps in Pre-Omaha-Ponca.  Apparently in
Hidatsa.

> This cold-speak idea is fascinating, but I'm not sure that's actually
> nasalization you're describing here.  The point of nasalization is that the
> sound goes out your nose, while the point of having a cold is to clog up
> the nasal passage and prevent that from happening.

I've noticed this inconsistancy before and I believe that the resolution
of it is that nasalization is not "air through the nose instead of the
mouth" but "resonance in the nasal cavity as well as the oral cavity."
Colds may not make it easier to breathe through the nose, but they
certainly play hob with your ability to control which cavity is
resonating.  In particular, English speakers with colds tend to substitute
voiced stops for nasal stops:  "I'b cubbig id 'oo blow by dose."  But the
"voiced stop" in question may well have some prenasalization, and that's
what I was referring to.  English orthography has no way to represent
this, of course.   My main point was that my digraphs mb, nd, etc., are
not intended to imply a fully syllabic nasal, just a prenasalized one.