nasals

Lecture No. 10
Title: Nasals
Nasal consonants such as /m/, /n/ and /?/ are produced when the soft palate is lowered and the air is allowed to pass through the nasal cavity. Such sounds can be described as follows:
1. /m/ nasal, bilabial, voiced
2. /n/ nasal, alveolar, voiced
3. /?/ nasal, velar, voiced
Distribution of nasal consonants
1. /m/ and /n/ can occur initially, medially and finally.
2. /?/ occurs medially and finally but not initially.
3. /g/ is pronounced after /?/ before a following vowel as in anger /??g?/, finger /fi?g?/ because these and similar words are not fromed of shorter words. This means that the letters (er) at the end of these words are originally related to them.
4. /g/ is pronounced after /?/ in the words longer /lo?g?/ and stronger /stro?g?/ because these words are formed of the adjectives long and strong plus the comparative (er).
5. /g/ does not occur after /?/ in the words singer /si??/ and longing /lo?i?/ because these and similar words are formed of a verb plus the suffix (er) and (ing).
6. /g/ does not occur after /?/ before a following consonant as sings/ si?z/ and hanged /h??d/.