| Nasalized and glottalized | |
|---|---|
| ◌̰̃ |
| Sound change and alternation |
|---|
| Fortition |
| Dissimilation |
In linguistics, rhinoglottophilia refers to the connection between laryngeal (glottal) and nasal articulations. The term was coined by James A. Matisoff in 1975. [1] [2]
There is a connection between the acoustic production of laryngeals and nasals, as can be seen from the antiformants both can produce when viewed via a spectrogram. This is because both sounds in a sense have branched resonators: in the production of nasal sound, both the oral cavity and the nasal cavity act as resonators. For laryngeals, the space below the glottis acts as a second resonator, which in turn can produce slight antiformants.
In Krim, a language without contrastive nasal vowels, vowels are nonetheless strongly nasalized after /h/. A similar correspondence occurs after /h/ and /ʔ/ in Pirahã. It is also attested in some varieties of American English, such as [hɑ̃ːvəd] for Harvard by the Kennedys. [3]
Rhinoglottophilia may have occurred historically in the development of Inor, one of the Gurage languages. Inor has nasal vowels, unusual for a Gurage language, and in many cases these occur where the language etymologically had a pharyngeal or laryngeal consonant. [4] Rhinoglottophilia has been documented elsewhere in Gurage, also. [5] Similar processes have also been reported for Irish, [6] Basque, [7] North-Central Hlai [8] and in Nyole, where Bantu *p appears as /ŋ/ rather than as /h/ as in other Luhya dialects.
Avestan also shows the effects of rhinoglottophilia: Proto-Indo-Iranian *s normally becomes h in Avestan, but becomes a velar nasal between a/ā and r, i̯, u̯, or a/ā. Examples include aŋra 'evil' ( Sanskrit asra), aŋhat̰ 'he may be' (Sanskrit ásat), and vaŋ́hō 'better' (Sanskrit vasyas). [9]
Rhinoglottophilia may occur with any laryngeal sound, not just specifically glottal ones. For example, correspondences such as Khoekhoe xárà ' meerkat' and Khwe xánà ' banded mongoose' (and similar correspondences between nasalized and nonnasalized clicks) have been explained as pharyngealization of the vowel in proto-Khoe.
See also
References
- ^ Matisoff, James A. (1975). "Rhinoglottophilia: The Mysterious Connection between Nasality and Glottality". In Ferguson, Charles A.; Hyman, Larry M.; Ohala, John J. (eds.). Nasálfest: Papers from a Symposium on Nasals and Nasalization, Universals Language Project, Stanford University, Stanford. pp. 265–87.
- ^ Sprigg, Richard Keith (1987). "'Rhinoglottophilia' re-visited: observations on 'the mysterious connection between nasality and glottality'". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 10 (1): 44–62.
- ^ Childs, G. Tucker (2003). An Introduction to African Languages. John Benjamins. pp. 61–62. ISBN 9789027295880.
- ^ Boivin, Robert (1996). "Spontaneous nasalization in Inor". In Hudson, Grover (ed.). Essays on Gurage language and Culture. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. pp. 21–33. ISBN 9783447038300.
- ^ Ahland, Michael (2006). "Nasal spreading, rhinoglottophilia and the genesis of a non-etymological nasal consonant in Mesmes". Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: 13–24.
- ^ Ó Maolalaigh, Roibeard (2003). "Processes in nasalization and related issues". Ériu. 53: 109–32.
- ^ Igartua, Iván (2015). "Diachronic effects of rhinoglottophilia, symmetries in sound change, and the curious case of Basque". Studies in Language. 39 (3): 635–63. doi: 10.1075/sl.39.3.04iga.
- ^ Norquest, Peter K. (2007). A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai (PhD thesis). Tucson: University of Arizona.
- ^ Martínez, Javier; de Vaan, Michiel (2014). Introduction to Avestan. Translated by Ryan Sandell. Leiden: Brill. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-90-04-25809-9.